[PATCH 6.12.y 1/2] mm: page_alloc: don't steal single pages from biggest buddy

[Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>]

The fallback code searches for the biggest buddy first in an attempt to
steal the whole block and encourage type grouping down the line.

The approach used to be this:

- Non-movable requests will split the largest buddy and steal the
  remainder. This splits up contiguity, but it allows subsequent
  requests of this type to fall back into adjacent space.

- Movable requests go and look for the smallest buddy instead. The
  thinking is that movable requests can be compacted, so grouping is
  less important than retaining contiguity.

c0cd6f557b90 ("mm: page_alloc: fix freelist movement during block
conversion") enforces freelist type hygiene, which restricts stealing to
either claiming the whole block or just taking the requested chunk; no
additional pages or buddy remainders can be stolen any more.

The patch mishandled when to switch to finding the smallest buddy in that
new reality.  As a result, it may steal the exact request size, but from
the biggest buddy.  This causes fracturing for no good reason.

Fix this by committing to the new behavior: either steal the whole block,
or fall back to the smallest buddy.

Remove single-page stealing from steal_suitable_fallback().  Rename it to
try_to_steal_block() to make the intentions clear.  If this fails, always
fall back to the smallest buddy.

The following is from 4 runs of mmtest's thpchallenge.  "Pollute" is
single page fallback, "steal" is conversion of a partially used block.
The numbers for free block conversions (omitted) are comparable.

				     vanilla	      patched

@pollute[unmovable from reclaimable]:	  27		  106
@pollute[unmovable from movable]:	  82		   46
@pollute[reclaimable from unmovable]:	 256		   83
@pollute[reclaimable from movable]:	  46		    8
@pollute[movable from unmovable]:	4841		  868
@pollute[movable from reclaimable]:	5278		12568

@steal[unmovable from reclaimable]:	  11		   12
@steal[unmovable from movable]:		 113		   49
@steal[reclaimable from unmovable]:	  19		   34
@steal[reclaimable from movable]:	  47		   21
@steal[movable from unmovable]:		 250		  183
@steal[movable from reclaimable]:	  81		   93

The allocator appears to do a better job at keeping stealing and polluting
to the first fallback preference.  As a result, the numbers for "from
movable" - the least preferred fallback option, and most detrimental to
compactability - are down across the board.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20250225001023.1494422-2-hannes@cmpxchg.org
Fixes: c0cd6f557b90 ("mm: page_alloc: fix freelist movement during block conversion")
Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Suggested-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Reviewed-by: Brendan Jackman <jackmanb@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
(cherry picked from commit c2f6ea38fc1b640aa7a2e155cc1c0410ff91afa2)
Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
---
 mm/page_alloc.c | 80 +++++++++++++++++++++----------------------------
 1 file changed, 34 insertions(+), 46 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index fd4e0e1cd65e..bfc0139d2f45 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1907,13 +1907,12 @@ static inline bool boost_watermark(struct zone *zone)
  * can claim the whole pageblock for the requested migratetype. If not, we check
  * the pageblock for constituent pages; if at least half of the pages are free
  * or compatible, we can still claim the whole block, so pages freed in the
- * future will be put on the correct free list. Otherwise, we isolate exactly
- * the order we need from the fallback block and leave its migratetype alone.
+ * future will be put on the correct free list.
  */
 static struct page *
-steal_suitable_fallback(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
-			int current_order, int order, int start_type,
-			unsigned int alloc_flags, bool whole_block)
+try_to_steal_block(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
+		   int current_order, int order, int start_type,
+		   unsigned int alloc_flags)
 {
 	int free_pages, movable_pages, alike_pages;
 	unsigned long start_pfn;
@@ -1926,7 +1925,7 @@ steal_suitable_fallback(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
 	 * highatomic accounting.
 	 */
 	if (is_migrate_highatomic(block_type))
-		goto single_page;
+		return NULL;
 
