mirror of
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/
synced 2026-11-08 18:57:22 +00:00
No description
- C 96.8%
- Assembly 0.9%
- Rust 0.7%
- Shell 0.6%
- Python 0.5%
- Other 0.3%
a5650de041
Patch series "KSM: performance optimizations for rmap_walk_ksm", v11.
This series fixes a severe KSM reverse-mapping performance problem that
can freeze applications for hundreds of milliseconds under memory pressure
especially when a lot of unrelated VMAs sharing a single anon_vma.
Two key highlights:
1. Lock hold time drops from >500ms to <2ms
- In our benchmark (20,000 VMAs sharing an anon_vma), worst-case
anon_vma lock hold time during KSM rmap walk went from 705ms
down to 1.67ms (max) and 1.44ms (avg).
2. Real user impact
- The anon_vma lock is also acquired by page faults, reclaim,
migration, compaction, mlock, exit_mmap, and cgroup accounting.
- A long hold due to inefficient rmap walks stalls application
threads, causing latency spikes, reduced throughput, or even
container timeouts.
- The problem occurs even without fork() – VMA splitting (e.g.,
via mprotect or madvise over time) can create tens of thousands
of VMAs all attached to the same anon_vma.
Real-world examples:
- JVM / Go runtime: These use mmap for heap regions and later call
mprotect(PROT_NONE) for garbage collection barriers or guard pages,
splitting the original VMA into thousands of small pieces over time.
- Database engines (MySQL, PostgreSQL): Large shared memory buffers or
anonymous mappings are managed with madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) to release
specific pages, which also splits VMAs.
Why the benchmark numbers are realistic: We observed ~20,000 VMAs sharing
one anon_vma on a production system running a Java application with KSM
enabled. The lock hold time before the patch was measured at 228 ms
(max) during rmap walks triggered by memory compaction and page migration.
The benchmark reproduces that VMA count and lock‑hold behavior in a
controlled environment.
For systems that do not have thousands of VMAs per anon_vma, the patch
adds negligible overhead (a single pgoff comparison). For systems that do
suffer from this issue, the improvement is dramatic: 1) Worst‑case
anon_vma lock hold time drops from hundreds of milliseconds to under
2 ms.2)This directly reduces blocking of parallel operations that need
the same lock – page faults, reclaim, migration, compaction, mlock, and
exit_mmap.
End‑users will see lower tail latency (fewer application stalls), higher
throughput under memory pressure, and no more spurious lockup warnings or
container timeouts caused by excessive lock hold times.
In short: workloads that do not hit this pathological pattern are
unaffected; those that do will see a 100x to 500x reduction in lock hold
times, which translates directly into a more responsive system.
This patch (of 3):
As preparation for KSM rmap optimizations, let's track the original
linear_page_index() of a de-duplicated page in its ksm_rmap_item, so we
can efficiently search for the page in an address space, avoiding scanning
the entire address space. This was previously discussed in [1, 2].
To avoid growing ksm_rmap_item, let's squeeze it into the existing
structure by overlying some members (oldchecksum, age, remaining_skips)
that are only relevant while on the unstable tree. The new entry will
only be relevant for entries in the stable tree.
However, as the age information is read by should_skip_rmap_item() with
the smart-scanning approach even while we have an entry in the stable
tree, but the page changes (no longer a KSM page, for example due to COW),
we have to change the handling there a bit.
We'll calculate the linear page index in try_to_merge_with_ksm_page(),
when adding it to the stable tree, and reset the index (to reset overlayed
data) when removing an item from the stable tree -- in
remove_rmap_item_from_tree(), remove_node_from_stable_tree() and
break_cow().
To be specially clarified, the reason for resetting the stored index at
break_cow() is:
- When a page successfully becomes a KSM page (i.e., after
stable_tree_append() sets STABLE_FLAG), both anon_vma and the index are
stored and remain valid.
- However, during the merging process, there are several failure paths
where we already prepared an rmap item to be added to the stable tree,
but must revert that as some part of the merge process failed. Examples
include:
1 The second call to try_to_merge_with_ksm_page() fails in
try_to_merge_two_pages().
2 stable_tree_insert() fails in cmp_and_merge_page().
In such cases, break_cow() is invoked to break the COW mapping and
discard the KSM state.
Currently, break_cow() already contains a
put_anon_vma(rmap_item->anon_vma) to release the reference taken during
the aborted merge. Because the index is logically paired with anon_vma
(both are only meaningful when the rmap_item is in a stable state), it
must also be cleared (or reset) in break_cow() to avoid leaving stale
linear_page_index values that could confuse subsequent rmap walks or
scanning logic.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260703162253688u8Str9eFLR8TGCmo7nIOF@zte.com.cn
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260703162357853iIa-RP7if9hRlAIuTh5La@zte.com.cn
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/adTPQSb-qSSHviJN@lucifer/ [1]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/202604091806051535BJWZ_FTtdIm3Snk24ei_@zte.com.cn/ [2]
Signed-off-by: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
Acked-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Chengming Zhou <chengming.zhou@linux.dev>
Cc: Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>
Cc: "Liam R. Howlett" <liam@infradead.org>
Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: Wang Yaxin <wang.yaxin@zte.com.cn>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
|
History
|
|
|---|---|---|
| arch | ||
| block | ||
| certs | ||
| crypto | ||
| Documentation | ||
| drivers | ||
| fs | ||
| include | ||
| init | ||
| io_uring | ||
| ipc | ||
| kernel | ||
| lib | ||
| LICENSES | ||
| mm | ||
| net | ||
| rust | ||
| samples | ||
| scripts | ||
| security | ||
| sound | ||
| tools | ||
| usr | ||
| virt | ||
| .clang-format | ||
| .clippy.toml | ||
| .cocciconfig | ||
| .editorconfig | ||
| .get_maintainer.ignore | ||
| .gitattributes | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| .mailmap | ||
| .pylintrc | ||
| .rustfmt.toml | ||
| COPYING | ||
| CREDITS | ||
| Kbuild | ||
| Kconfig | ||
| MAINTAINERS | ||
| Makefile | ||
| README | ||
Linux kernel ============ The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware, system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software. Quick Start ----------- * Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst * Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org * Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst * Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/ Essential Documentation ----------------------- All users should be familiar with: * Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst * Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst * License: See COPYING Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/ Who Are You? ============ Find your role below: * New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development * Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture * Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis * Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels * System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting * Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches * Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware * Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros * AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools For Specific Users ================== New Kernel Developer -------------------- Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here: * Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst * Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst * Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst * Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst * Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst * Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst * Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst Academic Researcher ------------------- Explore the kernel's architecture and internals: * Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst * Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst * Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst * Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst * Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst * RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst * Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst * Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst Security Expert --------------- Security documentation and hardening guides: * Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst * LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst * Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst * Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst * CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst * Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst * Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst Backport/Maintenance Engineer ----------------------------- Maintain and stabilize kernel versions: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst * Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst * Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst System Administrator -------------------- Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems: * Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst * Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst * Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst * Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst Maintainer ---------- Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions: * Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst * Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst * Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst * Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst * Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst * Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst * Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst Hardware Vendor --------------- Write drivers and support new hardware: * Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst * Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst * Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst * Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst * Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/ * Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst * DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst Distribution Maintainer ----------------------- Package and distribute the kernel: * Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst * ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README * Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst * Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst * Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst * Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst AI Coding Assistant ------------------- CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux kernel: * Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution, and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with. Communication and Support ========================= * Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/ * IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net * Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/ * MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists * Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst