Re: [linus:master] [page cache] 9425c591e0: vm-scalability.throughput -20.0% regression

[Yin, Fengwei]

Hi Mike,

> On 06/21/23 15:19, kernel test robot wrote:
  <snip> 
> I suspected this change could impact page_cache_next/prev_miss users, but had
> no idea how much.
> 
> Unless someone sees something wrong in 9425c591e06a, the best approach
> might be to revert and then add a simple interface to check for 'folio at
> a given index in the cache' as suggested by Ackerley Tng.
> https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/98624c2f481966492b4eb8272aef747790229b73.1683069252.git.ackerleytng@xxxxxxxxxx/

Some findings in my side.
1. You patch impact the folio order for file readahead. I collect the histogram of
   order parameter to filemap_alloc_folio() call w/o your patch:

   With your patch:
     page order    : count     distribution
        0          : 892073   |                                        |
        1          : 0        |                                        |
        2          : 65120457 |****************************************|
        3          : 32914005 |********************                    |
        4          : 33020991 |********************                    |

   Without your patch:
     page order    : count     distribution
        0          : 3417288  |****                                    |
        1          : 0        |                                        |
        2          : 877012   |*                                       |
        3          : 288      |                                        |
        4          : 5607522  |*******                                 |
        5          : 29974228 |****************************************|

   We could see the order 5 dominate the filemap folio without your patch. With your
   patch, order 2,3,4 are most used for filemap folio.

2. My understanding is your patch is correct and shouldn't be reverted. I made
   a small change based on your patch. The performance regression is gone.

diff --git a/mm/readahead.c b/mm/readahead.c
index 47afbca1d122..cca333f9b560 100644
--- a/mm/readahead.c
+++ b/mm/readahead.c
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ static void ondemand_readahead(struct readahead_control *ractl,
                pgoff_t start;

                rcu_read_lock();
-               start = page_cache_next_miss(ractl->mapping, index + 1,
+               start = page_cache_next_miss(ractl->mapping, index,
                                max_pages);
                rcu_read_unlock();

   And the filemap folio order is restored also:
     page order    : count     distribution
        0          : 3357622  |****                                    |
        1          : 0        |                                        |
        2          : 861726   |*                                       |
        3          : 285      |                                        |
        4          : 4511637  |*****                                   |
        5          : 30505713 |****************************************|

   I still didn't figure out why this simple change can restore the performance.
   And why index + 1 was used. Will check more.


Regards
Yin, Fengwei