Re: [RFC 1/3] oom, sysrq: Skip over oom victims and killed tasks

[One Thousand Gnomes]

On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 11:12:18 +0100
Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Thu 14-01-16 13:51:16, David Rientjes wrote:
> > I think it's time to kill sysrq+F and I'll send those two patches
> > unless there is a usecase I'm not aware of.
> 
> I have described one in the part you haven't quoted here. Let me repeat:
> : Your system might be trashing to the point you are not able to log in
> : and resolve the situation in a reasonable time yet you are still not
> : OOM. sysrq+f is your only choice then.
> 
> Could you clarify why it is better to ditch a potentially usefull
> emergency tool rather than to make it work reliably and predictably?

Even if it doesn't work reliably and predictably it is *still* better
than removing it as it works currently. Today we have "might save you a
reboot", the removal turns it into "you'll have to reboot". That's a
regression.

Alan