Re: [PATCH] mm/madvise: fix madvise_pageout for private file mappings

From: Mark Hemment
Date: Thu Dec 01 2022 - 08:46:55 EST


On Wed, 9 Nov 2022 at 05:19, Pavankumar Kondeti
<quic_pkondeti@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> When MADV_PAGEOUT is called on a private file mapping VMA region,
> we bail out early if the process is neither owner nor write capable
> of the file. However, this VMA may have both private/shared clean
> pages and private dirty pages. The opportunity of paging out the
> private dirty pages (Anon pages) is missed. Fix this by caching
> the file access check and use it later along with PageAnon() during
> page walk.
>
> We observe ~10% improvement in zram usage, thus leaving more available
> memory on a 4GB RAM system running Android.
>
> Signed-off-by: Pavankumar Kondeti <quic_pkondeti@xxxxxxxxxxx>

Only scanned review the patch; the logic looks good (as does the
reasoning) but a couple of minor comments;


> ---
> mm/madvise.c | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++++-------
> 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/madvise.c b/mm/madvise.c
> index c7105ec..b6b88e2 100644
> --- a/mm/madvise.c
> +++ b/mm/madvise.c
> @@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
> struct madvise_walk_private {
> struct mmu_gather *tlb;
> bool pageout;
> + bool can_pageout_file;
> };
>
> /*
> @@ -328,6 +329,7 @@ static int madvise_cold_or_pageout_pte_range(pmd_t *pmd,
> struct madvise_walk_private *private = walk->private;
> struct mmu_gather *tlb = private->tlb;
> bool pageout = private->pageout;
> + bool pageout_anon_only = pageout && !private->can_pageout_file;
> struct mm_struct *mm = tlb->mm;
> struct vm_area_struct *vma = walk->vma;
> pte_t *orig_pte, *pte, ptent;
> @@ -364,6 +366,9 @@ static int madvise_cold_or_pageout_pte_range(pmd_t *pmd,
> if (page_mapcount(page) != 1)
> goto huge_unlock;
>
> + if (pageout_anon_only && !PageAnon(page))
> + goto huge_unlock;
> +
> if (next - addr != HPAGE_PMD_SIZE) {
> int err;
>
> @@ -432,6 +437,8 @@ static int madvise_cold_or_pageout_pte_range(pmd_t *pmd,
> if (PageTransCompound(page)) {
> if (page_mapcount(page) != 1)
> break;
> + if (pageout_anon_only && !PageAnon(page))
> + break;
> get_page(page);
> if (!trylock_page(page)) {
> put_page(page);
> @@ -459,6 +466,9 @@ static int madvise_cold_or_pageout_pte_range(pmd_t *pmd,
> if (!PageLRU(page) || page_mapcount(page) != 1)
> continue;
>
> + if (pageout_anon_only && !PageAnon(page))
> + continue;
> +

The added PageAnon()s probably do not have a measurable performance
impact, but not ideal when walking a large anonymous mapping (as
'->can_pageout_file' is zero for anon mappings).
Could the code be re-structured so that PageAnon() is only tested when
filtering is needed? Say;
if (pageout_anon_only_filter && !PageAnon(page)) {
continue;
}
where 'pageout_anon_only_filter' is only set for a private named
mapping when do not have write perms on backing object. It would not
be set for anon mappings.


> VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(PageTransCompound(page), page);
>
> if (pte_young(ptent)) {
> @@ -541,11 +551,13 @@ static long madvise_cold(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
>
> static void madvise_pageout_page_range(struct mmu_gather *tlb,
> struct vm_area_struct *vma,
> - unsigned long addr, unsigned long end)
> + unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,
> + bool can_pageout_file)
> {
> struct madvise_walk_private walk_private = {
> .pageout = true,
> .tlb = tlb,
> + .can_pageout_file = can_pageout_file,
> };
>
> tlb_start_vma(tlb, vma);
> @@ -553,10 +565,8 @@ static void madvise_pageout_page_range(struct mmu_gather *tlb,
> tlb_end_vma(tlb, vma);
> }
>
> -static inline bool can_do_pageout(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> +static inline bool can_do_file_pageout(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> {
> - if (vma_is_anonymous(vma))
> - return true;
> if (!vma->vm_file)
> return false;
> /*
> @@ -576,17 +586,23 @@ static long madvise_pageout(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
> {
> struct mm_struct *mm = vma->vm_mm;
> struct mmu_gather tlb;
> + bool can_pageout_file;
>
> *prev = vma;
> if (!can_madv_lru_vma(vma))
> return -EINVAL;
>
> - if (!can_do_pageout(vma))
> - return 0;

The removal of this test results in a process, which cannot get write
perms for a shared named mapping, performing a 'walk'. As such a
mapping cannot have anon pages, this walk will be a no-op. Not sure
why a well-behaved program would do a MADV_PAGEOUT on such a mapping,
but if one does this could be considered a (minor performance)
regression. As madvise_pageout() can easily filter this case, might be
worth adding a check.


> + /*
> + * If the VMA belongs to a private file mapping, there can be private
> + * dirty pages which can be paged out if even this process is neither
> + * owner nor write capable of the file. Cache the file access check
> + * here and use it later during page walk.
> + */
> + can_pageout_file = can_do_file_pageout(vma);
>
> lru_add_drain();
> tlb_gather_mmu(&tlb, mm);
> - madvise_pageout_page_range(&tlb, vma, start_addr, end_addr);
> + madvise_pageout_page_range(&tlb, vma, start_addr, end_addr, can_pageout_file);
> tlb_finish_mmu(&tlb);
>
> return 0;
> --
> 2.7.4
>
>

Cheers,
Mark