mm: when stealing freepages, also take pages created by splitting buddy page

When studying page stealing, I noticed some weird looking decisions in
try_to_steal_freepages().  The first I assume is a bug (Patch 1), the
following two patches were driven by evaluation.

Testing was done with stress-highalloc of mmtests, using the
mm_page_alloc_extfrag tracepoint and postprocessing to get counts of how
often page stealing occurs for individual migratetypes, and what
migratetypes are used for fallbacks.  Arguably, the worst case of page
stealing is when UNMOVABLE allocation steals from MOVABLE pageblock.
RECLAIMABLE allocation stealing from MOVABLE allocation is also not ideal,
so the goal is to minimize these two cases.

The evaluation of v2 wasn't always clear win and Joonsoo questioned the
results.  Here I used different baseline which includes RFC compaction
improvements from [1].  I found that the compaction improvements reduce
variability of stress-highalloc, so there's less noise in the data.

First, let's look at stress-highalloc configured to do sync compaction,
and how these patches reduce page stealing events during the test.  First
column is after fresh reboot, other two are reiterations of test without
reboot.  That was all accumulater over 5 re-iterations (so the benchmark
was run 5x3 times with 5 fresh restarts).

Baseline:

                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                  5-nothp-1       5-nothp-2       5-nothp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                               10264225     8702233    10244125
Extfrag fragmenting                                    10263271     8701552    10243473
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                         13595       17616       15960
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          7989       12193        8447
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         658        1840        1817
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         558        1677        1679
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                        10249018     8682096    10225696

With Patch 1:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                  6-nothp-1       6-nothp-2       6-nothp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                               11834954     9877523     9774860
Extfrag fragmenting                                    11833993     9876880     9774245
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                          7342       16129       11712
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          4191       10547        6270
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         373        1130         923
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         302         906         738
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                        11826278     9859621     9761610

With Patch 2:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                  7-nothp-1       7-nothp-2       7-nothp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                4725990     3668793     3807436
Extfrag fragmenting                                     4725104     3668252     3806898
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                          6678        7974        7281
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          2051        3829        4017
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         429        1208        1278
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         369         976        1034
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         4717997     3659070     3798339

With Patch 3:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                  8-nothp-1       8-nothp-2       8-nothp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                5016183     4700142     3850633
Extfrag fragmenting                                     5015325     4699613     3850072
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                          1312        3154        3088
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          1115        2777        2714
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         437        1193        1097
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         330         969         879
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         5013576     4695266     3845887

In v2 we've seen apparent regression with Patch 1 for unmovable events,
this is now gone, suggesting it was indeed noise.  Here, each patch
improves the situation for unmovable events.  Reclaimable is improved by
patch 1 and then either the same modulo noise, or perhaps sligtly worse -
a small price for unmovable improvements, IMHO.  The number of movable
allocations falling back to other migratetypes is most noisy, but it's
reduced to half at Patch 2 nevertheless.  These are least critical as
compaction can move them around.

If we look at success rates, the patches don't affect them, that didn't change.

Baseline:
                             3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4
                            5-nothp-1             5-nothp-2             5-nothp-3
Success 1 Min         49.00 (  0.00%)       42.00 ( 14.29%)       41.00 ( 16.33%)
Success 1 Mean        51.00 (  0.00%)       45.00 ( 11.76%)       42.60 ( 16.47%)
Success 1 Max         55.00 (  0.00%)       51.00 (  7.27%)       46.00 ( 16.36%)
Success 2 Min         53.00 (  0.00%)       47.00 ( 11.32%)       44.00 ( 16.98%)
Success 2 Mean        59.60 (  0.00%)       50.80 ( 14.77%)       48.20 ( 19.13%)
Success 2 Max         64.00 (  0.00%)       56.00 ( 12.50%)       52.00 ( 18.75%)
Success 3 Min         84.00 (  0.00%)       82.00 (  2.38%)       78.00 (  7.14%)
Success 3 Mean        85.60 (  0.00%)       82.80 (  3.27%)       79.40 (  7.24%)
Success 3 Max         86.00 (  0.00%)       83.00 (  3.49%)       80.00 (  6.98%)

Patch 1:
                             3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4
                            6-nothp-1             6-nothp-2             6-nothp-3
Success 1 Min         49.00 (  0.00%)       44.00 ( 10.20%)       44.00 ( 10.20%)
Success 1 Mean        51.80 (  0.00%)       46.00 ( 11.20%)       45.80 ( 11.58%)
Success 1 Max         54.00 (  0.00%)       49.00 (  9.26%)       49.00 (  9.26%)
Success 2 Min         58.00 (  0.00%)       49.00 ( 15.52%)       48.00 ( 17.24%)
Success 2 Mean        60.40 (  0.00%)       51.80 ( 14.24%)       50.80 ( 15.89%)
Success 2 Max         63.00 (  0.00%)       54.00 ( 14.29%)       55.00 ( 12.70%)
Success 3 Min         84.00 (  0.00%)       81.00 (  3.57%)       79.00 (  5.95%)
Success 3 Mean        85.00 (  0.00%)       81.60 (  4.00%)       79.80 (  6.12%)
Success 3 Max         86.00 (  0.00%)       82.00 (  4.65%)       82.00 (  4.65%)

