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From:   Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>
To:     linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc:     Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>, Martin Cracauer <cracauer@cons.org>,
        Mike Rapoport <rppt@linux.vnet.ibm.com>,
        Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>,
        Jerome Glisse <jglisse@redhat.com>,
        "Kirill A . Shutemov" <kirill@shutemov.name>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>,
        Pavel Emelyanov <xemul@virtuozzo.com>,
        Brian Geffon <bgeffon@google.com>,
        Maya Gokhale <gokhale2@llnl.gov>,
        Denis Plotnikov <dplotnikov@virtuozzo.com>,
        Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@redhat.com>,
        Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>,
        "Dr . David Alan Gilbert" <dgilbert@redhat.com>,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
        Mike Kravetz <mike.kravetz@oracle.com>,
        Marty McFadden <mcfadden8@llnl.gov>,
        David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>,
        Bobby Powers <bobbypowers@gmail.com>,
        Mel Gorman <mgorman@suse.de>
Subject: [PATCH RESEND v6 13/16] mm: Allow VM_FAULT_RETRY for multiple times
Date:   Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:02:46 -0500
Message-Id: <20200220160246.9790-1-peterx@redhat.com>
In-Reply-To: <20200220155353.8676-1-peterx@redhat.com>
References: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org
Precedence: bulk

The idea comes from a discussion between Linus and Andrea [1].

Before this patch we only allow a page fault to retry once.  We
achieved this by clearing the FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY flag when doing
handle_mm_fault() the second time.  This was majorly used to avoid
unexpected starvation of the system by looping over forever to handle
the page fault on a single page.  However that should hardly happen,
and after all for each code path to return a VM_FAULT_RETRY we'll
first wait for a condition (during which time we should possibly yield
the cpu) to happen before VM_FAULT_RETRY is really returned.

This patch removes the restriction by keeping the
FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY flag when we receive VM_FAULT_RETRY.  It means
that the page fault handler now can retry the page fault for multiple
times if necessary without the need to generate another page fault
event.  Meanwhile we still keep the FAULT_FLAG_TRIED flag so page
fault handler can still identify whether a page fault is the first
attempt or not.

Then we'll have these combinations of fault flags (only considering
ALLOW_RETRY flag and TRIED flag):

  - ALLOW_RETRY and !TRIED:  this means the page fault allows to
                             retry, and this is the first try

  - ALLOW_RETRY and TRIED:   this means the page fault allows to
                             retry, and this is not the first try

  - !ALLOW_RETRY and !TRIED: this means the page fault does not allow
                             to retry at all

  - !ALLOW_RETRY and TRIED:  this is forbidden and should never be used

In existing code we have multiple places that has taken special care
of the first condition above by checking against (fault_flags &
FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY).  This patch introduces a simple helper to
detect the first retry of a page fault by checking against
both (fault_flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) and !(fault_flag &
FAULT_FLAG_TRIED) because now even the 2nd try will have the
ALLOW_RETRY set, then use that helper in all existing special paths.
One example is in __lock_page_or_retry(), now we'll drop the mmap_sem
only in the first attempt of page fault and we'll keep it in follow up
retries, so old locking behavior will be retained.

This will be a nice enhancement for current code [2] at the same time
a supporting material for the future userfaultfd-writeprotect work,
since in that work there will always be an explicit userfault
writeprotect retry for protected pages, and if that cannot resolve the
page fault (e.g., when userfaultfd-writeprotect is used in conjunction
with swapped pages) then we'll possibly need a 3rd retry of the page
fault.  It might also benefit other potential users who will have
similar requirement like userfault write-protection.

GUP code is not touched yet and will be covered in follow up patch.

