unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to figure out why the Linux desktop becomes overly
unresponsive whenever there is a file copy going on, this happens to a
large extent with GUI based file copying, and some lesser, but with
command line copying too.
does it have anything to do with the kernel ??,
if it does help, then I am running Fedora 10 on a Hp nx 7400, Centrino
Duo processor.

Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am trying to figure out why the Linux desktop becomes overly
> unresponsive whenever there is a file copy going on, this happens to a
> large extent with GUI based file copying, and some lesser, but with
> command line copying too.
> does it have anything to do with the kernel ??,
> if it does help, then I am running Fedora 10 on a Hp nx 7400, Centrino
> Duo processor.
>
> Cheers
> Satish
> --

Quickly, is the system getting good hard drive performance overall?

hdparm -tT /dev/sda

or whatever device you are using. Maybe it's stuck in some sort of
programmed IO or something very old?

- Mark

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> I presume that if you start your machine and don't start X at all,
> never run Gnome or whatever, that you get similar numbers in your
> console? Possibly the desktop is using a lot of CPU but I doubt it.
> I've never seen that. Every time I've had problems like this it's been
> a newish chipset and the driver for the hard drive interface isn't up
> to snuff yet.
yeah I get similar numbers even in the absence of the desktop manager
, when I tried to copy from  a virtual console.
the stats look something like this :

Linux 2.6.29.1 (satish) 	05/16/2009

08:01:49 AM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
08:01:52 AM     all      3.68      0.00      6.72     41.60      0.00     48.00
08:01:55 AM     all      7.10      0.00     15.00     35.81      0.00     42.10
08:01:58 AM     all     10.45      0.00     22.03     51.29      0.00     16.24
08:02:01 AM     all      5.37      0.00      9.12     72.48      0.00     13.03
08:02:04 AM     all      7.25      0.00     12.40     37.04      0.00     43.32
Average:        all      6.77      0.00     13.06     47.58      0.00     32.59


> So, maybe something now about the actual hardware? lspci, lsmod, uname

uname -a :
Linux satish 2.6.29.1 #1 SMP Tue Apr 21 01:17:09 IST 2009 i686 i686
i386 GNU/Linux

lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML
and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS,
943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME,
943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High
Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express
Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express
Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express
Port 4 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB
UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2
EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface
Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family)
SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
02:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
02:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant
IEEE 1394 Host Controller
02:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG
[Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

(sorry , I did not know what to filter out)


> -a. This is your main drive, correct? The driver is built in and not
> modular, or is it a second drive?
does it make a difference if the driver is built in or a module ??




Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 7:38 PM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
<SNIP>
> yeah I get similar numbers even in the absence of the desktop manager
> , when I tried to copy from  a virtual console.
> the stats look something like this :
<SNIP>
> 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family)
> SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
<SNIP>

I googled on "82801GBM/GHM slow" and found a lot to read.

Is DMA for this drive enabled? It seems that some others didn't have
it enabled by default, or maybe at all. I didn't real the threads very
far.

hdparm -d1 /dev/sda

I think hdparm works for most SATA drivers. man sata to see the other
things you can check in terms of configuration.

Clearly, since you see the same thing in a console with X never having
been started says it's not a GUI issue.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> I googled on "82801GBM/GHM slow" and found a lot to read.

will read through that ,...

> Is DMA for this drive enabled? It seems that some others didn't have
> it enabled by default, or maybe at all. I didn't real the threads very
> far.

the udma5 mode seems to be enabled , though I can't really make any
sense out of it:

hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

 Model=TOSHIBA MK1234GSX                       , FwRev=AH001H  ,
SerialNo=           372HFDVGS
 Config={ Fixed }
 RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
 CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234441648
 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
 PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
 DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
 AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=enabled
 Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-3,4,5,6,7

 * signifies the current active mode

> hdparm -d1 /dev/sda

got the following error when I tried setting the mode as above, I
think along with -d1 we need to give some "X" argument( or so reads
the man page)..

 hdparm -d1 /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 setting using_dma to 1 (on)
 HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
 HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

> Clearly, since you see the same thing in a console with X never having
> been started says it's not a GUI issue.

yes I suppose, but any idea how I figure out what exactly is causing
the IOWAIT, .. and if there are any patches, let me know, I can test
them .

Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I googled on "82801GBM/GHM slow" and found a lot to read.
>
> will read through that ,...
>
>> Is DMA for this drive enabled? It seems that some others didn't have
>> it enabled by default, or maybe at all. I didn't real the threads very
>> far.
>
> the udma5 mode seems to be enabled , though I can't really make any
> sense out of it:
>
> hdparm -i /dev/sda
>
> /dev/sda:
>
>  Model=TOSHIBA MK1234GSX                       , FwRev=AH001H  ,
> SerialNo=           372HFDVGS
>  Config={ Fixed }
>  RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4
>  BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16?
>  CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=234441648
>  IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
>  PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
>  DMA modes:  sdma0 sdma1 sdma2 mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
>  UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
>  AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=enabled
>  Drive conforms to: Unspecified:  ATA/ATAPI-3,4,5,6,7
>
>  * signifies the current active mode
>
>> hdparm -d1 /dev/sda
>
> got the following error when I tried setting the mode as above, I
> think along with -d1 we need to give some "X" argument( or so reads
> the man page)..
>
>  hdparm -d1 /dev/sda
>
> /dev/sda:
>  setting using_dma to 1 (on)
>  HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
>  HDIO_GET_DMA failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device
>
>> Clearly, since you see the same thing in a console with X never having
>> been started says it's not a GUI issue.
>
> yes I suppose, but any idea how I figure out what exactly is causing
> the IOWAIT, .. and if there are any patches, let me know, I can test
> them .
>
> Cheers
> Satish

OK, the solution for this is probably beyond my expertise but this
looks identical to when I got a Compaq laptop and the ATI chipset's
DMA driver wasn't working right. hdparm said I was using udma but I
got error messages like you are when I tried to enable DMA.

Do you believe this was working better on an earlier kernel? If so you
might drop back and see if these commands work better. If so that
would suggest a regression of some type.

Hopefully someone here can direct you to the right person that supports this.

- Mark

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> Do you believe this was working better on an earlier kernel? If so you
> might drop back and see if these commands work better. If so that
> would suggest a regression of some type.

I remember good performance with 2.6.26.x series, ... but I could not
try that out, ,... things on a 2.6.27.23 kernel seem no better :

Linux 2.6.27.23 (satish) 	05/16/2009

12:11:18 PM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
12:11:21 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.92     75.65      0.00     20.42
12:11:24 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.55     67.85      0.00     28.59
12:11:27 PM     all      0.16      0.00      4.51     45.09      0.00     50.24
12:11:30 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.59     44.77      0.00     51.63
12:11:33 PM     all      0.16      0.00      5.25     82.51      0.00     12.08
Average:        all      0.06      0.00      4.17     63.24      0.00     32.53

the average disk speed was about 10.5 MB/s, indeed the average IOWAIT
is more than that in the latest kernel, I will see if I can test it on
a 2.6.26.x kernel or earlier one and send you guys the stats.

Cheers
satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Mark Knecht]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 11:52 PM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Do you believe this was working better on an earlier kernel? If so you
>> might drop back and see if these commands work better. If so that
>> would suggest a regression of some type.
>
> I remember good performance with 2.6.26.x series, ... but I could not
> try that out, ,... things on a 2.6.27.23 kernel seem no better :
>

I think it's critically important that you find a kernel that has good
performance. Without it we're trusting a memory. With it developers
can bisect and find the solution.

