linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/3] kvfree_rcu: Allocate a page for a single argument

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Date:   Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:25:59 +0100
From:   Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>
To:     Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>
Cc:     Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, RCU <rcu@...r.kernel.org>,
        "Paul E . McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>,
        Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Daniel Axtens <dja@...ens.net>,
        Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@...nel.org>,
        Neeraj Upadhyay <neeraju@...eaurora.org>,
        Joel Fernandes <joel@...lfernandes.org>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        "Theodore Y . Ts'o" <tytso@....edu>,
        Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
        Oleksiy Avramchenko <oleksiy.avramchenko@...ymobile.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] kvfree_rcu: Allocate a page for a single argument

On Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 04:39:43PM +0100, Michal Hocko wrote:
> On Mon 25-01-21 15:31:50, Uladzislau Rezki wrote:
> > > On Wed 20-01-21 17:21:46, Uladzislau Rezki (Sony) wrote:
> > > > For a single argument we can directly request a page from a caller
> > > > context when a "carry page block" is run out of free spots. Instead
> > > > of hitting a slow path we can request an extra page by demand and
> > > > proceed with a fast path.
> > > > 
> > > > A single-argument kvfree_rcu() must be invoked in sleepable contexts,
> > > > and that its fallback is the relatively high latency synchronize_rcu().
> > > > Single-argument kvfree_rcu() therefore uses GFP_KERNEL|__GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL
> > > > to allow limited sleeping within the memory allocator.
> > > 
> > > __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL can be quite heavy. It is effectively the most heavy
> > > way to allocate without triggering the OOM killer. Is this really what
> > > you need/want? Is __GFP_NORETRY too weak?
> > > 
> > Hm... We agreed to proceed with limited lightwait memory direct reclaim.
> > Johannes Weiner proposed to go with __GFP_NORETRY flag as a starting
> > point: https://www.spinics.net/lists/rcu/msg02856.html
> > 
> > <snip>
> >     So I'm inclined to suggest __GFP_NORETRY as a starting point, and make
> >     further decisions based on instrumentation of the success rates of
> >     these opportunistic allocations.
> > <snip>
> 
> I completely agree with Johannes here.
> 
> > but for some reason, i can't find a tail or head of it, we introduced
> > __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL what is a heavy one from a time consuming point of view.
> > What we would like to avoid.
> 
> Not that I object to this use but I think it would be much better to use
> it based on actual data. Going along with it right away might become a
> future burden to make any changes in this aspect later on due to lack of 
> exact reasoning. General rule of thumb for __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL is really
> try as hard as it can get without being really disruptive (like OOM
> killing something). And your wording didn't really give me that
> impression.
> 
Initially i proposed just to go with GFP_NOWAIT flag. But later on there
was a discussion about a fallback path, that uses synchronize_rcu() can be
slow, thus minimizing its hitting would be great. So, here we go with a
trade off.

Doing it hard as __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL can do, is not worth(IMHO), but to have some
light-wait requests would be acceptable. That is why __GFP_NORETRY was proposed.

There were simple criterias we discussed which we would like to achieve:

a) minimize a fallback hitting;
b) avoid of OOM involving;
c) avoid of dipping into the emergency reserves. See kvfree_rcu: Use __GFP_NOMEMALLOC for single-argument kvfree_rcu()

--
Vlad Rezki