Please read the thread below for more information.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20171102193644.GB22686@redhat.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20181230154648.GB9832@redhat.com/

Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Suggested-by: Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>
---
 arch/alpha/mm/fault.c           |  2 +-
 arch/arc/mm/fault.c             |  1 -
 arch/arm/mm/fault.c             |  3 ---
 arch/arm64/mm/fault.c           |  5 -----
 arch/hexagon/mm/vm_fault.c      |  1 -
 arch/ia64/mm/fault.c            |  1 -
 arch/m68k/mm/fault.c            |  3 ---
 arch/microblaze/mm/fault.c      |  1 -
 arch/mips/mm/fault.c            |  1 -
 arch/nds32/mm/fault.c           |  1 -
 arch/nios2/mm/fault.c           |  3 ---
 arch/openrisc/mm/fault.c        |  1 -
 arch/parisc/mm/fault.c          |  4 +---
 arch/powerpc/mm/fault.c         |  6 ------
 arch/riscv/mm/fault.c           |  5 -----
 arch/s390/mm/fault.c            |  5 +----
 arch/sh/mm/fault.c              |  1 -
 arch/sparc/mm/fault_32.c        |  1 -
 arch/sparc/mm/fault_64.c        |  1 -
 arch/um/kernel/trap.c           |  1 -
 arch/unicore32/mm/fault.c       |  4 +---
 arch/x86/mm/fault.c             |  2 --
 arch/xtensa/mm/fault.c          |  1 -
 drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo_vm.c | 12 ++++++++---
 include/linux/mm.h              | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 mm/filemap.c                    |  2 +-
 mm/internal.h                   |  6 +++---
 27 files changed, 54 insertions(+), 57 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/alpha/mm/fault.c b/arch/alpha/mm/fault.c
index fcfa229cc1e7..c2d7b6d7bac7 100644
--- a/arch/alpha/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/alpha/mm/fault.c
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ do_page_fault(unsigned long address, unsigned long mmcsr,
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
+			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			 /* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
 			 * have already released it in __lock_page_or_retry
diff --git a/arch/arc/mm/fault.c b/arch/arc/mm/fault.c
index 643fad774071..92b339c7adba 100644
--- a/arch/arc/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/arc/mm/fault.c
@@ -145,7 +145,6 @@ void do_page_fault(unsigned long address, struct pt_regs *regs)
 	 */
 	if (unlikely((fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) &&
 		     (flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY))) {
-		flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 		flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 		goto retry;
 	}
diff --git a/arch/arm/mm/fault.c b/arch/arm/mm/fault.c
index 18ef0b143ac2..b598e6978b29 100644
--- a/arch/arm/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/arm/mm/fault.c
@@ -319,9 +319,6 @@ do_page_fault(unsigned long addr, unsigned int fsr, struct pt_regs *regs)
 					regs, addr);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			/* Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			* of starvation. */
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			goto retry;
 		}
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
index cbb29a43aa7f..1027851d469a 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
@@ -521,12 +521,7 @@ static int __kprobes do_page_fault(unsigned long addr, unsigned int esr,
 	}
 
