Update Makefile

Documentation/admin-guide/mm/index.rst

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ the Linux memory management.
    idle_page_tracking
    ksm
    memory-hotplug
+   multigen_lru
    nommu-mmap
    numa_memory_policy
    numaperf

Documentation/admin-guide/mm/multigen_lru.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=============
+Multi-Gen LRU
+=============
+The multi-gen LRU is an alternative LRU implementation that optimizes
+page reclaim and improves performance under memory pressure. Page
+reclaim decides the kernel's caching policy and ability to overcommit
+memory. It directly impacts the kswapd CPU usage and RAM efficiency.
+
+Quick start
+===========
+Build the kernel with the following configurations.
+
+* ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN=y``
+* ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_ENABLED=y``
+
+All set!
+
+Runtime options
+===============
+``/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/`` contains stable ABIs described in the
+following subsections.
+
+Kill switch
+-----------
+``enabled`` accepts different values to enable or disable the
+following components. Its default value depends on
+``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_ENABLED``. All the components should be enabled
+unless some of them have unforeseen side effects. Writing to
+``enabled`` has no effect when a component is not supported by the
+hardware, and valid values will be accepted even when the main switch
+is off.
+
+====== ===============================================================
+Values Components
+====== ===============================================================
+0x0001 The main switch for the multi-gen LRU.
+0x0002 Clearing the accessed bit in leaf page table entries in large
+       batches, when MMU sets it (e.g., on x86). This behavior can
+       theoretically worsen lock contention (mmap_lock). If it is
+       disabled, the multi-gen LRU will suffer a minor performance
+       degradation for workloads that contiguously map hot pages,
+       whose accessed bits can be otherwise cleared by fewer larger
+       batches.
+0x0004 Clearing the accessed bit in non-leaf page table entries as
+       well, when MMU sets it (e.g., on x86). This behavior was not
+       verified on x86 varieties other than Intel and AMD. If it is
+       disabled, the multi-gen LRU will suffer a negligible
+       performance degradation.
+[yYnN] Apply to all the components above.
+====== ===============================================================
+
+E.g.,
+::
+
+    echo y >/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled
+    cat /sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled
+    0x0007
+    echo 5 >/sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled
+    cat /sys/kernel/mm/lru_gen/enabled
+    0x0005
+
+Thrashing prevention
+--------------------
+Personal computers are more sensitive to thrashing because it can
+cause janks (lags when rendering UI) and negatively impact user
+experience. The multi-gen LRU offers thrashing prevention to the
+majority of laptop and desktop users who do not have ``oomd``.
+
+Users can write ``N`` to ``min_ttl_ms`` to prevent the working set of
+``N`` milliseconds from getting evicted. The OOM killer is triggered
+if this working set cannot be kept in memory. In other words, this
+option works as an adjustable pressure relief valve, and when open, it
+terminates applications that are hopefully not being used.
+
+Based on the average human detectable lag (~100ms), ``N=1000`` usually
+eliminates intolerable janks due to thrashing. Larger values like
+``N=3000`` make janks less noticeable at the risk of premature OOM
+kills.
+
+The default value ``0`` means disabled.
+
+Experimental features
+=====================
+``/sys/kernel/debug/lru_gen`` accepts commands described in the
+following subsections. Multiple command lines are supported, so does
+concatenation with delimiters ``,`` and ``;``.
+
+``/sys/kernel/debug/lru_gen_full`` provides additional stats for
+debugging. ``CONFIG_LRU_GEN_STATS=y`` keeps historical stats from
+evicted generations in this file.
+
+Working set estimation
+----------------------
+Working set estimation measures how much memory an application needs
+in a given time interval, and it is usually done with little impact on
+the performance of the application. E.g., data centers want to
+optimize job scheduling (bin packing) to improve memory utilizations.
+When a new job comes in, the job scheduler needs to find out whether
+each server it manages can allocate a certain amount of memory for
+this new job before it can pick a candidate. To do so, the job
+scheduler needs to estimate the working sets of the existing jobs.
+
+When it is read, ``lru_gen`` returns a histogram of numbers of pages
+accessed over different time intervals for each memcg and node.
+``MAX_NR_GENS`` decides the number of bins for each histogram. The
+histograms are noncumulative.
+::
+
+    memcg  memcg_id  memcg_path
+       node  node_id
+           min_gen_nr  age_in_ms  nr_anon_pages  nr_file_pages
+           ...
+           max_gen_nr  age_in_ms  nr_anon_pages  nr_file_pages
+
+Each bin contains an estimated number of pages that have been accessed
+within ``age_in_ms``. E.g., ``min_gen_nr`` contains the coldest pages
+and ``max_gen_nr`` contains the hottest pages, since ``age_in_ms`` of
+the former is the largest and that of the latter is the smallest.
+
+Users can write the following command to ``lru_gen`` to create a new
+generation ``max_gen_nr+1``:
+
+    ``+ memcg_id node_id max_gen_nr [can_swap [force_scan]]``
+
+``can_swap`` defaults to the swap setting and, if it is set to ``1``,
+it forces the scan of anon pages when swap is off, and vice versa.
+``force_scan`` defaults to ``1`` and, if it is set to ``0``, it
+employs heuristics to reduce the overhead, which is likely to reduce
+the coverage as well.
+
+A typical use case is that a job scheduler runs this command at a
+certain time interval to create new generations, and it ranks the
+servers it manages based on the sizes of their cold pages defined by
+this time interval.
+
+Proactive reclaim
+-----------------
+Proactive reclaim induces page reclaim when there is no memory
+pressure. It usually targets cold pages only. E.g., when a new job
+comes in, the job scheduler wants to proactively reclaim cold pages on
+the server it selected, to improve the chance of successfully landing
+this new job.
+
+Users can write the following command to ``lru_gen`` to evict
+generations less than or equal to ``min_gen_nr``.
+
+    ``- memcg_id node_id min_gen_nr [swappiness [nr_to_reclaim]]``
+
+``min_gen_nr`` should be less than ``max_gen_nr-1``, since
+``max_gen_nr`` and ``max_gen_nr-1`` are not fully aged (equivalent to
+the active list) and therefore cannot be evicted. ``swappiness``
+overrides the default value in ``/proc/sys/vm/swappiness``.
+``nr_to_reclaim`` limits the number of pages to evict.
+
+A typical use case is that a job scheduler runs this command before it
+tries to land a new job on a server. If it fails to materialize enough
+cold pages because of the overestimation, it retries on the next
+server according to the ranking result obtained from the working set
+estimation step. This less forceful approach limits the impacts on the
+existing jobs.

