[RFC PATCH v2 0/4] mm/zsmalloc: reduce zs_free() latency on swap release path

[RFC PATCH v2 0/4] mm/zsmalloc: reduce zs_free() latency on swap release path

[Wenchao Hao]

Swap freeing can be expensive when unmapping a VMA containing
many swap entries. This has been reported to significantly
delay memory reclamation during Android's low-memory killing,
especially when multiple processes are terminated to free
memory, with slot_free() accounting for more than 80% of
the total cost of freeing swap entries.

Two earlier attempts by Lei and Zhiguo added a new thread in the mm core
to asynchronously collect and free swap entries [1][2], but the
design itself is fairly complex.

When anon folios and swap entries are mixed within a
process, reclaiming anon folios from killed processes
helps return memory to the system as quickly as possible,
so that newly launched applications can satisfy their
memory demands. It is not ideal for swap freeing to block
anon folio freeing. On the other hand, swap freeing can
still return memory to the system, although at a slower
rate due to memory compression.

Therefore, we introduce a GC worker to allow anon
folio freeing and slot_free to run in parallel, since
slot_free is performed asynchronously, maximizing the rate at
which memory is returned to the system.

This series takes two complementary approaches to reduce zs_free()
latency:

- Shrink zs_free() class->lock critical section by moving zspage
  freeing outside the lock.
- Defer zs_free() to a workqueue via zs_free_deferred(), benefiting
  both zram and zswap.

The deferred free approach builds on Barry Song's earlier RFC [1] with
changes based on community feedback: optimization moved to zsmalloc
layer instead of zram; fixed array storing handles (not indices) with
O(1) enqueue to avoid memory allocation on the exit path and data
consistency issues on slot reuse; size-based capacity scaling with
PAGE_SIZE.

Xueyuan's test on RK3588 with Barry's RFC v1 [3] shows that unmapping
a 256MB swap-filled VMA becomes 3.4x faster when pinning tasks to CPU2,
reducing the execution time from 63,102,982 ns to 18,570,726 ns.

A positive side effect is that async GC also slightly improves
do_swap_page() performance, as it no longer has to wait for
slot_free() to complete.

Xueyuan's test with Barry's RFC v1 [3] shows that swapping in 256MB of
data (each page filled with repeating patterns such as "1024 one",
"1024 two", "1024 three", and "1024 four") reduces execution time from
1,358,133,886 ns to 1,104,315,986 ns, achieving a 1.22x speedup.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240805153639.1057-1-justinjiang@vivo.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250909065349.574894-1-liulei.rjpt@vivo.com/
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260412060450.15813-1-baohua@kernel.org/

Xueyuan Chen (1):
  mm:zsmalloc: drop class lock before freeing zspage

Barry Song (Xiaomi) (1):
  zram: defer zs_free() in swap slot free notification path

Wenchao Hao (2):
  mm/zsmalloc: introduce zs_free_deferred() for async handle freeing
  mm/zswap: defer zs_free() in zswap_invalidate() path

 drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c |  37 ++++++---
 include/linux/zsmalloc.h      |   2 +
 mm/zsmalloc.c                 | 141 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 mm/zswap.c                    |  16 ++++-
 4 files changed, 177 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

--
2.34.1

[RFC PATCH v2 1/4] mm:zsmalloc: drop class lock before freeing zspage

[Wenchao Hao]

From: Xueyuan Chen <xueyuan.chen21@gmail.com>

Currently in zs_free(), the class->lock is held until the zspage is
completely freed and the counters are updated. However, freeing pages back
to the buddy allocator requires acquiring the zone lock.

Under heavy memory pressure, zone lock contention can be severe. When this
happens, the CPU holding the class->lock will stall waiting for the zone
lock, thereby blocking all other CPUs attempting to acquire the same
class->lock.

This patch shrinks the critical section of the class->lock to reduce lock
contention. By moving the actual page freeing process outside the
class->lock, we can improve the concurrency performance of zs_free().

Testing on the RADXA O6 platform shows that with 12 CPUs concurrently
performing zs_free() operations, the execution time is reduced by 20%.

