Commit a5e4da91 authored by Mike Rapoport's avatar Mike Rapoport Committed by Jonathan Corbet

docs/vm: unevictable-lru.txt: convert to ReST format

Signed-off-by: default avatarMike Rapoport <rppt@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: default avatarJonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
parent 44f380fe
==============================
UNEVICTABLE LRU INFRASTRUCTURE
==============================
========
CONTENTS
========
(*) The Unevictable LRU
- The unevictable page list.
- Memory control group interaction.
- Marking address spaces unevictable.
- Detecting Unevictable Pages.
- vmscan's handling of unevictable pages.
(*) mlock()'d pages.
- History.
- Basic management.
- mlock()/mlockall() system call handling.
- Filtering special vmas.
- munlock()/munlockall() system call handling.
- Migrating mlocked pages.
- Compacting mlocked pages.
- mmap(MAP_LOCKED) system call handling.
- munmap()/exit()/exec() system call handling.
- try_to_unmap().
- try_to_munlock() reverse map scan.
- Page reclaim in shrink_*_list().
.. _unevictable_lru:
==============================
Unevictable LRU Infrastructure
==============================
============
INTRODUCTION
.. contents:: :local:
Introduction
============
This document describes the Linux memory manager's "Unevictable LRU"
......@@ -46,8 +22,8 @@ details - the "what does it do?" - by reading the code. One hopes that the
descriptions below add value by provide the answer to "why does it do that?".
===================
THE UNEVICTABLE LRU
The Unevictable LRU
===================
The Unevictable LRU facility adds an additional LRU list to track unevictable
......@@ -66,17 +42,17 @@ completely unresponsive.
The unevictable list addresses the following classes of unevictable pages:
(*) Those owned by ramfs.
* Those owned by ramfs.
(*) Those mapped into SHM_LOCK'd shared memory regions.
* Those mapped into SHM_LOCK'd shared memory regions.
(*) Those mapped into VM_LOCKED [mlock()ed] VMAs.
* Those mapped into VM_LOCKED [mlock()ed] VMAs.
The infrastructure may also be able to handle other conditions that make pages
unevictable, either by definition or by circumstance, in the future.
THE UNEVICTABLE PAGE LIST
The Unevictable Page List
-------------------------
The Unevictable LRU infrastructure consists of an additional, per-zone, LRU list
......@@ -118,7 +94,7 @@ the unevictable list when one task has the page isolated from the LRU and other
tasks are changing the "evictability" state of the page.
MEMORY CONTROL GROUP INTERACTION
Memory Control Group Interaction
--------------------------------
The unevictable LRU facility interacts with the memory control group [aka
......@@ -144,7 +120,9 @@ effects:
the control group to thrash or to OOM-kill tasks.
MARKING ADDRESS SPACES UNEVICTABLE
.. _mark_addr_space_unevict:
Marking Address Spaces Unevictable
----------------------------------
For facilities such as ramfs none of the pages attached to the address space
......@@ -152,15 +130,15 @@ may be evicted. To prevent eviction of any such pages, the AS_UNEVICTABLE
address space flag is provided, and this can be manipulated by a filesystem
using a number of wrapper functions:
(*) void mapping_set_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);
* ``void mapping_set_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);``
Mark the address space as being completely unevictable.
(*) void mapping_clear_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);
* ``void mapping_clear_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);``
Mark the address space as being evictable.
(*) int mapping_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);
* ``int mapping_unevictable(struct address_space *mapping);``
Query the address space, and return true if it is completely
unevictable.
......@@ -177,12 +155,13 @@ These are currently used in two places in the kernel:
ensure they're in memory.
DETECTING UNEVICTABLE PAGES
Detecting Unevictable Pages
---------------------------
The function page_evictable() in vmscan.c determines whether a page is
evictable or not using the query function outlined above [see section "Marking
address spaces unevictable"] to check the AS_UNEVICTABLE flag.
evictable or not using the query function outlined above [see section
:ref:`Marking address spaces unevictable <mark_addr_space_unevict>`]
to check the AS_UNEVICTABLE flag.
For address spaces that are so marked after being populated (as SHM regions
might be), the lock action (eg: SHM_LOCK) can be lazy, and need not populate
......@@ -202,7 +181,7 @@ flag, PG_mlocked (as wrapped by PageMlocked()), which is set when a page is
faulted into a VM_LOCKED vma, or found in a vma being VM_LOCKED.
VMSCAN'S HANDLING OF UNEVICTABLE PAGES
Vmscan's Handling of Unevictable Pages
--------------------------------------
If unevictable pages are culled in the fault path, or moved to the unevictable
......@@ -233,8 +212,7 @@ extra evictabilty checks should not occur in the majority of calls to
putback_lru_page().
=============
MLOCKED PAGES
MLOCKED Pages
=============
The unevictable page list is also useful for mlock(), in addition to ramfs and
......@@ -242,7 +220,7 @@ SYSV SHM. Note that mlock() is only available in CONFIG_MMU=y situations; in
NOMMU situations, all mappings are effectively mlocked.
