diff options
author | Vladimir Davydov <[email protected]> | 2015-09-09 15:35:45 -0700 |
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committer | Linus Torvalds <[email protected]> | 2015-09-10 13:29:01 -0700 |
commit | 33c3fc71c8cfa3cc3a98beaa901c069c177dc295 (patch) | |
tree | d367186631c578017fda08db238e739d44fd0b99 /tools/perf/util/trace-event-scripting.c | |
parent | 1d7715c676a1566c2e4c3e77d16b1f9bb4909025 (diff) |
mm: introduce idle page tracking
Knowing the portion of memory that is not used by a certain application or
memory cgroup (idle memory) can be useful for partitioning the system
efficiently, e.g. by setting memory cgroup limits appropriately.
Currently, the only means to estimate the amount of idle memory provided
by the kernel is /proc/PID/{clear_refs,smaps}: the user can clear the
access bit for all pages mapped to a particular process by writing 1 to
clear_refs, wait for some time, and then count smaps:Referenced. However,
this method has two serious shortcomings:
- it does not count unmapped file pages
- it affects the reclaimer logic
To overcome these drawbacks, this patch introduces two new page flags,
Idle and Young, and a new sysfs file, /sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap.
A page's Idle flag can only be set from userspace by setting bit in
/sys/kernel/mm/page_idle/bitmap at the offset corresponding to the page,
and it is cleared whenever the page is accessed either through page tables
(it is cleared in page_referenced() in this case) or using the read(2)
system call (mark_page_accessed()). Thus by setting the Idle flag for
pages of a particular workload, which can be found e.g. by reading
/proc/PID/pagemap, waiting for some time to let the workload access its
working set, and then reading the bitmap file, one can estimate the amount
of pages that are not used by the workload.
The Young page flag is used to avoid interference with the memory
reclaimer. A page's Young flag is set whenever the Access bit of a page
table entry pointing to the page is cleared by writing to the bitmap file.
If page_referenced() is called on a Young page, it will add 1 to its
return value, therefore concealing the fact that the Access bit was
cleared.
Note, since there is no room for extra page flags on 32 bit, this feature
uses extended page flags when compiled on 32 bit.
[[email protected]: fix build]
[[email protected]: kpageidle requires an MMU]
[[email protected]: decouple from page-flags rework]
Signed-off-by: Vladimir Davydov <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Andres Lagar-Cavilla <[email protected]>
Cc: Minchan Kim <[email protected]>
Cc: Raghavendra K T <[email protected]>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <[email protected]>
Cc: Michal Hocko <[email protected]>
Cc: Greg Thelen <[email protected]>
Cc: Michel Lespinasse <[email protected]>
Cc: David Rientjes <[email protected]>
Cc: Pavel Emelyanov <[email protected]>
Cc: Cyrill Gorcunov <[email protected]>
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <[email protected]>
Diffstat (limited to 'tools/perf/util/trace-event-scripting.c')
0 files changed, 0 insertions, 0 deletions