Signed-off-by: Xueyuan Chen <xueyuan.chen21@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Wenchao Hao <haowenchao@xiaomi.com>
---
 mm/zsmalloc.c | 28 ++++++++++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/zsmalloc.c b/mm/zsmalloc.c
index 63128ddb7959..40687c8a7469 100644
--- a/mm/zsmalloc.c
+++ b/mm/zsmalloc.c
@@ -801,13 +801,10 @@ static int trylock_zspage(struct zspage *zspage)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static void __free_zspage(struct zs_pool *pool, struct size_class *class,
-				struct zspage *zspage)
+static inline void __free_zspage_lockless(struct zs_pool *pool, struct zspage *zspage)
 {
 	struct zpdesc *zpdesc, *next;
 
-	assert_spin_locked(&class->lock);
-
 	VM_BUG_ON(get_zspage_inuse(zspage));
 	VM_BUG_ON(zspage->fullness != ZS_INUSE_RATIO_0);
 
@@ -823,7 +820,13 @@ static void __free_zspage(struct zs_pool *pool, struct size_class *class,
 	} while (zpdesc != NULL);
 
 	cache_free_zspage(zspage);
+}
 
+static void __free_zspage(struct zs_pool *pool, struct size_class *class,
+				struct zspage *zspage)
+{
+	assert_spin_locked(&class->lock);
+	__free_zspage_lockless(pool, zspage);
 	class_stat_sub(class, ZS_OBJS_ALLOCATED, class->objs_per_zspage);
 	atomic_long_sub(class->pages_per_zspage, &pool->pages_allocated);
 }
@@ -1388,6 +1391,7 @@ void zs_free(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long handle)
 	unsigned long obj;
 	struct size_class *class;
 	int fullness;
+	struct zspage *zspage_to_free = NULL;
 
 	if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL((void *)handle))
 		return;
@@ -1408,10 +1412,22 @@ void zs_free(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long handle)
 	obj_free(class->size, obj);
 
 	fullness = fix_fullness_group(class, zspage);
-	if (fullness == ZS_INUSE_RATIO_0)
-		free_zspage(pool, class, zspage);
+	if (fullness == ZS_INUSE_RATIO_0) {
+		if (trylock_zspage(zspage)) {
+			remove_zspage(class, zspage);
+			class_stat_sub(class, ZS_OBJS_ALLOCATED,
+				class->objs_per_zspage);
+			zspage_to_free = zspage;
+		} else
+			kick_deferred_free(pool);
+	}
 
 	spin_unlock(&class->lock);
+
+	if (likely(zspage_to_free)) {
+		__free_zspage_lockless(pool, zspage_to_free);
+		atomic_long_sub(class->pages_per_zspage, &pool->pages_allocated);
+	}
 	cache_free_handle(handle);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(zs_free);
-- 
2.34.1

[RFC PATCH v2 2/4] mm/zsmalloc: introduce zs_free_deferred() for async handle freeing

[Wenchao Hao]

zs_free() is expensive due to internal locking (pool->lock, class->lock)
and potential zspage freeing. On the process exit path, the slow
zs_free() blocks memory reclamation, delaying overall memory release.
This has been reported to significantly impact Android low-memory
killing where slot_free() accounts for over 80% of the total swap
entry freeing cost.

Introduce zs_free_deferred() which queues handles into a fixed-size
per-pool array for later processing by a workqueue. This allows callers
to defer the expensive zs_free() and return quickly, so the process
exit path can release memory faster. The array capacity is derived from
a 128MB uncompressed data budget (128MB >> PAGE_SHIFT entries), which
scales naturally with PAGE_SIZE. When the array reaches half capacity,
the workqueue is scheduled to drain pending handles.

zs_free_deferred() uses spin_trylock() to access the deferred queue.
If the lock is contended (e.g. drain in progress) or the queue is full,
it falls back to synchronous zs_free() to guarantee correctness.

Also introduce zs_free_deferred_flush() for use during pool teardown to
ensure all pending handles are freed.

