Re: [PATCH] mm: Use aligned zone start for pfn_to_bitidx calculation

From: Laura Abbott
Date: Thu Dec 06 2012 - 15:00:04 EST


On 12/6/2012 2:12 AM, Mel Gorman wrote:
On Tue, Dec 04, 2012 at 02:10:01PM -0800, Laura Abbott wrote:
The current calculation in pfn_to_bitidx assumes that
(pfn - zone->zone_start_pfn) >> pageblock_order will return the
same bit for all pfn in a pageblock. If zone_start_pfn is not
aligned to pageblock_nr_pages, this may not always be correct.

Consider the following with pageblock order = 10, zone start 2MB:

pfn | pfn - zone start | (pfn - zone start) >> page block order
----------------------------------------------------------------
0x26000 | 0x25e00 | 0x97
0x26100 | 0x25f00 | 0x97
0x26200 | 0x26000 | 0x98
0x26300 | 0x26100 | 0x98

This means that calling {get,set}_pageblock_migratetype on a single
page will not set the migratetype for the full block. The correct
fix is to round down zone_start_pfn for the bit index calculation.
Rather than do this calculation everytime, store this precalcualted
algined start in the zone structure to allow the actual start_pfn to
be used elsewhere.

Change-Id: I13e2f53f50db294f38ec86138c17c6fe29f0ee82
Signed-off-by: Laura Abbott <lauraa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Laura,

There should be no need to add a new zone field. It's probably ok in terms
of functionality but it does mean that we have to worry about things like
hotplug (FWIW, should be fine) and the memory overhead is added even on
CONFIG_SPARSEMEM where it is not needed. Instead, mask out the lower bits
in pfn_to_bitidx() using the same round_down trick you already do. The
cost is negligible.

Thanks.


I was debating if storing the size was actually necessary. I'll resubmit with the calculation done directly in the function.

Thanks,
Laura

--
Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. is a member of Code Aurora Forum,
hosted by The Linux Foundation
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/