Documentation/vm/index.rst

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ descriptions of data structures and algorithms.
    ksm
    memory-model
    mmu_notifier
+   multigen_lru
    numa
    overcommit-accounting
    page_migration

Documentation/vm/multigen_lru.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=============
+Multi-Gen LRU
+=============
+The multi-gen LRU is an alternative LRU implementation that optimizes
+page reclaim and improves performance under memory pressure. Page
+reclaim decides the kernel's caching policy and ability to overcommit
+memory. It directly impacts the kswapd CPU usage and RAM efficiency.
+
+Design overview
+===============
+Objectives
+----------
+The design objectives are:
+
+* Good representation of access recency
+* Try to profit from spatial locality
+* Fast paths to make obvious choices
+* Simple self-correcting heuristics
+
+The representation of access recency is at the core of all LRU
+implementations. In the multi-gen LRU, each generation represents a
+group of pages with similar access recency. Generations establish a
+(time-based) common frame of reference and therefore help make better
+choices, e.g., between different memcgs on a computer or different
+computers in a data center (for job scheduling).
+
+Exploiting spatial locality improves efficiency when gathering the
+accessed bit. A rmap walk targets a single page and does not try to
+profit from discovering a young PTE. A page table walk can sweep all
+the young PTEs in an address space, but the address space can be too
+sparse to make a profit. The key is to optimize both methods and use
+them in combination.
+
+Fast paths reduce code complexity and runtime overhead. Unmapped pages
+do not require TLB flushes; clean pages do not require writeback.
+These facts are only helpful when other conditions, e.g., access
+recency, are similar. With generations as a common frame of reference,
+additional factors stand out. But obvious choices might not be good
+choices; thus self-correction is necessary.
+
+The benefits of simple self-correcting heuristics are self-evident.
+Again, with generations as a common frame of reference, this becomes
+attainable. Specifically, pages in the same generation can be
+categorized based on additional factors, and a feedback loop can
+statistically compare the refault percentages across those categories
+and infer which of them are better choices.
+
+Assumptions
+-----------
+The protection of hot pages and the selection of cold pages are based
+on page access channels and patterns. There are two access channels:
+
+* Accesses through page tables
+* Accesses through file descriptors
+
+The protection of the former channel is by design stronger because:
+
+1. The uncertainty in determining the access patterns of the former
+   channel is higher due to the approximation of the accessed bit.
+2. The cost of evicting the former channel is higher due to the TLB
+   flushes required and the likelihood of encountering the dirty bit.
+3. The penalty of underprotecting the former channel is higher because
+   applications usually do not prepare themselves for major page
+   faults like they do for blocked I/O. E.g., GUI applications
+   commonly use dedicated I/O threads to avoid blocking rendering
+   threads.
+
+There are also two access patterns:
+
+* Accesses exhibiting temporal locality
+* Accesses not exhibiting temporal locality
+
+For the reasons listed above, the former channel is assumed to follow
+the former pattern unless ``VM_SEQ_READ`` or ``VM_RAND_READ`` is
+present, and the latter channel is assumed to follow the latter
+pattern unless outlying refaults have been observed.
+
+Workflow overview
+=================
+Evictable pages are divided into multiple generations for each
+``lruvec``. The youngest generation number is stored in
+``lrugen->max_seq`` for both anon and file types as they are aged on
+an equal footing. The oldest generation numbers are stored in