 	if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-		/*
-		 * Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk of
-		 * starvation.
-		 */
 		if (mm_flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
-			mm_flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			mm_flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			goto retry;
 		}
diff --git a/arch/hexagon/mm/vm_fault.c b/arch/hexagon/mm/vm_fault.c
index d9e15d941bdb..72334b26317a 100644
--- a/arch/hexagon/mm/vm_fault.c
+++ b/arch/hexagon/mm/vm_fault.c
@@ -102,7 +102,6 @@ void do_page_fault(unsigned long address, long cause, struct pt_regs *regs)
 			else
 				current->min_flt++;
 			if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-				flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 				flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 				goto retry;
 			}
diff --git a/arch/ia64/mm/fault.c b/arch/ia64/mm/fault.c
index b5aa4e80c762..30d0c1fca99e 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/mm/fault.c
@@ -167,7 +167,6 @@ ia64_do_page_fault (unsigned long address, unsigned long isr, struct pt_regs *re
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			 /* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/arch/m68k/mm/fault.c b/arch/m68k/mm/fault.c
index 182799fd9987..f7afb9897966 100644
--- a/arch/m68k/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/m68k/mm/fault.c
@@ -162,9 +162,6 @@ int do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long address,
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			/* Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			 * of starvation. */
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/microblaze/mm/fault.c b/arch/microblaze/mm/fault.c
index 32da02778a63..3248141f8ed5 100644
--- a/arch/microblaze/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/microblaze/mm/fault.c
@@ -236,7 +236,6 @@ void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long address,
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/mips/mm/fault.c b/arch/mips/mm/fault.c
index f177da67d940..fd64b135fd7b 100644
--- a/arch/mips/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/mips/mm/fault.c
@@ -178,7 +178,6 @@ static void __kprobes __do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long write,
 			tsk->min_flt++;
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/nds32/mm/fault.c b/arch/nds32/mm/fault.c
index 2810a4e5ab27..0cf0c08c7da2 100644
--- a/arch/nds32/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/nds32/mm/fault.c
@@ -246,7 +246,6 @@ void do_page_fault(unsigned long entry, unsigned long addr,
 				      1, regs, addr);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/arch/nios2/mm/fault.c b/arch/nios2/mm/fault.c
index c38bea4220fb..ec9d8a9c426f 100644
--- a/arch/nios2/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/nios2/mm/fault.c
@@ -157,9 +157,6 @@ asmlinkage void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long cause,
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			/* Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			 * of starvation. */
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/openrisc/mm/fault.c b/arch/openrisc/mm/fault.c
index 30d5c51e9d40..8af1cc78c4fb 100644
--- a/arch/openrisc/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/openrisc/mm/fault.c
@@ -181,7 +181,6 @@ asmlinkage void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long address,
 		else
 			tsk->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			 /* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/arch/parisc/mm/fault.c b/arch/parisc/mm/fault.c
index 8e88e5c5f26a..86e8c848f3d7 100644
--- a/arch/parisc/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/parisc/mm/fault.c
@@ -328,14 +328,12 @@ void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long code,
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
-
 			/*
 			 * No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
 			 * have already released it in __lock_page_or_retry
 			 * in mm/filemap.c.
 			 */
-
+			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			goto retry;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/fault.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/fault.c
index d7e1f8dc7e4c..d15f0f0ee806 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/fault.c
@@ -590,13 +590,7 @@ static int __do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, unsigned long address,
 	 * case.
 	 */
 	if (unlikely(fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY)) {
-		/* We retry only once */
