Re: [PATCH 4/8] mm/mglru: scan and count the exact number of folios

Axel Rasmussen
2026-03-20T20:58:40Z

On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 12:11 PM Kairui Song via B4 Relay
<devnull+kasong.tencent.com@kernel.org> wrote:
>
> From: Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>
>
> Make the scan helpers return the exact number of folios being scanned
> or isolated. This should make the scan more accurate and easier to
> follow.
>
> Now there is no more need for special handling when there is no
> progress made. The old livelock prevention `(return isolated ||
> !remaining ? scanned : 0)` is replaced by the natural scan budget
> exhaustion in try_to_shrink_lruvec, and sort_folio moves ineligible
> folios to newer generations.
>
> Signed-off-by: Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>
> ---
> mm/vmscan.c | 27 +++++++++++----------------
> 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
> index ed5b5f8dd3c7..4f4548ff3a17 100644
> --- a/mm/vmscan.c
> +++ b/mm/vmscan.c
> @@ -4680,7 +4680,7 @@ static bool isolate_folio(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct folio *folio, struct sca
>
> static int scan_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
> struct scan_control *sc, int type, int tier,
> - struct list_head *list)
> + struct list_head *list, int *isolatedp)
> {
> int i;
> int gen;
> @@ -4750,11 +4750,9 @@ static int scan_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
> type ? LRU_INACTIVE_FILE : LRU_INACTIVE_ANON);
> if (type == LRU_GEN_FILE)
> sc->nr.file_taken += isolated;
> - /*
> - * There might not be eligible folios due to reclaim_idx. Check the
> - * remaining to prevent livelock if it's not making progress.
> - */
> - return isolated || !remaining ? scanned : 0;
> +
> + *isolatedp = isolated;
> + return scanned;
> }
>
> static int get_tier_idx(struct lruvec *lruvec, int type)
> @@ -4819,23 +4817,24 @@ static int isolate_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
> int *type_scanned, struct list_head *list)
> {
> int i;
> + int scanned = 0;
> + int isolated = 0;
> int type = get_type_to_scan(lruvec, swappiness);
>
> for_each_evictable_type(i, swappiness) {
> - int scanned;
> int tier = get_tier_idx(lruvec, type);
>
> *type_scanned = type;

I think this is problematic, now `isolate_folios` can scan a nonzero
amount of > 1 type of memory. Then the caller (`evict_folios`) calls
`trace_mm_vmscan_lru_shrink_inactive` with the total scanned amount,
with only the last type we scanned (misattributing part of the scan,
potentially). Not a "functional" issue, but it could mean confusing
data for anyone watching the tracepoint.

>
> - scanned = scan_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc,
> - type, tier, list);
> - if (scanned)
> + scanned += scan_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc,
> + type, tier, list, &isolated);
> + if (isolated)
> return scanned;
>
> type = !type;
> }
>
> - return 0;
> + return scanned;
> }
>
> static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
> @@ -4852,7 +4851,6 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
> struct reclaim_stat stat;
> struct lru_gen_mm_walk *walk;
> bool skip_retry = false;
> - struct lru_gen_folio *lrugen = &lruvec->lrugen;
> struct mem_cgroup *memcg = lruvec_memcg(lruvec);
> struct pglist_data *pgdat = lruvec_pgdat(lruvec);
>
> @@ -4860,10 +4858,7 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
>
> scanned = isolate_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc, swappiness, &type, &list);
>
> - scanned += try_to_inc_min_seq(lruvec, swappiness);
> -
> - if (evictable_min_seq(lrugen->min_seq, swappiness) + MIN_NR_GENS > lrugen->max_seq)
> - scanned = 0;
> + try_to_inc_min_seq(lruvec, swappiness);

IIUC, this change is what introduces the issue patch 6 is trying to
resolve. Is it worth squashing patch 6 in to this one, so we don't
have this non-ideal intermediate state?

>
> lruvec_unlock_irq(lruvec);
>
>
> --
> 2.53.0
>
>