> Did anybody in fact EVER saw error message from mm/vmscan:478?
>
> printk("kswapd: failed, got %d of %d\n",
> nr_free_pages, min_free_pages);
>
> Just curious if that change was needed. :)
> I had never seen it.
I think one or two people have reported it, but it should be very rare.
But it is possible for the system to get in a state where
try_to_free_page() fails repeatedly.
It would be nice if try_to_free_page() could return more information,
such as an indication of whether further attempts would be of any use.
This probably wouldn't be too hard to add; just create a data structure
for tracking information like number of locked pages, pages needing
aging, etc. This would allow a smarter decision to be made about whether
to keep trying.
Regards,
Bill