Re: [PATCH v3 03/16] mm: add non-lru movable page support document

[Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>]

On Fri, Apr 01, 2016 at 04:38:34PM +0200, Vlastimil Babka wrote:
> On 03/30/2016 09:12 AM, Minchan Kim wrote:
> >This patch describes what a subsystem should do for non-lru movable
> >page supporting.
> 
> Intentionally reading this first without studying the code to better
> catch things that would seem obvious otherwise.
> 
> >Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> >Signed-off-by: Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>
> >---
> >  Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt | 11 ++++++-
> >  Documentation/vm/page_migration   | 69 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
> >  2 files changed, 78 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> >
> >diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt b/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
> >index 4c1b6c3b4bc8..d63142f8ed7b 100644
> >--- a/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
> >+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/vfs.txt
> >@@ -752,12 +752,21 @@ struct address_space_operations {
> >          and transfer data directly between the storage and the
> >          application's address space.
> >
> >+  isolate_page: Called by the VM when isolating a movable non-lru page.
> >+	If page is successfully isolated, we should mark the page as
> >+	PG_isolated via __SetPageIsolated.
> 
> Patch 02 changelog suggests SetPageIsolated, so this is confusing. I
> guess the main point is that there might be parallel attempts and
> only one is allowed to succeed, right? Whether it's done by atomic

Right.

> ops or otherwise doesn't matter to e.g. compaction.

It should be atomic under PG_lock so it would be better to change
__SetPageIsolated in patch 02 to show the intention "the operation
is not atomic so you need some lock(e.g., PG_lock) to make sure
atomicity".


> 
> >    migrate_page:  This is used to compact the physical memory usage.
> >          If the VM wants to relocate a page (maybe off a memory card
> >          that is signalling imminent failure) it will pass a new page
> >  	and an old page to this function.  migrate_page should
> >  	transfer any private data across and update any references
> >-        that it has to the page.
> >+	that it has to the page. If migrated page is non-lru page,
> >+	we should clear PG_isolated and PG_movable via __ClearPageIsolated
> >+	and __ClearPageMovable.
> 
> Similar concern as __SetPageIsolated.
> 
> >+
> >+  putback_page: Called by the VM when isolated page's migration fails.
> >+	We should clear PG_isolated marked in isolated_page function.
> 
> Note this kind of wording is less confusing and could be used above wrt my concerns.
> 
> >
> >    launder_page: Called before freeing a page - it writes back the dirty page. To
> >    	prevent redirtying the page, it is kept locked during the whole
> >diff --git a/Documentation/vm/page_migration b/Documentation/vm/page_migration
> >index fea5c0864170..c4e7551a414e 100644
> >--- a/Documentation/vm/page_migration
> >+++ b/Documentation/vm/page_migration
> >@@ -142,5 +142,72 @@ is increased so that the page cannot be freed while page migration occurs.
> >  20. The new page is moved to the LRU and can be scanned by the swapper
> >      etc again.
> >
> >-Christoph Lameter, May 8, 2006.
> >+C. Non-LRU Page migration
> >+-------------------------
> >+
> >+Although original migration aimed for reducing the latency of memory access
> >+for NUMA, compaction who want to create high-order page is also main customer.
> >+
> >+Ppage migration's disadvantage is that it was designed to migrate only
> >+*LRU* pages. However, there are potential non-lru movable pages which can be
> >+migrated in system, for example, zsmalloc, virtio-balloon pages.
> >+For virtio-balloon pages, some parts of migration code path was hooked up
> >+and added virtio-balloon specific functions to intercept logi.
> 
> logi -> logic?

-_-;;

> 
> >+It's too specific to one subsystem so other subsystem who want to make
> >+their pages movable should add own specific hooks in migration path.
> 
> s/should/would have to/ I guess?

Better.


> 
> >+To solve such problem, VM supports non-LRU page migration which provides
> >+generic functions for non-LRU movable pages without needing subsystem
> >+specific hook in mm/{migrate|compact}.c.
> >+
> >+If a subsystem want to make own pages movable, it should mark pages as
> >+PG_movable via __SetPageMovable. __SetPageMovable needs address_space for
> >+argument for register functions which will be called by VM.
> >+
> >+Three functions in address_space_operation related to non-lru movable page:
> >+
> >+	bool (*isolate_page) (struct page *, isolate_mode_t);
> >+	int (*migratepage) (struct address_space *,
> >+		struct page *, struct page *, enum migrate_mode);
> >+	void (*putback_page)(struct page *);
> >+
> >+1. Isolation
> >+
> >+What VM expected on isolate_page of subsystem is to set PG_isolated flags
> >+of the page if it was successful. With that, concurrent isolation among
> >+CPUs skips the isolated page by other CPU earlier. VM calls isolate_page
> >+under PG_lock of page. If a subsystem cannot isolate the page, it should
> >+return false.
> 
> Ah, I see, so it's designed with page lock to handle the concurrent isolations etc.
> 
> In http://marc.info/?l=linux-mm&m=143816716511904&w=2 Mel has warned
> about doing this in general under page_lock and suggested that each
> user handles concurrent calls to isolate_page() internally. Might be
> more generic that way, even if all current implementers will
> actually use the page lock.