Patch 2:

                             3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4
                            7-nothp-1             7-nothp-2             7-nothp-3
Success 1 Min         50.00 (  0.00%)       44.00 ( 12.00%)       39.00 ( 22.00%)
Success 1 Mean        52.80 (  0.00%)       45.60 ( 13.64%)       42.40 ( 19.70%)
Success 1 Max         55.00 (  0.00%)       46.00 ( 16.36%)       47.00 ( 14.55%)
Success 2 Min         52.00 (  0.00%)       48.00 (  7.69%)       45.00 ( 13.46%)
Success 2 Mean        53.40 (  0.00%)       49.80 (  6.74%)       48.80 (  8.61%)
Success 2 Max         57.00 (  0.00%)       52.00 (  8.77%)       52.00 (  8.77%)
Success 3 Min         84.00 (  0.00%)       81.00 (  3.57%)       79.00 (  5.95%)
Success 3 Mean        85.00 (  0.00%)       82.40 (  3.06%)       79.60 (  6.35%)
Success 3 Max         86.00 (  0.00%)       83.00 (  3.49%)       80.00 (  6.98%)

Patch 3:
                             3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4              3.19-rc4
                            8-nothp-1             8-nothp-2             8-nothp-3
Success 1 Min         46.00 (  0.00%)       44.00 (  4.35%)       42.00 (  8.70%)
Success 1 Mean        50.20 (  0.00%)       45.60 (  9.16%)       44.00 ( 12.35%)
Success 1 Max         52.00 (  0.00%)       47.00 (  9.62%)       47.00 (  9.62%)
Success 2 Min         53.00 (  0.00%)       49.00 (  7.55%)       48.00 (  9.43%)
Success 2 Mean        55.80 (  0.00%)       50.60 (  9.32%)       49.00 ( 12.19%)
Success 2 Max         59.00 (  0.00%)       52.00 ( 11.86%)       51.00 ( 13.56%)
Success 3 Min         84.00 (  0.00%)       80.00 (  4.76%)       79.00 (  5.95%)
Success 3 Mean        85.40 (  0.00%)       81.60 (  4.45%)       80.40 (  5.85%)
Success 3 Max         87.00 (  0.00%)       83.00 (  4.60%)       82.00 (  5.75%)

While there's no improvement here, I consider reduced fragmentation events
to be worth on its own.  Patch 2 also seems to reduce scanning for free
pages, and migrations in compaction, suggesting it has somewhat less work
to do:

Patch 1:

Compaction stalls                 4153        3959        3978
Compaction success                1523        1441        1446
Compaction failures               2630        2517        2531
Page migrate success           4600827     4943120     5104348
Page migrate failure             19763       16656       17806
Compaction pages isolated      9597640    10305617    10653541
Compaction migrate scanned    77828948    86533283    87137064
Compaction free scanned      517758295   521312840   521462251
Compaction cost                   5503        5932        6110

Patch 2:

Compaction stalls                 3800        3450        3518
Compaction success                1421        1316        1317
Compaction failures               2379        2134        2201
Page migrate success           4160421     4502708     4752148
Page migrate failure             19705       14340       14911
Compaction pages isolated      8731983     9382374     9910043
Compaction migrate scanned    98362797    96349194    98609686
Compaction free scanned      496512560   469502017   480442545
Compaction cost                   5173        5526        5811

As with v2, /proc/pagetypeinfo appears unaffected with respect to numbers
of unmovable and reclaimable pageblocks.

Configuring the benchmark to allocate like THP page fault (i.e.  no sync
compaction) gives much noisier results for iterations 2 and 3 after
reboot.  This is not so surprising given how [1] offers lower improvements
in this scenario due to less restarts after deferred compaction which
would change compaction pivot.

Baseline:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                    5-thp-1         5-thp-2         5-thp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                8148965     6227815     6646741
Extfrag fragmenting                                     8147872     6227130     6646117
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                         10324       12942       15975
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          5972        8495       10907
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         601        1707        2210
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         520        1570        2000
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         8136947     6212481     6627932

Patch 1:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                    6-thp-1         6-thp-2         6-thp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                8345457     7574471     7020419
Extfrag fragmenting                                     8343546     7573777     7019718
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                         10256       18535       30716
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          6893       11726       22181
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         465        1208        1023
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         353         996         843
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         8332825     7554034     6987979

Patch 2:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                    7-thp-1         7-thp-2         7-thp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                3512847     3020756     2891625
Extfrag fragmenting                                     3511940     3020185     2891059
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                          9017        6892        6191
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable          1524        3053        2435
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         445        1081        1160
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         375         918         986
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         3502478     3012212     2883708

Patch 3:
                                                   3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4        3.19-rc4
                                                    8-thp-1         8-thp-2         8-thp-3
Page alloc extfrag event                                3181699     3082881     2674164
Extfrag fragmenting                                     3180812     3082303     2673611
Extfrag fragmenting for unmovable                          1201        4031        4040
Extfrag fragmenting unmovable placed with movable           974        3611        3645
Extfrag fragmenting for reclaimable                         478        1165        1294
Extfrag fragmenting reclaimable placed with movable         387         985        1030
Extfrag fragmenting for movable                         3179133     3077107     2668277

The improvements for first iteration are clear, the rest is much noisier
and can appear like regression for Patch 1.  Anyway, patch 2 rectifies it.

