Re: Fwd: vmalloc error: btrfs-delalloc btrfs_work_helper [btrfs] in kernel 6.3.x

From: Uladzislau Rezki
Date: Mon May 22 2023 - 12:00:52 EST


> Hi,
>
> I notice a regression report on Bugzilla [1]. Quoting from it:
>
> > after updating from 6.2.x to 6.3.x, vmalloc error messages started to appear in the dmesg
> >
> >
> >
> > # free
> > total used free shared buff/cache available
> > Mem: 16183724 1473068 205664 33472 14504992 14335700
> > Swap: 16777212 703596 16073616
> >
> >
> > (zswap enabled)
>
> See bugzilla for the full thread and attached dmesg.
>
> On the report, the reporter can't perform the required bisection,
> unfortunately.
>
> Anyway, I'm adding it to regzbot:
>
> #regzbot introduced: v6.2..v6.3 https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217466
> #regzbot title: btrfs_work_helper dealloc error in v6.3.x
>
> Thanks.
>
> [1]: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=217466
>
According to dmesg output from the bugzilla, the vmalloc tries to
allocate high order pages: 1 << 9. Since it fails to get a order-9 page
you get the warning:

<snip>
if (area->nr_pages != nr_small_pages) {
/* vm_area_alloc_pages() can also fail due to a fatal signal */
if (!fatal_signal_pending(current))
warn_alloc(gfp_mask, NULL,
"vmalloc error: size %lu, page order %u, failed to allocate pages",
area->nr_pages * PAGE_SIZE, page_order);
goto fail;
}
<snip>

and it fails.

If the __GFP_NOFAIL is passed, the vm_area_alloc_pages() function switches
to allocate 0-order pages instead. I think the fix is to call the
kvmalloc_node() with __GFP_NOFAIL flag.

--
Uladzislau Rezki