| Message ID | 163157838440.13293.12568710689057349786.stgit@noble.brown (mailing list archive) |
|---|---|
| State | New, archived |
| Headers | show |
| Series | congestion_wait() and GFP_NOFAIL | expand |
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:13:04AM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on > ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it > > is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode > endless loop around allocator. > > congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way > to wait for memory to become available. > > So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then > loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a > bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most > appropriate way. > > Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> > --- > fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > /* > * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire > - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at > - * least one extra page. > + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on > + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. > */ > for (;;) { > long last = filled; > @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > } > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); This smells wrong - the whole point of using the bulk page allocator in this loop is to avoid the costly individual calls to alloc_page(). What we are implementing here fail-fast semantics for readahead and fail-never for everything else. If the bulk allocator fails to get a page from the fast path free lists, it already falls back to __alloc_pages(gfp, 0, ...) to allocate a single page. So AFAICT there's no need to add another call to alloc_page() because we can just do this instead: if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) gfp_mask |= __GFP_NORETRY; else - gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS; + gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL; Which should make the __alloc_pages() call in alloc_pages_bulk_array() do a __GFP_NOFAIL allocation and hence provide the necessary never-fail guarantee that is needed here. At which point, the bulk allocation loop can be simplified because we can only fail bulk allocation for readahead, so something like: if (filled == bp->b_page_count) { XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_found); break; } - if (filled != last) + if (filled == last) { - continue; - - if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) { ASSERT(flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD); xfs_buf_free_pages(bp); return -ENOMEM; } XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); } return 0; } would do the right thing and still record that we are doing blocking allocations (via the xb_page_retries stat) in this loop. Cheers, Dave.
On Tue, 14 Sep 2021, Dave Chinner wrote: > On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:13:04AM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > > Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on > > ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it > > > > is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode > > endless loop around allocator. > > > > congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from > > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way > > to wait for memory to become available. > > > > So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then > > loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a > > bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most > > appropriate way. > > > > Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> > > --- > > fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > > /* > > * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire > > - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at > > - * least one extra page. > > + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on > > + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. > > */ > > for (;;) { > > long last = filled; > > @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > } > > > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > > + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); > > This smells wrong - the whole point of using the bulk page allocator > in this loop is to avoid the costly individual calls to > alloc_page(). > > What we are implementing here fail-fast semantics for readahead and > fail-never for everything else. If the bulk allocator fails to get > a page from the fast path free lists, it already falls back to > __alloc_pages(gfp, 0, ...) to allocate a single page. So AFAICT > there's no need to add another call to alloc_page() because we can > just do this instead: > > if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) > gfp_mask |= __GFP_NORETRY; > else > - gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS; > + gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL; > > Which should make the __alloc_pages() call in > alloc_pages_bulk_array() do a __GFP_NOFAIL allocation and hence > provide the necessary never-fail guarantee that is needed here. That is a nice simplification. Mel Gorman told me https://lore.kernel.org/linux-nfs/20210907153116.GJ3828@suse.com/ that alloc_pages_bulk ignores GFP_NOFAIL. I added that to the documentation comment in an earlier patch. I had a look at the code and cannot see how it would fail to allocate at least one page. Maybe Mel can help.... NeilBrown > > At which point, the bulk allocation loop can be simplified because > we can only fail bulk allocation for readahead, so something like: > > if (filled == bp->b_page_count) { > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_found); > break; > } > > - if (filled != last) > + if (filled == last) { > - continue; > - > - if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) { > ASSERT(flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD); > xfs_buf_free_pages(bp); > return -ENOMEM; > } > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > } > return 0; > } > > would do the right thing and still record that we are doing > blocking allocations (via the xb_page_retries stat) in this loop. > > Cheers, > > Dave. > -- > Dave Chinner > david@fromorbit.com > >