Signed-off-by: Wenchao Hao <haowenchao@xiaomi.com>
---
 include/linux/zsmalloc.h |   2 +
 mm/zsmalloc.c            | 111 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 113 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/zsmalloc.h b/include/linux/zsmalloc.h
index 478410c880b1..1e5ac1a39d41 100644
--- a/include/linux/zsmalloc.h
+++ b/include/linux/zsmalloc.h
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ void zs_destroy_pool(struct zs_pool *pool);
 unsigned long zs_malloc(struct zs_pool *pool, size_t size, gfp_t flags,
 			const int nid);
 void zs_free(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long obj);
+void zs_free_deferred(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long handle);
+void zs_free_deferred_flush(struct zs_pool *pool);
 
 size_t zs_huge_class_size(struct zs_pool *pool);
 
diff --git a/mm/zsmalloc.c b/mm/zsmalloc.c
index 40687c8a7469..defc892555e4 100644
--- a/mm/zsmalloc.c
+++ b/mm/zsmalloc.c
@@ -53,6 +53,10 @@
 
 #define ZS_HANDLE_SIZE (sizeof(unsigned long))
 
+#define ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_MAX_BYTES	(128 << 20)
+#define ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_CAPACITY	(ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_MAX_BYTES >> PAGE_SHIFT)
+#define ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_THRESHOLD	(ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_CAPACITY / 2)
+
 /*
  * Object location (<PFN>, <obj_idx>) is encoded as
  * a single (unsigned long) handle value.
@@ -217,6 +221,13 @@ struct zs_pool {
 	/* protect zspage migration/compaction */
 	rwlock_t lock;
 	atomic_t compaction_in_progress;
+
+	/* deferred free support */
+	spinlock_t deferred_lock;
+	unsigned long *deferred_handles;
+	unsigned int deferred_count;
+	unsigned int deferred_capacity;
+	struct work_struct deferred_free_work;
 };
 
 static inline void zpdesc_set_first(struct zpdesc *zpdesc)
@@ -579,6 +590,19 @@ static int zs_stats_size_show(struct seq_file *s, void *v)
 }
 DEFINE_SHOW_ATTRIBUTE(zs_stats_size);
 
+static int zs_stats_deferred_show(struct seq_file *s, void *v)
+{
+	struct zs_pool *pool = s->private;
+
+	spin_lock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+	seq_printf(s, "pending: %u\n", pool->deferred_count);
+	seq_printf(s, "capacity: %u\n", pool->deferred_capacity);
+	spin_unlock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+DEFINE_SHOW_ATTRIBUTE(zs_stats_deferred);
+
 static void zs_pool_stat_create(struct zs_pool *pool, const char *name)
 {
 	if (!zs_stat_root) {
@@ -590,6 +614,9 @@ static void zs_pool_stat_create(struct zs_pool *pool, const char *name)
 
 	debugfs_create_file("classes", S_IFREG | 0444, pool->stat_dentry, pool,
 			    &zs_stats_size_fops);
+	debugfs_create_file("deferred_free", S_IFREG | 0444,
+			    pool->stat_dentry, pool,
+			    &zs_stats_deferred_fops);
 }
 
 static void zs_pool_stat_destroy(struct zs_pool *pool)
@@ -1432,6 +1459,76 @@ void zs_free(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long handle)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(zs_free);
 
+static void zs_deferred_free_work(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct zs_pool *pool = container_of(work, struct zs_pool,
+					    deferred_free_work);
+	unsigned long handle;
+
+	while (1) {
+		spin_lock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+		if (pool->deferred_count == 0) {
+			spin_unlock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+			break;
+		}
+		handle = pool->deferred_handles[--pool->deferred_count];
+		spin_unlock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+
+		zs_free(pool, handle);
+		cond_resched();
+	}
+}
+
+/**
+ * zs_free_deferred - queue a handle for asynchronous freeing
+ * @pool: pool to free from
+ * @handle: handle to free
+ *
+ * Place @handle into a deferred free queue for later processing by a
+ * workqueue.  This is intended for callers that are in atomic context
+ * (e.g. under a spinlock) and cannot afford the cost of zs_free()
+ * directly.  When the queue reaches a threshold the work is scheduled.
+ * Falls back to synchronous zs_free() if the lock is contended (drain
+ * in progress) or if the queue is full.
+ */
+void zs_free_deferred(struct zs_pool *pool, unsigned long handle)
+{
+	if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL((void *)handle))
+		return;
+
+	if (!spin_trylock(&pool->deferred_lock))
+		goto sync_free;
+
+	if (pool->deferred_count >= pool->deferred_capacity) {
+		spin_unlock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+		goto sync_free;
+	}
+
+	pool->deferred_handles[pool->deferred_count++] = handle;
+	if (pool->deferred_count >= ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_THRESHOLD)
+		queue_work(system_wq, &pool->deferred_free_work);
+	spin_unlock(&pool->deferred_lock);
+	return;
+
+sync_free:
+	zs_free(pool, handle);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(zs_free_deferred);
+
+/**
+ * zs_free_deferred_flush - flush all pending deferred frees
+ * @pool: pool to flush
+ *
+ * Wait for any scheduled work to complete, then drain any remaining
+ * handles.  Must be called from process context.
+ */
+void zs_free_deferred_flush(struct zs_pool *pool)
+{
+	flush_work(&pool->deferred_free_work);
+	zs_deferred_free_work(&pool->deferred_free_work);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(zs_free_deferred_flush);
+
 static void zs_object_copy(struct size_class *class, unsigned long dst,
 				unsigned long src)
 {
@@ -2099,6 +2196,18 @@ struct zs_pool *zs_create_pool(const char *name)
 	rwlock_init(&pool->lock);
 	atomic_set(&pool->compaction_in_progress, 0);
 
