linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 04/11] writeback: switch to per-bdi threads for flushing data

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Date:	Wed, 27 May 2009 19:50:19 +0200
From:	Jens Axboe <jens.axboe@...cle.com>
To:	Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>
Cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
	chris.mason@...cle.com, david@...morbit.com, hch@...radead.org,
	akpm@...ux-foundation.org, yanmin_zhang@...ux.intel.com,
	richard@....demon.co.uk, damien.wyart@...e.fr
Subject: Re: [PATCH 04/11] writeback: switch to per-bdi threads for
	flushing data

On Wed, May 27 2009, Jan Kara wrote:
>   The patch set seems easier to read now. Thanks for cleaning it up.

No problem. The issue is mainly that I have to maintain these
intermediate steps, and as code gets added and bugs fixed, things have
to be shuffled back and forth. Now that things are stabilizing more,
it's easier.

> > +void bdi_writeback_all(struct super_block *sb, struct writeback_control *wbc)
> > +{
> > +	struct backing_dev_info *bdi, *tmp;
> > +
> > +	mutex_lock(&bdi_lock);
> > +
> > +	list_for_each_entry_safe(bdi, tmp, &bdi_list, bdi_list) {
> > +		if (!bdi_has_dirty_io(bdi))
> > +			continue;
> > +		bdi_start_writeback(bdi, sb, wbc->nr_to_write, wbc->sync_mode);
> > +	}
> > +
> > +	mutex_unlock(&bdi_lock);
> > +}
> > +
>   Looking at this function, I've realized that wbc->nr_to_write has a bit
> silly meaning here. Each BDI will be kicked to write nr_to_write pages
> which is not what it used to mean originally. I don't think it really matters
> but we should have this in mind...

Yes, I know about that difference. I don't think it matters a whole lot,
since we typically just use MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES which is only 4MB of IO.
And in the case of writing back the world, we'll just come short on each
bdi.

> > @@ -591,13 +715,10 @@ static void generic_sync_bdi_inodes(struct backing_dev_info *bdi,
> >  void generic_sync_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb,
> >  				struct writeback_control *wbc)
> >  {
> > -	const int is_blkdev_sb = sb_is_blkdev_sb(sb);
> > -	struct backing_dev_info *bdi;
> > -
> > -	mutex_lock(&bdi_lock);
> > -	list_for_each_entry(bdi, &bdi_list, bdi_list)
> > -		generic_sync_bdi_inodes(bdi, wbc, sb, is_blkdev_sb);
> > -	mutex_unlock(&bdi_lock);
> > +	if (wbc->bdi)
> > +		generic_sync_bdi_inodes(sb, wbc);
> > +	else
> > +		bdi_writeback_all(sb, wbc);
>   I guess this asynchronousness is just transient...

Right, if it bothers you, I can fix that up too :-)

> > +static int bdi_forker_task(void *ptr)
> > +{
> > +	struct backing_dev_info *me = ptr;
> > +	DEFINE_WAIT(wait);
> > +
> > +	for (;;) {
> > +		struct backing_dev_info *bdi, *tmp;
> > +
> > +		/*
> > +		 * Do this periodically, like kupdated() did before.
> > +		 */
> > +		sync_supers();
>   Ugh, this looks nasty. Moreover I'm afraid of forker_task() getting stuck
> (and thus not being able to start new threads) in sync_supers() when some
> fs is busy and other needs to create flusher thread...
>   Why not just having a separate thread for this? I know we have lots of
> kernel threads already but this one seems like a useful one... Or do you
> plan getting rid of this completely sometime in the near future and sync
> supers also from per-bdi thread (which would make a lot of sence to me)?

It's ugly, and I think this is precisely what Ted hit. He's in umount,
has ->s_umount sem held and waiting for IO.

So there's definitely trouble brewing there. As a short term solution, a
separate thread will do. Longer term, the sync_supers_bdi() type setup I
mentioned earlier would probably be the best. But once we start dealing
with the super blocks, we have to be more careful with referencing.
Which we also discussed in a previous mail :-)

-- 
Jens Axboe

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