HISTORY
History
-------
The "Unevictable mlocked Pages" infrastructure is based on work originally
......@@ -263,7 +241,7 @@ replaced by walking the reverse map to determine whether any VM_LOCKED VMAs
mapped the page. More on this below.
BASIC MANAGEMENT
Basic Management
----------------
mlocked pages - pages mapped into a VM_LOCKED VMA - are a class of unevictable
......@@ -304,10 +282,10 @@ mlocked pages become unlocked and rescued from the unevictable list when:
(4) before a page is COW'd in a VM_LOCKED VMA.
mlock()/mlockall() SYSTEM CALL HANDLING
mlock()/mlockall() System Call Handling
---------------------------------------
Both [do_]mlock() and [do_]mlockall() system call handlers call mlock_fixup()
Both [do\_]mlock() and [do\_]mlockall() system call handlers call mlock_fixup()
for each VMA in the range specified by the call. In the case of mlockall(),
this is the entire active address space of the task. Note that mlock_fixup()
is used for both mlocking and munlocking a range of memory. A call to mlock()
......@@ -351,7 +329,7 @@ mlock_vma_page() is unable to isolate the page from the LRU, vmscan will handle
it later if and when it attempts to reclaim the page.
FILTERING SPECIAL VMAS
Filtering Special VMAs
----------------------
mlock_fixup() filters several classes of "special" VMAs:
......@@ -379,8 +357,9 @@ VM_LOCKED flag. Therefore, we won't have to deal with them later during
munlock(), munmap() or task exit. Neither does mlock_fixup() account these
VMAs against the task's "locked_vm".
.. _munlock_munlockall_handling:
munlock()/munlockall() SYSTEM CALL HANDLING
munlock()/munlockall() System Call Handling
-------------------------------------------
The munlock() and munlockall() system calls are handled by the same functions -
......@@ -426,7 +405,7 @@ This is fine, because we'll catch it later if and if vmscan tries to reclaim
the page. This should be relatively rare.
MIGRATING MLOCKED PAGES
Migrating MLOCKED Pages
-----------------------
A page that is being migrated has been isolated from the LRU lists and is held
......@@ -451,7 +430,7 @@ list because of a race between munlock and migration, page migration uses the
putback_lru_page() function to add migrated pages back to the LRU.
COMPACTING MLOCKED PAGES
Compacting MLOCKED Pages
------------------------
The unevictable LRU can be scanned for compactable regions and the default
......@@ -461,7 +440,7 @@ unevictable LRU is enabled, the work of compaction is mostly handled by
the page migration code and the same work flow as described in MIGRATING
MLOCKED PAGES will apply.
MLOCKING TRANSPARENT HUGE PAGES
MLOCKING Transparent Huge Pages
-------------------------------
A transparent huge page is represented by a single entry on an LRU list.
......@@ -483,7 +462,7 @@ to unevictable LRU and the rest can be reclaimed.
See also comment in follow_trans_huge_pmd().
mmap(MAP_LOCKED) SYSTEM CALL HANDLING
mmap(MAP_LOCKED) System Call Handling
-------------------------------------
In addition the mlock()/mlockall() system calls, an application can request
......@@ -514,7 +493,7 @@ memory range accounted as locked_vm, as the protections could be changed later
and pages allocated into that region.
munmap()/exit()/exec() SYSTEM CALL HANDLING
munmap()/exit()/exec() System Call Handling
-------------------------------------------
When unmapping an mlocked region of memory, whether by an explicit call to
......@@ -568,16 +547,18 @@ munlock or munmap system calls, mm teardown (munlock_vma_pages_all), reclaim,
holepunching, and truncation of file pages and their anonymous COWed pages.
try_to_munlock() REVERSE MAP SCAN
try_to_munlock() Reverse Map Scan
---------------------------------
.. warning::
[!] TODO/FIXME: a better name might be page_mlocked() - analogous to the
page_referenced() reverse map walker.
When munlock_vma_page() [see section "munlock()/munlockall() System Call
Handling" above] tries to munlock a page, it needs to determine whether or not
the page is mapped by any VM_LOCKED VMA without actually attempting to unmap
all PTEs from the page. For this purpose, the unevictable/mlock infrastructure
When munlock_vma_page() [see section :ref:`munlock()/munlockall() System Call
Handling <munlock_munlockall_handling>` above] tries to munlock a
page, it needs to determine whether or not the page is mapped by any
VM_LOCKED VMA without actually attempting to unmap all PTEs from the
page. For this purpose, the unevictable/mlock infrastructure
introduced a variant of try_to_unmap() called try_to_munlock().
try_to_munlock() calls the same functions as try_to_unmap() for anonymous and
......@@ -595,7 +576,7 @@ large region or tearing down a large address space that has been mlocked via
mlockall(), overall this is a fairly rare event.
PAGE RECLAIM IN shrink_*_list()
Page Reclaim in shrink_*_list()
-------------------------------
shrink_active_list() culls any obviously unevictable pages - i.e.
......
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