- Mark

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Robert Hancock]

Satish Eerpini wrote:
>> Do you believe this was working better on an earlier kernel? If so you
>> might drop back and see if these commands work better. If so that
>> would suggest a regression of some type.
> 
> I remember good performance with 2.6.26.x series, ... but I could not
> try that out, ,... things on a 2.6.27.23 kernel seem no better :
> 
> Linux 2.6.27.23 (satish) 	05/16/2009
> 
> 12:11:18 PM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
> 12:11:21 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.92     75.65      0.00     20.42
> 12:11:24 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.55     67.85      0.00     28.59
> 12:11:27 PM     all      0.16      0.00      4.51     45.09      0.00     50.24
> 12:11:30 PM     all      0.00      0.00      3.59     44.77      0.00     51.63
> 12:11:33 PM     all      0.16      0.00      5.25     82.51      0.00     12.08
> Average:        all      0.06      0.00      4.17     63.24      0.00     32.53
> 
> the average disk speed was about 10.5 MB/s, indeed the average IOWAIT
> is more than that in the latest kernel, I will see if I can test it on
> a 2.6.26.x kernel or earlier one and send you guys the stats.

High iowait during a file copy with no other activity is entirely 
normal. If you have a core that has nothing to do but wait for IO to 
complete, you'll get iowait time. This isn't indicating a problem.

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> High iowait during a file copy with no other activity is entirely normal. If
> you have a core that has nothing to do but wait for IO to complete, you'll
> get iowait time. This isn't indicating a problem.

then the responsiveness seemed to be better with Wu Fengguang's
patches applied, or when I decreased the swappiness by decreasing the
value in /proc/sys/vm/swappiness . So I think I will stick with that,
and thanks everyone for the help.


thanks
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Robert Hancock]

Mark Knecht wrote:
> On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 7:38 PM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
> <SNIP>
>> yeah I get similar numbers even in the absence of the desktop manager
>> , when I tried to copy from  a virtual console.
>> the stats look something like this :
> <SNIP>
>> 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family)
>> SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
> <SNIP>
> 
> I googled on "82801GBM/GHM slow" and found a lot to read.
> 
> Is DMA for this drive enabled? It seems that some others didn't have
> it enabled by default, or maybe at all. I didn't real the threads very
> far.
> 
> hdparm -d1 /dev/sda
> 
> I think hdparm works for most SATA drivers. man sata to see the other
> things you can check in terms of configuration.

Switching on DMA manually isn't possible with libata through hdparm 
currently. However, this shouldn't be required with libata.

> 
> Clearly, since you see the same thing in a console with X never having
> been started says it's not a GUI issue.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> Mark

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Ray Lee]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 10:07 AM, Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am trying to figure out why the Linux desktop becomes overly
> unresponsive whenever there is a file copy going on, this happens to a
> large extent with GUI based file copying, and some lesser, but with
> command line copying too.
> does it have anything to do with the kernel ??,
> if it does help, then I am running Fedora 10 on a Hp nx 7400, Centrino
> Duo processor.

Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
may appreciate another tester.

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Christoph Lameter]

On Fri, 15 May 2009, Ray Lee wrote:

> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
> may appreciate another tester.

Please keep me in the loop. I'd be interested if those patches work and
what effect they have.

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Ray Lee]

On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Christoph Lameter
<cl@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 15 May 2009, Ray Lee wrote:
>
>> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
>> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
>> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
>> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
>> may appreciate another tester.
>
> Please keep me in the loop. I'd be interested if those patches work and
> what effect they have.

Whoops, looks like Wu Fengguang (cc:d), not Rik, has been working on
those patches. See the messages starting with "[PATCH 0/3] make mapped
executable pages the first class citizen" [
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/5/16/23 ]

Wu: The original reporter in this thread, Satish Eerpini, is reporting
interactivity problems that sound very much like mapped executables
are getting paged out while doing large copies. I suggested that
perhaps he'd like to try out your patches to see if it addresses his
problem. His original message is reproduced below. Later in the
thread, he said 2.6.26 was fine, 2.6.27 & .28 were not.

> Hello everyone,
>
> I am trying to figure out why the Linux desktop becomes overly
> unresponsive whenever there is a file copy going on, this happens to a
> large extent with GUI based file copying, and some lesser, but with
> command line copying too.
> does it have anything to do with the kernel ??,
> if it does help, then I am running Fedora 10 on a Hp nx 7400, Centrino
> Duo processor.
>
> Cheers
> Satish
> --
> http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Rik van Riel]

Ray Lee wrote:
> On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Christoph Lameter
> <cl@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 May 2009, Ray Lee wrote:
>>
>>> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
>>> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
>>> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
>>> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
>>> may appreciate another tester.
>> Please keep me in the loop. I'd be interested if those patches work and
>> what effect they have.
> 
> Whoops, looks like Wu Fengguang (cc:d), not Rik, has been working on
> those patches. See the messages starting with "[PATCH 0/3] make mapped
> executable pages the first class citizen" [
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/5/16/23 ]

We both have.  Wu's patches build on a patch of mine, which
Andrew has already merged into -mm.

http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/4/29/489

-- 
All rights reversed.

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 01:38:16AM +0800, Rik van Riel wrote:
> Ray Lee wrote:
> > On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 12:33 PM, Christoph Lameter
> > <cl@linux-foundation.org> wrote:
> >> On Fri, 15 May 2009, Ray Lee wrote:
> >>
> >>> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
> >>> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
> >>> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
> >>> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
> >>> may appreciate another tester.
> >> Please keep me in the loop. I'd be interested if those patches work and
> >> what effect they have.
> > 
> > Whoops, looks like Wu Fengguang (cc:d), not Rik, has been working on
> > those patches. See the messages starting with "[PATCH 0/3] make mapped
> > executable pages the first class citizen" [
> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/5/16/23 ]
> 
> We both have.  Wu's patches build on a patch of mine, which
> Andrew has already merged into -mm.
> 
> http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/4/29/489

Yes, better to apply Rik and mine patches together to get the best
cache behavior. Rik's patch is crucial. They are both small patches,
so can be backported trivially. Satish, what's your kernel version
(or, do you want to try a newer kernel)? And the content of
/proc/meminfo?

Thanks,
Fengguang

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> Yes, better to apply Rik and mine patches together to get the best
> cache behavior. Rik's patch is crucial. They are both small patches,
> so can be backported trivially. Satish, what's your kernel version
> (or, do you want to try a newer kernel)? And the content of
> /proc/meminfo?

I am running 2.6.29.1 right now , just tell me which kernel to try, or
to which kernel I have to apply the patches and try them, I will test
the patches and let you know if the situation improves.
and the contents of /proc/meminfo are :
MemTotal:        2585724 kB
MemFree:          900524 kB
Buffers:          197504 kB
Cached:          1080332 kB
SwapCached:            0 kB
Active:           639544 kB
Inactive:         933068 kB
Active(anon):     307100 kB
Inactive(anon):        0 kB
Active(file):     332444 kB
Inactive(file):   933068 kB
Unevictable:          16 kB
Mlocked:              16 kB
HighTotal:       1707848 kB
HighFree:         321868 kB
LowTotal:         877876 kB
LowFree:          578656 kB
SwapTotal:       3526256 kB
SwapFree:        3526256 kB
Dirty:              1000 kB
Writeback:             0 kB
AnonPages:        294788 kB
Mapped:            80084 kB
Slab:              89692 kB
SReclaimable:      71436 kB
SUnreclaim:        18256 kB
PageTables:         6008 kB
NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
Bounce:                0 kB
WritebackTmp:          0 kB
CommitLimit:     4819116 kB
Committed_AS:     796332 kB
VmallocTotal:     122880 kB
VmallocUsed:        8240 kB
VmallocChunk:      96952 kB
HugePages_Total:       0
HugePages_Free:        0
HugePages_Rsvd:        0
HugePages_Surp:        0
Hugepagesize:       4096 kB
DirectMap4k:       20472 kB
DirectMap4M:      884736 kB

Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2209 bytes --]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 09:27:03AM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > Yes, better to apply Rik and mine patches together to get the best
> > cache behavior. Rik's patch is crucial. They are both small patches,
> > so can be backported trivially. Satish, what's your kernel version
> > (or, do you want to try a newer kernel)? And the content of
> > /proc/meminfo?
> 
> I am running 2.6.29.1 right now , just tell me which kernel to try, or
> to which kernel I have to apply the patches and try them, I will test
> the patches and let you know if the situation improves.
> and the contents of /proc/meminfo are :

Satish, so you have 2.5GB memory and 80MB mapped pages, 33MB active
desktop files to protect. 

