linux-kernel - Re: wierd new config options

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Message-ID: <20081023192630.GA23841@x200.localdomain>
Date:	Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:26:30 +0400
From:	Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@...il.com>
To:	Lee Schermerhorn <Lee.Schermerhorn@...com>
Cc:	Christoph Hellwig <hch@....de>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Roland McGrath <roland@...hat.com>
Subject: Re: wierd new config options

On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 03:16:44PM -0400, Lee Schermerhorn wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-10-23 at 20:18 +0200, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> > Why is UNEVICTABLE_LRU and option?  Is there any rason to turn it off or
> > is this just to confuse users?
> 
> 
> We discussed this back when we first submitted the patches.  I
> considered the NONRECLAIMABLE/UNEVICTABLE LRU mechanism to be a wee bit
> experimental at the time.  I wasn't sure that all platform that do want
> memory management would necessarily also want the unevictable lru.  It's
> easier for me to build it with the option and remove it later than vice
> versa.  If the consensus of the community is that it should always be
> enabled, then I'm fine with removing the option.  

The problem is that average admin can't make useful judgement on
this: active pageout lists -- what the hell is it?, kswapd -- ok, I
remember this process from ps(1) output, "will not waste" -- ok, good
thing, "will use one page flag" -- how many more I have?, what will
happen if they emptied?

And distro kernel maintainer should also make a decision -- not a module, after all.
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