Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1761015AbXIJT3m (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:29:42 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1754949AbXIJT3d (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:29:33 -0400 Received: from netops-testserver-4-out.sgi.com ([192.48.171.29]:49240 "EHLO relay.sgi.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1750822AbXIJT3c (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Sep 2007 15:29:32 -0400 Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:29:32 -0700 (PDT) From: Christoph Lameter X-X-Sender: clameter@schroedinger.engr.sgi.com To: Nick Piggin cc: Daniel Phillips , linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, akpm@linux-foundation.org, dkegel@google.com, Peter Zijlstra , David Miller Subject: Re: [RFC 0/3] Recursive reclaim (on __PF_MEMALLOC) In-Reply-To: <20070905121937.GA9246@wotan.suse.de> Message-ID: References: <20070814142103.204771292@sgi.com> <200709050220.53801.phillips@phunq.net> <20070905114242.GA19938@wotan.suse.de> <20070905121937.GA9246@wotan.suse.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1029 Lines: 21 On Wed, 5 Sep 2007, Nick Piggin wrote: > Implementation issues aside, the problem is there and I would like to > see it fixed regardless if some/most/or all users in practice don't > hit it. I am all for fixing the problem but the solution can be much simpler and more universal. F.e. the amount of tcp data in flight may be controlled via some limit so that other subsystems can continue to function even if we are overwhelmed by network traffic. Peter's approach establishes the limit by failing PF_MEMALLOC allocations. If that occurs then other subsystems (like the disk, or even fork/exec or memory management allocation) will no longer operate since their allocations no longer succeed which will make the system even more fragile and may lead to subsequent failures. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/