This is a note to let you know that I've just added the patch titled
mm: z3fold: deprecate CONFIG_Z3FOLD
to the 6.11-stable tree which can be found at:
http://www.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/stable-queue.git;a=summary
The filename of the patch is:
mm-z3fold-deprecate-config_z3fold.patch
and it can be found in the queue-6.11 subdirectory.
If you, or anyone else, feels it should not be added to the stable tree,
please let <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> know about it.
commit 14f0bd3b32487a3bf4a9f461a1ad9fddc2d95af4
Author: Yosry Ahmed <yosryahmed@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon Oct 7 19:21:16 2024 +0000
mm: z3fold: deprecate CONFIG_Z3FOLD
The z3fold compressed pages allocator is rarely used, most users use
zsmalloc. The only disadvantage of zsmalloc in comparison is the
dependency on MMU, and zbud is a more common option for !MMU as it was the
default zswap allocator for a long time.
Historically, zsmalloc had worse latency than zbud and z3fold but offered
better memory savings. This is no longer the case as shown by a simple
recent analysis [1]. That analysis showed that z3fold does not have any
advantage over zsmalloc or zbud considering both performance and memory
usage. In a kernel build test on tmpfs in a limited cgroup, z3fold took
3% more time and used 1.8% more memory. The latency of zswap_load() was
7% higher, and that of zswap_store() was 10% higher. Zsmalloc is better
in all metrics.
Moreover, z3fold apparently has latent bugs, which was made noticeable by
a recent soft lockup bug report with z3fold [2]. Switching to zsmalloc
not only fixed the problem, but also reduced the swap usage from 6~8G to
1~2G. Other users have also reported being bitten by mistakenly enabling
z3fold.
Other than hurting users, z3fold is repeatedly causing wasted engineering
effort. Apart from investigating the above bug, it came up in multiple
development discussions (e.g. [3]) as something we need to handle, when
there aren't any legit users (at least not intentionally).
The natural course of action is to deprecate z3fold, and remove in a few
cycles if no objections are raised from active users. Next on the list
should be zbud, as it offers marginal latency gains at the cost of huge
memory waste when compared to zsmalloc. That one will need to wait until
zsmalloc does not depend on MMU.
Rename the user-visible config option from CONFIG_Z3FOLD to
CONFIG_Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED so that users with CONFIG_Z3FOLD=y get a new
prompt with explanation during make oldconfig. Also, remove
CONFIG_Z3FOLD=y from defconfigs.
[1]https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAJD7tkbRF6od-2x_L8-A1QL3=2Ww13sCj4S3i4bNndqF+3+_Vg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[2]https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/EF0ABD3E-A239-4111-A8AB-5C442E759CF3@xxxxxxxxx/
[3]https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAJD7tkbnmeVugfunffSovJf9FAgy9rhBVt_tx=nxUveLUfqVsA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
[arnd@xxxxxxxx: deprecate ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_Z3FOLD as well]
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240909202625.1054880-1-arnd@xxxxxxxxxx
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240904233343.933462-1-yosryahmed@xxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Yosry Ahmed <yosryahmed@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Chris Down <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Nhat Pham <nphamcs@xxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Vitaly Wool <vitaly.wool@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@xxxxxx>
Cc: Aneesh Kumar K.V <aneesh.kumar@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Christophe Leroy <christophe.leroy@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Huacai Chen <chenhuacai@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Miaohe Lin <linmiaohe@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Michael Ellerman <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Naveen N. Rao <naveen.n.rao@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Nicholas Piggin <npiggin@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Sergey Senozhatsky <senozhatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: WANG Xuerui <kernel@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
(cherry picked from commit 7a2369b74abf76cd3e54c45b30f6addb497f831b)
Signed-off-by: Yosry Ahmed <yosryahmed@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@xxxxxxxxxx>
diff --git a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson3_defconfig b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson3_defconfig
index b4252c357c8e2..75b366407a60a 100644
--- a/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson3_defconfig
+++ b/arch/loongarch/configs/loongson3_defconfig
@@ -96,7 +96,6 @@ CONFIG_ZPOOL=y
CONFIG_ZSWAP=y
CONFIG_ZSWAP_COMPRESSOR_DEFAULT_ZSTD=y
CONFIG_ZBUD=y
-CONFIG_Z3FOLD=y
CONFIG_ZSMALLOC=m
# CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK is not set
CONFIG_MEMORY_HOTPLUG=y
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/configs/ppc64_defconfig b/arch/powerpc/configs/ppc64_defconfig
index 544a65fda77bc..d39284489aa26 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/configs/ppc64_defconfig
+++ b/arch/powerpc/configs/ppc64_defconfig
@@ -81,7 +81,6 @@ CONFIG_MODULE_SIG_SHA512=y
CONFIG_PARTITION_ADVANCED=y
CONFIG_BINFMT_MISC=m
CONFIG_ZSWAP=y
-CONFIG_Z3FOLD=y
CONFIG_ZSMALLOC=y
# CONFIG_SLAB_MERGE_DEFAULT is not set
CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM=y
diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index b72e7d040f789..03395624bc709 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -146,12 +146,15 @@ config ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_ZBUD
help
Use the zbud allocator as the default allocator.
-config ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_Z3FOLD
- bool "z3fold"
- select Z3FOLD
+config ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED
+ bool "z3foldi (DEPRECATED)"
+ select Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED
help
Use the z3fold allocator as the default allocator.
+ Deprecated and scheduled for removal in a few cycles,
+ see CONFIG_Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED.
+
config ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_ZSMALLOC
bool "zsmalloc"
depends on HAVE_ZSMALLOC
@@ -164,7 +167,7 @@ config ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT
string
depends on ZSWAP
default "zbud" if ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_ZBUD
- default "z3fold" if ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_Z3FOLD
+ default "z3fold" if ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED
default "zsmalloc" if ZSWAP_ZPOOL_DEFAULT_ZSMALLOC
default ""
@@ -178,15 +181,25 @@ config ZBUD
deterministic reclaim properties that make it preferable to a higher
density approach when reclaim will be used.
-config Z3FOLD
- tristate "3:1 compression allocator (z3fold)"
+config Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED
+ tristate "3:1 compression allocator (z3fold) (DEPRECATED)"
depends on ZSWAP
help
+ Deprecated and scheduled for removal in a few cycles. If you have
+ a good reason for using Z3FOLD over ZSMALLOC, please contact
+ linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx and the zswap maintainers.
+
A special purpose allocator for storing compressed pages.
It is designed to store up to three compressed pages per physical
page. It is a ZBUD derivative so the simplicity and determinism are
still there.
+config Z3FOLD
+ tristate
+ default y if Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED=y
+ default m if Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED=m
+ depends on Z3FOLD_DEPRECATED
+
config HAVE_ZSMALLOC
def_bool y
depends on MMU
