Re: [PATCH 05/10] block: remove per-queue plugging

From: Dave Chinner
Date: Tue Apr 12 2011 - 09:40:39 EST


On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 02:28:31PM +0200, Jens Axboe wrote:
> On 2011-04-12 14:22, Dave Chinner wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 10:36:30AM +0200, Jens Axboe wrote:
> >> On 2011-04-12 03:12, hch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >>> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 02:48:45PM +0200, Jens Axboe wrote:
> >>> function calls.
> >>> - Why is having a plug in blk_flush_plug marked unlikely? Note that
> >>> unlikely is the static branch prediction hint to mark the case
> >>> extremly unlikely and is even used for hot/cold partitioning. But
> >>> when we call it we usually check beforehand if we actually have
> >>> plugs, so it's actually likely to happen.
> >>
> >> The existance and out-of-line is for the scheduler() hook. It should be
> >> an unlikely event to schedule with a plug held, normally the plug should
> >> have been explicitly unplugged before that happens.
> >
> > Though if it does, haven't you just added a significant amount of
> > depth to the worst case stack usage? I'm seeing this sort of thing
> > from io_schedule():
> >
> > Depth Size Location (40 entries)
> > ----- ---- --------
> > 0) 4256 16 mempool_alloc_slab+0x15/0x20
> > 1) 4240 144 mempool_alloc+0x63/0x160
> > 2) 4096 16 scsi_sg_alloc+0x4c/0x60
> > 3) 4080 112 __sg_alloc_table+0x66/0x140
> > 4) 3968 32 scsi_init_sgtable+0x33/0x90
> > 5) 3936 48 scsi_init_io+0x31/0xc0
> > 6) 3888 32 scsi_setup_fs_cmnd+0x79/0xe0
> > 7) 3856 112 sd_prep_fn+0x150/0xa90
> > 8) 3744 48 blk_peek_request+0x6a/0x1f0
> > 9) 3696 96 scsi_request_fn+0x60/0x510
> > 10) 3600 32 __blk_run_queue+0x57/0x100
> > 11) 3568 80 flush_plug_list+0x133/0x1d0
> > 12) 3488 32 __blk_flush_plug+0x24/0x50
> > 13) 3456 32 io_schedule+0x79/0x80
> >
> > (This is from a page fault on ext3 that is doing page cache
> > readahead and blocking on a locked buffer.)

FYI, the next step in the allocation chain adds >900 bytes to that
stack:

$ cat /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/stack_trace
Depth Size Location (47 entries)
----- ---- --------
0) 5176 40 zone_statistics+0xad/0xc0
1) 5136 288 get_page_from_freelist+0x2cf/0x840
2) 4848 304 __alloc_pages_nodemask+0x121/0x930
3) 4544 48 kmem_getpages+0x62/0x160
4) 4496 96 cache_grow+0x308/0x330
5) 4400 80 cache_alloc_refill+0x21c/0x260
6) 4320 64 kmem_cache_alloc+0x1b7/0x1e0
7) 4256 16 mempool_alloc_slab+0x15/0x20
8) 4240 144 mempool_alloc+0x63/0x160
9) 4096 16 scsi_sg_alloc+0x4c/0x60
10) 4080 112 __sg_alloc_table+0x66/0x140
11) 3968 32 scsi_init_sgtable+0x33/0x90
12) 3936 48 scsi_init_io+0x31/0xc0
13) 3888 32 scsi_setup_fs_cmnd+0x79/0xe0
14) 3856 112 sd_prep_fn+0x150/0xa90
15) 3744 48 blk_peek_request+0x6a/0x1f0
16) 3696 96 scsi_request_fn+0x60/0x510
17) 3600 32 __blk_run_queue+0x57/0x100
18) 3568 80 flush_plug_list+0x133/0x1d0
19) 3488 32 __blk_flush_plug+0x24/0x50
20) 3456 32 io_schedule+0x79/0x80

That's close to 1800 bytes now, and that's not entering the reclaim
path. If i get one deeper than that, I'll be sure to post it. :)

Cheers,

Dave.
--
Dave Chinner
david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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