writeback: make writeback_control.nr_to_write straight

Pass struct wb_writeback_work all the way down to writeback_sb_inodes(),
and initialize the struct writeback_control there.

struct writeback_control is basically designed to control writeback of a
single file, but we keep abuse it for writing multiple files in
writeback_sb_inodes() and its callers.

It immediately clean things up, e.g. suddenly wbc.nr_to_write vs
work->nr_pages starts to make sense, and instead of saving and restoring
pages_skipped in writeback_sb_inodes it can always start with a clean
zero value.

It also makes a neat IO pattern change: large dirty files are now
written in the full 4MB writeback chunk size, rather than whatever
remained quota in wbc->nr_to_write.

Acked-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Proposed-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@infradead.org>
Signed-off-by: Wu Fengguang <fengguang.wu@intel.com>

fs/btrfs/extent_io.c

@@ -2551,7 +2551,6 @@ int extent_write_full_page(struct extent_io_tree *tree, struct page *page,
 	};
 	struct writeback_control wbc_writepages = {
 		.sync_mode	= wbc->sync_mode,
-		.older_than_this = NULL,
 		.nr_to_write	= 64,
 		.range_start	= page_offset(page) + PAGE_CACHE_SIZE,
 		.range_end	= (loff_t)-1,
@@ -2584,7 +2583,6 @@ int extent_write_locked_range(struct extent_io_tree *tree, struct inode *inode,
 	};
 	struct writeback_control wbc_writepages = {
 		.sync_mode	= mode,
-		.older_than_this = NULL,
 		.nr_to_write	= nr_pages * 2,
 		.range_start	= start,
 		.range_end	= end + 1,

fs/fs-writeback.c

@@ -29,12 +29,22 @@
 #include <linux/tracepoint.h>
 #include "internal.h"
 
+/*
+ * The maximum number of pages to writeout in a single bdi flush/kupdate
+ * operation.  We do this so we don't hold I_SYNC against an inode for
+ * enormous amounts of time, which would block a userspace task which has
+ * been forced to throttle against that inode.  Also, the code reevaluates
+ * the dirty each time it has written this many pages.
+ */
+#define MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES     1024L
+
 /*
  * Passed into wb_writeback(), essentially a subset of writeback_control
  */
 struct wb_writeback_work {
 	long nr_pages;
 	struct super_block *sb;
+	unsigned long *older_than_this;
 	enum writeback_sync_modes sync_mode;
 	unsigned int tagged_writepages:1;
 	unsigned int for_kupdate:1;
@@ -472,7 +482,6 @@ writeback_single_inode(struct inode *inode, struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			 * No need to add it back to the LRU.
 			 */
 			list_del_init(&inode->i_wb_list);
-			wbc->inodes_written++;
 		}
 	}
 	inode_sync_complete(inode);
@@ -506,6 +515,31 @@ static bool pin_sb_for_writeback(struct super_block *sb)
 	return false;
 }
 
+static long writeback_chunk_size(struct wb_writeback_work *work)
+{
+	long pages;
+
+	/*
+	 * WB_SYNC_ALL mode does livelock avoidance by syncing dirty
+	 * inodes/pages in one big loop. Setting wbc.nr_to_write=LONG_MAX
+	 * here avoids calling into writeback_inodes_wb() more than once.
+	 *
+	 * The intended call sequence for WB_SYNC_ALL writeback is:
+	 *
+	 *      wb_writeback()
+	 *          writeback_sb_inodes()       <== called only once
+	 *              write_cache_pages()     <== called once for each inode
+	 *                   (quickly) tag currently dirty pages
+	 *                   (maybe slowly) sync all tagged pages
+	 */
+	if (work->sync_mode == WB_SYNC_ALL || work->tagged_writepages)
+		pages = LONG_MAX;
+	else
+		pages = min(MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES, work->nr_pages);
+
+	return pages;
+}
+
 /*
  * Write a portion of b_io inodes which belong to @sb.
  *
@@ -513,18 +547,30 @@ static bool pin_sb_for_writeback(struct super_block *sb)
  * inodes. Otherwise write only ones which go sequentially
  * in reverse order.
  *
- * Return 1, if the caller writeback routine should be
+ * Return the number of pages and/or inodes written.
- * interrupted. Otherwise return 0.
  */
-static int writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb, struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+static long writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb,
-		struct writeback_control *wbc, bool only_this_sb)
+				struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+				struct wb_writeback_work *work)
 {
+	struct writeback_control wbc = {
+		.sync_mode		= work->sync_mode,
+		.tagged_writepages	= work->tagged_writepages,
+		.for_kupdate		= work->for_kupdate,
+		.for_background		= work->for_background,
+		.range_cyclic		= work->range_cyclic,
+		.range_start		= 0,
+		.range_end		= LLONG_MAX,
+	};
+	unsigned long start_time = jiffies;
+	long write_chunk;
+	long wrote = 0;  /* count both pages and inodes */
+
 	while (!list_empty(&wb->b_io)) {
-		long pages_skipped;
 		struct inode *inode = wb_inode(wb->b_io.prev);
 
