x86: implement percpu_alloc kernel parameter

According to Andi, it isn't clear whether lpage allocator is worth the
trouble as there are many processors where PMD TLB is far scarcer than
PTE TLB.  The advantage or disadvantage probably depends on the actual
size of percpu area and specific processor.  As performance
degradation due to TLB pressure tends to be highly workload specific
and subtle, it is difficult to decide which way to go without more
data.

This patch implements percpu_alloc kernel parameter to allow selecting
which first chunk allocator to use to ease debugging and testing.

While at it, make sure all the failure paths report why something
failed to help determining why certain allocator isn't working.  Also,
kill the "Great future plan" comment which had already been realized
quite some time ago.

[ Impact: allow explicit percpu first chunk allocator selection ]

Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reported-by: Jan Beulich <JBeulich@novell.com>
Cc: Andi Kleen <andi@firstfloor.org>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 6 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
index 08def8deb5f..ecad946920d 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -1882,6 +1882,12 @@ and is between 256 and 4096 characters. It is defined in the file
                         Format: { 0 | 1 }
                         See arch/parisc/kernel/pdc_chassis.c
 
+        percpu_alloc=   [X86] Select which percpu first chunk allocator to use.
+                        Allowed values are one of "lpage", "embed" and "4k".
+                        See comments in arch/x86/kernel/setup_percpu.c for
+                        details on each allocator.  This parameter is primarily
+                        for debugging and performance comparison.
+
         pf.             [PARIDE]
                         See Documentation/blockdev/paride.txt.