From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Jens Axboe Subject: Re: [PATCH] remove use_sg_chaining Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 21:01:17 +0100 Message-ID: <20080120200117.GZ6258@kernel.dk> References: <1200419579.9273.39.camel@localhost.localdomain> <47939E9B.9020906@panasas.com> <1200857062.3105.15.camel@localhost.localdomain> <20080120192942.GW6258@kernel.dk> <4793A78A.6000604@panasas.com> <20080120195956.GY6258@kernel.dk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from brick.kernel.dk ([87.55.233.238]:11490 "EHLO kernel.dk" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755138AbYATUBW (ORCPT ); Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:01:22 -0500 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20080120195956.GY6258@kernel.dk> Sender: linux-scsi-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-scsi@vger.kernel.org To: Boaz Harrosh Cc: James Bottomley , linux-scsi On Sun, Jan 20 2008, Jens Axboe wrote: > On Sun, Jan 20 2008, Boaz Harrosh wrote: > > On Sun, Jan 20 2008 at 21:29 +0200, Jens Axboe wrote: > > > On Sun, Jan 20 2008, James Bottomley wrote: > > >> On Sun, 2008-01-20 at 21:18 +0200, Boaz Harrosh wrote: > > >>> On Tue, Jan 15 2008 at 19:52 +0200, James Bottomley wrote: > > >>>> this patch depends on the sg branch of the block tree > > >>>> > > >>>> James > > >>>> > > >>>> --- > > >>>> From: James Bottomley > > >>>> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:11:46 -0600 > > >>>> Subject: remove use_sg_chaining > > >>>> > > >>>> With the sg table code, every SCSI driver is now either chain capable > > >>>> or broken, so there's no need to have a check in the host template. > > >>>> > > >>>> Also tidy up the code by moving the scatterlist size defines into the > > >>>> SCSI includes and permit the last entry of the scatterlist pools not > > >>>> to be a power of two. > > >>>> --- > > >>> I have a theoretical problem that BUGed me from the beginning. > > >>> > > >>> Could it happen that a memory critical IO, (that is needed to free > > >>> memory), be collected into an sg-chained large IO, and the allocation > > >>> of the multiple sg-pool-allocations fail, thous dead locking on > > >>> out-of-memory? Is there a mechanism in place that will split large IO's > > >>> into smaller chunks in the event of out-of-memory condition in prep_fn? > > >>> > > >>> Is it possible to call blk_rq_map_sg() with less then what is present > > >>> at request to only map the starting portion? > > >> Obviously, that's why I was worrying about mempool size and default > > >> blocks a while ago. > > >> > > >> However, the deadlock only occurs if the device is swap or backing a > > >> filesystem with memory mapped files. The use cases for this are really > > >> tapes and other entities that need huge buffers. That's why we're > > >> keeping the system sector size at 1024 unless you alter it through sysfs > > >> (here gun, there foot ...) > > > > > > Alternatively (and much safer, imho), we allow blk_rq_map_sg() return > > > smaller than nr_phys_segments and just ensure that the request is > > > continued nicely through the normal 'request if residual' logic. > > > > > Thats a grate Idea. I will Q it on my todo list. Thanks > > ok good, thanks :-) btw, the above is full of typos, my apologies. it should read "requeue if residual", but I guess you already guessed as much. -- Jens Axboe