[PATCH] mm: ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC flag allocation issue

From: Zhiguo Jiang
Date: Sun Nov 19 2023 - 21:37:02 EST


In case that alloc_flags contains ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC and alloc order
is order1/2/3/10 in rmqueue(), if pages are alloced successfully
from pcplist, a free pageblock will be also moved from the alloced
migratetype freelist to MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC freelist, rather than
alloc from MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC freelist firstly, so this will result
in an increasing number of pages on the MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC freelist,
pages in other migratetype freelist are reduced and more likely to
allocation failure.

Currently the sequence of ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC allocation is:
pcplist --> rmqueue_bulk() --> rmqueue_buddy() MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC
--> rmqueue_buddy() allocation migratetype.

Due to the fact that requesting pages from the pcplist is faster than
buddy, the sequence of modifying the ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC allocation is:
pcplist --> rmqueue_buddy() MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC --> rmqueue_buddy()
allocation migratetype.

This patch can solve the failure problem of allocating other types of
pages due to excessive MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC freelist reservations.

In comparative testing, cat /proc/pagetypeinfo and the HighAtomic
freelist size is:
Test without this patch:
Node 0, zone Normal, type HighAtomic 2369 771 138 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Test with this patch:
Node 0, zone Normal, type HighAtomic 206 82 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

Signed-off-by: Zhiguo Jiang <justinjiang@xxxxxxxx>
---
mm/page_alloc.c | 33 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
mode change 100644 => 100755 mm/page_alloc.c

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 7a8dac0c1c74..49890d00cc3c
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -2850,11 +2850,20 @@ struct page *__rmqueue_pcplist(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order,
int batch = nr_pcp_alloc(pcp, zone, order);
int alloced;

+ /*
+ * If pcplist is empty and alloc_flags is with ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC,
+ * it should alloc from buddy highatomic migrate freelist firstly
+ * to ensure quick and successful allocation.
+ */
+ if (alloc_flags & ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC)
+ goto out;
+
alloced = rmqueue_bulk(zone, order,
batch, list,
migratetype, alloc_flags);

pcp->count += alloced << order;
+out:
if (unlikely(list_empty(list)))
return NULL;
}
@@ -2918,7 +2927,7 @@ static inline
struct page *rmqueue(struct zone *preferred_zone,
struct zone *zone, unsigned int order,
gfp_t gfp_flags, unsigned int alloc_flags,
- int migratetype)
+ int migratetype, bool *highatomc_allocation)
{
struct page *page;

@@ -2938,6 +2947,23 @@ struct page *rmqueue(struct zone *preferred_zone,
page = rmqueue_buddy(preferred_zone, zone, order, alloc_flags,
migratetype);

+ /*
+ * The high-order atomic allocation pageblock reserved conditions:
+ *
+ * If the high-order atomic allocation page is alloced from pcplist,
+ * the highatomic pageblock does not need to be reserved, which can
+ * void to migrate an increasing number of pages into buddy
+ * MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC freelist and lead to an increasing risk of
+ * allocation failure on other buddy migrate freelists.
+ *
+ * If the high-order atomic allocation page is alloced from buddy
+ * highatomic migrate freelist, regardless of whether the allocation
+ * is successful or not, the highatomic pageblock can try to be
+ * reserved.
+ */
+ if (unlikely(alloc_flags & ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC))
+ *highatomc_allocation = true;
+
out:
/* Separate test+clear to avoid unnecessary atomics */
if ((alloc_flags & ALLOC_KSWAPD) &&
@@ -3208,6 +3234,7 @@ get_page_from_freelist(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order, int alloc_flags,
struct pglist_data *last_pgdat = NULL;
bool last_pgdat_dirty_ok = false;
bool no_fallback;
+ bool highatomc_allocation = false;

retry:
/*
@@ -3339,7 +3366,7 @@ get_page_from_freelist(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order, int alloc_flags,

try_this_zone:
page = rmqueue(ac->preferred_zoneref->zone, zone, order,
- gfp_mask, alloc_flags, ac->migratetype);
+ gfp_mask, alloc_flags, ac->migratetype, &highatomc_allocation);
if (page) {
prep_new_page(page, order, gfp_mask, alloc_flags);

@@ -3347,7 +3374,7 @@ get_page_from_freelist(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order, int alloc_flags,
* If this is a high-order atomic allocation then check
* if the pageblock should be reserved for the future
*/
- if (unlikely(alloc_flags & ALLOC_HIGHATOMIC))
+ if (unlikely(highatomc_allocation))
reserve_highatomic_pageblock(page, zone);

return page;
--
2.39.0