From: Hao Li <hao.li@linux.dev>
To: vbabka@kernel.org, harry@kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org
Cc: cl@gentwo.org, rientjes@google.com, roman.gushchin@linux.dev,
linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Hao Li <hao.li@linux.dev>
Subject: [PATCH v2 1/2] mm/slub: detach and reattach partial slabs in batch
Date: Thu, 28 May 2026 17:52:43 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260528095254.43721-2-hao.li@linux.dev> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260528095254.43721-1-hao.li@linux.dev>
get_partial_node_bulk() moves each selected slab from the node's
partial list to the local pc->slabs list using a remove_partial() and
list_add() pair. In practice, the loop often detaches several adjacent
slabs. Doing this individually repeatedly manipulates list pointers
while holding n->list_lock, which causes unnecessary churn.
To demonstrate this, the counts below show how often single vs. multiple
consecutive slabs are retrieved during a will-it-scale mmap stress test:
consecutive_slabs_count frequency
= 1 277345324
= 2 335238023
= 3 175717884
>= 4 88862337
The data confirms that retrieving multiple contiguous slabs is highly
frequent.
To optimize this, track contiguous runs of matching slabs and move each
run in a single operation using list_bulk_move_tail(). This reduces list
pointer churn inside the lock critical section.
Apply the same optimization to __refill_objects_node() when reattaching
leftover partial slabs back to the node's partial list.
The will-it-scale mmap benchmark shows a 2% ~ 5% performance improvement
after applying this patch.
Signed-off-by: Hao Li <hao.li@linux.dev>
---
mm/slub.c | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++--------
1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index b9f10b869914..eb60b3da23ff 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -3739,6 +3739,7 @@ static bool get_partial_node_bulk(struct kmem_cache *s,
bool allow_spin)
{
struct slab *slab, *slab2;
+ struct slab *first = NULL, *last = NULL;
unsigned int total_free = 0;
unsigned long flags;
@@ -3757,8 +3758,15 @@ static bool get_partial_node_bulk(struct kmem_cache *s,
struct freelist_counters flc;
unsigned int slab_free;
- if (!pfmemalloc_match(slab, pc->flags))
+ if (!pfmemalloc_match(slab, pc->flags)) {
+ if (first) {
+ list_bulk_move_tail(&pc->slabs,
+ &first->slab_list,
+ &last->slab_list);
+ first = NULL;
+ }
continue;
+ }
/*
* determine the number of free objects in the slab racily
@@ -3775,15 +3783,21 @@ static bool get_partial_node_bulk(struct kmem_cache *s,
&& total_free + slab_free > pc->max_objects)
break;
- remove_partial(n, slab);
-
- list_add(&slab->slab_list, &pc->slabs);
+ if (!first)
+ first = slab;
+ last = slab;
+ slab_clear_node_partial(slab);
+ n->nr_partial--;
total_free += slab_free;
if (total_free >= pc->max_objects)
break;
}
+ if (first)
+ list_bulk_move_tail(&pc->slabs, &first->slab_list,
+ &last->slab_list);
+
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&n->list_lock, flags);
return total_free > 0;
}
@@ -7194,12 +7208,13 @@ __refill_objects_node(struct kmem_cache *s, void **p, gfp_t gfp, unsigned int mi
if (!list_empty(&pc.slabs)) {
spin_lock_irqsave(&n->list_lock, flags);
- list_for_each_entry_safe(slab, slab2, &pc.slabs, slab_list) {
-
- list_del(&slab->slab_list);
- add_partial(n, slab, ADD_TO_TAIL);
+ list_for_each_entry(slab, &pc.slabs, slab_list) {
+ slab_set_node_partial(slab);
+ n->nr_partial++;
}
+ list_splice_tail(&pc.slabs, &n->partial);
+
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&n->list_lock, flags);
}
--
2.54.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-05-28 9:53 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-05-28 9:52 [PATCH v2 0/2] mm/slub: batch partial slab list operations Hao Li
2026-05-28 9:52 ` Hao Li [this message]
2026-05-28 9:52 ` [PATCH v2 2/2] mm/slub: introduce helper to decrement partial slab count and clear flag Hao Li
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