We need PG_lock for two reasons.

Firstly, it guarantees page's flags operation(i.e., PG_movable, PG_isolated)
atomicity. Another thing is for stability for page->mapping->a_ops.

For example,

isolate_migratepages_block
        if (PageMovable(page))
                isolate_movable_page
                        get_page_unless_zero <--- 1
                        trylock_page
                        page->mapping->a_ops->isolate_page <--- 2

Between 1 and 2, driver can nullify page->mapping so we need PG_lock
to collaborate driver in the end. IOW, user should call
__ClearPageMovable where reset page->mapping to NULl under PG_lock.

> 
> Also it's worth reading that mail in full and incorporating here, as
> there are more concerns related to concurrency that should be
> documented, e.g. with pages that can be mapped to userspace. Not a
> case with zram and balloon pages I guess, but one of Gioh's original
> use cases was a driver which IIRC could map pages. So the design and
> documentation should keep that in mind.

Hmm, I didn't consider driver userspace mapped pages.
It's really worth to consider. I will think about it.

> 
> >+2. Migration
> >+
> >+After successful isolation, VM calls migratepage. The migratepage's goal is
> >+to move content of the old page to new page and set up struct page fields
> >+of new page. If migration is successful, subsystem should release old page's
> >+refcount to free. Keep in mind that subsystem should clear PG_movable and
> >+PG_isolated before releasing the refcount.  If everything are done, user
> >+should return MIGRATEPAGE_SUCCESS. If subsystem cannot migrate the page
> >+at the moment, migratepage can return -EAGAIN. On -EAGAIN, VM will retry page
> >+migration because VM interprets -EAGAIN as "temporal migration failure".
> >+
> >+3. Putback
> >+
> >+If migration was unsuccessful, VM calls putback_page. The subsystem should
> >+insert isolated page to own data structure again if it has. And subsystem
> >+should clear PG_isolated which was marked in isolation step.
> >+
> >+Note about releasing page:
> >+
> >+Subsystem can release pages whenever it want but if it releses the page
> >+which is already isolated, it should clear PG_isolated but doesn't touch
> >+PG_movable under PG_lock. Instead of it, VM will clear PG_movable after
> >+his job done. Otherweise, subsystem should clear both page flags before
> >+releasing the page.
> 
> I don't understand this right now. But maybe I will get it after
> reading the patches and suggest some improved wording here.

I will try to explain why such rule happens in there.

The problem is that put_page is aware of PageLRU. So, if someone releases
last refcount of LRU page, __put_page checks PageLRU and then, clear the
flags and detatch the page in LRU list(i.e., data structure).
But in case of driver page, data structure like LRU among drivers is not only one.
IOW, we should add following code in put_page to handle various requirements
of driver page.

void __put_page(struct page *page)
{
        if (PageMovable(page)) {
                /*
                 * It will tity up driver's data structure like LRU
                 * and reset page's flags. And it should be atomic
                 * and always successful
                 */
                page->put(page);
                __ClearPageMovable(page);
        } else if (PageCompound(page))
                __put_compound_page(page);
        else
                __put_single_page(page);
                          
}

I'd like to avoid add new branch for not popular job in put_page which is hot.
(Might change in future but not popular at the moment)
So, rule of driver is as follows.

When the driver releases the page and he found the page is PG_isolated,
he should unmark only PG_isolated, not PG_movable so migration side of
VM can catch it up "Hmm, the isolated non-lru page doesn't have PG_isolated
any more. It means drivers releases the page. So, let's put the page
instead of putback operation".

When the driver releases the page and he doesn't see PG_isolated mark
of the page, driver should reset both PG_isolated and PG_movable.

> 
> >+
> >+Note about PG_isolated:
> >+
> >+PG_isolated check on a page is valid only if the page's flag is already
> >+set to PG_movable.
> 
> But it's not possible to check both atomically, so I guess it
> implies checking under page lock? If that's true, should be
> explicit.

Sure.

Thanks for the review, Vlastimil. :)