2022-04-09 01:29:00

by Hugh Dickins

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH] tmpfs: fix regressions from wider use of ZERO_PAGE

Chuck Lever reported fsx-based xfstests generic 075 091 112 127 failing
when 5.18-rc1 NFS server exports tmpfs: bisected to recent tmpfs change.

Whilst nfsd_splice_action() does contain some questionable handling of
repeated pages, and Chuck was able to work around there, history from
Mark Hemment makes clear that there might be similar dangers elsewhere:
it was not a good idea for me to pass ZERO_PAGE down to unknown actors.

Revert shmem_file_read_iter() to using ZERO_PAGE for holes only when
iter_is_iovec(); in other cases, use the more natural iov_iter_zero()
instead of copy_page_to_iter(). We would use iov_iter_zero() throughout,
but the x86 clear_user() is not nearly so well optimized as copy to user
(dd of 1T sparse tmpfs file takes 57 seconds rather than 44 seconds).

And now pagecache_init() does not need to SetPageUptodate(ZERO_PAGE(0)):
which had caused boot failure on arm noMMU STM32F7 and STM32H7 boards
Reported-by: Patrice CHOTARD <[email protected]>

Reported-by: Chuck Lever III <[email protected]>
Fixes: 56a8c8eb1eaf ("tmpfs: do not allocate pages on read")
Signed-off-by: Hugh Dickins <[email protected]>
Tested-by: Chuck Lever III <[email protected]>
---

mm/filemap.c | 6 ------
mm/shmem.c | 31 ++++++++++++++++++++-----------
2 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-)

--- 5.18-rc1/mm/filemap.c
+++ linux/mm/filemap.c
@@ -1063,12 +1063,6 @@ void __init pagecache_init(void)
init_waitqueue_head(&folio_wait_table[i]);

page_writeback_init();
-
- /*
- * tmpfs uses the ZERO_PAGE for reading holes: it is up-to-date,
- * and splice's page_cache_pipe_buf_confirm() needs to see that.
- */
- SetPageUptodate(ZERO_PAGE(0));
}

/*
--- 5.18-rc1/mm/shmem.c
+++ linux/mm/shmem.c
@@ -2513,7 +2513,6 @@ static ssize_t shmem_file_read_iter(struct kiocb *iocb, struct iov_iter *to)
pgoff_t end_index;
unsigned long nr, ret;
loff_t i_size = i_size_read(inode);
- bool got_page;

end_index = i_size >> PAGE_SHIFT;
if (index > end_index)
@@ -2570,24 +2569,34 @@ static ssize_t shmem_file_read_iter(struct kiocb *iocb, struct iov_iter *to)
*/
if (!offset)
mark_page_accessed(page);
- got_page = true;
+ /*
+ * Ok, we have the page, and it's up-to-date, so
+ * now we can copy it to user space...
+ */
+ ret = copy_page_to_iter(page, offset, nr, to);
+ put_page(page);
+
+ } else if (iter_is_iovec(to)) {
+ /*
+ * Copy to user tends to be so well optimized, but
+ * clear_user() not so much, that it is noticeably
+ * faster to copy the zero page instead of clearing.
+ */
+ ret = copy_page_to_iter(ZERO_PAGE(0), offset, nr, to);
} else {
- page = ZERO_PAGE(0);
- got_page = false;
+ /*
+ * But submitting the same page twice in a row to
+ * splice() - or others? - can result in confusion:
+ * so don't attempt that optimization on pipes etc.
+ */
+ ret = iov_iter_zero(nr, to);
}

- /*
- * Ok, we have the page, and it's up-to-date, so
- * now we can copy it to user space...
- */
- ret = copy_page_to_iter(page, offset, nr, to);
retval += ret;
offset += ret;
index += offset >> PAGE_SHIFT;
offset &= ~PAGE_MASK;

- if (got_page)
- put_page(page);
if (!iov_iter_count(to))
break;
if (ret < nr) {


2022-04-10 02:20:26

by Hugh Dickins

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH] tmpfs: fix regressions from wider use of ZERO_PAGE

On Sat, 9 Apr 2022, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 08, 2022 at 01:38:41PM -0700, Hugh Dickins wrote:
> > + } else if (iter_is_iovec(to)) {
> > + /*
> > + * Copy to user tends to be so well optimized, but
> > + * clear_user() not so much, that it is noticeably
> > + * faster to copy the zero page instead of clearing.
> > + */
> > + ret = copy_page_to_iter(ZERO_PAGE(0), offset, nr, to);
>
> Is the offset and length guaranteed to be less than PAGE_SIZE here?

Almost :) The offset is guaranteed to be less than PAGE_SIZE here, and
the length is guaranteed to be less than or equal to PAGE_SIZE - offset.

>
> Either way I'd rather do this optimization in iov_iter_zero rather
> than hiding it in tmpfs.

Let's see what others say. I think we would all prefer clear_user() to be
enhanced, and hack around it neither here in tmpfs nor in iov_iter_zero().
But that careful work won't get done by magic, nor by me.

And iov_iter_zero() has to deal with a wider range of possibilities,
when pulling in cache lines of ZERO_PAGE(0) will be less advantageous,
than in tmpfs doing a large dd - the case I'm aiming not to regress here
(tmpfs has been copying ZERO_PAGE(0) like this for years).

Hugh

2022-04-12 09:49:50

by Christoph Hellwig

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: making x86 clear_user not suck, was Re: [PATCH] tmpfs: fix regressions from wider use of ZERO_PAGE

On Fri, Apr 08, 2022 at 11:08:29PM -0700, Hugh Dickins wrote:
> >
> > Either way I'd rather do this optimization in iov_iter_zero rather
> > than hiding it in tmpfs.
>
> Let's see what others say. I think we would all prefer clear_user() to be
> enhanced, and hack around it neither here in tmpfs nor in iov_iter_zero().
> But that careful work won't get done by magic, nor by me.

I agree with that.

> And iov_iter_zero() has to deal with a wider range of possibilities,
> when pulling in cache lines of ZERO_PAGE(0) will be less advantageous,
> than in tmpfs doing a large dd - the case I'm aiming not to regress here
> (tmpfs has been copying ZERO_PAGE(0) like this for years).

Maybe. OTOH I'd hate to have iov_iter_zero not used much because it
sucks too much.

So how can we entice someone with the right knowledge to implement a
decent clear_user for x86?

2022-04-14 08:45:40

by Matthew Wilcox

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: making x86 clear_user not suck, was Re: [PATCH] tmpfs: fix regressions from wider use of ZERO_PAGE

On Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 06:57:57AM +0200, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 08, 2022 at 11:08:29PM -0700, Hugh Dickins wrote:
> > >
> > > Either way I'd rather do this optimization in iov_iter_zero rather
> > > than hiding it in tmpfs.
> >
> > Let's see what others say. I think we would all prefer clear_user() to be
> > enhanced, and hack around it neither here in tmpfs nor in iov_iter_zero().
> > But that careful work won't get done by magic, nor by me.
>
> I agree with that.
>
> > And iov_iter_zero() has to deal with a wider range of possibilities,
> > when pulling in cache lines of ZERO_PAGE(0) will be less advantageous,
> > than in tmpfs doing a large dd - the case I'm aiming not to regress here
> > (tmpfs has been copying ZERO_PAGE(0) like this for years).
>
> Maybe. OTOH I'd hate to have iov_iter_zero not used much because it
> sucks too much.
>
> So how can we entice someone with the right knowledge to implement a
> decent clear_user for x86?

Apparently that already happened, but it needs finishing up:
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/[email protected]/