 	/* Take ownership for orders >= pageblock_order */
 	if (current_order >= pageblock_order) {
@@ -1947,14 +1946,10 @@ steal_suitable_fallback(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
 	if (boost_watermark(zone) && (alloc_flags & ALLOC_KSWAPD))
 		set_bit(ZONE_BOOSTED_WATERMARK, &zone->flags);
 
-	/* We are not allowed to try stealing from the whole block */
-	if (!whole_block)
-		goto single_page;
-
 	/* moving whole block can fail due to zone boundary conditions */
 	if (!prep_move_freepages_block(zone, page, &start_pfn, &free_pages,
 				       &movable_pages))
-		goto single_page;
+		return NULL;
 
 	/*
 	 * Determine how many pages are compatible with our allocation.
@@ -1987,9 +1982,7 @@ steal_suitable_fallback(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
 		return __rmqueue_smallest(zone, order, start_type);
 	}
 
-single_page:
-	page_del_and_expand(zone, page, order, current_order, block_type);
-	return page;
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -2171,14 +2164,19 @@ static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac,
 }
 
 /*
- * Try finding a free buddy page on the fallback list and put it on the free
- * list of requested migratetype, possibly along with other pages from the same
- * block, depending on fragmentation avoidance heuristics. Returns true if
- * fallback was found so that __rmqueue_smallest() can grab it.
+ * Try finding a free buddy page on the fallback list.
+ *
+ * This will attempt to steal a whole pageblock for the requested type
+ * to ensure grouping of such requests in the future.
+ *
+ * If a whole block cannot be stolen, regress to __rmqueue_smallest()
+ * logic to at least break up as little contiguity as possible.
  *
  * The use of signed ints for order and current_order is a deliberate
  * deviation from the rest of this file, to make the for loop
  * condition simpler.
+ *
+ * Return the stolen page, or NULL if none can be found.
  */
 static __always_inline struct page *
 __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, int order, int start_migratetype,
@@ -2212,45 +2210,35 @@ __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, int order, int start_migratetype,
 		if (fallback_mt == -1)
 			continue;
 
-		/*
-		 * We cannot steal all free pages from the pageblock and the
-		 * requested migratetype is movable. In that case it's better to
-		 * steal and split the smallest available page instead of the
-		 * largest available page, because even if the next movable
-		 * allocation falls back into a different pageblock than this
-		 * one, it won't cause permanent fragmentation.
-		 */
-		if (!can_steal && start_migratetype == MIGRATE_MOVABLE
-					&& current_order > order)
-			goto find_smallest;
+		if (!can_steal)
+			break;
 
-		goto do_steal;
+		page = get_page_from_free_area(area, fallback_mt);
+		page = try_to_steal_block(zone, page, current_order, order,
+					  start_migratetype, alloc_flags);
+		if (page)
+			goto got_one;
 	}
 
-	return NULL;
+	if (alloc_flags & ALLOC_NOFRAGMENT)
+		return NULL;
 
-find_smallest:
+	/* No luck stealing blocks. Find the smallest fallback page */
 	for (current_order = order; current_order < NR_PAGE_ORDERS; current_order++) {
 		area = &(zone->free_area[current_order]);
 		fallback_mt = find_suitable_fallback(area, current_order,
 				start_migratetype, false, &can_steal);
-		if (fallback_mt != -1)
-			break;
-	}
-
-	/*
-	 * This should not happen - we already found a suitable fallback
-	 * when looking for the largest page.
-	 */
-	VM_BUG_ON(current_order > MAX_PAGE_ORDER);
+		if (fallback_mt == -1)
+			continue;
 
-do_steal:
-	page = get_page_from_free_area(area, fallback_mt);
+		page = get_page_from_free_area(area, fallback_mt);
+		page_del_and_expand(zone, page, order, current_order, fallback_mt);
+		goto got_one;
+	}
 
-	/* take off list, maybe claim block, expand remainder */
-	page = steal_suitable_fallback(zone, page, current_order, order,
-				       start_migratetype, alloc_flags, can_steal);
+	return NULL;
 
+got_one:
 	trace_mm_page_alloc_extfrag(page, order, current_order,
 		start_migratetype, fallback_mt);
 
-- 
2.49.0