I've prepared a rolled up patch for you, run time tested.  It should
protect all of the above pages from being evicted by large file copies.

The attached patch is for 2.6.29.

Thanks,
Fengguang

> MemTotal:        2585724 kB
> MemFree:          900524 kB
> Buffers:          197504 kB
> Cached:          1080332 kB
> SwapCached:            0 kB
> Active:           639544 kB
> Inactive:         933068 kB
> Active(anon):     307100 kB
> Inactive(anon):        0 kB
> Active(file):     332444 kB
> Inactive(file):   933068 kB
> Unevictable:          16 kB
> Mlocked:              16 kB
> HighTotal:       1707848 kB
> HighFree:         321868 kB
> LowTotal:         877876 kB
> LowFree:          578656 kB
> SwapTotal:       3526256 kB
> SwapFree:        3526256 kB
> Dirty:              1000 kB
> Writeback:             0 kB
> AnonPages:        294788 kB
> Mapped:            80084 kB
> Slab:              89692 kB
> SReclaimable:      71436 kB
> SUnreclaim:        18256 kB
> PageTables:         6008 kB
> NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
> Bounce:                0 kB
> WritebackTmp:          0 kB
> CommitLimit:     4819116 kB
> Committed_AS:     796332 kB
> VmallocTotal:     122880 kB
> VmallocUsed:        8240 kB
> VmallocChunk:      96952 kB
> HugePages_Total:       0
> HugePages_Free:        0
> HugePages_Rsvd:        0
> HugePages_Surp:        0
> Hugepagesize:       4096 kB
> DirectMap4k:       20472 kB
> DirectMap4M:      884736 kB
> 
> Cheers
> Satish
> -- 
> http://satish.playdrupal.com

[-- Attachment #2: vmscan-working-set-protections.patch --]
[-- Type: text/x-diff, Size: 11823 bytes --]

--- linux.orig/mm/vmscan.c
+++ linux/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -581,6 +581,7 @@ static unsigned long shrink_page_list(st
 	struct pagevec freed_pvec;
 	int pgactivate = 0;
 	unsigned long nr_reclaimed = 0;
+	unsigned long vm_flags;
 
 	cond_resched();
 
@@ -631,7 +632,8 @@ static unsigned long shrink_page_list(st
 				goto keep_locked;
 		}
 
-		referenced = page_referenced(page, 1, sc->mem_cgroup);
+		referenced = page_referenced(page, 1,
+						sc->mem_cgroup, &vm_flags);
 		/* In active use or really unfreeable?  Activate it. */
 		if (sc->order <= PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER &&
 					referenced && page_mapping_inuse(page))
@@ -1210,9 +1212,10 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned 
 			struct scan_control *sc, int priority, int file)
 {
 	unsigned long pgmoved;
-	int pgdeactivate = 0;
 	unsigned long pgscanned;
+	unsigned long vm_flags;
 	LIST_HEAD(l_hold);	/* The pages which were snipped off */
+	LIST_HEAD(l_active);
 	LIST_HEAD(l_inactive);
 	struct page *page;
 	struct pagevec pvec;
@@ -1239,7 +1242,7 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned 
 		__mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_ACTIVE_ANON, -pgmoved);
 	spin_unlock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
 
-	pgmoved = 0;
+	pgmoved = 0;  /* count referenced (mapping) mapped pages */
 	while (!list_empty(&l_hold)) {
 		cond_resched();
 		page = lru_to_page(&l_hold);
@@ -1252,28 +1255,41 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned 
 
 		/* page_referenced clears PageReferenced */
 		if (page_mapping_inuse(page) &&
-		    page_referenced(page, 0, sc->mem_cgroup))
+		    page_referenced(page, 0, sc->mem_cgroup, &vm_flags)) {
 			pgmoved++;
+			/*
+			 * Identify referenced, file-backed active pages and
+			 * give them one more trip around the active list. So
+			 * that executable code get better chances to stay in
+			 * memory under moderate memory pressure.  Anon pages
+			 * are ignored, since JVM can create lots of anon
+			 * VM_EXEC pages.
+			 */
+			if ((vm_flags & VM_EXEC) && !PageAnon(page)) {
+				list_add(&page->lru, &l_active);
+				continue;
+			}
+		}
 
 		list_add(&page->lru, &l_inactive);
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * Move the pages to the [file or anon] inactive list.
+	 * Move pages back to the lru list.
 	 */
 	pagevec_init(&pvec, 1);
-	lru = LRU_BASE + file * LRU_FILE;
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
 	/*
-	 * Count referenced pages from currently used mappings as
-	 * rotated, even though they are moved to the inactive list.
-	 * This helps balance scan pressure between file and anonymous
-	 * pages in get_scan_ratio.
+	 * Count referenced pages from currently used mappings as rotated,
+	 * even though only some of them are actually re-activated.  This
+	 * helps balance scan pressure between file and anonymous pages in
+	 * get_scan_ratio.
 	 */
 	reclaim_stat->recent_rotated[!!file] += pgmoved;
 
-	pgmoved = 0;
+	pgmoved = 0;  /* count pages moved to inactive list */
+	lru = LRU_BASE + file * LRU_FILE;
 	while (!list_empty(&l_inactive)) {
 		page = lru_to_page(&l_inactive);
 		prefetchw_prev_lru_page(page, &l_inactive, flags);
@@ -1286,10 +1302,7 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned 
 		mem_cgroup_add_lru_list(page, lru);
 		pgmoved++;
 		if (!pagevec_add(&pvec, page)) {
-			__mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_LRU_BASE + lru, pgmoved);
 			spin_unlock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
-			pgdeactivate += pgmoved;
-			pgmoved = 0;
 			if (buffer_heads_over_limit)
 				pagevec_strip(&pvec);
 			__pagevec_release(&pvec);
@@ -1297,14 +1310,31 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned 
 		}
 	}
 	__mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_LRU_BASE + lru, pgmoved);
-	pgdeactivate += pgmoved;
-	if (buffer_heads_over_limit) {
-		spin_unlock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
-		pagevec_strip(&pvec);
-		spin_lock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
-	}
 	__count_zone_vm_events(PGREFILL, zone, pgscanned);
-	__count_vm_events(PGDEACTIVATE, pgdeactivate);
+	__count_vm_events(PGDEACTIVATE, pgmoved);
+
+	pgmoved = 0;  /* count pages moved back to active list */
+	lru = LRU_ACTIVE + file * LRU_FILE;
+	while (!list_empty(&l_active)) {
+		page = lru_to_page(&l_active);
+		prefetchw_prev_lru_page(page, &l_active, flags);
+		VM_BUG_ON(PageLRU(page));
+		SetPageLRU(page);
+		VM_BUG_ON(!PageActive(page));
+
+		list_move(&page->lru, &zone->lru[lru].list);
+		mem_cgroup_add_lru_list(page, lru);
+		pgmoved++;
+		if (!pagevec_add(&pvec, page)) {
+			spin_unlock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
+			if (buffer_heads_over_limit)
+				pagevec_strip(&pvec);
+			__pagevec_release(&pvec);
+			spin_lock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
+		}
+	}
+	__mod_zone_page_state(zone, NR_LRU_BASE + lru, pgmoved);
+
 	spin_unlock_irq(&zone->lru_lock);
 	if (vm_swap_full())
 		pagevec_swap_free(&pvec);
@@ -1344,12 +1374,48 @@ static int inactive_anon_is_low(struct z
 	return low;
 }
 