+	spin_lock_init(&pool->deferred_lock);
+	pool->deferred_capacity = ZS_DEFERRED_FREE_CAPACITY;
+	pool->deferred_handles = kvmalloc_array(pool->deferred_capacity,
+						sizeof(unsigned long),
+						GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!pool->deferred_handles) {
+		kfree(pool);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+	pool->deferred_count = 0;
+	INIT_WORK(&pool->deferred_free_work, zs_deferred_free_work);
+
 	pool->name = kstrdup(name, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!pool->name)
 		goto err;
@@ -2201,6 +2310,7 @@ void zs_destroy_pool(struct zs_pool *pool)
 	int i;
 
 	zs_unregister_shrinker(pool);
+	zs_free_deferred_flush(pool);
 	zs_flush_migration(pool);
 	zs_pool_stat_destroy(pool);
 
@@ -2224,6 +2334,7 @@ void zs_destroy_pool(struct zs_pool *pool)
 		kfree(class);
 	}
 
+	kvfree(pool->deferred_handles);
 	kfree(pool->name);
 	kfree(pool);
 }
-- 
2.34.1

[RFC PATCH v2 3/4] zram: defer zs_free() in swap slot free notification path

[Wenchao Hao]

From: "Barry Song (Xiaomi)" <baohua@kernel.org>

zram_slot_free_notify() is called on the process exit path when
unmapping swap entries. The slot_free() it calls internally invokes
zs_free(), which accounts for ~87% of slot_free() cost due to zsmalloc
internal locking (pool->lock, class->lock) and potential zspage freeing.
This blocks the process exit path, delaying overall memory release
during Android low-memory killing.

Split slot_free() into slot_free_extract() and the actual zs_free()
call. slot_free_extract() handles all slot metadata cleanup (clearing
flags, updating stats, zeroing handle/size) and returns the zsmalloc
handle that needs freeing. This separation has two benefits:

1. It makes the two responsibilities of slot_free() explicit: slot
   metadata management (must be done under slot lock) vs zsmalloc
   memory release (can be deferred).

2. It allows zram_slot_free_notify() to use zs_free_deferred() for
   the handle, deferring the expensive zs_free() to a workqueue so
   the exit path can release memory faster.

While at it, merge three separate clear_slot_flag() calls for
ZRAM_IDLE, ZRAM_INCOMPRESSIBLE, and ZRAM_PP_SLOT into a single
bitmask operation via clear_slot_flags_on_free(), reducing redundant
read-modify-write cycles on the same flags word.

All other slot_free() callers (write, discard, meta_free) continue
to use synchronous zs_free() through the unchanged slot_free()
wrapper.

