Re: [PATCH] mm/page_alloc: consider pfn holes after pfn_valid() in __pageblock_pfn_to_page()

["Huang, Ying" <ying.huang@intel.com>]

Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com> writes:

> On 4/20/2023 3:22 PM, Huang, Ying wrote:
>> Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com> writes:
>> 
>>> On 4/12/2023 7:25 PM, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>>>> On 12.04.23 12:45, Baolin Wang wrote:
>>>>> Now the __pageblock_pfn_to_page() is used by set_zone_contiguous(),
>>>>> which checks whether the given zone contains holes, and uses pfn_valid()
>>>>> to check if the end pfn is valid. However pfn_valid() can not make sure
>>>>> the end pfn is not a hole if the size of a pageblock is larger than the
>>>>> size of a sub-mem_section, since the struct page getting by pfn_to_page()
>>>>> may represent a hole or an unusable page frame, which may cause incorrect
>>>>> zone contiguous is set.
>>>>>
>>>>> Though another user of pageblock_pfn_to_page() in compaction seems work
>>>>> well now, it is better to avoid scanning or touching these offline pfns.
>>>>> So like commit 2d070eab2e82 ("mm: consider zone which is not fully
>>>>> populated to have holes"), we should also use pfn_to_online_page() for
>>>>> the end pfn to make sure it is a valid pfn with usable page frame.
>>>>> Meanwhile the pfn_valid() for end pfn can be dropped now.
>>>>>
>>>>> Moreover we've already used pfn_to_online_page() for start pfn to make
>>>>> sure it is online and valid, so the pfn_valid() for the start pfn is
>>>>> unnecessary, drop it.
>>>> pageblocks are supposed to fall into a single memory section, so in
>>>> mos > cases, if the start is online, so is the end.
>>>
>>> Yes, the granularity of memory hotplug is a mem_section.
>>>
>>> However, suppose the pageblock order is MAX_ORDER-1, and the size of a
>>> sub-section is 2M, that means a pageblock will fall into 2 sub
>>> mem-section, and if there is a hole in the zone, that means the 2nd
>>> sub mem-section can be invalid without setting subsection_map bitmap.
>>>
>>> So the start is online can make sure the end pfn of a pageblock is
>>> online, but a valid start pfn can not make sure the end pfn is valid
>>> in the bitmap of ms->usage->subsection_map.
>> arch_add_memory
>>    add_pages
>>      __add_pages
>>        sparse_add_section /* set subsection_map */
>> arch_add_memory() is only called by add_memory_resource() and
>> pagemap_range() (called add_pages() too).  In add_memory_resource(),
>> check_hotplug_memory_range() will enforce a strict hotplug range
>> alignment requirement (128 MB on x86_64).  pagemap_range() are used for
>> ZONE_DEVICE only.  That is, for normal memory, hotplug granularity is
>> much larger than 2MB.
>> IIUC, the situation you mentioned above is impossible.  Or do I miss
>> something?
>
> Thanks for your input. Your example is correct, but this is not the
> case I want to describe. My case is not about the memory hotplug,
> instead about the early memory holes when initialzing the memory. Let
> me try to describe explicity:
>
> First suppose the pageblock order is MAX_ORDER-1, and see below memory
> layout as an example:
>
> [    0.000000] Zone ranges:
> [    0.000000]   DMA      [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000ffffffff]
> [    0.000000]   DMA32    empty
> [    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000100000000-0x0000001fa7ffffff]
> [    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
> [    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x0000001fa3c7ffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa3c80000-0x0000001fa3ffffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa4000000-0x0000001fa402ffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa4030000-0x0000001fa40effff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa40f0000-0x0000001fa73cffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa73d0000-0x0000001fa745ffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa7460000-0x0000001fa746ffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa7470000-0x0000001fa758ffff]
> [    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000001fa7590000-0x0000001fa7dfffff]
>
> Focus on the last memory range, and there is a hole for the range [mem
> 0x0000001fa7590000-0x0000001fa7dfffff]. That means the last pageblock 
> will contain the range from 0x1fa7c00000 to 0x1fa7ffffff, since the
> pageblock must be 4M aligned. And in this page block, these pfns will 
> fall into 2 sub-section (the sub-section size is 2M aligned).
>
> So, the 1st sub-section (indicates pfn range: 0x1fa7c00000 -
> 0x1fa7dfffff ) in this pageblock is valid by 
> free_area_init()--->subsection_map_init(), but the 2nd sub-section
> (indicates pfn range: 0x1fa7e00000 - 0x1fa7ffffff ) in this pageblock
> is not valid.
>
> The problem is, if we just check the pageblock start of the hole pfn
> (such as 0x1fa7dfffff) to make sure the hole pfn (0x1fa7dfffff) is
> also valid, which is NOT correct. So that is what I mean "the start is
> online can make sure the end pfn of a pageblock is online, but a valid
> start pfn can not make sure the end pfn is valid in the bitmap of 
> ms->usage->subsection_map."
>
> Hope I make it clear. Does that make sense to you? Thanks.

Thanks for your detailed description.  You are right, it's possible that
the second subsection of a pageblock is a hole.

It's good to remove unnecessary pfn_valid(start_pfn) check in your
original patch.  But it appears unnecessary to replace
pfn_valid(end_pfn) with pfn_to_online_page(end_pfn).  Yes, it's possible
that there's a hole in a page block.  But it appears that this will not
break anything.  Per my understanding, even if we had fixed this one,
there may be other smaller memory holes in a pageblock represented as
reserved pages.

Best Regards,
Huang, Ying

[snip]