Re: [PATCH v2 0/3] staging: zcache: xcfmalloc support

Nitin Gupta
2011-09-16T17:46:46Z

Hi Seth,

On 09/15/2011 12:31 PM, Seth Jennings wrote:

>
> So this is how I see things...
>
> Right now xvmalloc is broken for zcache's application because
> of its huge fragmentation for half the valid allocation sizes
> (> PAGE_SIZE/2).
>
> My xcfmalloc patches are _a_ solution that is ready now. Sure,
> it doesn't so compaction yet, and it has some metadata overhead.
> So it's not "ideal" (if there is such I thing). But it does fix
> the brokenness of xvmalloc for zcache's application.
>
> So I see two ways going forward:
>
> 1) We review and integrate xcfmalloc now. Then, when you are
> done with your allocator, we can run them side by side and see
> which is better by numbers. If yours is better, you'll get no
> argument from me and we can replace xcfmalloc with yours.
>
> 2) We can agree on a date (sooner rather than later) by which your
> allocator will be completed. At that time we can compare them and
> integrate the best one by the numbers.
>

I think replacing allocator every few weeks isn't a good idea. So, I
guess better would be to let me work for about 2 weeks and try the slab
based approach. If nothing works out in this time, then maybe xcfmalloc
can be integrated after further testing.

Thanks,
Nitin