linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v8 04/23] slab: add sheaf support for batching kfree

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Message-ID: <e988eff6-1287-425e-a06c-805af5bbf262@nvidia.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:38:49 +0000
From: Jon Hunter <jonathanh@...dia.com>
To: Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@...nel.org>, Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
 Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
 "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
 Christoph Lameter <cl@...two.org>, David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>
Cc: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@...ux.dev>,
 Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@...cle.com>, Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@...il.com>,
 Sidhartha Kumar <sidhartha.kumar@...cle.com>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, rcu@...r.kernel.org,
 maple-tree@...ts.infradead.org, linux-modules@...r.kernel.org,
 Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>, Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@...e.com>,
 Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>, Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@...mlin.com>,
 Lucas De Marchi <lucas.demarchi@...el.com>,
 "linux-tegra@...r.kernel.org" <linux-tegra@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v8 04/23] slab: add sheaf support for batching kfree_rcu()
 operations

On 31/10/2025 21:32, Daniel Gomez wrote:
> 
> 
> On 10/09/2025 10.01, Vlastimil Babka wrote:
>> Extend the sheaf infrastructure for more efficient kfree_rcu() handling.
>> For caches with sheaves, on each cpu maintain a rcu_free sheaf in
>> addition to main and spare sheaves.
>>
>> kfree_rcu() operations will try to put objects on this sheaf. Once full,
>> the sheaf is detached and submitted to call_rcu() with a handler that
>> will try to put it in the barn, or flush to slab pages using bulk free,
>> when the barn is full. Then a new empty sheaf must be obtained to put
>> more objects there.
>>
>> It's possible that no free sheaves are available to use for a new
>> rcu_free sheaf, and the allocation in kfree_rcu() context can only use
>> GFP_NOWAIT and thus may fail. In that case, fall back to the existing
>> kfree_rcu() implementation.
>>
>> Expected advantages:
>> - batching the kfree_rcu() operations, that could eventually replace the
>>    existing batching
>> - sheaves can be reused for allocations via barn instead of being
>>    flushed to slabs, which is more efficient
>>    - this includes cases where only some cpus are allowed to process rcu
>>      callbacks (Android)
>>
>> Possible disadvantage:
>> - objects might be waiting for more than their grace period (it is
>>    determined by the last object freed into the sheaf), increasing memory
>>    usage - but the existing batching does that too.
>>
>> Only implement this for CONFIG_KVFREE_RCU_BATCHED as the tiny
>> implementation favors smaller memory footprint over performance.
>>
>> Also for now skip the usage of rcu sheaf for CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT as the
>> contexts where kfree_rcu() is called might not be compatible with taking
>> a barn spinlock or a GFP_NOWAIT allocation of a new sheaf taking a
>> spinlock - the current kfree_rcu() implementation avoids doing that.
>>
>> Teach kvfree_rcu_barrier() to flush all rcu_free sheaves from all caches
>> that have them. This is not a cheap operation, but the barrier usage is
>> rare - currently kmem_cache_destroy() or on module unload.
>>
>> Add CONFIG_SLUB_STATS counters free_rcu_sheaf and free_rcu_sheaf_fail to
>> count how many kfree_rcu() used the rcu_free sheaf successfully and how
>> many had to fall back to the existing implementation.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
> 
> Hi Vlastimil,
> 
> This patch increases kmod selftest (stress module loader) runtime by about
> ~50-60%, from ~200s to ~300s total execution time. My tested kernel has
> CONFIG_KVFREE_RCU_BATCHED enabled. Any idea or suggestions on what might be
> causing this, or how to address it?
> 

I have been looking into a regression for Linux v6.18-rc where time 
taken to run some internal graphics tests on our Tegra234 device has 
increased from around 35% causing the tests to timeout. Bisect is 
pointing to this commit and I also see we have CONFIG_KVFREE_RCU_BATCHED=y.

I have not tried disabling CONFIG_KVFREE_RCU_BATCHED=y but I can. I am 
not sure if there are any downsides to disabling this?

Thanks
Jon

-- 
nvpublic