From: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@linux.dev>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@linux.dev>,
"Matthew Wilcox (Oracle)" <willy@infradead.org>,
Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>, Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>,
linux-mm@kvack.org
Subject: [PATCH v3] mm: readahead: make thp readahead conditional to mmap_miss logic
Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2025 10:51:06 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20251006175106.377411-1-roman.gushchin@linux.dev> (raw)
Commit 4687fdbb805a ("mm/filemap: Support VM_HUGEPAGE for file mappings")
introduced a special handling for VM_HUGEPAGE mappings: even if the
readahead is disabled, 1 or 2 HPAGE_PMD_ORDER pages are
allocated.
This change causes a significant regression for containers with a
tight memory.max limit, if VM_HUGEPAGE is widely used. Prior to this
commit, mmap_miss logic would eventually lead to the readahead
disablement, effectively reducing the memory pressure in the
cgroup. With this change the kernel is trying to allocate 1-2 huge
pages for each fault, no matter if these pages are used or not
before being evicted, increasing the memory pressure multi-fold.
To fix the regression, let's make the new VM_HUGEPAGE conditional
to the mmap_miss check, but keep independent from the ra->ra_pages.
This way the main intention of commit 4687fdbb805a ("mm/filemap:
Support VM_HUGEPAGE for file mappings") stays intact, but the
regression is resolved.
The logic behind this changes is simple: even if a user explicitly
requests using huge pages to back the file mapping (using VM_HUGEPAGE
flag), under a very strong memory pressure it's better to fall back
to ordinary pages.
Signed-off-by: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@linux.dev>
Cc: Matthew Wilcox (Oracle) <willy@infradead.org>
Cc: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org
--
v3: fixed VM_SEQ_READ handling for the THP case (by Jan Kara)
v2: fixed VM_SEQ_READ handling (by Dev Jain)
---
mm/filemap.c | 68 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------------
1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/filemap.c b/mm/filemap.c
index a52dd38d2b4a..ec731ac05551 100644
--- a/mm/filemap.c
+++ b/mm/filemap.c
@@ -3235,11 +3235,47 @@ static struct file *do_sync_mmap_readahead(struct vm_fault *vmf)
DEFINE_READAHEAD(ractl, file, ra, mapping, vmf->pgoff);
struct file *fpin = NULL;
vm_flags_t vm_flags = vmf->vma->vm_flags;
+ bool force_thp_readahead = false;
unsigned short mmap_miss;
-#ifdef CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE
/* Use the readahead code, even if readahead is disabled */
- if ((vm_flags & VM_HUGEPAGE) && HPAGE_PMD_ORDER <= MAX_PAGECACHE_ORDER) {
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE) &&
+ (vm_flags & VM_HUGEPAGE) && HPAGE_PMD_ORDER <= MAX_PAGECACHE_ORDER)
+ force_thp_readahead = true;
+
+ if (!force_thp_readahead) {
+ /*
+ * If we don't want any read-ahead, don't bother.
+ * VM_EXEC case below is already intended for random access.
+ */
+ if ((vm_flags & (VM_RAND_READ | VM_EXEC)) == VM_RAND_READ)
+ return fpin;
+
+ if (!ra->ra_pages)
+ return fpin;
+
+ if (vm_flags & VM_SEQ_READ) {
+ fpin = maybe_unlock_mmap_for_io(vmf, fpin);
+ page_cache_sync_ra(&ractl, ra->ra_pages);
+ return fpin;
+ }
+ }
+
+ if (!(vm_flags & VM_SEQ_READ)) {
+ /* Avoid banging the cache line if not needed */
+ mmap_miss = READ_ONCE(ra->mmap_miss);
+ if (mmap_miss < MMAP_LOTSAMISS * 10)
+ WRITE_ONCE(ra->mmap_miss, ++mmap_miss);
+
+ /*
+ * Do we miss much more than hit in this file? If so,
+ * stop bothering with read-ahead. It will only hurt.
+ */
+ if (mmap_miss > MMAP_LOTSAMISS)
+ return fpin;
+ }
+
+ if (force_thp_readahead) {
fpin = maybe_unlock_mmap_for_io(vmf, fpin);
ractl._index &= ~((unsigned long)HPAGE_PMD_NR - 1);
ra->size = HPAGE_PMD_NR;
@@ -3254,34 +3290,6 @@ static struct file *do_sync_mmap_readahead(struct vm_fault *vmf)
page_cache_ra_order(&ractl, ra);
return fpin;
}
-#endif
-
- /*
- * If we don't want any read-ahead, don't bother. VM_EXEC case below is
- * already intended for random access.
- */
- if ((vm_flags & (VM_RAND_READ | VM_EXEC)) == VM_RAND_READ)
- return fpin;
- if (!ra->ra_pages)
- return fpin;
-
- if (vm_flags & VM_SEQ_READ) {
- fpin = maybe_unlock_mmap_for_io(vmf, fpin);
- page_cache_sync_ra(&ractl, ra->ra_pages);
- return fpin;
- }
-
- /* Avoid banging the cache line if not needed */
- mmap_miss = READ_ONCE(ra->mmap_miss);
- if (mmap_miss < MMAP_LOTSAMISS * 10)
- WRITE_ONCE(ra->mmap_miss, ++mmap_miss);
-
- /*
- * Do we miss much more than hit in this file? If so,
- * stop bothering with read-ahead. It will only hurt.
- */
- if (mmap_miss > MMAP_LOTSAMISS)
- return fpin;
if (vm_flags & VM_EXEC) {
/*
--
2.51.0
next reply other threads:[~2025-10-06 17:51 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 7+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-10-06 17:51 Roman Gushchin [this message]
2025-10-07 4:33 ` Dev Jain
2025-10-07 11:41 ` Jan Kara
2025-10-07 22:34 ` Andrew Morton
2025-10-07 22:52 ` Roman Gushchin
2025-10-08 0:53 ` Andrew Morton
2025-10-08 2:07 ` Roman Gushchin
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