From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from psmtp.com (na3sys010amx151.postini.com [74.125.245.151]) by kanga.kvack.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 6BB6B6B0006 for ; Thu, 7 Mar 2013 21:37:09 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 7 Mar 2013 21:37:05 -0500 From: Johannes Weiner Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm: Fixup the condition whether the page cache is free Message-ID: <20130308023705.GI24384@cmpxchg.org> References: <20130304150937.GB23767@cmpxchg.org> <51369637.6030705@gmail.com> <20130306194703.GA1953@cmpxchg.org> <5137E7F4.1060509@gmail.com> <51394945.4070803@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <51394945.4070803@gmail.com> Sender: owner-linux-mm@kvack.org List-ID: To: Simon Jeons Cc: Li Haifeng , open@kvack.org, list@kvack.org, MEMORY MANAGEMENT , open list , linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org On Fri, Mar 08, 2013 at 10:13:25AM +0800, Simon Jeons wrote: > Ping, :-) > On 03/07/2013 09:05 AM, Simon Jeons wrote: > >Hi Johannes, > >On 03/07/2013 03:47 AM, Johannes Weiner wrote: > >>On Wed, Mar 06, 2013 at 09:04:55AM +0800, Simon Jeons wrote: > >>>Hi Johannes, > >>>On 03/04/2013 11:09 PM, Johannes Weiner wrote: > >>>>On Mon, Mar 04, 2013 at 09:54:26AM +0800, Li Haifeng wrote: > >>>>>When a page cache is to reclaim, we should to decide whether the page > >>>>>cache is free. > >>>>>IMO, the condition whether a page cache is free should be 3 in page > >>>>>frame reclaiming. The reason lists as below. > >>>>> > >>>>>When page is allocated, the page->_count is 1(code > >>>>>fragment is code-1 ). > >>>>>And when the page is allocated for reading files from > >>>>>extern disk, the > >>>>>page->_count will increment 1 by page_cache_get() in > >>>>>add_to_page_cache_locked()(code fragment is code-2). When > >>>>>the page is to > >>>>>reclaim, the isolated LRU list also increase the page->_count(code > >>>>>fragment is code-3). > >>>>The page count is initialized to 1, but that does not stay with the > >>>>object. It's a reference that is passed to the allocating task, which > >>>>drops it again when it's done with the page. I.e. the pattern is like > >>>>this: > >>>> > >>>>instantiation: > >>>>page = page_cache_alloc() /* instantiator reference -> 1 */ > >>>>add_to_page_cache(page, mapping, offset) > >>>> get_page(page) /* page cache reference -> 2 */ > >>>>lru_cache_add(page) > >>>> get_page(page) /* pagevec reference -> 3 */ > >>>>/* ...initiate read, write, associate buffers, ... */ > >>>>page_cache_release(page) /* drop instantiator reference > >>>>-> 2 + private */ > >>>> > >>>>reclaim: > >>>>lru_add_drain() > >>>> page_cache_release(page) /* drop pagevec reference -> > >>>>1 + private */ > >>>IIUC, when add page to lru will lead to add to pagevec firstly, and > >>>pagevec will take one reference, so if lru will take over the > >>>reference taken by pagevec when page transmit from pagevec to lru? > >>>or just drop the reference and lru will not take reference for page? > >>The LRU does not hold a reference, it would not make sense. The > >>pagevec only needs one because it would be awkward to remove a > >>concurrently freed page out of a pagevec, but unlinking a page from > >>the LRU is easy. See mm/swap.c::__page_cache_release() and friends. > > > >Since pagevec is per cpu, when can remove a concurrently freed > >page out of a pagevec happen? It doesn't because the pagevec holds a reference, as I wrote above. Feel free to consult the code as well for questions like these ;-) -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@kvack.org. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: email@kvack.org