+``lrugen->min_seq[]`` separately for anon and file types as clean file
+pages can be evicted regardless of swap constraints. These three
+variables are monotonically increasing.
+
+Generation numbers are truncated into ``order_base_2(MAX_NR_GENS+1)``
+bits in order to fit into the gen counter in ``folio->flags``. Each
+truncated generation number is an index to ``lrugen->lists[]``. The
+sliding window technique is used to track at least ``MIN_NR_GENS`` and
+at most ``MAX_NR_GENS`` generations. The gen counter stores a value
+within ``[1, MAX_NR_GENS]`` while a page is on one of
+``lrugen->lists[]``; otherwise it stores zero.
+
+Each generation is divided into multiple tiers. A page accessed ``N``
+times through file descriptors is in tier ``order_base_2(N)``. Unlike
+generations, tiers do not have dedicated ``lrugen->lists[]``. In
+contrast to moving across generations, which requires the LRU lock,
+moving across tiers only involves atomic operations on
+``folio->flags`` and therefore has a negligible cost. A feedback loop
+modeled after the PID controller monitors refaults over all the tiers
+from anon and file types and decides which tiers from which types to
+evict or protect.
+
+There are two conceptually independent procedures: the aging and the
+eviction. They form a closed-loop system, i.e., the page reclaim.
+
+Aging
+-----
+The aging produces young generations. Given an ``lruvec``, it
+increments ``max_seq`` when ``max_seq-min_seq+1`` approaches
+``MIN_NR_GENS``. The aging promotes hot pages to the youngest
+generation when it finds them accessed through page tables; the
+demotion of cold pages happens consequently when it increments
+``max_seq``. The aging uses page table walks and rmap walks to find
+young PTEs. For the former, it iterates ``lruvec_memcg()->mm_list``
+and calls ``walk_page_range()`` with each ``mm_struct`` on this list
+to scan PTEs, and after each iteration, it increments ``max_seq``. For
+the latter, when the eviction walks the rmap and finds a young PTE,
+the aging scans the adjacent PTEs. For both, on finding a young PTE,
+the aging clears the accessed bit and updates the gen counter of the
+page mapped by this PTE to ``(max_seq%MAX_NR_GENS)+1``.
+
+Eviction
+--------
+The eviction consumes old generations. Given an ``lruvec``, it
+increments ``min_seq`` when ``lrugen->lists[]`` indexed by
+``min_seq%MAX_NR_GENS`` becomes empty. To select a type and a tier to
+evict from, it first compares ``min_seq[]`` to select the older type.
+If both types are equally old, it selects the one whose first tier has
+a lower refault percentage. The first tier contains single-use
+unmapped clean pages, which are the best bet. The eviction sorts a
+page according to its gen counter if the aging has found this page
+accessed through page tables and updated its gen counter. It also
+moves a page to the next generation, i.e., ``min_seq+1``, if this page
+was accessed multiple times through file descriptors and the feedback
+loop has detected outlying refaults from the tier this page is in. To
+this end, the feedback loop uses the first tier as the baseline, for
+the reason stated earlier.
+
+Summary
+-------
+The multi-gen LRU can be disassembled into the following parts:
+
+* Generations
+* Rmap walks
+* Page table walks
+* Bloom filters
+* PID controller
+
+The aging and the eviction form a producer-consumer model;
+specifically, the latter drives the former by the sliding window over
+generations. Within the aging, rmap walks drive page table walks by
+inserting hot densely populated page tables to the Bloom filters.
+Within the eviction, the PID controller uses refaults as the feedback
+to select types to evict and tiers to protect.

Makefile

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
 VERSION = 5
 PATCHLEVEL = 10
-SUBLEVEL = 189
-EXTRAVERSION =
+SUBLEVEL = 110
+EXTRAVERSION = Goku-sheng
 NAME = Dare mighty things
 
 # *DOCUMENTATION*