Re: [ext3][kernels >= 2.6.20.7 at least] KDE going comatose when FS is under heavy write load (massive starvation)

Andrew Morton
2007-04-28T08:59:23Z

On Sat, 28 Apr 2007 10:51:48 +0200 Matthias Andree <matthias.andree@gmx.de> wrote:

> On Fri, 27 Apr 2007, Andrew Morton wrote:
>
> > But none of this explains a 20-minute hang, unless a *lot* of fsyncs are
> > being performed, perhaps.
>
> Another thing that is rather unpleasant (haven't yet tried fiddling with
> the dirty limits) is UDF to DVD-RAM - try rsyncing /home to a DVD-RAM,
> that's going to leave you with tons of dirty buffers that clear slowly
> -- "watch -n 1 grep -i dirty /proc/meminfo" is boring, but elucidating...
>

yes, a few people are attacking that from various angles at present. It's
tricky - writeback has to juggle a lot of balls. We'll get there.