Re: [PATCH v3 2/2] ksm: Optimize rmap_walk_ksm by passing a suitable address range

David Hildenbrand (arm)
2026-04-06T09:23:49Z

On 4/6/26 11:21, David Hildenbrand (arm) wrote:
> On 4/5/26 06:44, Hugh Dickins wrote:
>> On Thu, 12 Feb 2026, xu.xin16@zte.com.cn wrote:
>>
>>> From: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
>>>
>>> Problem
>>> =======
>>> When available memory is extremely tight, causing KSM pages to be swapped
>>> out, or when there is significant memory fragmentation and THP triggers
>>> memory compaction, the system will invoke the rmap_walk_ksm function to
>>> perform reverse mapping. However, we observed that this function becomes
>>> particularly time-consuming when a large number of VMAs (e.g., 20,000)
>>> share the same anon_vma. Through debug trace analysis, we found that most
>>> of the latency occurs within anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach, leading to an
>>> excessively long hold time on the anon_vma lock (even reaching 500ms or
>>> more), which in turn causes upper-layer applications (waiting for the
>>> anon_vma lock) to be blocked for extended periods.
>>>
>>> Root Cause
>>> ==========
>>> Further investigation revealed that 99.9% of iterations inside the
>>> anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach loop are skipped due to the first check
>>> "if (addr < vma->vm_start || addr >= vma->vm_end)), indicating that a large
>>> number of loop iterations are ineffective. This inefficiency arises because
>>> the pgoff_start and pgoff_end parameters passed to
>>> anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach span the entire address space from 0 to
>>> ULONG_MAX, resulting in very poor loop efficiency.
>>>
>>> Solution
>>> ========
>>> In fact, we can significantly improve performance by passing a more precise
>>> range based on the given addr. Since the original pages merged by KSM
>>> correspond to anonymous VMAs, the page offset can be calculated as
>>> pgoff = address >> PAGE_SHIFT. Therefore, we can optimize the call by
>>> defining:
>>>
>>> pgoff = rmap_item->address >> PAGE_SHIFT;
>>>
>>> Performance
>>> ===========
>>> In our real embedded Linux environment, the measured metrcis were as
>>> follows:
>>>
>>> 1) Time_ms: Max time for holding anon_vma lock in a single rmap_walk_ksm.
>>> 2) Nr_iteration_total: The max times of iterations in a loop of anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach
>>> 3) Skip_addr_out_of_range: The max times of skipping due to the first check (vma->vm_start
>>> and vma->vm_end) in a loop of anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach.
>>> 4) Skip_mm_mismatch: The max times of skipping due to the second check (rmap_item->mm == vma->vm_mm)
>>> in a loop of anon_vma_interval_tree_foreach.
>>>
>>> The result is as follows:
>>>
>>> Time_ms Nr_iteration_total Skip_addr_out_of_range Skip_mm_mismatch
>>> Before: 228.65 22169 22168 0
>>> After : 0.396 3 0 2
>>>
>>> The referenced reproducer of rmap_walk_ksm can be found at:
>>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260206151424734QIyWL_pA-1QeJPbJlUxsO@zte.com.cn/
>>>
>>> Co-developed-by: Wang Yaxin <wang.yaxin@zte.com.cn>
>>> Signed-off-by: Wang Yaxin <wang.yaxin@zte.com.cn>
>>> Signed-off-by: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
>>
>> This is a very attractive speedup, but I believe it's flawed: in the
>> special case when a range has been mremap-moved, when its anon folio
>> indexes and anon_vma pgoff correspond to the original user address,
>> not to the current user address.
>
> [as discussed in earlier versions of this patch set]
>
> mremap() breaks KSM in the range to be moved.
>
> See prep_move_vma()->ksm_madvise(MADV_UNMERGEABLE)
>
> So I am not sure what you say can trigger.
>
> But I'm just scrolling by, as I'm still busy celebrating Easter :)
>

[realizing threading is somehow messed up and Xu Xin commented that already]

--
Cheers,

David