[merged mm-stable] mm-fix-ratelimit_pages-update-error-in-dirty_ratio_handler.patch removed from -mm tree

[merged mm-stable] mm-fix-ratelimit_pages-update-error-in-dirty_ratio_handler.patch removed from -mm tree

[Andrew Morton]

The quilt patch titled
     Subject: mm: fix ratelimit_pages update error in dirty_ratio_handler()
has been removed from the -mm tree.  Its filename was
     mm-fix-ratelimit_pages-update-error-in-dirty_ratio_handler.patch

This patch was dropped because it was merged into the mm-stable branch
of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/akpm/mm

------------------------------------------------------
From: Jinliang Zheng <alexjlzheng@tencent.com>
Subject: mm: fix ratelimit_pages update error in dirty_ratio_handler()
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2025 17:02:32 +0800

In dirty_ratio_handler(), vm_dirty_bytes must be set to zero before
calling writeback_set_ratelimit(), as global_dirty_limits() always
prioritizes the value of vm_dirty_bytes.

It's domain_dirty_limits() that's relevant here, not node_dirty_ok:

  dirty_ratio_handler
    writeback_set_ratelimit
      global_dirty_limits(&dirty_thresh)           <- ratelimit_pages based on dirty_thresh
        domain_dirty_limits
          if (bytes)                               <- bytes = vm_dirty_bytes <--------+
            thresh = f1(bytes)                     <- prioritizes vm_dirty_bytes      |
          else                                                                        |
            thresh = f2(ratio)                                                        |
      ratelimit_pages = f3(dirty_thresh)                                              |
    vm_dirty_bytes = 0                             <- it's late! ---------------------+

This causes ratelimit_pages to still use the value calculated based on
vm_dirty_bytes, which is wrong now.


The impact visible to userspace is difficult to capture directly because
there is no procfs/sysfs interface exported to user space.  However, it
will have a real impact on the balance of dirty pages.

For example:

1. On default, we have vm_dirty_ratio=40, vm_dirty_bytes=0

2. echo 8192 > dirty_bytes, then vm_dirty_bytes=8192,
   vm_dirty_ratio=0, and ratelimit_pages is calculated based on
   vm_dirty_bytes now.

3. echo 20 > dirty_ratio, then since vm_dirty_bytes is not reset to
   zero when writeback_set_ratelimit() -> global_dirty_limits() ->
   domain_dirty_limits() is called, reallimit_pages is still calculated
   based on vm_dirty_bytes instead of vm_dirty_ratio.  This does not
   conform to the actual intent of the user.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20250415090232.7544-1-alexjlzheng@tencent.com
Fixes: 9d823e8f6b1b ("writeback: per task dirty rate limit")
Signed-off-by: Jinliang Zheng <alexjlzheng@tencent.com>
Reviewed-by: MengEn Sun <mengensun@tencent.com>
Cc: Andrea Righi <andrea@betterlinux.com>
Cc: Fenggaung Wu <fengguang.wu@intel.com>
Cc: Jinliang Zheng <alexjlzheng@tencent.com>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox (Oracle) <willy@infradead.org>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 mm/page-writeback.c |    2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

--- a/mm/page-writeback.c~mm-fix-ratelimit_pages-update-error-in-dirty_ratio_handler
+++ a/mm/page-writeback.c
@@ -520,8 +520,8 @@ static int dirty_ratio_handler(const str
 
 	ret = proc_dointvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
 	if (ret == 0 && write && vm_dirty_ratio != old_ratio) {
-		writeback_set_ratelimit();
 		vm_dirty_bytes = 0;
+		writeback_set_ratelimit();
 	}
 	return ret;
 }
_

Patches currently in -mm which might be from alexjlzheng@tencent.com are