Re: [PATCH v3 0/3] A Solution to Re-enable hugetlb vmemmap optimize

Yu Zhao
2024-07-10T23:08:37Z

On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 4:29 PM Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 11:12:01AM -0600, Yu Zhao wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 10:51 AM Catalin Marinas
> > <catalin.marinas@arm.com> wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jul 05, 2024 at 11:41:34AM -0600, Yu Zhao wrote:
> > > > On Fri, Jul 5, 2024 at 9:49 AM Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com> wrote:
> > > > > If I did the maths right, for a 2MB hugetlb page, we have about 8
> > > > > vmemmap pages (32K). Once we split a 2MB vmemap range,
> > > >
> > > > Correct.
> > > >
> > > > > whatever else
> > > > > needs to be touched in this range won't require a stop_machine().
> > > >
> > > > There might be some misunderstandings here.
> > > >
> > > > To do HVO:
> > > > 1. we split a PMD into 512 PTEs;
> > > > 2. for every 8 PTEs:
> > > > 2a. we allocate an order-0 page for PTE #0;
> > > > 2b. we remap PTE #0 *RW* to this page;
> > > > 2c. we remap PTEs #1-7 *RO* to this page;
> > > > 2d. we free the original order-3 page.
> > >
> > > Thanks. I now remember why we reverted such support in 060a2c92d1b6
> > > ("arm64: mm: hugetlb: Disable HUGETLB_PAGE_OPTIMIZE_VMEMMAP"). The main
> > > problem is that point 2c also changes the output address of the PTE
> > > (and the content of the page slightly). The architecture requires a
> > > break-before-make in such scenario, though it would have been nice if it
> > > was more specific on what could go wrong.
> > >
> > > We can do point 1 safely if we have FEAT_BBM level 2. For point 2, I
> > > assume these 8 vmemmap pages may be accessed and that's why we can't do
> > > a break-before-make safely.
> >
> > Correct
> >
> > > I was wondering whether we could make the
> > > PTEs RO first and then change the output address but we have another
> > > rule that the content of the page should be the same. I don't think
> > > entries 1-7 are identical to entry 0 (though we could ask the architects
> > > for clarification here). Also, can we guarantee that nothing writes to
> > > entry 0 while we would do such remapping?
> >
> > Yes, it's already guaranteed.
> >
> > > We know entries 1-7 won't be
> > > written as we mapped them as RO but entry 0 contains the head page.
> > > Maybe it's ok to map it RO temporarily until the newly allocated hugetlb
> > > page is returned.
> >
> > We can do that. I don't understand how this could elide BBM. After the
> > above, we would still need to do:
> > 3. remap entry 0 from RO to RW, mapping the `struct page` page that
> > will be shared with entry 1-7.
> > 4. remap entry 1-7 from their respective `struct page` pages to that
> > of entry 0, while they remain RO.
>
> The Arm ARM states that we need a BBM if we change the output address
> and: the old or new mappings are RW *or* the content of the page
> changes. Ignoring the latter (page content), we can turn the PTEs RO
> first without changing the pfn followed by changing the pfn while they
> are RO. Once that's done, we make entry 0 RW and, of course, with
> additional TLBIs between all these steps.

Aha! This is easy to do -- I just made the RO guaranteed, as I
mentioned earlier.

Just to make sure I fully understand the workflow:

1. Split a RW PMD into 512 RO PTEs, pointing to the same 2MB `struct page` area.
2. TLBI once, after pmd_populate_kernel()
3. Remap PTE 1-7 to the 4KB `struct page` area of PTE 0, for every 8
PTEs, while they remain RO.
4. TLBI once, after set_pte_at() on PTE 1-7.
5. Change PTE 0 from RO to RW, pointing to the same 4KB `struct page` area.
6. TLBI once, after set_pte_at() on PTE 0.

No BBM required, regardless of FEAT_BBM level 2.

Is this correct?

> Can we leave entry 0 RO? This
> would save an additional TLBI.

Unfortunately we can't. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to, e.g., grab a
refcnt on any hugeTLB pages.

> Now, I wonder if all this is worth it. What are the scenarios where the
> 8 PTEs will be accessed? The vmemmap range corresponding to a 2MB
> hugetlb page for example is pretty well defined - 8 x 4K pages, aligned.
>
> > > If we could get the above work, it would be a lot simpler than thinking
> > > of stop_machine() or other locks to wait for such remapping.
> >
> > Steps 3/4 would not require BBM somehow?
>
> If we ignore the 'content' requirement, I think we could skip the BBM
> but we need to make sure we don't change the permission and pfn at the
> same time.

Gotcha.

> > > > To do de-HVO:
> > > > 1. for every 8 PTEs:
> > > > 1a. we allocate 7 order-0 pages.
> > > > 1b. we remap PTEs #1-7 *RW* to those pages, respectively.
> > >
> > > Similar problem in 1.b, changing the output address. Here we could force
> > > the content to be the same
> >
> > I don't follow the "the content to be the same" part. After HVO, we have:
> >
> > Entry 0 -> `struct page` page A, RW
> > Entry 1 -> `struct page` page A, RO
> > ...
> > Entry 7 -> `struct page` page A, RO
> >
> > To de-HVO, we need to make them:
> >
> > Entry 0 -> `struct page` page A, RW
> > Entry 1 -> `struct page` page B, RW
> > ...
> > Entry 7 -> `struct page` page H, RW
> >
> > I assume the same content means PTE_0 == PTE_1/.../7?
>
> That's the content of the page at the corresponding pfn before and after
> the pte change. I'm pretty sure the Arm ARM states this in case the
> hardware starts a load (e.g. unaligned) from one page and completes it
> from another, the software should not see any difference. But for the
> fields we care about in struct page, I assume they'd be the same (or
> that we just don't care about inconsistencies during this transient
> period).

Thanks for the explanation. I'll cook up something if my understanding
above is correct.