 		if (flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
-			/*
-			 * Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			 * of starvation.
-			 */
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			goto retry;
 		}
diff --git a/arch/riscv/mm/fault.c b/arch/riscv/mm/fault.c
index a252d9e38561..be84e32adc4c 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/riscv/mm/fault.c
@@ -144,11 +144,6 @@ asmlinkage void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs)
 				      1, regs, addr);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			/*
-			 * Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			 * of starvation.
-			 */
-			flags &= ~(FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY);
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/s390/mm/fault.c b/arch/s390/mm/fault.c
index 551ac311bd35..aeccdb30899a 100644
--- a/arch/s390/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/s390/mm/fault.c
@@ -513,10 +513,7 @@ static inline vm_fault_t do_exception(struct pt_regs *regs, int access)
 				fault = VM_FAULT_PFAULT;
 				goto out_up;
 			}
-			/* Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			 * of starvation. */
-			flags &= ~(FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY |
-				   FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT);
+			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			down_read(&mm->mmap_sem);
 			goto retry;
diff --git a/arch/sh/mm/fault.c b/arch/sh/mm/fault.c
index d9c8f2d00a54..13ee4d20e622 100644
--- a/arch/sh/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/sh/mm/fault.c
@@ -481,7 +481,6 @@ asmlinkage void __kprobes do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs,
 				      regs, address);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/*
diff --git a/arch/sparc/mm/fault_32.c b/arch/sparc/mm/fault_32.c
index a91b0c2d84f8..f6e0e601f857 100644
--- a/arch/sparc/mm/fault_32.c
+++ b/arch/sparc/mm/fault_32.c
@@ -261,7 +261,6 @@ asmlinkage void do_sparc_fault(struct pt_regs *regs, int text_fault, int write,
 				      1, regs, address);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/arch/sparc/mm/fault_64.c b/arch/sparc/mm/fault_64.c
index 30653418a672..c0c0dd471b6b 100644
--- a/arch/sparc/mm/fault_64.c
+++ b/arch/sparc/mm/fault_64.c
@@ -449,7 +449,6 @@ asmlinkage void __kprobes do_sparc64_fault(struct pt_regs *regs)
 				      1, regs, address);
 		}
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			/* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/arch/um/kernel/trap.c b/arch/um/kernel/trap.c
index c59ad37eacda..8f18cf56b3dd 100644
--- a/arch/um/kernel/trap.c
+++ b/arch/um/kernel/trap.c
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ int handle_page_fault(unsigned long address, unsigned long ip,
 			else
 				current->min_flt++;
 			if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-				flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 				flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 				goto retry;
diff --git a/arch/unicore32/mm/fault.c b/arch/unicore32/mm/fault.c
index 34a90453ca18..a9bd08fbe588 100644
--- a/arch/unicore32/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/unicore32/mm/fault.c
@@ -259,9 +259,7 @@ static int do_pf(unsigned long addr, unsigned int fsr, struct pt_regs *regs)
 		else
 			tsk->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			/* Clear FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY to avoid any risk
-			* of starvation. */
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
+			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 			goto retry;
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/fault.c b/arch/x86/mm/fault.c
index 7b6f65333355..4ce647bbe546 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/fault.c
@@ -1457,8 +1457,6 @@ void do_user_addr_fault(struct pt_regs *regs,
 	 */
 	if (unlikely((fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) &&
 		     (flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY))) {
-		/* Retry at most once */
-		flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 		flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 		goto retry;
 	}
diff --git a/arch/xtensa/mm/fault.c b/arch/xtensa/mm/fault.c
index 7d196dc951e8..e7172bd53ced 100644
--- a/arch/xtensa/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/xtensa/mm/fault.c
@@ -128,7 +128,6 @@ void do_page_fault(struct pt_regs *regs)
 		else
 			current->min_flt++;
 		if (fault & VM_FAULT_RETRY) {
-			flags &= ~FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY;
 			flags |= FAULT_FLAG_TRIED;
 
