I will present the results of the new tests here. TLDR; ===== No one Mel's patch doesn't prevent stalls in my tests. Test case: Running firefox with youtube tab (basic desktop workload) and starting $ for i in {1..10}; do tail /dev/zero; done -- 1. with noswap and 2. with SwapTotal > MemTotal and swappiness=0. I will log PSI metrics using latest psi2log (it's part of nohang [1] package, src: [2]) and log some meminfo metrics using mem2log [3]. psi2log cmd: $ psi2log -m 2 -i 1 -l /tmpfs/psi mem2log cmd: $ mem2log -i 1 -l /tmpfs/mem The OS is Debian 9 x86_64 on HDD with ext4+LUKS, MemTotal: 11.5 GiB. Repo with logs: https://github.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/tree/main/516-reclaim-throttle 5.15 ==== - With noswap, psi2log summary: 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: Stall times for the last 141.6s: 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: some cpu 1.3s, avg 0.9% 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: some io 99.1s, avg 70.0% 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: full io 93.4s, avg 66.0% 2021-11-27 20:51:14,018: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:51:14,019: some memory 4.3s, avg 3.1% 2021-11-27 20:51:14,019: full memory 4.2s, avg 3.0% -- average full memory stall is 0.4s per one `tail /dev/zero`. full psi2log log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/515/noswap/psi full mem2log log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/515/noswap/mem - With swappiness=0 and SwapTotal > 0: 2021-11-27 20:57:30,217: Stall times for the last 141.6s: 2021-11-27 20:57:30,217: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:57:30,217: some cpu 1.2s, avg 0.8% 2021-11-27 20:57:30,217: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:57:30,217: some io 100.7s, avg 71.1% 2021-11-27 20:57:30,218: full io 94.8s, avg 67.0% 2021-11-27 20:57:30,218: ----------- 2021-11-27 20:57:30,218: some memory 3.9s, avg 2.8% 2021-11-27 20:57:30,218: full memory 3.9s, avg 2.7% -- 0.4s memory stall per one `tail /dev/zero`. full psi2log log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/515/swappiness0/psi full mem2log log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/515/swappiness0/mem 5.16-rc2 vanilla ================ - with noswap psi2log summary: 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: Stall times for the last 1086.5s: 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: ----------- 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: some cpu 4.2s, avg 0.4% 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: ----------- 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: some io 337.6s, avg 31.1% 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: full io 325.2s, avg 29.9% 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: ----------- 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: some memory 888.7s, avg 81.8% 2021-11-27 21:45:09,307: full memory 886.2s, avg 81.6% average full memory stall is 87s per one `tail /dev/zero`. full psi2log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/vanilla/noswap/psi full mem2log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/vanilla/noswap/mem - And even worst with swappiness=0: 2021-11-27 22:33:19,207: Stall times for the last 2677.7s: 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: ----------- 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: some cpu 14.0s, avg 0.5% 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: ----------- 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: some io 306.7s, avg 11.5% 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: full io 292.4s, avg 10.9% 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: ----------- 2021-11-27 22:33:19,208: some memory 2504.8s, avg 93.5% 2021-11-27 22:33:19,209: full memory 2498.2s, avg 93.3% What a horror! In dmesg: a lot of [] Purging GPU memory, 0 pages freed, 0 pages still pinned, 2112 pages left available. (and dying journald) psi2log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/vanilla/swappiness0/psi mem2log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/vanilla/swappiness0/mem dmesg: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/vanilla/dmesg 5.16-rc2 and 1st Mel's patch [4] ================================ - with noswap Summary: 2021-11-27 23:28:23,707: Stall times for the last 1035.1s: 2021-11-27 23:28:23,707: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:28:23,707: some cpu 5.6s, avg 0.5% 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: some io 336.5s, avg 32.5% 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: full io 322.9s, avg 31.2% 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: some memory 851.1s, avg 82.2% 2021-11-27 23:28:23,708: full memory 848.3s, avg 82.0% full psi2log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch1/noswap/psi mem2log log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch1/noswap/mem - with swappiness=0 Summary: 2021-11-27 23:50:25,722: Stall times for the last 1076.9s: 2021-11-27 23:50:25,722: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:50:25,722: some cpu 12.2s, avg 1.1% 2021-11-27 23:50:25,722: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:50:25,723: some io 232.1s, avg 21.6% 2021-11-27 23:50:25,723: full io 218.5s, avg 20.3% 2021-11-27 23:50:25,723: ----------- 2021-11-27 23:50:25,723: some memory 957.5s, avg 88.9% 2021-11-27 23:50:25,723: full memory 951.2s, avg 88.3% It's better than vanilla. 5.16-rc2 and 2nd Mel's patch [5] ================================ - with noswap Summary: 2021-11-28 00:29:38,558: Stall times for the last 598.7s: 2021-11-28 00:29:38,558: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:29:38,558: some cpu 5.2s, avg 0.9% 2021-11-28 00:29:38,558: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:29:38,559: some io 235.0s, avg 39.3% 2021-11-28 00:29:38,559: full io 220.2s, avg 36.8% 2021-11-28 00:29:38,559: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:29:38,559: some memory 439.0s, avg 73.3% 2021-11-28 00:29:38,559: full memory 437.5s, avg 73.1% It's significant improvement, but far from the expected result. mem: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch2/noswap/mem psi: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch2/noswap/psi In some cases the stall was quite short. - with swappiness=0 Summary: 2021-11-28 00:53:41,659: Stall times for the last 1239.0s: 2021-11-28 00:53:41,659: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: some cpu 9.4s, avg 0.8% 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: some io 206.5s, avg 16.7% 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: full io 195.0s, avg 15.7% 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: ----------- 2021-11-28 00:53:41,660: some memory 1113.0s, avg 89.8% 2021-11-28 00:53:41,661: full memory 1107.1s, avg 89.3% mem: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch2/swappiness0/mem psi: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch2/swappiness0/psi 5.16-rc2 and 3rd Mel's patch [6] on top of 2nd ============================================== - with noswap Summary: 2021-11-28 01:35:26,077: Stall times for the last 949.4s: 2021-11-28 01:35:26,077: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:35:26,078: some cpu 5.4s, avg 0.6% 2021-11-28 01:35:26,078: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:35:26,078: some io 269.0s, avg 28.3% 2021-11-28 01:35:26,078: full io 259.4s, avg 27.3% 2021-11-28 01:35:26,078: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:35:26,079: some memory 759.9s, avg 80.0% 2021-11-28 01:35:26,079: full memory 757.5s, avg 79.8% mem: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch3/noswap/mem psi: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch3/noswap/psi - with swappiness=0 Summary: 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: Stall times for the last 1127.8s: 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: some cpu 6.8s, avg 0.6% 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: some io 228.3s, avg 20.2% 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: full io 218.7s, avg 19.4% 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: ----------- 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: some memory 987.4s, avg 87.6% 2021-11-28 01:59:40,253: full memory 982.3s, avg 87.1% mem log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch3/swappiness0/mem psi log: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/cache-tests/main/516-reclaim-throttle/516-rc2/patch3/swappiness0/psi ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Should I test anything else? [1] https://github.com/hakavlad/nohang [2] https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hakavlad/nohang/master/src/psi2log [3] https://github.com/hakavlad/mem2log [4] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20211124115007.GG3366@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ [5] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20211124143303.GH3366@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/ [6] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20211126162416.GK3366@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/