 		if (inode->i_sb != sb) {
-			if (only_this_sb) {
+			if (work->sb) {
 				/*
 				 * We only want to write back data for this
 				 * superblock, move all inodes not belonging
@@ -539,7 +585,7 @@ static int writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb, struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			 * Bounce back to the caller to unpin this and
 			 * pin the next superblock.
 			 */
-			return 0;
+			break;
 		}
 
 		/*
@@ -553,12 +599,18 @@ static int writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb, struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			requeue_io(inode, wb);
 			continue;
 		}
-
 		__iget(inode);
+		write_chunk = writeback_chunk_size(work);
+		wbc.nr_to_write = write_chunk;
+		wbc.pages_skipped = 0;
 
-		pages_skipped = wbc->pages_skipped;
+		writeback_single_inode(inode, wb, &wbc);
-		writeback_single_inode(inode, wb, wbc);
+
-		if (wbc->pages_skipped != pages_skipped) {
+		work->nr_pages -= write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
+		wrote += write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
+		if (!(inode->i_state & I_DIRTY))
+			wrote++;
+		if (wbc.pages_skipped) {
 			/*
 			 * writeback is not making progress due to locked
 			 * buffers.  Skip this inode for now.
@@ -570,17 +622,25 @@ static int writeback_sb_inodes(struct super_block *sb, struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		iput(inode);
 		cond_resched();
 		spin_lock(&wb->list_lock);
-		if (wbc->nr_to_write <= 0)
+		/*
-			return 1;
+		 * bail out to wb_writeback() often enough to check
+		 * background threshold and other termination conditions.
+		 */
+		if (wrote) {
+			if (time_is_before_jiffies(start_time + HZ / 10UL))
+				break;
+			if (work->nr_pages <= 0)
+				break;
+		}
 	}
-	/* b_io is empty */
+	return wrote;
-	return 1;
 }
 
-static void __writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+static long __writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
-				  struct writeback_control *wbc)
+				  struct wb_writeback_work *work)
 {
-	int ret = 0;
+	unsigned long start_time = jiffies;
+	long wrote = 0;
 
 	while (!list_empty(&wb->b_io)) {
 		struct inode *inode = wb_inode(wb->b_io.prev);
@@ -590,33 +650,37 @@ static void __writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			requeue_io(inode, wb);
 			continue;
 		}
-		ret = writeback_sb_inodes(sb, wb, wbc, false);
+		wrote += writeback_sb_inodes(sb, wb, work);
 		drop_super(sb);
 
-		if (ret)
+		/* refer to the same tests at the end of writeback_sb_inodes */
-			break;
+		if (wrote) {
+			if (time_is_before_jiffies(start_time + HZ / 10UL))
+				break;
+			if (work->nr_pages <= 0)
+				break;
+		}
 	}
 	/* Leave any unwritten inodes on b_io */
+	return wrote;
 }
 
-void writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+long writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb, long nr_pages)
-		struct writeback_control *wbc)
 {
+	struct wb_writeback_work work = {
+		.nr_pages	= nr_pages,
+		.sync_mode	= WB_SYNC_NONE,
+		.range_cyclic	= 1,
+	};
+
 	spin_lock(&wb->list_lock);
 	if (list_empty(&wb->b_io))
-		queue_io(wb, wbc->older_than_this);
+		queue_io(wb, NULL);
-	__writeback_inodes_wb(wb, wbc);
+	__writeback_inodes_wb(wb, &work);
 	spin_unlock(&wb->list_lock);
-}
 