+static int inactive_file_is_low_global(struct zone *zone)
+{
+	unsigned long active, inactive;
+
+	active = zone_page_state(zone, NR_ACTIVE_FILE);
+	inactive = zone_page_state(zone, NR_INACTIVE_FILE);
+
+	return (active > inactive);
+}
+
+/**
+ * inactive_file_is_low - check if file pages need to be deactivated
+ * @zone: zone to check
+ * @sc:   scan control of this context
+ *
+ * When the system is doing streaming IO, memory pressure here
+ * ensures that active file pages get deactivated, until more
+ * than half of the file pages are on the inactive list.
+ *
+ * Once we get to that situation, protect the system's working
+ * set from being evicted by disabling active file page aging.
+ *
+ * This uses a different ratio than the anonymous pages, because
+ * the page cache uses a use-once replacement algorithm.
+ */
+static int inactive_file_is_low(struct zone *zone, struct scan_control *sc)
+{
+	int low;
+
+	if (scanning_global_lru(sc))
+		low = inactive_file_is_low_global(zone);
+	else
+		low = mem_cgroup_inactive_file_is_low(sc->mem_cgroup);
+	return low;
+}
+
 static unsigned long shrink_list(enum lru_list lru, unsigned long nr_to_scan,
 	struct zone *zone, struct scan_control *sc, int priority)
 {
 	int file = is_file_lru(lru);
 
-	if (lru == LRU_ACTIVE_FILE) {
+	if (lru == LRU_ACTIVE_FILE && inactive_file_is_low(zone, sc)) {
 		shrink_active_list(nr_to_scan, zone, sc, priority, file);
 		return 0;
 	}
--- linux.orig/include/linux/memcontrol.h
+++ linux/include/linux/memcontrol.h
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ extern void mem_cgroup_note_reclaim_prio
 extern void mem_cgroup_record_reclaim_priority(struct mem_cgroup *mem,
 							int priority);
 int mem_cgroup_inactive_anon_is_low(struct mem_cgroup *memcg);
+int mem_cgroup_inactive_file_is_low(struct mem_cgroup *memcg);
 unsigned long mem_cgroup_zone_nr_pages(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
 				       struct zone *zone,
 				       enum lru_list lru);
@@ -250,6 +251,12 @@ mem_cgroup_inactive_anon_is_low(struct m
 	return 1;
 }
 
+static inline int
+mem_cgroup_inactive_file_is_low(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
+{
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static inline unsigned long
 mem_cgroup_zone_nr_pages(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, struct zone *zone,
 			 enum lru_list lru)
--- linux.orig/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ linux/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -536,6 +536,17 @@ int mem_cgroup_inactive_anon_is_low(stru
 	return 0;
 }
 
+int mem_cgroup_inactive_file_is_low(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
+{
+	unsigned long active;
+	unsigned long inactive;
+
+	inactive = mem_cgroup_get_local_zonestat(memcg, LRU_INACTIVE_FILE);
+	active = mem_cgroup_get_local_zonestat(memcg, LRU_ACTIVE_FILE);
+
+	return (active > inactive);
+}
+
 unsigned long mem_cgroup_zone_nr_pages(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
 				       struct zone *zone,
 				       enum lru_list lru)
--- linux.orig/include/linux/rmap.h
+++ linux/include/linux/rmap.h
@@ -83,7 +83,8 @@ static inline void page_dup_rmap(struct 
 /*
  * Called from mm/vmscan.c to handle paging out
  */
-int page_referenced(struct page *, int is_locked, struct mem_cgroup *cnt);
+int page_referenced(struct page *, int is_locked,
+			struct mem_cgroup *cnt, unsigned long *vm_flags);
 int try_to_unmap(struct page *, int ignore_refs);
 
 /*
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ static inline int try_to_munlock(struct 
 #define anon_vma_prepare(vma)	(0)
 #define anon_vma_link(vma)	do {} while (0)
 
-#define page_referenced(page,l,cnt) TestClearPageReferenced(page)
+#define page_referenced(page, locked, cnt, flags) TestClearPageReferenced(page)
 #define try_to_unmap(page, refs) SWAP_FAIL
 
 static inline int page_mkclean(struct page *page)
--- linux.orig/mm/rmap.c
+++ linux/mm/rmap.c
@@ -333,7 +333,9 @@ static int page_mapped_in_vma(struct pag
  * repeatedly from either page_referenced_anon or page_referenced_file.
  */
 static int page_referenced_one(struct page *page,
-	struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned int *mapcount)
+			       struct vm_area_struct *vma,
+			       unsigned int *mapcount,
+			       unsigned long *vm_flags)
 {
 	struct mm_struct *mm = vma->vm_mm;
 	unsigned long address;
@@ -381,11 +383,14 @@ out_unmap:
 	(*mapcount)--;
 	pte_unmap_unlock(pte, ptl);
 out:
+	if (referenced)
+		*vm_flags |= vma->vm_flags;
 	return referenced;
 }
 
 static int page_referenced_anon(struct page *page,
-				struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont)
+				struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont,
+				unsigned long *vm_flags)
 {
 	unsigned int mapcount;
 	struct anon_vma *anon_vma;
@@ -405,7 +410,8 @@ static int page_referenced_anon(struct p
 		 */
 		if (mem_cont && !mm_match_cgroup(vma->vm_mm, mem_cont))
 			continue;
-		referenced += page_referenced_one(page, vma, &mapcount);
+		referenced += page_referenced_one(page, vma,
+						  &mapcount, vm_flags);
 		if (!mapcount)
 			break;
 	}
@@ -418,6 +424,7 @@ static int page_referenced_anon(struct p
  * page_referenced_file - referenced check for object-based rmap
  * @page: the page we're checking references on.
  * @mem_cont: target memory controller
+ * @vm_flags: collect encountered vma->vm_flags
  *
  * For an object-based mapped page, find all the places it is mapped and
  * check/clear the referenced flag.  This is done by following the page->mapping
@@ -427,7 +434,8 @@ static int page_referenced_anon(struct p
  * This function is only called from page_referenced for object-based pages.
  */
 static int page_referenced_file(struct page *page,
-				struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont)
+				struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont,
+				unsigned long *vm_flags)
 {
 	unsigned int mapcount;
 	struct address_space *mapping = page->mapping;
@@ -467,7 +475,8 @@ static int page_referenced_file(struct p
 		 */
 		if (mem_cont && !mm_match_cgroup(vma->vm_mm, mem_cont))
 			continue;
-		referenced += page_referenced_one(page, vma, &mapcount);
+		referenced += page_referenced_one(page, vma,
+						  &mapcount, vm_flags);
 		if (!mapcount)
 			break;
 	}
@@ -481,29 +490,35 @@ static int page_referenced_file(struct p
  * @page: the page to test
  * @is_locked: caller holds lock on the page
  * @mem_cont: target memory controller
+ * @vm_flags: collect encountered vma->vm_flags
  *
  * Quick test_and_clear_referenced for all mappings to a page,
  * returns the number of ptes which referenced the page.
  */
-int page_referenced(struct page *page, int is_locked,
-			struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont)
+int page_referenced(struct page *page,
+		    int is_locked,
+		    struct mem_cgroup *mem_cont,
+		    unsigned long *vm_flags)
 {
 	int referenced = 0;
 
 	if (TestClearPageReferenced(page))
 		referenced++;
 
