Re: [PATCH 2/3] mm: remain migratetype in freed page

[Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>]

On Wed, Sep 05, 2012 at 10:25:34AM +0100, Mel Gorman wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 05, 2012 at 04:26:01PM +0900, Minchan Kim wrote:
> > Page allocator doesn't keep migratetype information to page
> > when the page is freed. This patch remains the information
> > to freed page's index field which isn't used by free/alloc
> > preparing so it shouldn't change any behavir except below one.
> > 
> 
> This explanation could have been a *LOT* more helpful.
> 
> The page allocator caches the pageblock information in page->private while
> it is in the PCP freelists but this is overwritten with the order of the
> page when freed to the buddy allocator. This patch stores the migratetype
> of the page in the page->index field so that it is available at all times.

I will add your comment in my description.

> 
> > This patch adds a new call site in __free_pages_ok so it might be
> > overhead a bit but it's for high order allocation.
> > So I believe damage isn't hurt.
> > 
> 
> The additional call to set_page_migratetype() is not heavy. If you were
> adding a new call to get_pageblock_migratetype() or something equally
> expensive I would be more concerned.

I'm lucky to avoid your keen eye. ;)

> 
> > Signed-off-by: Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>
> 
> The information you store in the page->index becomes stale if the page
> gets moved to another free list by move_freepages(). Not sure if that is
> a problem for you or not but it is possible that
> get_page_migratetype(page) != get_pageblock_migratetype(page)

Thanks for the spot. I have to fix it.

> 
> > ---
> >  include/linux/mm.h |    6 ++++--
> >  mm/page_alloc.c    |    7 ++++---
> >  2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
> > index 86d61d6..8fd32da 100644
> > --- a/include/linux/mm.h
> > +++ b/include/linux/mm.h
> > @@ -251,12 +251,14 @@ struct inode;
> >  
> >  static inline void set_page_migratetype(struct page *page, int migratetype)
> >  {
> > -	set_page_private(page, migratetype);
> > +	VM_BUG_ON((unsigned int)migratetype >= MIGRATE_TYPES);
> 
> This additional bug check is not mentioned in the changelog. Not clear
> if it's necessary.

I'm not strong so if anyone think it's not necessary, I will drop.

> 
> > +	page->index = migratetype;
> >  }
> >  
> >  static inline int get_page_migratetype(struct page *page)
> >  {
> > -	return page_private(page);
> > +	VM_BUG_ON((unsigned int)page->index >= MIGRATE_TYPES);
> > +	return page->index;
> >  }
> >  
> >  /*
> > diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > index 103ba66..32985dd 100644
> > --- a/mm/page_alloc.c
> > +++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
> > @@ -723,6 +723,7 @@ static void __free_pages_ok(struct page *page, unsigned int order)
> >  {
> >  	unsigned long flags;
> >  	int wasMlocked = __TestClearPageMlocked(page);
> > +	int migratetype;
> >  
> >  	if (!free_pages_prepare(page, order))
> >  		return;
> > @@ -731,9 +732,9 @@ static void __free_pages_ok(struct page *page, unsigned int order)
> >  	if (unlikely(wasMlocked))
> >  		free_page_mlock(page);
> >  	__count_vm_events(PGFREE, 1 << order);
> > -	free_one_page(page_zone(page), page, order,
> > -					get_pageblock_migratetype(page));
> > -
> > +	migratetype = get_pageblock_migratetype(page);
> > +	set_page_migratetype(page, migratetype);
> > +	free_one_page(page_zone(page), page, order, migratetype);
> >  	local_irq_restore(flags);
> >  }
> >  
> 
> -- 
> Mel Gorman
> SUSE Labs
> 
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-- 
Kind regards,
Minchan Kim

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