 			 /* No need to up_read(&mm->mmap_sem) as we would
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo_vm.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo_vm.c
index 389128b8c4dd..cb8829ca6c7f 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo_vm.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo_vm.c
@@ -59,9 +59,10 @@ static vm_fault_t ttm_bo_vm_fault_idle(struct ttm_buffer_object *bo,
 
 	/*
 	 * If possible, avoid waiting for GPU with mmap_sem
-	 * held.
+	 * held.  We only do this if the fault allows retry and this
+	 * is the first attempt.
 	 */
-	if (vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
+	if (fault_flag_allow_retry_first(vmf->flags)) {
 		ret = VM_FAULT_RETRY;
 		if (vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT)
 			goto out_unlock;
@@ -135,7 +136,12 @@ vm_fault_t ttm_bo_vm_reserve(struct ttm_buffer_object *bo,
 	 * for the buffer to become unreserved.
 	 */
 	if (unlikely(!dma_resv_trylock(bo->base.resv))) {
-		if (vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
+		/*
+		 * If the fault allows retry and this is the first
+		 * fault attempt, we try to release the mmap_sem
+		 * before waiting
+		 */
+		if (fault_flag_allow_retry_first(vmf->flags)) {
 			if (!(vmf->flags & FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT)) {
 				ttm_bo_get(bo);
 				up_read(&vmf->vma->vm_mm->mmap_sem);
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index ff653f9136dd..51a886d50758 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -391,6 +391,25 @@ extern pgprot_t protection_map[16];
  * @FAULT_FLAG_REMOTE: The fault is not for current task/mm.
  * @FAULT_FLAG_INSTRUCTION: The fault was during an instruction fetch.
  * @FAULT_FLAG_INTERRUPTIBLE: The fault can be interrupted by non-fatal signals.
+ *
+ * About @FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY and @FAULT_FLAG_TRIED: we can specify
+ * whether we would allow page faults to retry by specifying these two
+ * fault flags correctly.  Currently there can be three legal combinations:
+ *
+ * (a) ALLOW_RETRY and !TRIED:  this means the page fault allows retry, and
+ *                              this is the first try
+ *
+ * (b) ALLOW_RETRY and TRIED:   this means the page fault allows retry, and
+ *                              we've already tried at least once
+ *
+ * (c) !ALLOW_RETRY and !TRIED: this means the page fault does not allow retry
+ *
+ * The unlisted combination (!ALLOW_RETRY && TRIED) is illegal and should never
+ * be used.  Note that page faults can be allowed to retry for multiple times,
+ * in which case we'll have an initial fault with flags (a) then later on
+ * continuous faults with flags (b).  We should always try to detect pending
+ * signals before a retry to make sure the continuous page faults can still be
+ * interrupted if necessary.
  */
 #define FAULT_FLAG_WRITE			0x01
 #define FAULT_FLAG_MKWRITE			0x02
@@ -411,6 +430,24 @@ extern pgprot_t protection_map[16];
 			     FAULT_FLAG_KILLABLE | \
 			     FAULT_FLAG_INTERRUPTIBLE)
 
+/**
+ * fault_flag_allow_retry_first - check ALLOW_RETRY the first time
+ *
+ * This is mostly used for places where we want to try to avoid taking
+ * the mmap_sem for too long a time when waiting for another condition
+ * to change, in which case we can try to be polite to release the
+ * mmap_sem in the first round to avoid potential starvation of other
+ * processes that would also want the mmap_sem.
+ *
+ * Return: true if the page fault allows retry and this is the first
+ * attempt of the fault handling; false otherwise.
+ */
+static inline bool fault_flag_allow_retry_first(unsigned int flags)
+{
+	return (flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) &&
+	    (!(flags & FAULT_FLAG_TRIED));
+}
+
 #define FAULT_FLAG_TRACE \
 	{ FAULT_FLAG_WRITE,		"WRITE" }, \
 	{ FAULT_FLAG_MKWRITE,		"MKWRITE" }, \
diff --git a/mm/filemap.c b/mm/filemap.c
index 1784478270e1..590ec3a9f5da 100644
--- a/mm/filemap.c
+++ b/mm/filemap.c
@@ -1386,7 +1386,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__lock_page_killable);
 int __lock_page_or_retry(struct page *page, struct mm_struct *mm,
 			 unsigned int flags)
 {
-	if (flags & FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
+	if (fault_flag_allow_retry_first(flags)) {
 		/*
 		 * CAUTION! In this case, mmap_sem is not released
 		 * even though return 0.
diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
index 3cf20ab3ca01..5958cfe50a0c 100644
--- a/mm/internal.h
+++ b/mm/internal.h
@@ -377,10 +377,10 @@ static inline struct file *maybe_unlock_mmap_for_io(struct vm_fault *vmf,
 	/*
 	 * FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT means we don't want to wait on page locks or
 	 * anything, so we only pin the file and drop the mmap_sem if only
-	 * FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY is set.
+	 * FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY is set, while this is the first attempt.
 	 */
-	if ((flags & (FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY | FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT)) ==
-	    FAULT_FLAG_ALLOW_RETRY) {
+	if (fault_flag_allow_retry_first(flags) &&
+	    !(flags & FAULT_FLAG_RETRY_NOWAIT)) {
 		fpin = get_file(vmf->vma->vm_file);
 		up_read(&vmf->vma->vm_mm->mmap_sem);
 	}
-- 
2.24.1