Re: [PATCH v2] mm: add zblock allocator

[Johannes Weiner]

On Tue, Apr 08, 2025 at 01:20:11PM +0400, Igor Belousov wrote:
> >> >> Now what's funny is that when I tried to compare how 32 threaded build
> >> >> would behave on a 8-core VM I couldn't do it because it OOMs with
> >> >> zsmalloc as zswap backend. With zblock it doesn't, though, and the
> >> >> results are:
> >> >> real    12m14.012s
> >> >> user    39m37.777s
> >> >> sys     14m6.923s
> >> >> Zswap:            440148 kB
> >> >> Zswapped:         924452 kB
> >> >> zswpin 594812
> >> >> zswpout 2802454
> >> >> zswpwb 10878
> >>
> >> It's LZ4 for all the test runs.
> > 
> > Can you try zstd and let me know how it goes :)
> 
> Sure. zstd/8 cores/make -j32:
> 
> zsmalloc:
> real	7m36.413s
> user	38m0.481s
> sys	7m19.108s
> Zswap:            211028 kB
> Zswapped:         925904 kB
> zswpin 397851
> zswpout 1625707
> zswpwb 5126
> 
> zblock:
> real	7m55.009s
> user	39m23.147s
> sys	7m44.004s
> Zswap:            253068 kB
> Zswapped:         919956 kB
> zswpin 456843
> zswpout 2058963
> zswpwb 3921

So zstd results in nearly double the compression ratio, which in turn
cuts total execution time *almost in half*.

The numbers speak for themselves. Compression efficiency >>> allocator
speed, because compression efficiency ultimately drives the continuous
*rate* at which allocations need to occur. You're trying to optimize a
constant coefficient at the expense of a higher-order one, which is a
losing proposition.

This is a general NAK from me on any new allocators that cannot match
or outdo zsmalloc storage density in common scenarios. I'm sorry, but
I really don't see any reason to do this.

We also should probably make zstd the zswap default.