+	*vm_flags = 0;
 	if (page_mapped(page) && page->mapping) {
 		if (PageAnon(page))
-			referenced += page_referenced_anon(page, mem_cont);
+			referenced += page_referenced_anon(page, mem_cont,
+								vm_flags);
 		else if (is_locked)
-			referenced += page_referenced_file(page, mem_cont);
+			referenced += page_referenced_file(page, mem_cont,
+								vm_flags);
 		else if (!trylock_page(page))
 			referenced++;
 		else {
 			if (page->mapping)
-				referenced +=
-					page_referenced_file(page, mem_cont);
+				referenced += page_referenced_file(page,
+							mem_cont, vm_flags);
 			unlock_page(page);
 		}
 	}

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> I've prepared a rolled up patch for you, run time tested.  It should
> protect all of the above pages from being evicted by large file copies.
>
> The attached patch is for 2.6.29.

I applied the patch , but the number don seem to show much difference
, following are the statistics with the patched kernel, could
something else be causing the huge iowait,  :

Linux 2.6.29 (satish) 	05/17/2009

09:57:14 AM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
09:57:18 AM     all         12.93      0.00     10.25        33.44
 0.00     43.38
09:57:21 AM     all          13.32      0.00     28.09       24.40
 0.00     34.19
09:57:24 AM     all          10.79      0.00      4.76       75.56
 0.00      8.89
09:57:26 AM     all         11.46      0.00      8.01        35.64
 0.00     44.90
09:57:30 AM     all        11.68      0.00      8.88         35.05
 0.00     44.39
Average:           all         12.03      0.00     11.94      40.81
  0.00     35.22

and

hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   1332 MB in  2.00 seconds = 666.35 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   24 MB in  3.32 seconds =   7.23 MB/sec

,

Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Arjan van de Ven]

On Sun, 17 May 2009 10:00:28 +0530
Satish Eerpini <eerpini@gmail.com> wrote:

> > I've prepared a rolled up patch for you, run time tested.  It should
> > protect all of the above pages from being evicted by large file
> > copies.
> >
> > The attached patch is for 2.6.29.
> 
> I applied the patch , but the number don seem to show much difference
> , following are the statistics with the patched kernel, could
> something else be causing the huge iowait,  :
> 


for i in `pidof kjournald` ; do ionice -c1 -p $i ; done

is another thing to try to fix the responsiveness...

-- 
Arjan van de Ven 	Intel Open Source Technology Centre
For development, discussion and tips for power savings, 
visit http://www.lesswatts.org

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 12:30:28PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > I've prepared a rolled up patch for you, run time tested.  It should
> > protect all of the above pages from being evicted by large file copies.
> >
> > The attached patch is for 2.6.29.
>
> I applied the patch , but the number don seem to show much difference

The numbers listed in your email? No the most relevant numbers are
memory and disk ones.

For my part, the number of mapped pages keeps stable when there is an
ongoing background file copy:

% ls -l /b/sparse
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98T 2009-04-29 22:38 /b/sparse
% cp /b/sparse /dev/null&
% for i in `seq 1 100`; do grep Mapped /proc/meminfo; sleep 1; done
Mapped:            22764 kB
Mapped:            22796 kB
Mapped:            22756 kB
Mapped:            22716 kB
Mapped:            22800 kB
Mapped:            22788 kB
Mapped:            22804 kB
Mapped:            22808 kB
Mapped:            22748 kB
Mapped:            22708 kB
Mapped:            22916 kB
Mapped:            22944 kB
Mapped:            22944 kB
Mapped:            22944 kB
Mapped:            22944 kB
Mapped:            22944 kB
Mapped:            22832 kB
Mapped:            22812 kB
Mapped:            22812 kB
Mapped:            22792 kB
Mapped:            22772 kB
Mapped:            22860 kB
Mapped:            22860 kB
Mapped:            22748 kB
Mapped:            22808 kB
Mapped:            22868 kB
Mapped:            22956 kB
Mapped:            22956 kB
Mapped:            22832 kB
Mapped:            22832 kB
Mapped:            22980 kB
Mapped:            22980 kB
Mapped:            22980 kB
Mapped:            22980 kB
Mapped:            22872 kB
Mapped:            22872 kB
Mapped:            22900 kB
Mapped:            22792 kB
Mapped:            22920 kB
Mapped:            22812 kB
Mapped:            22812 kB
Mapped:            22752 kB
Mapped:            22864 kB
Mapped:            22972 kB
Mapped:            22860 kB
Mapped:            22796 kB
Mapped:            22900 kB
Mapped:            22888 kB
Mapped:            22888 kB
Mapped:            22888 kB
Mapped:            22764 kB

> , following are the statistics with the patched kernel, could
> something else be causing the huge iowait,  :
>
> Linux 2.6.29 (satish) 	05/17/2009
>
> 09:57:14 AM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
> 09:57:18 AM     all     12.93      0.00     10.25     33.44      0.00     43.38
> 09:57:21 AM     all     13.32      0.00     28.09     24.40      0.00     34.19
> 09:57:24 AM     all     10.79      0.00      4.76     75.56      0.00      8.89
> 09:57:26 AM     all     11.46      0.00      8.01     35.64      0.00     44.90
> 09:57:30 AM     all     11.68      0.00      8.88     35.05      0.00     44.39
> Average:        all     12.03      0.00     11.94     40.81      0.00     35.22

The iowait is high. Do you have "iostat -x 5' numbers?

> and
>
> hdparm -tT /dev/sda
>
> /dev/sda:
>  Timing cached reads:   1332 MB in  2.00 seconds = 666.35 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:   24 MB in  3.32 seconds =   7.23 MB/sec

That's pretty slow numbers. On my laptop:

# hdparm -tT /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   10266 MB in  1.98 seconds = 5188.46 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  138 MB in  3.01 seconds =  45.90 MB/sec

Thanks,
Fengguang

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> The numbers listed in your email? No the most relevant numbers are
> memory and disk ones.

the numbers I earlier mentioned were the output of : "sar"
for the number of mapped pages stays almost constant on my lappy too :
Mapped:            70840 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70724 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70860 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB
Mapped:            70736 kB

Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 02:18:01PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > The numbers listed in your email? No the most relevant numbers are
> > memory and disk ones.
> 
> the numbers I earlier mentioned were the output of : "sar"
> for the number of mapped pages stays almost constant on my lappy too :
> Mapped:            70840 kB
> Mapped:            70860 kB
> Mapped:            70736 kB
> Mapped:            70860 kB

Hmm, how do you define/feel the unresponsiveness?  Is it related to
the currently *running* applications, or opening a *new* application?

Thanks,
Fengguang

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> Hmm, how do you define/feel the unresponsiveness?  Is it related to
> the currently *running* applications, or opening a *new* application?

the unresponsiveness is for both the currently running applications
and for opening new applications, here are some pointers :

--> during normal operation, swtiching between windows( alt+tab) is
simultaneous, while during a file copy it takes around 1 second, which
I think is quite a lag.
--> Opening a simple application like gnome-terminal takes a second or
more for sure when there is a file copy going on.
-->Also a particular window after gaining focus takes a second or so,
to resume what it was doing, .. so if I am copying a file in a session
of gnome-terminal and open another session of gnome-terminal and type
in "clear" it takes around 2 seconds before the screen is cleared on
the second session,
this is the case with almost every application and worser with big
ones like firefox and office. This was the kind of unresponsiveness I
was talking about.

Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:01:29PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > Hmm, how do you define/feel the unresponsiveness?  Is it related to
> > the currently *running* applications, or opening a *new* application?
> 
> the unresponsiveness is for both the currently running applications
> and for opening new applications, here are some pointers :
> 
> --> during normal operation, swtiching between windows( alt+tab) is
> simultaneous, while during a file copy it takes around 1 second, which
> I think is quite a lag.
> --> Opening a simple application like gnome-terminal takes a second or
> more for sure when there is a file copy going on.
> -->Also a particular window after gaining focus takes a second or so,
> to resume what it was doing, .. so if I am copying a file in a session
> of gnome-terminal and open another session of gnome-terminal and type
> in "clear" it takes around 2 seconds before the screen is cleared on
> the second session,

The clear command can be a big clue. Can you try these commands in the
terminal and show us the two log files?

        strace -o all.log -T clear
        strace -o sum.log -c clear

> this is the case with almost every application and worser with big
> ones like firefox and office. This was the kind of unresponsiveness I
> was talking about.
> 
> Cheers
> Satish
> -- 
> http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 5136 bytes --]

> The clear command can be a big clue. Can you try these commands in the
> terminal and show us the two log files?
>
>        strace -o all.log -T clear
>        strace -o sum.log -c clear
>
ok here go the logs :

"all.log"
execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 47 vars */]) = 0 <0.000432>
brk(0)                                  = 0x981e000 <0.000018>
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or
directory) <0.000026>
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3 <0.000027>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=140850, ...}) = 0 <0.000019>
mmap2(NULL, 140850, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f01000 <0.000023>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
open("/lib/libtinfo.so.5", O_RDONLY)    = 3 <0.000043>
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\340\332\355\0074\0\0\0D"...,
512) = 512 <0.000028>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=98036, ...}) = 0 <0.000020>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1,
0) = 0xb7f00000 <0.000021>
mmap2(0x7ed8000, 99928, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7ed8000 <0.000023>
mmap2(0x7eee000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0x7eee000 <0.000030>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY)        = 3 <0.000029>
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0@xk\0004\0\0\0P"...,
512) = 512 <0.000021>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1809672, ...}) = 0 <0.000019>
mmap2(0x6a1000, 1521232, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x6a1000 <0.000022>
mmap2(0x80f000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x16e) = 0x80f000 <0.000032>
mmap2(0x812000, 9808, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x812000 <0.000026>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1,
0) = 0xb7eff000 <0.000024>
set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7eff6c0,
limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0,
limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 <0.000019>
mprotect(0x80f000, 8192, PROT_READ)     = 0 <0.000026>
mprotect(0x69d000, 4096, PROT_READ)     = 0 <0.000023>
munmap(0xb7f01000, 140850)              = 0 <0.000032>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo
...}) = 0 <0.000023>
brk(0)                                  = 0x981e000 <0.000019>
brk(0x983f000)                          = 0x983f000 <0.000022>
stat64("/root/.terminfo", 0xbfd20f24)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or
directory) <0.000027>
stat64("/etc/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
<0.000025>
access("/etc/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or
directory) <0.000026>
stat64("/usr/share/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096,
...}) = 0 <0.000026>
access("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = 0 <0.000028>
open("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3 <0.000031>
read(3, "\32\0010\0&\0\17\0\235\1F\5xterm|xterm terminal "..., 4097) =
3220 <0.000035>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000022>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo
...}) = 0 <0.000025>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo
...}) = 0 <0.000020>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo
...}) = 0 <0.000021>
ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, {ws_row=24, ws_col=80, ws_xpixel=0, ws_ypixel=0})
= 0 <0.000020>
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 2), ...}) = 0 <0.000020>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1,
0) = 0xb7f23000 <0.000025>
write(1, "\33[H\33[2J"..., 7)           = 7 <0.000027>
exit_group(0)                           = ?

"sum.log"

% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 93.27    0.000485         485         1           execve
  6.73    0.000035           7         5           ioctl
  0.00    0.000000           0         3           read
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           write
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           open
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           close
  0.00    0.000000           0         3         2 access
  0.00    0.000000           0         3           brk
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           munmap
  0.00    0.000000           0         2           mprotect
  0.00    0.000000           0         9           mmap2
  0.00    0.000000           0         3         1 stat64
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           fstat64
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           set_thread_area
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.000520                    44         3 total

I have also attached the logs, in case that is more useful .

Cheers
Satish



-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

[-- Attachment #2: all.log --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 3614 bytes --]

execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 47 vars */]) = 0 <0.000432>
brk(0)                                  = 0x981e000 <0.000018>
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) <0.000026>
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY)      = 3 <0.000027>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=140850, ...}) = 0 <0.000019>
mmap2(NULL, 140850, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f01000 <0.000023>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
open("/lib/libtinfo.so.5", O_RDONLY)    = 3 <0.000043>
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\340\332\355\0074\0\0\0D"..., 512) = 512 <0.000028>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=98036, ...}) = 0 <0.000020>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f00000 <0.000021>
mmap2(0x7ed8000, 99928, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7ed8000 <0.000023>
mmap2(0x7eee000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0x7eee000 <0.000030>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY)        = 3 <0.000029>
read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0@xk\0004\0\0\0P"..., 512) = 512 <0.000021>
fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1809672, ...}) = 0 <0.000019>
mmap2(0x6a1000, 1521232, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x6a1000 <0.000022>
mmap2(0x80f000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x16e) = 0x80f000 <0.000032>
mmap2(0x812000, 9808, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x812000 <0.000026>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000018>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7eff000 <0.000024>
set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7eff6c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0 <0.000019>
mprotect(0x80f000, 8192, PROT_READ)     = 0 <0.000026>
mprotect(0x69d000, 4096, PROT_READ)     = 0 <0.000023>
munmap(0xb7f01000, 140850)              = 0 <0.000032>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0 <0.000023>
brk(0)                                  = 0x981e000 <0.000019>
brk(0x983f000)                          = 0x983f000 <0.000022>
stat64("/root/.terminfo", 0xbfd20f24)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) <0.000027>
stat64("/etc/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0 <0.000025>
access("/etc/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK)   = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory) <0.000026>
stat64("/usr/share/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0 <0.000026>
access("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = 0 <0.000028>
open("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3 <0.000031>
read(3, "\32\0010\0&\0\17\0\235\1F\5xterm|xterm terminal "..., 4097) = 3220 <0.000035>
close(3)                                = 0 <0.000022>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0 <0.000025>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0 <0.000020>
ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0 <0.000021>
ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, {ws_row=24, ws_col=80, ws_xpixel=0, ws_ypixel=0}) = 0 <0.000020>
fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 2), ...}) = 0 <0.000020>
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f23000 <0.000025>
write(1, "\33[H\33[2J"..., 7)           = 7 <0.000027>
exit_group(0)                           = ?

