Herbert Poetzl reported a performance regression since 2.6.39. The test is a simple dd read, but with big block size. The reason is: T1: ra (A, A+128k), (A+128k, A+256k) T2: lock_page for page A, submit the 256k T3: hit page A+128K, ra (A+256k, A+384). the range isn't submitted because of plug and there isn't any lock_page till we hit page A+256k because all pages from A to A+256k is in memory T4: hit page A+256k, ra (A+384, A+ 512). Because of plug, the range isn't submitted again. T5: lock_page A+256k, so (A+256k, A+512k) will be submitted. The task is waitting for (A+256k, A+512k) finish. There is no request to disk in T3 and T4, so readahead pipeline breaks. We really don't need block plug for generic_file_aio_read() for buffered I/O. The readahead already has plug and has fine grained control when I/O should be submitted. Deleting plug for buffered I/O fixes the regression. One side effect is plug makes the request size 256k, the size is 128k without it. This is because default ra size is 128k and not a reason we need plug here. Signed-off-by: Shaohua Li <shaohua.li@xxxxxxxxx> Tested-by: Herbert Poetzl <herbert@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Tested-by: Eric Dumazet <eric.dumazet@xxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@xxxxxxxxx> diff --git a/mm/filemap.c b/mm/filemap.c index 97f49ed..b662757 100644 --- a/mm/filemap.c +++ b/mm/filemap.c @@ -1400,15 +1400,12 @@ generic_file_aio_read(struct kiocb *iocb, const struct iovec *iov, unsigned long seg = 0; size_t count; loff_t *ppos = &iocb->ki_pos; - struct blk_plug plug; count = 0; retval = generic_segment_checks(iov, &nr_segs, &count, VERIFY_WRITE); if (retval) return retval; - blk_start_plug(&plug); - /* coalesce the iovecs and go direct-to-BIO for O_DIRECT */ if (filp->f_flags & O_DIRECT) { loff_t size; @@ -1424,8 +1421,12 @@ generic_file_aio_read(struct kiocb *iocb, const struct iovec *iov, retval = filemap_write_and_wait_range(mapping, pos, pos + iov_length(iov, nr_segs) - 1); if (!retval) { + struct blk_plug plug; + + blk_start_plug(&plug); retval = mapping->a_ops->direct_IO(READ, iocb, iov, pos, nr_segs); + blk_finish_plug(&plug); } if (retval > 0) { *ppos = pos + retval; @@ -1481,7 +1482,6 @@ generic_file_aio_read(struct kiocb *iocb, const struct iovec *iov, break; } out: - blk_finish_plug(&plug); return retval; } EXPORT_SYMBOL(generic_file_aio_read); -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@xxxxxxxxx. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Fight unfair telecom internet charges in Canada: sign http://stopthemeter.ca/ Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx"> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>