Re: [PATCH 2/8] readahead: make default readahead size a kernel parameter

[Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@intel.com>]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 06:01:37PM +0800, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 05:18:21PM +0800, Wu Fengguang wrote:
> > From: Nikanth Karthikesan <knikanth@suse.de>
> > 
> > Add new kernel parameter "readahead=", which allows user to override
> > the static VM_MAX_READAHEAD=128kb.
> 
> Is a boot-time paramter really such a good idea?  I would at least

It's most convenient to set at boot time, because the default size
will be used to initialize all the block devices.

> make it a sysctl so that it's run-time controllable, including
> beeing able to set it from initscripts.

Once boot up, it's more natural to set the size one by one, for
example

        blockdev --setra 1024 /dev/sda2
or
        echo 512 > /sys/block/sda/queue/read_ahead_kb

And you still have the chance to modify the global default, but the
change will only be inherited by newly created devices thereafter:

        echo 512 > /sys/devices/virtual/bdi/default/read_ahead_kb

The above command is very suitable for use in initscripts.  However
there are no natural way to do sysctl as there is no such a global
value.

Thanks,
Fengguang

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