Re: [PATCH 1/6] kill-the-BKL/reiserfs: release write lock onfs_changed()

From: Chris Mason
Date: Fri May 01 2009 - 10:14:43 EST


On Fri, 2009-05-01 at 16:01 +0200, Frederic Weisbecker wrote:
> On Fri, May 01, 2009 at 09:44:16AM -0400, Chris Mason wrote:
> > On Fri, 2009-05-01 at 15:28 +0200, Frederic Weisbecker wrote:
> > > On Fri, May 01, 2009 at 08:31:12AM +0200, Andi Kleen wrote:
> > > > Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > > > >
> > > > > diff --git a/include/linux/reiserfs_fs.h b/include/linux/reiserfs_fs.h
> > > > > index 6587b4e..397d281 100644
> > > > > --- a/include/linux/reiserfs_fs.h
> > > > > +++ b/include/linux/reiserfs_fs.h
> > > > > @@ -1302,7 +1302,13 @@ static inline loff_t max_reiserfs_offset(struct inode *inode)
> > > > > #define get_generation(s) atomic_read (&fs_generation(s))
> > > > > #define FILESYSTEM_CHANGED_TB(tb) (get_generation((tb)->tb_sb) != (tb)->fs_gen)
> > > > > #define __fs_changed(gen,s) (gen != get_generation (s))
> > > > > -#define fs_changed(gen,s) ({cond_resched(); __fs_changed(gen, s);})
> > > > > +#define fs_changed(gen,s) \
> > > > > +({ \
> > > > > + reiserfs_write_unlock(s); \
> > > > > + cond_resched(); \
> > > > > + reiserfs_write_lock(s); \
> > > >
> > > > Did you try writing that
> > > >
> > > > if (need_resched()) { \
> > > > reiserfs_write_unlock(s); \
> > > > cond_resched(); \ (or schedule(), but cond_resched does a loop)
> > > > reiserfs_write_lock(s); \
> > > > }
> > > >
> > > > ? That might give better performance under load because users will be better
> > > > batched and you don't release the lock unnecessarily in the unloaded case.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Good catch!
> > > And I guess this pattern matches most of the cond_resched()
> > > all over the code (the only condition is that we must already hold
> > > the write lock).
> > >
> > > I will merge your idea and Ingo's one, write a
> > > reiserfs_cond_resched() to have a helper which
> > > factorizes this pattern.
> >
> > The pattern you'll find goes like this:
> >
> > lock_kernel()
> > do some work
> > do something that might schedule
> > run fs_changed(), fixup as required.
> >
> > In your setup it is translating to:
> >
> > reiserfs_write_lock(s)
> > do some work
> > reiserfs_write_unlock(s)
> >
> > do something that might schedule
> >
> > reiserfs_write_lock(s)
> > if (need_resched()) {
> > reiserfs_write_unlock(s)
> > cond_resched()
> > reiserfs_write_lock(s)
> > }
> >
> > if (__fs_changed()) fixup as required
> >
> > You'll also find that item_moved is similar to __fs_changed() but more
> > fine grained.
> >
> > One easy optimization is to make an fs_changed_relock()
> >
> > static inline int fs_changed_relock(gen, s) {
> > cond_resched();
> > reiserfs_write_lock(s)
> > return __fs_changed(gen, s)
> > }
>
>
>
> Nice idea!
> Does it means I can also replace the item_moved() calls to __fs_changed()?
>

Not quite, it looks like a common convention is also

if (fs_changed && item_moved) { fixup }

item_moved is the expensive check based on the contents of a btree
block, while fs_changed is a simple generation number.

> They seem to not work the same way, I guess I should provide two different
> helpers, depending on the check.
>
>
> >
> > Another cause of scheduling is going to be reiserfs_prepare_for_journal.
> > This function gets called before we modify a metadata buffer and it
> > waits for IO to finish.
> >
> > Not sure if your patch series already found it, but if you change this:
> >
> > int reiserfs_prepare_for_journal(struct super_block *sb,
> > struct buffer_head *bh, int wait)
> > {
> > PROC_INFO_INC(sb, journal.prepare);
> >
> > if (!trylock_buffer(bh)) {
> > if (!wait)
> > return 0;
> > lock_buffer(bh);
> > }
> >
> > Into:
> >
> > if (!trylock_buffer(bh)) {
> > if (!wait)
> > return 0;
> > reiserfs_write_unlock(s);
> > wait_on_buffer(bh);
> > reiserfs_write_lock(s);
> > lock_buffer(bh);
> > }
> >
> > You'll catch a big cause of waiting for the disk with the lock held.
>
>
> Again, good catch. I will try that.
>
> I should also check the different other lock_buffer() which
> indeed might sleep.

ftrace can help some.

cd /sys/kernel/debug/tracing
echo function > current_tracer
echo func_stack_trace > trace_options
echo schedule > set_ftrace_filter
echo 1 > tracing_on

trace-histogram < trace_pipe > /tmp/trace_output

(in another window run the reiserfs workload)

When done hit ctrl-c on the trace-histogram window

You'll get the most common causes of schedule during the run, groupd by
stack trace. Just look for the ones that are done with the lock held.

trace-histogram is here:

http://oss.oracle.com/~mason/trace-histogram

-chris


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