[-- Attachment #3: sum.log --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 1065 bytes --]

% time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
 93.27    0.000485         485         1           execve
  6.73    0.000035           7         5           ioctl
  0.00    0.000000           0         3           read
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           write
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           open
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           close
  0.00    0.000000           0         3         2 access
  0.00    0.000000           0         3           brk
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           munmap
  0.00    0.000000           0         2           mprotect
  0.00    0.000000           0         9           mmap2
  0.00    0.000000           0         3         1 stat64
  0.00    0.000000           0         4           fstat64
  0.00    0.000000           0         1           set_thread_area
------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
100.00    0.000520                    44         3 total

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 08:27:39PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > The clear command can be a big clue. Can you try these commands in the
> > terminal and show us the two log files?
> >
> >        strace -o all.log -T clear
> >        strace -o sum.log -c clear
> >
> ok here go the logs :
> 

It looks that the "clear" command runs pretty fast in itself.
To be sure, can you run this?

strace -o log -tt clear

Or maybe the time is spent in gnome-terminal or bash?
What if you change them to xterm and dash?

> "sum.log"
> 
> % time     seconds  usecs/call     calls    errors syscall
> ------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
>  93.27    0.000485         485         1           execve
>   6.73    0.000035           7         5           ioctl
>   0.00    0.000000           0         3           read
>   0.00    0.000000           0         1           write
>   0.00    0.000000           0         4           open
>   0.00    0.000000           0         4           close
>   0.00    0.000000           0         3         2 access
>   0.00    0.000000           0         3           brk
>   0.00    0.000000           0         1           munmap
>   0.00    0.000000           0         2           mprotect
>   0.00    0.000000           0         9           mmap2
>   0.00    0.000000           0         3         1 stat64
>   0.00    0.000000           0         4           fstat64
>   0.00    0.000000           0         1           set_thread_area
> ------ ----------- ----------- --------- --------- ----------------
> 100.00    0.000520                    44         3 total
> 
> I have also attached the logs, in case that is more useful .
> 
> Cheers
> Satish
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3894 bytes --]

> Or maybe the time is spent in gnome-terminal or bash?
> What if you change them to xterm and dash?
>
ok here you go , I ran "strace -o log -tt clear " on xterm and dash :

"log "

18:31:02.162301 execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 49 vars */]) = 0
18:31:02.163558 brk(0)                  = 0x943b000
18:31:02.163668 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No
such file or directory)
18:31:02.163779 open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.163858 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=140850, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.163975 mmap2(NULL, 140850, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f16000
18:31:02.164036 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.164122 open("/lib/libtinfo.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.164206 read(3,
"\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\340\332\355\0074\0\0\0D"...,
512) = 512
18:31:02.164303 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=98036, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.164411 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f15000
18:31:02.164481 mmap2(0x7ed8000, 99928, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7ed8000
18:31:02.164545 mmap2(0x7eee000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0x7eee000
18:31:02.164620 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.164693 open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.164777 read(3,
"\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0@xk\0004\0\0\0P"...,
512) = 512
18:31:02.164862 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1809672, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.164972 mmap2(0x6a1000, 1521232, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x6a1000
18:31:02.165035 mmap2(0x80f000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x16e) = 0x80f000
18:31:02.165123 mmap2(0x812000, 9808, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x812000
18:31:02.165187 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.165265 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f14000
18:31:02.165327 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6,
base_addr:0xb7f146c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0,
read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0
18:31:02.165412 mprotect(0x80f000, 8192, PROT_READ) = 0
18:31:02.165472 mprotect(0x69d000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
18:31:02.165532 munmap(0xb7f16000, 140850) = 0
18:31:02.165635 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost
isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.165816 brk(0)                  = 0x943b000
18:31:02.165870 brk(0x945c000)          = 0x945c000
18:31:02.165966 stat64("/root/.terminfo", 0xbfc37e14) = -1 ENOENT (No
such file or directory)
18:31:02.166040 stat64("/etc/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755,
st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166181 access("/etc/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No
such file or directory)
18:31:02.166256 stat64("/usr/share/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755,
st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166379 access("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = 0
18:31:02.166454 open("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3
18:31:02.166531 read(3, "\32\0010\0&\0\17\0\235\1F\5xterm|xterm
terminal "..., 4097) = 3220
18:31:02.166646 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.166709 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost
isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166788 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost
isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166866 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost
isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166941 ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, {ws_row=24, ws_col=80,
ws_xpixel=499, ws_ypixel=316}) = 0
18:31:02.167010 fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136,
0), ...}) = 0
18:31:02.167134 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f38000
18:31:02.167205 write(1, "\33[H\33[2J"..., 7) = 7
18:31:02.167613 exit_group(0)           = ?

Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

[-- Attachment #2: log --]
[-- Type: application/octet-stream, Size: 3671 bytes --]

18:31:02.162301 execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 49 vars */]) = 0
18:31:02.163558 brk(0)                  = 0x943b000
18:31:02.163668 access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
18:31:02.163779 open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.163858 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=140850, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.163975 mmap2(NULL, 140850, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xb7f16000
18:31:02.164036 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.164122 open("/lib/libtinfo.so.5", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.164206 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0\340\332\355\0074\0\0\0D"..., 512) = 512
18:31:02.164303 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=98036, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.164411 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f15000
18:31:02.164481 mmap2(0x7ed8000, 99928, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7ed8000
18:31:02.164545 mmap2(0x7eee000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x15) = 0x7eee000
18:31:02.164620 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.164693 open("/lib/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY) = 3
18:31:02.164777 read(3, "\177ELF\1\1\1\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0\3\0\1\0\0\0@xk\0004\0\0\0P"..., 512) = 512
18:31:02.164862 fstat64(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1809672, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.164972 mmap2(0x6a1000, 1521232, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x6a1000
18:31:02.165035 mmap2(0x80f000, 12288, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x16e) = 0x80f000
18:31:02.165123 mmap2(0x812000, 9808, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x812000
18:31:02.165187 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.165265 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f14000
18:31:02.165327 set_thread_area({entry_number:-1 -> 6, base_addr:0xb7f146c0, limit:1048575, seg_32bit:1, contents:0, read_exec_only:0, limit_in_pages:1, seg_not_present:0, useable:1}) = 0
18:31:02.165412 mprotect(0x80f000, 8192, PROT_READ) = 0
18:31:02.165472 mprotect(0x69d000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
18:31:02.165532 munmap(0xb7f16000, 140850) = 0
18:31:02.165635 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.165816 brk(0)                  = 0x943b000
18:31:02.165870 brk(0x945c000)          = 0x945c000
18:31:02.165966 stat64("/root/.terminfo", 0xbfc37e14) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
18:31:02.166040 stat64("/etc/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166181 access("/etc/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
18:31:02.166256 stat64("/usr/share/terminfo", {st_mode=S_IFDIR|0755, st_size=4096, ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166379 access("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", R_OK) = 0
18:31:02.166454 open("/usr/share/terminfo/x/xterm", O_RDONLY|O_LARGEFILE) = 3
18:31:02.166531 read(3, "\32\0010\0&\0\17\0\235\1F\5xterm|xterm terminal "..., 4097) = 3220
18:31:02.166646 close(3)                = 0
18:31:02.166709 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166788 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166866 ioctl(1, SNDCTL_TMR_TIMEBASE or TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
18:31:02.166941 ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, {ws_row=24, ws_col=80, ws_xpixel=499, ws_ypixel=316}) = 0
18:31:02.167010 fstat64(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0620, st_rdev=makedev(136, 0), ...}) = 0
18:31:02.167134 mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb7f38000
18:31:02.167205 write(1, "\33[H\33[2J"..., 7) = 7
18:31:02.167613 exit_group(0)           = ?

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Wu Fengguang]

On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 09:03:48PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > Or maybe the time is spent in gnome-terminal or bash?
> > What if you change them to xterm and dash?
> >
> ok here you go , I ran "strace -o log -tt clear " on xterm and dash :
> 
> "log "

Again, it's pretty fast: 

begin with:
> 18:31:02.162301 execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 49 vars */]) = 0

end with:
> 18:31:02.167613 exit_group(0)           = ?

