linux-kernel - Re: [ext3][kernels >= 2.6.20.7 at least] KDE going comatose when FS is under heavy write load (massive starvation)

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Fri, 27 Apr 2007 08:54:47 -0700 (PDT)
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
To:	"John Anthony Kazos Jr." <jakj@...-k-j.com>
cc:	Mike Galbraith <efault@....de>,
	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@...cle.com>
Subject: Re: [ext3][kernels >= 2.6.20.7 at least] KDE going comatose when FS
 is under heavy write load (massive starvation)

On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, John Anthony Kazos Jr. wrote:
> 
> Could[/should] this stuff be changed from ratios to amounts? Or a quick 
> boot-time test to use a ratio if the memory is small and an amount (like 
> tax brackets, I would expect) if it's great?

Yes, the "percentage" thing was likely wrong. That said, there *is* some 
correlation between "lots of memory" and "high-end machine", and that in 
turn tends to correlate with "fast disk", so I don't think the percentage 
approach is really *horribly* wrong.

The main issue with the percentage is that we do export them as such 
through the /proc/ interface, and they are easy to change and understand. 
So changing them to amounts is non-trivial if you also want to support the 
old interfaces - and the advantage isn't obvious enough that it's a 
clear-cut case.

		Linus
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/