Re: [PATCH] mm/page_alloc: consider pfn holes after pfn_valid() in __pageblock_pfn_to_page()

From: Baolin Wang
Date: Thu Apr 20 2023 - 05:12:57 EST




On 4/20/2023 3:22 PM, Huang, Ying wrote:
Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

On 4/12/2023 7:25 PM, David Hildenbrand wrote:
On 12.04.23 12:45, Baolin Wang wrote:
Now the __pageblock_pfn_to_page() is used by set_zone_contiguous(),
which checks whether the given zone contains holes, and uses pfn_valid()
to check if the end pfn is valid. However pfn_valid() can not make sure
the end pfn is not a hole if the size of a pageblock is larger than the
size of a sub-mem_section, since the struct page getting by pfn_to_page()
may represent a hole or an unusable page frame, which may cause incorrect
zone contiguous is set.

Though another user of pageblock_pfn_to_page() in compaction seems work
well now, it is better to avoid scanning or touching these offline pfns.
So like commit 2d070eab2e82 ("mm: consider zone which is not fully
populated to have holes"), we should also use pfn_to_online_page() for
the end pfn to make sure it is a valid pfn with usable page frame.
Meanwhile the pfn_valid() for end pfn can be dropped now.

Moreover we've already used pfn_to_online_page() for start pfn to make
sure it is online and valid, so the pfn_valid() for the start pfn is
unnecessary, drop it.
pageblocks are supposed to fall into a single memory section, so in
mos > cases, if the start is online, so is the end.

Yes, the granularity of memory hotplug is a mem_section.

However, suppose the pageblock order is MAX_ORDER-1, and the size of a
sub-section is 2M, that means a pageblock will fall into 2 sub
mem-section, and if there is a hole in the zone, that means the 2nd
sub mem-section can be invalid without setting subsection_map bitmap.

So the start is online can make sure the end pfn of a pageblock is
online, but a valid start pfn can not make sure the end pfn is valid
in the bitmap of ms->usage->subsection_map.

arch_add_memory
add_pages
__add_pages
sparse_add_section /* set subsection_map */

arch_add_memory() is only called by add_memory_resource() and
pagemap_range() (called add_pages() too). In add_memory_resource(),
check_hotplug_memory_range() will enforce a strict hotplug range
alignment requirement (128 MB on x86_64). pagemap_range() are used for
ZONE_DEVICE only. That is, for normal memory, hotplug granularity is
much larger than 2MB.

IIUC, the situation you mentioned above is impossible. Or do I miss
something?

Thanks for your input. Your example is correct, but this is not the case I want to describe. My case is not about the memory hotplug, instead about the early memory holes when initialzing the memory. Let me try to describe explicity:

First suppose the pageblock order is MAX_ORDER-1, and see below memory layout as an example:

[ 0.000000] Zone ranges:
[ 0.000000] DMA [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x00000000ffffffff]
[ 0.000000] DMA32 empty
[ 0.000000] Normal [mem 0x0000000100000000-0x0000001fa7ffffff]
[ 0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[ 0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000000040000000-0x0000001fa3c7ffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa3c80000-0x0000001fa3ffffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa4000000-0x0000001fa402ffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa4030000-0x0000001fa40effff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa40f0000-0x0000001fa73cffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa73d0000-0x0000001fa745ffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa7460000-0x0000001fa746ffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa7470000-0x0000001fa758ffff]
[ 0.000000] node 0: [mem 0x0000001fa7590000-0x0000001fa7dfffff]

Focus on the last memory range, and there is a hole for the range [mem 0x0000001fa7590000-0x0000001fa7dfffff]. That means the last pageblock will contain the range from 0x1fa7c00000 to 0x1fa7ffffff, since the pageblock must be 4M aligned. And in this page block, these pfns will fall into 2 sub-section (the sub-section size is 2M aligned).

So, the 1st sub-section (indicates pfn range: 0x1fa7c00000 - 0x1fa7dfffff ) in this pageblock is valid by free_area_init()--->subsection_map_init(), but the 2nd sub-section (indicates pfn range: 0x1fa7e00000 - 0x1fa7ffffff ) in this pageblock is not valid.

The problem is, if we just check the pageblock start of the hole pfn (such as 0x1fa7dfffff) to make sure the hole pfn (0x1fa7dfffff) is also valid, which is NOT correct. So that is what I mean "the start is online can make sure the end pfn of a pageblock is online, but a valid start pfn can not make sure the end pfn is valid in the bitmap of ms->usage->subsection_map."

Hope I make it clear. Does that make sense to you? Thanks.

THE exception to this rule is when we have a mixture of ZONE_DEVICE
and ZONE_* within the same section.
Then, indeed the end might not be online.
BUT, if the end is valid (-> ZONE_DEVICE), then the zone_id will
differ. [let's ignore any races for now, up to this point they are
mostly of theoretical nature]
So I don't think this change actually fixes something.

Getting rid of the pfn_valid(start_pfn). makes sense. Replacing the

Yes, my motivation is try to optimize the __pageblock_pfn_to_page()
which is hot when doing compaction, and I saw these pfn_valid() can be
dropped.

pfn_valid(end_pfn) by a pfn_to_online_page(end_pfn) could make that
function less efficient.


Signed-off-by: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
. mm/page_alloc.c | 7 +++----
. 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index d0eb280ec7e4..8076f519c572 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1512,9 +1512,6 @@ struct page *__pageblock_pfn_to_page(unsigned
long start_pfn,
. . . /* end_pfn is one past the range we are checking */
. . . end_pfn--;
-. . if (!pfn_valid(start_pfn) || !pfn_valid(end_pfn))
-. . . . return NULL;
-
. . . start_page = pfn_to_online_page(start_pfn);
. . . if (!start_page)
. . . . . return NULL;
@@ -1522,7 +1519,9 @@ struct page *__pageblock_pfn_to_page(unsigned
long start_pfn,
. . . if (page_zone(start_page) != zone)
. . . . . return NULL;
-. . end_page = pfn_to_page(end_pfn);
+. . end_page = pfn_to_online_page(end_pfn);
+. . if (!end_page)
+. . . . return NULL;
. . . /* This gives a shorter code than deriving page_zone(end_page) */
. . . if (page_zone_id(start_page) != page_zone_id(end_page))