Signed-off-by: Barry Song (Xiaomi) <baohua@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Wenchao Hao <haowenchao@xiaomi.com>
---
 drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c | 37 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c b/drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c
index c2afd1c34f4a..382c4dc57c8d 100644
--- a/drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/block/zram/zram_drv.c
@@ -165,6 +165,15 @@ static inline bool slot_allocated(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
 		test_slot_flag(zram, index, ZRAM_WB);
 }
 
+#define ZRAM_FLAGS_TO_CLEAR_ON_FREE	(BIT(ZRAM_IDLE) | \
+					 BIT(ZRAM_INCOMPRESSIBLE) | \
+					 BIT(ZRAM_PP_SLOT))
+
+static inline void clear_slot_flags_on_free(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
+{
+	zram->table[index].attr.flags &= ~ZRAM_FLAGS_TO_CLEAR_ON_FREE;
+}
+
 static inline void set_slot_comp_priority(struct zram *zram, u32 index,
 					  u32 prio)
 {
@@ -2000,17 +2009,20 @@ static bool zram_meta_alloc(struct zram *zram, u64 disksize)
 	return true;
 }
 
-static void slot_free(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
+/*
+ * Clear slot metadata and extract the zsmalloc handle for freeing.
+ * Returns the handle that needs to be freed via zs_free(), or 0 if
+ * no zsmalloc freeing is needed (e.g. same-filled or writeback slots).
+ */
+static unsigned long slot_free_extract(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
 {
-	unsigned long handle;
+	unsigned long handle = 0;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_ZRAM_TRACK_ENTRY_ACTIME
 	zram->table[index].attr.ac_time = 0;
 #endif
 
-	clear_slot_flag(zram, index, ZRAM_IDLE);
-	clear_slot_flag(zram, index, ZRAM_INCOMPRESSIBLE);
-	clear_slot_flag(zram, index, ZRAM_PP_SLOT);
+	clear_slot_flags_on_free(zram, index);
 	set_slot_comp_priority(zram, index, 0);
 
 	if (test_slot_flag(zram, index, ZRAM_HUGE)) {
@@ -2041,9 +2053,7 @@ static void slot_free(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
 
 	handle = get_slot_handle(zram, index);
 	if (!handle)
-		return;
-
-	zs_free(zram->mem_pool, handle);
+		return 0;
 
 	atomic64_sub(get_slot_size(zram, index),
 		     &zram->stats.compr_data_size);
@@ -2051,6 +2061,15 @@ static void slot_free(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
 	atomic64_dec(&zram->stats.pages_stored);
 	set_slot_handle(zram, index, 0);
 	set_slot_size(zram, index, 0);
+
+	return handle;
+}
+
+static void slot_free(struct zram *zram, u32 index)
+{
+	unsigned long handle = slot_free_extract(zram, index);
+
+	zs_free(zram->mem_pool, handle);
 }
 
 static int read_same_filled_page(struct zram *zram, struct page *page,
@@ -2794,7 +2813,7 @@ static void zram_slot_free_notify(struct block_device *bdev,
 		return;
 	}
 
-	slot_free(zram, index);
+	zs_free_deferred(zram->mem_pool, slot_free_extract(zram, index));
 	slot_unlock(zram, index);
 }
 
-- 
2.34.1

[RFC PATCH v2 4/4] mm/zswap: defer zs_free() in zswap_invalidate() path

[Wenchao Hao]

zswap_invalidate() is called on the same process exit path as
zram_slot_free_notify(). The zswap_entry_free() it calls internally
performs zs_free() which is expensive due to zsmalloc internal locking.
Unlike zram which has a trylock fallback, zswap_invalidate() executes
unconditionally, making the latency impact potentially worse.

Like zram, the expensive zs_free() here blocks the process exit path,
delaying overall memory release. Additionally, zswap_entry_free()
performs extra work beyond zs_free(): list_lru_del() (takes its own
spinlock), obj_cgroup accounting, and kmem_cache_free for the entry
itself.

Use zs_free_deferred() in zswap_invalidate() path to defer the
expensive zsmalloc handle freeing to a workqueue, allowing the exit
path to release memory faster. All other callers (zswap_load,
zswap_writeback_entry, zswap_store error paths) run in process context
and continue to use synchronous zs_free().

