[PATCH v2 05/12] mm/mglru: scan and count the exact number of folios

Kairui Song via B4 Relay
2026-03-28T19:52:50Z

From: Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>

Make the scan helpers return the exact number of folios being scanned
or isolated. Since the reclaim loop now has a natural scan budget that
controls the scan progress, returning the scan number directly should
make the scan more accurate and easier to follow.

The number of scanned folios for each iteration is always positive and
larger than 0, unless the reclaim must stop for a forced aging, so
there is no more need for any special handling when there is no
progress made:

- `return isolated || !remaining ? scanned : 0` in scan_folios: both
the function and the call now just return the exact scan count,
combined with the scan budget introduced in the previous commit to
avoid livelock or under scan.

- `scanned += try_to_inc_min_seq` in evict_folios: adding a bool as a
scan count was kind of confusing and no longer needed too, as scan
number will never be zero even if none of the folio in oldest
generation is isolated.

- `evictable_min_seq + MIN_NR_GENS > max_seq` guard in evict_folios:
the per-type get_nr_gens == MIN_NR_GENS check in scan_folios
naturally returns 0 when only two gens remain and breaks the loop.

Also move try_to_inc_min_seq before isolate_folios, so that any empty
gens created by external folio freeing are also skipped.

The scan still stops if there are only two gens left as the scan number
will be zero, this behavior is same as before. This force gen protection
may get removed or softened later to improve the reclaim a bit more.

Signed-off-by: Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>
---
mm/vmscan.c | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------------
1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index ab81ffdb241a..c5361efa6776 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -4686,7 +4686,7 @@ 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;
@@ -4756,11 +4756,9 @@ 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)
@@ -4804,33 +4802,36 @@ static int get_type_to_scan(struct lruvec *lruvec, int swappiness)

static int isolate_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
struct scan_control *sc, int swappiness,
- int *type_scanned, struct list_head *list)
+ struct list_head *list, int *isolated,
+ int *isolate_type, int *isolate_scanned)
{
int i;
+ int scanned = 0;
int type = get_type_to_scan(lruvec, swappiness);

for_each_evictable_type(i, swappiness) {
- int scanned;
+ int type_scan;
int tier = get_tier_idx(lruvec, type);

- *type_scanned = type;
+ type_scan = scan_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc,
+ type, tier, list, isolated);

- scanned = scan_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc, type, tier, list);
- if (scanned)
- return scanned;
+ scanned += type_scan;
+ if (*isolated) {
+ *isolate_type = type;
+ *isolate_scanned = type_scan;
+ break;
+ }

type = !type;
}

- return 0;
+ return scanned;
}

static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
struct scan_control *sc, int swappiness)
{
- int type;
- int scanned;
- int reclaimed;
LIST_HEAD(list);
LIST_HEAD(clean);
struct folio *folio;
@@ -4838,19 +4839,18 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
enum node_stat_item item;
struct reclaim_stat stat;
struct lru_gen_mm_walk *walk;
+ int scanned, reclaimed;
+ int isolated = 0, type, type_scanned;
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);

lruvec_lock_irq(lruvec);

- scanned = isolate_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc, swappiness, &type, &list);
-
- scanned += try_to_inc_min_seq(lruvec, swappiness);
+ try_to_inc_min_seq(lruvec, swappiness);

- if (evictable_min_seq(lrugen->min_seq, swappiness) + MIN_NR_GENS > lrugen->max_seq)
- scanned = 0;
+ scanned = isolate_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc, swappiness,
+ &list, &isolated, &type, &type_scanned);

lruvec_unlock_irq(lruvec);

@@ -4861,7 +4861,7 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
sc->nr.unqueued_dirty += stat.nr_unqueued_dirty;
sc->nr_reclaimed += reclaimed;
trace_mm_vmscan_lru_shrink_inactive(pgdat->node_id,
- scanned, reclaimed, &stat, sc->priority,
+ type_scanned, reclaimed, &stat, sc->priority,
type ? LRU_INACTIVE_FILE : LRU_INACTIVE_ANON);

list_for_each_entry_safe_reverse(folio, next, &list, lru) {

--
2.53.0