2 * mm/pdflush.c - worker threads for writing back filesystem data
4 * Copyright (C) 2002, Linus Torvalds.
6 * 09Apr2002 akpm@zip.com.au
8 * 29Feb2004 kaos@sgi.com
9 * Move worker thread creation to kthread to avoid chewing
10 * up stack space with nested calls to kernel_thread.
13 #include <linux/sched.h>
14 #include <linux/list.h>
15 #include <linux/signal.h>
16 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
17 #include <linux/gfp.h>
18 #include <linux/init.h>
19 #include <linux/module.h>
20 #include <linux/fs.h> // Needed by writeback.h
21 #include <linux/writeback.h> // Prototypes pdflush_operation()
22 #include <linux/kthread.h>
23 #include <linux/cpuset.h>
27 * Minimum and maximum number of pdflush instances
29 #define MIN_PDFLUSH_THREADS 2
30 #define MAX_PDFLUSH_THREADS 8
32 static void start_one_pdflush_thread(void);
36 * The pdflush threads are worker threads for writing back dirty data.
37 * Ideally, we'd like one thread per active disk spindle. But the disk
38 * topology is very hard to divine at this level. Instead, we take
39 * care in various places to prevent more than one pdflush thread from
40 * performing writeback against a single filesystem. pdflush threads
41 * have the PF_FLUSHER flag set in current->flags to aid in this.
45 * All the pdflush threads. Protected by pdflush_lock
47 static LIST_HEAD(pdflush_list
);
48 static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(pdflush_lock
);
51 * The count of currently-running pdflush threads. Protected
54 * Readable by sysctl, but not writable. Published to userspace at
55 * /proc/sys/vm/nr_pdflush_threads.
57 int nr_pdflush_threads
= 0;
60 * The time at which the pdflush thread pool last went empty
62 static unsigned long last_empty_jifs
;
67 * Thread pool management algorithm:
69 * - The minimum and maximum number of pdflush instances are bound
70 * by MIN_PDFLUSH_THREADS and MAX_PDFLUSH_THREADS.
72 * - If there have been no idle pdflush instances for 1 second, create
75 * - If the least-recently-went-to-sleep pdflush thread has been asleep
76 * for more than one second, terminate a thread.
80 * A structure for passing work to a pdflush thread. Also for passing
81 * state information between pdflush threads. Protected by pdflush_lock.
84 struct task_struct
*who
; /* The thread */
85 void (*fn
)(unsigned long); /* A callback function */
86 unsigned long arg0
; /* An argument to the callback */
87 struct list_head list
; /* On pdflush_list, when idle */
88 unsigned long when_i_went_to_sleep
;
91 static int __pdflush(struct pdflush_work
*my_work
)
93 current
->flags
|= PF_FLUSHER
| PF_SWAPWRITE
;
95 my_work
->who
= current
;
96 INIT_LIST_HEAD(&my_work
->list
);
98 spin_lock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
101 struct pdflush_work
*pdf
;
103 set_current_state(TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE
);
104 list_move(&my_work
->list
, &pdflush_list
);
105 my_work
->when_i_went_to_sleep
= jiffies
;
106 spin_unlock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
109 spin_lock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
110 if (!list_empty(&my_work
->list
)) {
112 * Someone woke us up, but without removing our control
113 * structure from the global list. swsusp will do this
114 * in try_to_freeze()->refrigerator(). Handle it.
119 if (my_work
->fn
== NULL
) {
120 printk("pdflush: bogus wakeup\n");
123 spin_unlock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
125 (*my_work
->fn
)(my_work
->arg0
);
128 * Thread creation: For how long have there been zero
131 if (jiffies
- last_empty_jifs
> 1 * HZ
) {
132 /* unlocked list_empty() test is OK here */
133 if (list_empty(&pdflush_list
)) {
134 /* unlocked test is OK here */
135 if (nr_pdflush_threads
< MAX_PDFLUSH_THREADS
)
136 start_one_pdflush_thread();
140 spin_lock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
144 * Thread destruction: For how long has the sleepiest
147 if (list_empty(&pdflush_list
))
149 if (nr_pdflush_threads
<= MIN_PDFLUSH_THREADS
)
151 pdf
= list_entry(pdflush_list
.prev
, struct pdflush_work
, list
);
152 if (jiffies
- pdf
->when_i_went_to_sleep
> 1 * HZ
) {
153 /* Limit exit rate */
154 pdf
->when_i_went_to_sleep
= jiffies
;
158 nr_pdflush_threads
--;
159 spin_unlock_irq(&pdflush_lock
);
164 * Of course, my_work wants to be just a local in __pdflush(). It is
165 * separated out in this manner to hopefully prevent the compiler from
166 * performing unfortunate optimisations against the auto variables. Because
167 * these are visible to other tasks and CPUs. (No problem has actually
168 * been observed. This is just paranoia).
170 static int pdflush(void *dummy
)
172 struct pdflush_work my_work
;
173 cpumask_t cpus_allowed
;
176 * pdflush can spend a lot of time doing encryption via dm-crypt. We
177 * don't want to do that at keventd's priority.
179 set_user_nice(current
, 0);
182 * Some configs put our parent kthread in a limited cpuset,
183 * which kthread() overrides, forcing cpus_allowed == CPU_MASK_ALL.
184 * Our needs are more modest - cut back to our cpusets cpus_allowed.
185 * This is needed as pdflush's are dynamically created and destroyed.
186 * The boottime pdflush's are easily placed w/o these 2 lines.
188 cpus_allowed
= cpuset_cpus_allowed(current
);
189 set_cpus_allowed(current
, cpus_allowed
);
191 return __pdflush(&my_work
);
195 * Attempt to wake up a pdflush thread, and get it to do some work for you.
196 * Returns zero if it indeed managed to find a worker thread, and passed your
199 int pdflush_operation(void (*fn
)(unsigned long), unsigned long arg0
)
204 BUG_ON(fn
== NULL
); /* Hard to diagnose if it's deferred */
206 spin_lock_irqsave(&pdflush_lock
, flags
);
207 if (list_empty(&pdflush_list
)) {
208 spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pdflush_lock
, flags
);
211 struct pdflush_work
*pdf
;
213 pdf
= list_entry(pdflush_list
.next
, struct pdflush_work
, list
);
214 list_del_init(&pdf
->list
);
215 if (list_empty(&pdflush_list
))
216 last_empty_jifs
= jiffies
;
219 wake_up_process(pdf
->who
);
220 spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pdflush_lock
, flags
);
225 static void start_one_pdflush_thread(void)
227 kthread_run(pdflush
, NULL
, "pdflush");
230 static int __init
pdflush_init(void)
234 for (i
= 0; i
< MIN_PDFLUSH_THREADS
; i
++)
235 start_one_pdflush_thread();
239 module_init(pdflush_init
);