Signed-off-by: Wenchao Hao <haowenchao@xiaomi.com>
---
 mm/zswap.c | 16 +++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/zswap.c b/mm/zswap.c
index 0823cadd02b6..7291f6deb5b6 100644
--- a/mm/zswap.c
+++ b/mm/zswap.c
@@ -713,11 +713,16 @@ static void zswap_entry_cache_free(struct zswap_entry *entry)
 /*
  * Carries out the common pattern of freeing an entry's zsmalloc allocation,
  * freeing the entry itself, and decrementing the number of stored pages.
+ * When @deferred is true, the zsmalloc handle is queued for async freeing
+ * instead of being freed immediately.
  */
-static void zswap_entry_free(struct zswap_entry *entry)
+static void __zswap_entry_free(struct zswap_entry *entry, bool deferred)
 {
 	zswap_lru_del(&zswap_list_lru, entry);
-	zs_free(entry->pool->zs_pool, entry->handle);
+	if (deferred)
+		zs_free_deferred(entry->pool->zs_pool, entry->handle);
+	else
+		zs_free(entry->pool->zs_pool, entry->handle);
 	zswap_pool_put(entry->pool);
 	if (entry->objcg) {
 		obj_cgroup_uncharge_zswap(entry->objcg, entry->length);
@@ -729,6 +734,11 @@ static void zswap_entry_free(struct zswap_entry *entry)
 	atomic_long_dec(&zswap_stored_pages);
 }
 
+static void zswap_entry_free(struct zswap_entry *entry)
+{
+	__zswap_entry_free(entry, false);
+}
+
 /*********************************
 * compressed storage functions
 **********************************/
@@ -1655,7 +1665,7 @@ void zswap_invalidate(swp_entry_t swp)
 
 	entry = xa_erase(tree, offset);
 	if (entry)
-		zswap_entry_free(entry);
+		__zswap_entry_free(entry, true);
 }
 
 int zswap_swapon(int type, unsigned long nr_pages)
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [RFC PATCH v2 0/4] mm/zsmalloc: reduce zs_free() latency on swap release path

[Nhat Pham]

On Tue, Apr 21, 2026 at 5:16 AM Wenchao Hao <haowenchao22@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Swap freeing can be expensive when unmapping a VMA containing
> many swap entries. This has been reported to significantly
> delay memory reclamation during Android's low-memory killing,
> especially when multiple processes are terminated to free
> memory, with slot_free() accounting for more than 80% of
> the total cost of freeing swap entries.
>
> Two earlier attempts by Lei and Zhiguo added a new thread in the mm core
> to asynchronously collect and free swap entries [1][2], but the
> design itself is fairly complex.
>
> When anon folios and swap entries are mixed within a
> process, reclaiming anon folios from killed processes
> helps return memory to the system as quickly as possible,
> so that newly launched applications can satisfy their
> memory demands. It is not ideal for swap freeing to block
> anon folio freeing. On the other hand, swap freeing can
> still return memory to the system, although at a slower
> rate due to memory compression.

Is this correct? I don't think we do decompression in
zswap_invalidate() path. We do decompression in zswap_load(), but as a
separate step from zswap_invalidate().

zswap/zsmalloc entry freeing is decoupled from decompression. For
example, on process teardown, we free the zsmalloc memory but never
decompress (if we do then it's a bug to be fixed lol, but I doubt it).

Zsmalloc freeing might not be worth as much bang-for-your-buck wise
compared to anon folio freeing, but if it's "expensive", then I think
that points to a different root-cause: zsmalloc's poor scalability in
the free path.

I've stared at this code path for a bit, because my other patch series
(vswap - see [1]) was reported to display regression on the free path
on the usemem benchmark. And one of the issues was the contention
between compaction (both systemwide compaction, i.e zs_page_migrate,
and zsmalloc's internal compaction, but mostly the former).:

* zs_free read-acquires pool->lock, and compaction write-acquires the
same lock. So the compaction thread will make all zs free-ers wait for
it. I saw this read lock delay when I perfed the free step of usemem.

* If this lock has fair queue-ing semantics (I have not checked), then
if there a compaction is behind a bunch of zs_free in the queue, then
all the subsequent zs_free's ers are blocked :)

* I'm also curious about cache-friendliness of this rwlock, bouncing
across CPUs, if you have multiple processes being torn down
concurrently.

Have you perf-ed process teardown yet? Can I ask you for a perf trace
on this part? I'm not against async zs-freeing (might still be
required after all), but if it's something fixable on the zsmalloc
side, we should probably prioritize that :) Otherwise these swap
freeing workers will exhibit the same poor scalability behavior - we
might be better off because we manage to get rid of bigger chunks of
uncompressed memory first, but we will still be slowed in releasing
the system's and cgroup's (in zswap's case) compressed memory

I'd love to hear more about thoughts from Yosry, Johannes, Sergey and
Minchan too.