On 2018/06/21 7:36, David Rientjes wrote: >> @@ -1010,6 +1010,33 @@ int unregister_oom_notifier(struct notifier_block *nb) >> EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(unregister_oom_notifier); >> >> /** >> + * try_oom_notifier - Try to reclaim memory from OOM notifier list. >> + * >> + * Returns non-zero if notifier callbacks released something, zero otherwise. >> + */ >> +unsigned long try_oom_notifier(void) > > It certainly is tried, but based on its usage it would probably be better > to describe what is being returned (it's going to set *did_some_progress, > which is a page count). Well, it depends on what the callbacks are doing. Currently, we have 5 users. arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/cmm.c arch/s390/mm/cmm.c drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_shrinker.c drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h Speak of rcu_oom_notify() in kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h , we can't tell whether the callback helped releasing memory, for it does not update the "freed" argument. >> +{ >> + static DEFINE_MUTEX(oom_notifier_lock); >> + unsigned long freed = 0; >> + >> + /* >> + * Since OOM notifier callbacks must not depend on __GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM >> + * && !__GFP_NORETRY memory allocation, waiting for mutex here is safe. >> + * If lockdep reports possible deadlock dependency, it will be a bug in >> + * OOM notifier callbacks. >> + * >> + * If SIGKILL is pending, it is likely that current thread was selected >> + * as an OOM victim. In that case, current thread should return as soon >> + * as possible using memory reserves. >> + */ >> + if (mutex_lock_killable(&oom_notifier_lock)) >> + return 0; >> + blocking_notifier_call_chain(&oom_notify_list, 0, &freed); >> + mutex_unlock(&oom_notifier_lock); >> + return freed; >> +} > > If __blocking_notifier_call_chain() used down_read_killable(), could we > eliminate oom_notifier_lock? I don't think we can eliminate it now, for it is a serialization lock (while trying to respond to SIGKILL as soon as possible) which is currently achieved by mutex_trylock(&oom_lock). (1) rcu_oom_notify() in kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h is not prepared for being called concurrently. ---------- static int rcu_oom_notify(struct notifier_block *self, unsigned long notused, void *nfreed) { int cpu; /* Wait for callbacks from earlier instance to complete. */ wait_event(oom_callback_wq, atomic_read(&oom_callback_count) == 0); // <= Multiple threads can pass this line at the same time. smp_mb(); /* Ensure callback reuse happens after callback invocation. */ /* * Prevent premature wakeup: ensure that all increments happen * before there is a chance of the counter reaching zero. */ atomic_set(&oom_callback_count, 1); // <= Multiple threads can execute this line at the same time. for_each_online_cpu(cpu) { smp_call_function_single(cpu, rcu_oom_notify_cpu, NULL, 1); cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs(); } /* Unconditionally decrement: no need to wake ourselves up. */ atomic_dec(&oom_callback_count); // <= Multiple threads can execute this line at the same time, making oom_callback_count < 0 ? return NOTIFY_OK; } ---------- The counter inconsistency problem could be fixed by - atomic_set(&oom_callback_count, 1); + atomic_inc(&oom_callback_count); but who becomes happy if rcu_oom_notify() became ready to be called concurrently? We want to wait for the callback to complete before proceeding to the OOM killer. I think that we should save CPU resource by serializing concurrent callers. (2) i915_gem_shrinker_oom() in drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_shrinker.c depends on mutex_trylock() from shrinker_lock() from i915_gem_shrink() from i915_gem_shrink_all() to return 1 (i.e. succeed) before need_resched() becomes true in order to avoid returning without reclaiming memory. > This patch is certainly an improvement because it does the last > get_page_from_freelist() call after invoking the oom notifiers that can > free memory and we've otherwise pointlessly redirected it elsewhere. Thanks, but this patch might break subtle balance which is currently achieved by mutex_trylock(&oom_lock) serialization/exclusion. (3) virtballoon_oom_notify() in drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c by default tries to release 256 pages. Since this value is configurable, one might set 1048576 pages. If virtballoon_oom_notify() is concurrently called by many threads, it might needlessly deflate the memory balloon. We might want to remember and reuse the last result among serialized callers (feedback mechanism) like { static DEFINE_MUTEX(oom_notifier_lock); static unsigned long last_freed; unsigned long freed = 0; if (mutex_trylock(&oom_notifier_lock)) { blocking_notifier_call_chain(&oom_notify_list, 0, &freed); last_freed = freed; } else { mutex_lock(&oom_notifier_lock); freed = last_freed; } mutex_unlock(&oom_notifier_lock); return freed; } or { static DEFINE_MUTEX(oom_notifier_lock); static unsigned long last_freed; unsigned long freed = 0; if (mutex_lock_killable(&oom_notifier_lock)) { freed = last_freed; last_freed >>= 1; return freed; } else if (last_freed) { freed = last_freed; last_freed >>= 1; } else { blocking_notifier_call_chain(&oom_notify_list, 0, &freed); last_freed = freed; } mutex_unlock(&oom_notifier_lock); return freed; } . Without feedback mechanism, mutex_lock_killable(&oom_notifier_lock) serialization could still needlessly deflate the memory balloon compared to mutex_trylock(&oom_lock) serialization/exclusion. Maybe virtballoon_oom_notify() (and two CMM users) would implement feedback mechanism themselves, by examining watermark from OOM notifier hooks. On 2018/06/21 16:31, Michal Hocko wrote: > On Wed 20-06-18 15:36:45, David Rientjes wrote: > [...] >> That makes me think that "oom_notify_list" isn't very intuitive: it can >> free memory as a last step prior to oom kill. OOM notify, to me, sounds >> like its only notifying some callbacks about the condition. Maybe >> oom_reclaim_list and then rename this to oom_reclaim_pages()? > > Yes agreed and that is the reason I keep saying we want to get rid of > this yet-another-reclaim mechanism. We already have shrinkers which are > the main source of non-lru pages reclaim. Why do we even need > oom_reclaim_pages? What is fundamentally different here? Sure those > pages should be reclaimed as the last resort but we already do have > priority for slab shrinking so we know that the system is struggling > when reaching the lowest priority. Isn't that enough to express the need > for current oom notifier implementations? > Even if we update OOM notifier users to use shrinker hooks, they will need a subtle balance which is currently achieved by mutex_trylock(&oom_lock). Removing OOM notifier is not doable right now. It is not suitable as a regression fix for commit 27ae357fa82be5ab ("mm, oom: fix concurrent munlock and oom reaper unmap, v3"). What we could afford for this regression is https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9842889/ which is exactly what you suggested in a thread at https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-mm/msg117896.html .