From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Peter Zijlstra <peterz-wEGCiKHe2LqWVfeAwA7xHQ@public.gmane.org>
Subject: Re: [Lsf] [RFC] writeback and cgroup
Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:15:16 +0200
Message-ID: <1334405716.2528.88.camel__25107.5016953566$1334405736$gmane$org@twins>
References: <20120403183655.GA23106@dhcp-172-17-108-109.mtv.corp.google.com>
	<20120404145134.GC12676@redhat.com>
	<20120404184909.GB29686@dhcp-172-17-108-109.mtv.corp.google.com>
	<CAH2r5mvP56D0y4mk5wKrJcj+=OZ0e0Q5No_L+9a8a=GMcEhRew@mail.gmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Return-path: <containers-bounces-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org>
In-Reply-To: <CAH2r5mvP56D0y4mk5wKrJcj+=OZ0e0Q5No_L+9a8a=GMcEhRew-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/options/containers>,
	<mailto:containers-request-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/containers/>
List-Post: <mailto:containers-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org>
List-Help: <mailto:containers-request-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/containers>,
	<mailto:containers-request-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org?subject=subscribe>
Sender: containers-bounces-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org
Errors-To: containers-bounces-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org
To: Steve French <smfrench-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>
Cc: ctalbott-hpIqsD4AKlfQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org, rni-hpIqsD4AKlfQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org, andrea-oIIqvOZpAevzfdHfmsDf5w@public.gmane.org, containers-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org, linux-kernel-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org, lsf-cunTk1MwBs9QetFLy7KEm3xJsTq8ys+cHZ5vskTnxNA@public.gmane.org, linux-mm-Bw31MaZKKs3YtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org, jmoyer-H+wXaHxf7aLQT0dZR+AlfA@public.gmane.org, cgroups-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org, Tejun Heo <tj-DgEjT+Ai2ygdnm+yROfE0A@public.gmane.org>, linux-fsdevel-u79uwXL29TY76Z2rM5mHXA@public.gmane.org
List-Id: containers.vger.kernel.org

On Wed, 2012-04-04 at 14:23 -0500, Steve French wrote:
> Current use of bdi is a little hard to understand since
> there are 25+ fields in the structure.  

Filesystems only need a small fraction of those.

In particular,

  backing_dev_info::name	-- string
  backing_dev_info::ra_pages	-- number of read-ahead-pages
  backing_dev_info::capability	-- see BDI_CAP_*
  
One should properly initialize/destroy the thing using:

  bdi_init()/bdi_destroy()


Furthermore, it has hooks into the regular page-writeback stuff:

  test_{set,clear}_page_writeback()/bdi_writeout_inc()
  set_page_dirty()/account_page_dirtied()
  
but also allows filesystems to do custom stuff, see FUSE for example.

The only other bit is the pressure valve, aka.
{set,clear}_bdi_congested(). Which really is rather broken and of
dubious value.