Message-ID: <aLAj-itGT9DD3SU3@tiehlicka>
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2025 11:40:10 +0200
From: Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>
To: Weilin Tong <tongweilin@...ux.alibaba.com>
Cc: akpm@...ux-foundation.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, vbabka@...e.cz,
	surenb@...gle.com, jackmanb@...gle.com, hannes@...xchg.org,
	ziy@...dia.com, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	baolin.wang@...ux.alibaba.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC] mm: Use pr_warn_once() for min_free_kbytes warning

On Thu 28-08-25 17:23:40, Weilin Tong wrote:
> 在 2025/8/28 14:45, Michal Hocko 写道:
> 
> > On Thu 28-08-25 11:06:02, Weilin Tong wrote:
> > > When min_free_kbytes is user-configured, increasing system memory via memory
> > > hotplug may trigger multiple recalculations of min_free_kbytes. This results
> > > in excessive warning messages flooding the kernel log if several memory blocks
> > > are added in a short period.
> > > 
> > > Sample dmesg output before optimization:
> > > ...
> > > [ 1303.897214] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1303.960498] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1303.970116] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1303.979709] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1303.989254] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1303.999122] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1304.008644] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1304.018537] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1304.028054] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > [ 1304.037615] min_free_kbytes is not updated to 126529 because user defined value 1048576 is preferred
> > > ...
> > > 
> > > Replace pr_warn() with pr_warn_once() to ensure only one warning is printed,
> > > preventing large volumes of repeated log entries and improving log readability.
> > pr_warn_once seems too aggressive as we could miss useful events. On the
> > other hand I agree that repeating the same message for each memory block
> > onlining is not really helpful. Would it make sense to only pr_warn when
> > new_min_free_kbytes differs from the previous one we have warned for?
> Thanks for your feedback!
> 
> The dmesg output above comes from hotplugging a large amount of memory into
> ZONE_MOVABLE, where new_min_free_kbytes does not actually change, resulting
> in repeated warnings with identical messages.

Yes, this is clear from the changelog

> However, if memory is hotplugged into ZONE_NORMAL (such as pmem-type
> memory), new_min_free_kbytes changes on each operation, so we still get a
> large number of warnings—even though the value is different each time.

We can check whether the value has changed considerably.

> If the concern is missing useful warnings, pr_warn_ratelimited() would be an
> acceptable alternative, as it can reduce log spam without completely
> suppressing potentially important messages. However I still think that
> printing the warning once is sufficient to alert the user about the
> overridden configuration, especially since this is not a particularly
> critical warning.

The thing is that kernel log buffer can easily overflow and you can lose
those messages over time, especially for system with a large uptime -
which is far from uncommon.

I am not entirely enthusiastic about rate limiting because that is time
rather than even driven. Anyway, if you can make ratelimiting work for
your usecase, then no objection from me but I would rather make the
reporting more useful than hack around it.

-- 
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs

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