ext4_free_blocks is looping around the allocation request and mimics __GFP_NOFAIL behavior without any allocation fallback strategy. Let's remove the open coded loop and replace it with __GFP_NOFAIL. Without the flag the allocator has no way to find out never-fail requirement and cannot help in any way. Signed-off-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxx> --- Hi Ted, I am sorry for seding these changes one at the time but I haven't found a proper way to find all of them automatically. So I am discovering them as I check the code due to other reasons. Thanks! fs/ext4/mballoc.c | 16 +++++----------- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c index 8d1e60214ef0..41260489d3bc 100644 --- a/fs/ext4/mballoc.c +++ b/fs/ext4/mballoc.c @@ -4800,18 +4800,12 @@ void ext4_free_blocks(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode, /* * blocks being freed are metadata. these blocks shouldn't * be used until this transaction is committed + * + * We use __GFP_NOFAIL because ext4_free_blocks() is not allowed + * to fail. */ - retry: - new_entry = kmem_cache_alloc(ext4_free_data_cachep, GFP_NOFS); - if (!new_entry) { - /* - * We use a retry loop because - * ext4_free_blocks() is not allowed to fail. - */ - cond_resched(); - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ/50); - goto retry; - } + new_entry = kmem_cache_alloc(ext4_free_data_cachep, + GFP_NOFS|__GFP_NOFAIL); new_entry->efd_start_cluster = bit; new_entry->efd_group = block_group; new_entry->efd_count = count_clusters; -- 2.1.4 -- 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/ . Don't email: <a href=mailto:"dont@xxxxxxxxx"> email@xxxxxxxxx </a>