By default, KSM works only on memory that is marked by madvise(). And the only way to get around that is to either: * use LD_PRELOAD; or * patch the kernel with something like UKSM or PKSM. Instead, lets implement a sysfs knob, which allows marking VMAs as mergeable. This can be used manually on some task in question or by some small userspace helper daemon. The knob is named "force_madvise", and it is write-only. It accepts a PID to act on. To mark the VMAs as mergeable, use: # echo PID > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/force_madvise To unmerge all the VMAs, use the same approach, prepending the PID with the "minus" sign: # echo -PID > /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/force_madvise This patchset is based on earlier Timofey's submission [1], but it doesn't use dedicated kthread to walk through the list of tasks/VMAs. Instead, it is up to userspace to traverse all the tasks in /proc if needed. The previous suggestion [2] was based on amending do_anonymous_page() handler to implement fully automatic mode, but this approach was incorrect due to improper locking and not desired due to excessive complexity. The current approach just implements minimal interface and leaves the decision on how and when to act to userspace. Thanks. [1] https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/1012142/ [2] http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1905.1/02417.html Oleksandr Natalenko (4): mm/ksm: introduce ksm_enter() helper mm/ksm: introduce ksm_leave() helper mm/ksm: introduce force_madvise knob mm/ksm: add force merging/unmerging documentation Documentation/admin-guide/mm/ksm.rst | 11 ++ mm/ksm.c | 160 +++++++++++++++++++++------ 2 files changed, 137 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-) -- 2.21.0