So the elapsed time for "clear" is about 5ms.

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

>> >
>> ok here you go , I ran "strace -o log -tt clear " on xterm and dash :
>>
>> "log "
>
> Again, it's pretty fast:
> begin with:
>> 18:31:02.162301 execve("/usr/bin/clear", ["clear"], [/* 49 vars */]) = 0
>
> end with:
>> 18:31:02.167613 exit_group(0)           = ?
>
> So the elapsed time for "clear" is about 5ms.
right, I could not generate the lag in this case, as I said ,  I am
not able to generate the same unresponsiveness deterministically ,
.......

Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Michael S. Zick]

On Sat May 16 2009, you wrote:
> On Sun, May 17, 2009 at 12:30:28PM +0800, Satish Eerpini wrote:
> > > I've prepared a rolled up patch for you, run time tested.  It should
> > > protect all of the above pages from being evicted by large file copies.
> > >
> > > The attached patch is for 2.6.29.
> >
> > I applied the patch , but the number don seem to show much difference
> 
> The numbers listed in your email? No the most relevant numbers are
> memory and disk ones.
> 
> For my part, the number of mapped pages keeps stable when there is an
> ongoing background file copy:
> 
> % ls -l /b/sparse
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98T 2009-04-29 22:38 /b/sparse
> % cp /b/sparse /dev/null&
> % for i in `seq 1 100`; do grep Mapped /proc/meminfo; sleep 1; done
> Mapped:            22764 kB
> Mapped:            22796 kB
> Mapped:            22756 kB
> Mapped:            22716 kB
> Mapped:            22800 kB
> Mapped:            22788 kB
> Mapped:            22804 kB
> Mapped:            22808 kB
> Mapped:            22748 kB
> Mapped:            22708 kB
> Mapped:            22916 kB
> Mapped:            22944 kB
> Mapped:            22944 kB
> Mapped:            22944 kB
> Mapped:            22944 kB
> Mapped:            22944 kB
> Mapped:            22832 kB
> Mapped:            22812 kB
> Mapped:            22812 kB
> Mapped:            22792 kB
> Mapped:            22772 kB
> Mapped:            22860 kB
> Mapped:            22860 kB
> Mapped:            22748 kB
> Mapped:            22808 kB
> Mapped:            22868 kB
> Mapped:            22956 kB
> Mapped:            22956 kB
> Mapped:            22832 kB
> Mapped:            22832 kB
> Mapped:            22980 kB
> Mapped:            22980 kB
> Mapped:            22980 kB
> Mapped:            22980 kB
> Mapped:            22872 kB
> Mapped:            22872 kB
> Mapped:            22900 kB
> Mapped:            22792 kB
> Mapped:            22920 kB
> Mapped:            22812 kB
> Mapped:            22812 kB
> Mapped:            22752 kB
> Mapped:            22864 kB
> Mapped:            22972 kB
> Mapped:            22860 kB
> Mapped:            22796 kB
> Mapped:            22900 kB
> Mapped:            22888 kB
> Mapped:            22888 kB
> Mapped:            22888 kB
> Mapped:            22764 kB
> 
> > , following are the statistics with the patched kernel, could
> > something else be causing the huge iowait,  :
> >
> > Linux 2.6.29 (satish) 	05/17/2009
> >
> > 09:57:14 AM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
> > 09:57:18 AM     all     12.93      0.00     10.25     33.44      0.00     43.38
> > 09:57:21 AM     all     13.32      0.00     28.09     24.40      0.00     34.19
> > 09:57:24 AM     all     10.79      0.00      4.76     75.56      0.00      8.89
> > 09:57:26 AM     all     11.46      0.00      8.01     35.64      0.00     44.90
> > 09:57:30 AM     all     11.68      0.00      8.88     35.05      0.00     44.39
> > Average:        all     12.03      0.00     11.94     40.81      0.00     35.22
> 
> The iowait is high. Do you have "iostat -x 5' numbers?
> 
> > and
> >
> > hdparm -tT /dev/sda
> >
> > /dev/sda:
> >  Timing cached reads:   1332 MB in  2.00 seconds = 666.35 MB/sec
> >  Timing buffered disk reads:   24 MB in  3.32 seconds =   7.23 MB/sec
> 
> That's pretty slow numbers. On my laptop:
> 
> # hdparm -tT /dev/sda
> 
> /dev/sda:
>  Timing cached reads:   10266 MB in  1.98 seconds = 5188.46 MB/sec
>  Timing buffered disk reads:  138 MB in  3.01 seconds =  45.90 MB/sec
> 

I see (on 2.6.30-rc6, no patches):

# hdparm -tT /dev/sda (The internal, low-power, low performance hdd):

/dev/sda:
 Timing cached reads:   492 MB in  2.00 seconds = 245.83 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   74 MB in  3.05 seconds =  24.26 MB/sec

# hdparm -tT /dev/sdb (A Class-6, SDHC card):

/dev/sdb:
 Timing cached reads:   472 MB in  2.01 seconds = 235.28 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   40 MB in  3.13 seconds =  12.79 MB/sec

And the only thing going on -
(once you deduct the effect of getting this output) - nothing:

top - 08:09:25 up 9 min,  1 user,  load average: 0.24, 0.40, 0.25
Tasks:  86 total,   1 running,  85 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  2.9%us,  4.2%sy,  0.8%ni, 59.9%id, 32.2%wa,  0.0%hi,  0.1%si,  0.0%st
Mem:    447040k total,   242996k used,   204044k free,    73516k buffers
Swap:  2199324k total,        0k used,  2199324k free,    79868k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
 3359 root      20   0  2444 1048  824 R  3.8  0.2   0:00.04 top
 3360 root      20   0  3376  888  744 S  1.9  0.2   0:00.01 less
    1 root      20   0  3084 1884  564 S  0.0  0.4   0:01.59 init
    2 root      15  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kthreadd

Mike
> Thanks,
> Fengguang
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
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> Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/
> 
> 

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
> may appreciate another tester.
this may be the reason, I have seen this lag only with kernel >
2.6.28, currently I am running vanilla kernel 2.6.29.1 .


Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com

Re: unresponsiveness on linux desktop during file copy

[Satish Eerpini]

> Which kernel version? If it's something recent, your programs may be
> getting swapped out due to a flaw in the latest kernels, where it
> accidentally prefers caching file data over mapped pages. If that's
> the case, Rik (cc:d) is working on patches to address the issue, and
> may appreciate another tester.

well I went through http://kerneltrap.org/node/3000 on kerneltrap ,
which I think is what you are pointing out here. Well I checked the
"swappiness" parameter on my system and it is set to 60 , and bravely
I changed it to '0', while the system appeared to have become a lot
more responsive, I see no difference in the statistics:

Linux 2.6.29.1 (satish) 	05/16/2009

07:49:43 PM     CPU     %user     %nice   %system   %iowait    %steal     %idle
07:49:46 PM     all      7.30      0.00            8.25         40.00
    0.00     44.44
07:49:49 PM     all      7.21      0.00            9.40          36.36
     0.00     47.02
07:49:52 PM     all      8.62      0.00            9.40          34.80
     0.00     47.18
07:49:55 PM     all      7.26      0.00            8.36          37.07
     0.00     47.32
07:49:58 PM     all      7.89      0.00           9.15           36.59
     0.00     46.37
Average:           all        7.66     0.00          8.92
36.96      0.00     46.47

so there is still a huge IOWAIT , ..


Cheers
Satish
-- 
http://satish.playdrupal.com