On Wed, 9 Feb 2011 22:33:38 +0100
Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 09, 2011 at 12:38:03PM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > On Wed, 9 Feb 2011 22:21:17 +0900
> > Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > free_pcppages_bulk() frees pages from pcp lists in a round-robin
> > > fashion by keeping batch_free counter. But it doesn't need to spin
> > > if there is only one non-empty list. This can be checked by
> > > batch_free == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > ---
> > > mm/page_alloc.c | 4 ++++
> > > 1 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> > >
> > > diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > index a873e61e312e..470fb42e303c 100644
> > > --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > > @@ -614,6 +614,10 @@ static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
> > > list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> > > } while (list_empty(list));
> > >
> > > + /* This is an only non-empty list. Free them all. */
> > > + if (batch_free == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES)
> > > + batch_free = to_free;
> > > +
> > > do {
> > > page = list_entry(list->prev, struct page, lru);
> > > /* must delete as __free_one_page list manipulates */
> >
> > free_pcppages_bulk() hurts my brain.
>
> Thanks for saying that ;-)
My brain has a lot of scar tissue.
> > What is it actually trying to do, and why? It counts up the number of
> > contiguous empty lists and then frees that number of pages from the
> > first-encountered non-empty list and then advances onto the next list?
> >
> > What's the point in that? What relationship does the number of
> > contiguous empty lists have with the number of pages to free from one
> > list?
>
> It at least recovers some of the otherwise wasted effort of looking at
> an empty list, by flushing more pages once it encounters a non-empty
> list. After all, freeing to_free pages is the goal.
>
> That breaks the round-robin fashion, though. If list-1 has pages,
> list-2 is empty and list-3 has pages, it will repeatedly free one page
> from list-1 and two pages from list-3.
>
> My initial response to Namhyung's patch was to write up a version that
> used a bitmap for all lists. It starts with all lists set and clears
> their respective bit once the list is empty, so it would never
> consider them again. But it looked a bit over-engineered for 3 lists
> and the resulting object code was bigger than what we have now.
> Though, it would be more readable. Attached for reference (untested
> and all).
>
> Hannes
>
> diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> index 60e58b0..c77ab28 100644
> --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> @@ -590,8 +590,7 @@ static inline int free_pages_check(struct page *page)
> static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
> struct per_cpu_pages *pcp)
> {
> - int migratetype = 0;
> - int batch_free = 0;
> + unsigned long listmap = (1 << MIGRATE_PCPTYPES) - 1;
> int to_free = count;
>
> spin_lock(&zone->lock);
> @@ -599,31 +598,29 @@ static void free_pcppages_bulk(struct zone *zone, int count,
> zone->pages_scanned = 0;
>
> while (to_free) {
> - struct page *page;
> - struct list_head *list;
> -
> + int migratetype;
> /*
> - * Remove pages from lists in a round-robin fashion. A
> - * batch_free count is maintained that is incremented when an
> - * empty list is encountered. This is so more pages are freed
> - * off fuller lists instead of spinning excessively around empty
> - * lists
> + * Remove pages from lists in a round-robin fashion.
> + * Empty lists are excluded from subsequent rounds.
> */
> - do {
> - batch_free++;
> - if (++migratetype == MIGRATE_PCPTYPES)
> - migratetype = 0;
> - list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> - } while (list_empty(list));
> + for_each_set_bit (migratetype, &listmap, MIGRATE_PCPTYPES) {
> + struct list_head *list;
> + struct page *page;
>
> - do {
> + list = &pcp->lists[migratetype];
> + if (list_empty(list)) {
> + listmap &= ~(1 << migratetype);
> + continue;
> + }
> + if (!to_free--)
> + break;
> page = list_entry(list->prev, struct page, lru);
> /* must delete as __free_one_page list manipulates */
> list_del(&page->lru);
> /* MIGRATE_MOVABLE list may include MIGRATE_RESERVEs */
> __free_one_page(page, zone, 0, page_private(page));
> trace_mm_page_pcpu_drain(page, 0, page_private(page));
> - } while (--to_free && --batch_free && !list_empty(list));
> + }
> }
> __mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_FREE_PAGES, count);
> spin_unlock(&zone->lock);
Well, it replaces one linear search with another one. If you really
want to avoid repeated walking over empty lists then create a local
array `list_head *lists[MIGRATE_PCPTYPES]' (or MIGRATE_PCPTYPES+1 for
null-termination), populate it on entry and compact it as lists fall
empty. Then the code can simply walk around the lists until to_free is
satisfied or list_empty(lists[0]). It's not obviously worth the effort
though - the empty list_heads will be cache-hot and all the cost will
be in hitting cache-cold pageframes.
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