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* Repeated fork() causes SLAB to grow without bound
@ 2012-08-16  2:46 Daniel Forrest
  2012-08-16 18:58   ` Rik van Riel
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 75+ messages in thread
From: Daniel Forrest @ 2012-08-16  2:46 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: linux-kernel

I'm hoping someone has seen this before...

I've been trying to track down a performance problem with Linux 3.0.4.
The symptom is system-mode load increasing over time while user-mode
load remains constant while running a data ingest/processing program.

Looking at /proc/meminfo I noticed SUnreclaim increasing steadily.

Looking at /proc/slabinfo I noticed anon_vma and anon_vma_chain also
increasing steadily.

I was able to generate a simple test program that will cause this:

---

#include <unistd.h>

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
   pid_t pid;

   while (1) {
      pid = fork();
      if (pid == -1) {
	 /* error */
	 return 1;
      }
      if (pid) {
	 /* parent */
	 sleep(2);
	 break;
      }
      else {
	 /* child */
	 sleep(1);
      }
   }
   return 0;
}

---

In the actual program (running as a daemon), a child is reading data
while its parent is processing the previously read data.  At any time
there are only a few processes in existence, with older processes
exiting and new processes being fork()ed.  Killing the program frees
the slab usage.

I patched the kernel to 3.0.40, but the problem remains.  I also
compiled with slab debugging and can see that the growth of anon_vma
and anon_vma_chain is due to anon_vma_clone/anon_vma_fork.

Is this a known issue?  Is it fixed in a later release?

Thanks,

-- 
Daniel K. Forrest		Space Science and
dan.forrest@ssec.wisc.edu	Engineering Center
(608) 890 - 0558		University of Wisconsin, Madison

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 75+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2014-12-05 15:45 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 75+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2012-08-16  2:46 Repeated fork() causes SLAB to grow without bound Daniel Forrest
2012-08-16 18:58 ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-16 18:58   ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-18  0:03   ` Daniel Forrest
2012-08-18  0:03     ` Daniel Forrest
2012-08-18  3:46     ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-18  3:46       ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-18  4:07       ` Daniel Forrest
2012-08-18  4:07         ` Daniel Forrest
2012-08-18  4:10         ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-18  4:10           ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-20  8:00       ` Hugh Dickins
2012-08-20  8:00         ` Hugh Dickins
2012-08-20  9:39         ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-20  9:39           ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-20 11:11           ` Andi Kleen
2012-08-20 11:11             ` Andi Kleen
2012-08-20 11:17           ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-20 11:17             ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-20 11:53             ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-20 11:53               ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-20 19:11               ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-20 19:11                 ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-22  3:20           ` [RFC PATCH] " Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-22  3:20             ` Michel Lespinasse
2012-08-22  3:29             ` Rik van Riel
2012-08-22  3:29               ` Rik van Riel
2013-06-03 19:50               ` Daniel Forrest
2013-06-03 19:50                 ` Daniel Forrest
2013-06-04 10:37                 ` Rik van Riel
2013-06-04 10:37                   ` Rik van Riel
2013-06-05 14:02                   ` Andrea Arcangeli
2013-06-05 14:02                     ` Andrea Arcangeli
2014-11-14 16:30                 ` [PATCH] " Daniel Forrest
2014-11-14 16:30                   ` Daniel Forrest
2014-11-18  0:02                   ` Andrew Morton
2014-11-18  0:02                     ` Andrew Morton
2014-11-18  1:41                     ` Daniel Forrest
2014-11-18  1:41                       ` Daniel Forrest
2014-11-18  2:41                       ` Rik van Riel
2014-11-18  2:41                         ` Rik van Riel
2014-11-18 20:19                         ` Andrew Morton
2014-11-18 20:19                           ` Andrew Morton
2014-11-18 22:15                           ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-18 22:15                             ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-18 23:02                             ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-18 23:50                               ` Vlastimil Babka
2014-11-18 23:50                                 ` Vlastimil Babka
2014-11-19 14:36                                 ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-19 14:36                                   ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-19 16:09                                   ` Vlastimil Babka
2014-11-19 16:09                                     ` Vlastimil Babka
2014-11-19 16:58                                     ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-19 16:58                                       ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-19 23:14                                       ` Michel Lespinasse
2014-11-19 23:14                                         ` Michel Lespinasse
2014-11-20 14:42                                         ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-20 14:42                                           ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-20 14:50                                           ` Rik van Riel
2014-11-20 14:50                                             ` Rik van Riel
2014-11-20 15:03                                             ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-20 15:03                                               ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-24  7:09                                               ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-25 10:59                                                 ` Michal Hocko
2014-11-25 10:59                                                   ` Michal Hocko
2014-11-25 12:13                                                   ` Konstantin Khlebnikov
2014-11-25 15:00                                                     ` Michal Hocko
2014-11-25 15:00                                                       ` Michal Hocko
2014-11-26 17:35                                                       ` Michal Hocko
2014-11-26 17:35                                                         ` Michal Hocko
2014-12-05 15:44                                                         ` Jerome Marchand
2014-11-20 15:27                                           ` Michel Lespinasse
2014-11-20 15:27                                             ` Michel Lespinasse
2014-11-19  2:48                           ` Rik van Riel
2014-11-19  2:48                             ` Rik van Riel

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