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 12:35:59PM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > On Tue, 14 Sep 2021, Dave Chinner wrote: > > On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:13:04AM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > > > Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on > > > ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it > > > > > > is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode > > > endless loop around allocator. > > > > > > congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from > > > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way > > > to wait for memory to become available. > > > > > > So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then > > > loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a > > > bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most > > > appropriate way. > > > > > > Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> > > > --- > > > fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- > > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) > > > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > > > > /* > > > * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire > > > - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at > > > - * least one extra page. > > > + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on > > > + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. > > > */ > > > for (;;) { > > > long last = filled; > > > @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > } > > > > > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > > > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > > > + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); > > > > This smells wrong - the whole point of using the bulk page allocator > > in this loop is to avoid the costly individual calls to > > alloc_page(). > > > > What we are implementing here fail-fast semantics for readahead and > > fail-never for everything else. If the bulk allocator fails to get > > a page from the fast path free lists, it already falls back to > > __alloc_pages(gfp, 0, ...) to allocate a single page. So AFAICT > > there's no need to add another call to alloc_page() because we can > > just do this instead: > > > > if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) > > gfp_mask |= __GFP_NORETRY; > > else > > - gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS; > > + gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL; > > > > Which should make the __alloc_pages() call in > > alloc_pages_bulk_array() do a __GFP_NOFAIL allocation and hence > > provide the necessary never-fail guarantee that is needed here. > > That is a nice simplification. > Mel Gorman told me > https://lore.kernel.org/linux-nfs/20210907153116.GJ3828@suse.com/ > that alloc_pages_bulk ignores GFP_NOFAIL. I added that to the > documentation comment in an earlier patch. Well, that's a surprise to me - I can't see where it masked out NOFAIL, and it seems quite arbitrary to just say "different code needs different fallbacks, so you can't have NOFAIL" despite NOFAIL being the exact behavioural semantics one of only three users of the bulk allocator really needs... > I had a look at the code and cannot see how it would fail to allocate at > least one page. Maybe Mel can help.... Yup, clarification is definitely needed here. Cheers, Dave.
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 12:35:59PM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > On Tue, 14 Sep 2021, Dave Chinner wrote: > > On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:13:04AM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > > > Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on > > > ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it > > > > > > is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode > > > endless loop around allocator. > > > > > > congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from > > > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way > > > to wait for memory to become available. > > > > > > So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then > > > loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a > > > bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most > > > appropriate way. > > > > > > Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> > > > --- > > > fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- > > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) > > > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > > > > /* > > > * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire > > > - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at > > > - * least one extra page. > > > + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on > > > + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. > > > */ > > > for (;;) { > > > long last = filled; > > > @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > } > > > > > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > > > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > > > + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); > > > > This smells wrong - the whole point of using the bulk page allocator > > in this loop is to avoid the costly individual calls to > > alloc_page(). > > > > What we are implementing here fail-fast semantics for readahead and > > fail-never for everything else. If the bulk allocator fails to get > > a page from the fast path free lists, it already falls back to > > __alloc_pages(gfp, 0, ...) to allocate a single page. So AFAICT > > there's no need to add another call to alloc_page() because we can > > just do this instead: > > > > if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) > > gfp_mask |= __GFP_NORETRY; > > else > > - gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS; > > + gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL; > > > > Which should make the __alloc_pages() call in > > alloc_pages_bulk_array() do a __GFP_NOFAIL allocation and hence > > provide the necessary never-fail guarantee that is needed here. > > That is a nice simplification. > Mel Gorman told me > https://lore.kernel.org/linux-nfs/20210907153116.GJ3828@suse.com/ > that alloc_pages_bulk ignores GFP_NOFAIL. I added that to the > documentation comment in an earlier patch. > > I had a look at the code and cannot see how it would fail to allocate at > least one page. Maybe Mel can help.... > If there are already at least one page an the array and the first attempt at bulk allocation fails, it'll simply return. It's an odd corner case that may never apply but it's possible. That said, I'm of the opinion that __GFP_NOFAIL should not be expanded and instead congestion_wait should be deleted and replaced with something triggered by reclaim making progress.
