On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 03:19:19PM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:18:23 +0800
> Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > Record the readahead pattern in ra_flags and extend the ra_submit()
> > parameters, to be used by the next readahead tracing/stats patches.
> >
> > 7 patterns are defined:
> >
> > pattern readahead for
> > -----------------------------------------------------------
> > RA_PATTERN_INITIAL start-of-file read
> > RA_PATTERN_SUBSEQUENT trivial sequential read
> > RA_PATTERN_CONTEXT interleaved sequential read
> > RA_PATTERN_OVERSIZE oversize read
> > RA_PATTERN_MMAP_AROUND mmap fault
> > RA_PATTERN_FADVISE posix_fadvise()
> > RA_PATTERN_RANDOM random read
>
> It would be useful to spell out in full detail what an "interleaved
> sequential read" is, and why a read is considered "oversized", etc.
> The 'enum readahead_pattern' definition site would be a good place for
> this.
Good point, here is the added comments:
/*
* Which policy makes decision to do the current read-ahead IO?
*
* RA_PATTERN_INITIAL readahead window is initially opened,
* normally when reading from start of file
* RA_PATTERN_SUBSEQUENT readahead window is pushed forward
* RA_PATTERN_CONTEXT no readahead window available, querying the
* page cache to decide readahead start/size.
* This typically happens on interleaved reads (eg.
* reading pages 0, 1000, 1, 1001, 2, 1002, ...)
* where one file_ra_state struct is not enough
* for recording 2+ interleaved sequential read
* streams.
* RA_PATTERN_MMAP_AROUND read-around on mmap page faults
* (w/o any sequential/random hints)
* RA_PATTERN_BACKWARDS reverse reading detected
* RA_PATTERN_FADVISE triggered by POSIX_FADV_WILLNEED or FMODE_RANDOM
* RA_PATTERN_OVERSIZE a random read larger than max readahead size,
* do max readahead to break down the read size
* RA_PATTERN_RANDOM a small random read
*/
> > Note that random reads will be recorded in file_ra_state now.
> > This won't deteriorate cache bouncing because the ra->prev_pos update
> > in do_generic_file_read() already pollutes the data cache, and
> > filemap_fault() will stop calling into us after MMAP_LOTSAMISS.
> >
> > --- linux-next.orig/include/linux/fs.h 2011-11-20 20:10:48.000000000 +0800
> > +++ linux-next/include/linux/fs.h 2011-11-20 20:18:29.000000000 +0800
> > @@ -951,6 +951,39 @@ struct file_ra_state {
> >
> > /* ra_flags bits */
> > #define READAHEAD_MMAP_MISS 0x000003ff /* cache misses for mmap access */
> > +#define READAHEAD_MMAP 0x00010000
>
> Why leave a gap?
Never mind, it's now converted to a bit field :)
> And what is READAHEAD_MMAP anyway?
READAHEAD_MMAP will be set for mmap page faults.
> > +#define READAHEAD_PATTERN_SHIFT 28
>
> Why 28?
Bits 28-32 are for READAHEAD_PATTERN.
Anyway it will be gone when breaking down the ra_flags fields into
individual variables.
> > +#define READAHEAD_PATTERN 0xf0000000
> > +
> > +/*
> > + * Which policy makes decision to do the current read-ahead IO?
> > + */
> > +enum readahead_pattern {
> > + RA_PATTERN_INITIAL,
> > + RA_PATTERN_SUBSEQUENT,
> > + RA_PATTERN_CONTEXT,
> > + RA_PATTERN_MMAP_AROUND,
> > + RA_PATTERN_FADVISE,
> > + RA_PATTERN_OVERSIZE,
> > + RA_PATTERN_RANDOM,
> > + RA_PATTERN_ALL, /* for summary stats */
> > + RA_PATTERN_MAX
> > +};
>
> Again, the behaviour is all undocumented. I see from the code that
> multiple flags can be set at the same time. So afacit a file can be
> marked RANDOM and SUBSEQUENT at the same time, which seems oxymoronic.
Nope, it will be classified into one "pattern" exclusively.
> This reader wants to know what the implications of this are - how the
> code chooses, prioritises and acts. But this code doesn't tell me.
Hope the comment addresses this issue. The precise logic happens
mainly inside ondemand_readahead().
> > +static inline unsigned int ra_pattern(unsigned int ra_flags)
> > +{
> > + unsigned int pattern = ra_flags >> READAHEAD_PATTERN_SHIFT;
>
> OK, no masking is needed because the code silently assumes that arg
> `ra_flags' came out of an ra_state.ra_flags and it also silently
> assumes that no higher bits are used in ra_state.ra_flags.
>
> That's a bit of a handgrenade - if someone redoes the flags
> enumeration, the code will explode.
Yeah sorry for playing with such tricks. Will get rid of this function
totally and use a plain assign to ra->pattern.
> > + return min_t(unsigned int, pattern, RA_PATTERN_ALL);
> > +}
>
> <scratches head>
>
> What the heck is that min_t() doing in there?
Just for safety... not really necessary given correct code.
Thanks,
Fengguang
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