Allocation success rates are again unaffected so there's no point in
making this e-mail any longer.

[1] http://marc.info/?l=linux-mm&m=142166196321125&w=2

This patch (of 3):

When __rmqueue_fallback() is called to allocate a page of order X, it will
find a page of order Y >= X of a fallback migratetype, which is different
from the desired migratetype.  With the help of try_to_steal_freepages(),
it may change the migratetype (to the desired one) also of:

1) all currently free pages in the pageblock containing the fallback page
2) the fallback pageblock itself
3) buddy pages created by splitting the fallback page (when Y > X)

These decisions take the order Y into account, as well as the desired
migratetype, with the goal of preventing multiple fallback allocations
that could e.g.  distribute UNMOVABLE allocations among multiple
pageblocks.

Originally, decision for 1) has implied the decision for 3).  Commit
47118af076f6 ("mm: mmzone: MIGRATE_CMA migration type added") changed that
(probably unintentionally) so that the buddy pages in case 3) are always
changed to the desired migratetype, except for CMA pageblocks.

Commit fef903efcf0c ("mm/page_allo.c: restructure free-page stealing code
and fix a bug") did some refactoring and added a comment that the case of
3) is intended.  Commit 0cbef29a7821 ("mm: __rmqueue_fallback() should
respect pageblock type") removed the comment and tried to restore the
original behavior where 1) implies 3), but due to the previous
refactoring, the result is instead that only 2) implies 3) - and the
conditions for 2) are less frequently met than conditions for 1).  This
may increase fragmentation in situations where the code decides to steal
all free pages from the pageblock (case 1)), but then gives back the buddy
pages produced by splitting.

This patch restores the original intended logic where 1) implies 3).
During testing with stress-highalloc from mmtests, this has shown to
decrease the number of events where UNMOVABLE and RECLAIMABLE allocations
steal from MOVABLE pageblocks, which can lead to permanent fragmentation.
In some cases it has increased the number of events when MOVABLE
allocations steal from UNMOVABLE or RECLAIMABLE pageblocks, but these are
fixable by sync compaction and thus less harmful.

Note that evaluation has shown that the behavior introduced by
47118af076f6 for buddy pages in case 3) is actually even better than the
original logic, so the following patch will introduce it properly once
again.  For stable backports of this patch it makes thus sense to only fix
versions containing 0cbef29a7821.

[iamjoonsoo.kim@lge.com: tracepoint fix]
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Acked-by: Mel Gorman <mgorman@suse.de>
Cc: Zhang Yanfei <zhangyanfei@cn.fujitsu.com>
Acked-by: Minchan Kim <minchan@kernel.org>
Cc: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
Cc: Rik van Riel <riel@redhat.com>
Cc: "Aneesh Kumar K.V" <aneesh.kumar@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: "Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill.shutemov@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Cc: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@lge.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.cz>
Cc: KOSAKI Motohiro <kosaki.motohiro@jp.fujitsu.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>	[3.13+ containing 0cbef29a7821]
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

1 files changed, 5 insertions, 7 deletions

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 134e25525044..b7a881019352 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1131,8 +1131,8 @@ static void change_pageblock_range(struct page *pageblock_page,
  * nor move CMA pages to different free lists. We don't want unmovable pages
  * to be allocated from MIGRATE_CMA areas.
  *
- * Returns the new migratetype of the pageblock (or the same old migratetype
- * if it was unchanged).
+ * Returns the allocation migratetype if free pages were stolen, or the
+ * fallback migratetype if it was decided not to steal.
  */
 static int try_to_steal_freepages(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
 				  int start_type, int fallback_type)
@@ -1163,12 +1163,10 @@ static int try_to_steal_freepages(struct zone *zone, struct page *page,
 
 		/* Claim the whole block if over half of it is free */
 		if (pages >= (1 << (pageblock_order-1)) ||
-				page_group_by_mobility_disabled) {
-
+				page_group_by_mobility_disabled)
 			set_pageblock_migratetype(page, start_type);
-			return start_type;
-		}
 
+		return start_type;
 	}
 
 	return fallback_type;
@@ -1220,7 +1218,7 @@ __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order, int start_migratetype)
 			set_freepage_migratetype(page, new_type);
 
 			trace_mm_page_alloc_extfrag(page, order, current_order,
-				start_migratetype, migratetype, new_type);
+				start_migratetype, migratetype);
 
 			return page;
 		}