mm, page_alloc: don't retry initial attempt in slowpath

After __alloc_pages_slowpath() sets up new alloc_flags and wakes up
kswapd, it first tries get_page_from_freelist() with the new
alloc_flags, as it may succeed e.g. due to using min watermark instead
of low watermark.  It makes sense to to do this attempt before adjusting
zonelist based on alloc_flags/gfp_mask, as it's still relatively a fast
path if we just wake up kswapd and successfully allocate.

This patch therefore moves the initial attempt above the retry label and
reorganizes a bit the part below the retry label.  We still have to
attempt get_page_from_freelist() on each retry, as some allocations
cannot do that as part of direct reclaim or compaction, and yet are not
allowed to fail (even though they do a WARN_ON_ONCE() and thus should
not exist).  We can reuse the call meant for ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS attempt
and just set alloc_flags to ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS if the context allows
it.  As a side-effect, the attempts from direct reclaim/compaction will
also no longer obey watermarks once this is set, but there's little harm
in that.

Kswapd wakeups are also done on each retry to be safe from potential
races resulting in kswapd going to sleep while a process (that may not
be able to reclaim by itself) is still looping.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20160721073614.24395-4-vbabka@suse.cz
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Acked-by: Mel Gorman <mgorman@techsingularity.net>
Acked-by: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

1 files changed, 18 insertions, 11 deletions

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 5703f7fca832..a42fa09ee91f 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3510,35 +3510,42 @@ __alloc_pages_slowpath(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
          */
         alloc_flags = gfp_to_alloc_flags(gfp_mask);
 
+        if (gfp_mask & __GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM)
+                wake_all_kswapds(order, ac);
+
+        /*
+         * The adjusted alloc_flags might result in immediate success, so try
+         * that first
+         */
+        page = get_page_from_freelist(gfp_mask, order, alloc_flags, ac);
+        if (page)
+                goto got_pg;
+
+
 retry:
+        /* Ensure kswapd doesn't accidentally go to sleep as long as we loop */
         if (gfp_mask & __GFP_KSWAPD_RECLAIM)
                 wake_all_kswapds(order, ac);
 
+        if (gfp_pfmemalloc_allowed(gfp_mask))
+                alloc_flags = ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS;
+
         /*
          * Reset the zonelist iterators if memory policies can be ignored.
          * These allocations are high priority and system rather than user
          * orientated.
          */
-        if (!(alloc_flags & ALLOC_CPUSET) || gfp_pfmemalloc_allowed(gfp_mask)) {
+        if (!(alloc_flags & ALLOC_CPUSET) || (alloc_flags & ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS)) {
                 ac->zonelist = node_zonelist(numa_node_id(), gfp_mask);
                 ac->preferred_zoneref = first_zones_zonelist(ac->zonelist,
                                         ac->high_zoneidx, ac->nodemask);
         }
 
-        /* This is the last chance, in general, before the goto nopage. */
+        /* Attempt with potentially adjusted zonelist and alloc_flags */
         page = get_page_from_freelist(gfp_mask, order, alloc_flags, ac);
         if (page)
                 goto got_pg;
 
-        /* Allocate without watermarks if the context allows */
-        if (gfp_pfmemalloc_allowed(gfp_mask)) {
-
-                page = get_page_from_freelist(gfp_mask, order,
-                                                ALLOC_NO_WATERMARKS, ac);
-                if (page)
-                        goto got_pg;
-        }
-
         /* Caller is not willing to reclaim, we can't balance anything */
         if (!can_direct_reclaim) {
                 /*