linux-kernel - [PATCH v2 1/3] docs: cgroup: Explain reclaim protection target

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Message-ID: <20251114182130.1549832-2-mkoutny@suse.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:21:25 +0100
From: Michal Koutný <mkoutny@...e.com>
To: cgroups@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-doc@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Natalie Vock <natalie.vock@....de>,
	Maarten Lankhorst <dev@...khorst.se>,
	Michal Koutný <mkoutny@...e.com>,
	Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>,
	Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>
Subject: [PATCH v2 1/3] docs: cgroup: Explain reclaim protection target

The protection target is necessary to understand how effective reclaim
protection applies in the hierarchy.

Signed-off-by: Michal Koutný <mkoutny@...e.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst | 24 +++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst
index 0e6c67ac585a0..97a9f8a046c5f 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v2.rst
@@ -53,7 +53,8 @@ v1 is available under :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v1/index.rst <cgrou
      5-2. Memory
        5-2-1. Memory Interface Files
        5-2-2. Usage Guidelines
-       5-2-3. Memory Ownership
+       5-2-3. Reclaim Protection
+       5-2-4. Memory Ownership
      5-3. IO
        5-3-1. IO Interface Files
        5-3-2. Writeback
@@ -1317,7 +1318,7 @@ PAGE_SIZE multiple when read back.
 	smaller overages.
 
 	Effective min boundary is limited by memory.min values of
-	all ancestor cgroups. If there is memory.min overcommitment
+	ancestor cgroups. If there is memory.min overcommitment
 	(child cgroup or cgroups are requiring more protected memory
 	than parent will allow), then each child cgroup will get
 	the part of parent's protection proportional to its
@@ -1343,7 +1344,7 @@ PAGE_SIZE multiple when read back.
 	smaller overages.
 
 	Effective low boundary is limited by memory.low values of
-	all ancestor cgroups. If there is memory.low overcommitment
+	ancestor cgroups. If there is memory.low overcommitment
 	(child cgroup or cgroups are requiring more protected memory
 	than parent will allow), then each child cgroup will get
 	the part of parent's protection proportional to its
@@ -1934,6 +1935,23 @@ memory - is necessary to determine whether a workload needs more
 memory; unfortunately, memory pressure monitoring mechanism isn't
 implemented yet.
 
+Reclaim Protection
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The protection configured with "memory.low" or "memory.min" applies relatively
+to the target of the reclaim (i.e. any of memory cgroup limits, proactive
+memory.reclaim or global reclaim apparently located in the root cgroup).
+The protection value configured for B applies unchanged to the reclaim
+targeting A (i.e. caused by competition with the sibling E)::
+
+		root - ... - A - B - C
+		              \    ` D
+		               ` E
+
+When the reclaim targets ancestors of A, the effective protection of B is
+capped by the protection value configured for A (and any other intermediate
+ancestors between A and the target).
+
 
 Memory Ownership
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- 
2.51.1