On Wed, 15 Sep 2021, Mel Gorman wrote: > On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 12:35:59PM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > > On Tue, 14 Sep 2021, Dave Chinner wrote: > > > On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:13:04AM +1000, NeilBrown wrote: > > > > Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on > > > > ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it > > > > > > > > is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode > > > > endless loop around allocator. > > > > > > > > congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from > > > > schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way > > > > to wait for memory to become available. > > > > > > > > So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then > > > > loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a > > > > bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most > > > > appropriate way. > > > > > > > > Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> > > > > --- > > > > fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- > > > > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) > > > > > > > > diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > > index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 > > > > --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > > +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c > > > > @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > > > > > > /* > > > > * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire > > > > - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at > > > > - * least one extra page. > > > > + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on > > > > + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. > > > > */ > > > > for (;;) { > > > > long last = filled; > > > > @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( > > > > } > > > > > > > > XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); > > > > - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); > > > > + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); > > > > > > This smells wrong - the whole point of using the bulk page allocator > > > in this loop is to avoid the costly individual calls to > > > alloc_page(). > > > > > > What we are implementing here fail-fast semantics for readahead and > > > fail-never for everything else. If the bulk allocator fails to get > > > a page from the fast path free lists, it already falls back to > > > __alloc_pages(gfp, 0, ...) to allocate a single page. So AFAICT > > > there's no need to add another call to alloc_page() because we can > > > just do this instead: > > > > > > if (flags & XBF_READ_AHEAD) > > > gfp_mask |= __GFP_NORETRY; > > > else > > > - gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS; > > > + gfp_mask |= GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOFAIL; > > > > > > Which should make the __alloc_pages() call in > > > alloc_pages_bulk_array() do a __GFP_NOFAIL allocation and hence > > > provide the necessary never-fail guarantee that is needed here. > > > > That is a nice simplification. > > Mel Gorman told me > > https://lore.kernel.org/linux-nfs/20210907153116.GJ3828@suse.com/ > > that alloc_pages_bulk ignores GFP_NOFAIL. I added that to the > > documentation comment in an earlier patch. > > > > I had a look at the code and cannot see how it would fail to allocate at > > least one page. Maybe Mel can help.... > > > > If there are already at least one page an the array and the first attempt > at bulk allocation fails, it'll simply return. It's an odd corner case > that may never apply but it's possible. That said, I'm of the opinion that > __GFP_NOFAIL should not be expanded and instead congestion_wait should be > deleted and replaced with something triggered by reclaim making progress. Ahh.... that was (I think) fixed by https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-mm/patch/163027609524.7591.4987241695872857175@noble.neil.brown.name/ (which I cannot find on lore.kernel.org - strange) which you acked - and which I meant to include in this series but somehow missed. NeilBrown
diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c index 5fa6cd947dd4..1ae3768f6504 100644 --- a/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c +++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c @@ -372,8 +372,8 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( /* * Bulk filling of pages can take multiple calls. Not filling the entire - * array is not an allocation failure, so don't back off if we get at - * least one extra page. + * array is not an allocation failure, so don't fail or fall back on + * __GFP_NOFAIL if we get at least one extra page. */ for (;;) { long last = filled; @@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ xfs_buf_alloc_pages( } XFS_STATS_INC(bp->b_mount, xb_page_retries); - congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ / 50); + bp->b_pages[filled++] = alloc_page(gfp_mask | __GFP_NOFAIL); } return 0; }
Documentation commment in gfp.h discourages indefinite retry loops on ENOMEM and says of __GFP_NOFAIL that it is definitely preferable to use the flag rather than opencode endless loop around allocator. congestion_wait() is indistinguishable from schedule_timeout_uninterruptible() in practice and it is not a good way to wait for memory to become available. So instead of waiting, allocate a single page using __GFP_NOFAIL, then loop around and try to get any more pages that might be needed with a bulk allocation. This single-page allocation will wait in the most appropriate way. Signed-off-by: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.de> --- fs/xfs/xfs_buf.c | 6 +++--- 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)