-/*
+	return nr_pages - work.nr_pages;
- * The maximum number of pages to writeout in a single bdi flush/kupdate
+}
- * operation.  We do this so we don't hold I_SYNC against an inode for
- * enormous amounts of time, which would block a userspace task which has
- * been forced to throttle against that inode.  Also, the code reevaluates
- * the dirty each time it has written this many pages.
- */
-#define MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES     1024
 
 static inline bool over_bground_thresh(void)
 {
@@ -646,42 +710,13 @@ static inline bool over_bground_thresh(void)
 static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 			 struct wb_writeback_work *work)
 {
-	struct writeback_control wbc = {
+	long nr_pages = work->nr_pages;
-		.sync_mode		= work->sync_mode,
-		.tagged_writepages	= work->tagged_writepages,
-		.older_than_this	= NULL,
-		.for_kupdate		= work->for_kupdate,
-		.for_background		= work->for_background,
-		.range_cyclic		= work->range_cyclic,
-	};
 	unsigned long oldest_jif;
-	long wrote = 0;
-	long write_chunk = MAX_WRITEBACK_PAGES;
 	struct inode *inode;
-
+	long progress;
-	if (!wbc.range_cyclic) {
-		wbc.range_start = 0;
-		wbc.range_end = LLONG_MAX;
-	}
-
-	/*
-	 * WB_SYNC_ALL mode does livelock avoidance by syncing dirty
-	 * inodes/pages in one big loop. Setting wbc.nr_to_write=LONG_MAX
-	 * here avoids calling into writeback_inodes_wb() more than once.
-	 *
-	 * The intended call sequence for WB_SYNC_ALL writeback is:
-	 *
-	 *      wb_writeback()
-	 *          writeback_sb_inodes()       <== called only once
-	 *              write_cache_pages()     <== called once for each inode
-	 *                   (quickly) tag currently dirty pages
-	 *                   (maybe slowly) sync all tagged pages
-	 */
-	if (wbc.sync_mode == WB_SYNC_ALL || wbc.tagged_writepages)
-		write_chunk = LONG_MAX;
 
 	oldest_jif = jiffies;
-	wbc.older_than_this = &oldest_jif;
+	work->older_than_this = &oldest_jif;
 
 	spin_lock(&wb->list_lock);
 	for (;;) {
@@ -711,24 +746,17 @@ static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		if (work->for_kupdate) {
 			oldest_jif = jiffies -
 				msecs_to_jiffies(dirty_expire_interval * 10);
-			wbc.older_than_this = &oldest_jif;
+			work->older_than_this = &oldest_jif;
 		}
 
-		wbc.nr_to_write = write_chunk;
+		trace_writeback_start(wb->bdi, work);
-		wbc.pages_skipped = 0;
-		wbc.inodes_written = 0;
-
-		trace_wbc_writeback_start(&wbc, wb->bdi);
 		if (list_empty(&wb->b_io))
-			queue_io(wb, wbc.older_than_this);
+			queue_io(wb, work->older_than_this);
 		if (work->sb)
-			writeback_sb_inodes(work->sb, wb, &wbc, true);
+			progress = writeback_sb_inodes(work->sb, wb, work);
 		else
-			__writeback_inodes_wb(wb, &wbc);
+			progress = __writeback_inodes_wb(wb, work);
-		trace_wbc_writeback_written(&wbc, wb->bdi);
+		trace_writeback_written(wb->bdi, work);
-
-		work->nr_pages -= write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
-		wrote += write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
 
 		/*
 		 * Did we write something? Try for more
@@ -738,9 +766,7 @@ static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		 * mean the overall work is done. So we keep looping as long
 		 * as made some progress on cleaning pages or inodes.
 		 */
-		if (wbc.nr_to_write < write_chunk)
+		if (progress)
-			continue;
-		if (wbc.inodes_written)
 			continue;
 		/*
 		 * No more inodes for IO, bail
@@ -753,8 +779,8 @@ static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 		 * we'll just busyloop.
 		 */
 		if (!list_empty(&wb->b_more_io))  {
+			trace_writeback_wait(wb->bdi, work);
 			inode = wb_inode(wb->b_more_io.prev);
-			trace_wbc_writeback_wait(&wbc, wb->bdi);
 			spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
 			inode_wait_for_writeback(inode, wb);
 			spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
@@ -762,7 +788,7 @@ static long wb_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
 	}
 	spin_unlock(&wb->list_lock);
 
-	return wrote;
+	return nr_pages - work->nr_pages;
 }
 
 /*

include/linux/writeback.h

@@ -24,12 +24,9 @@ enum writeback_sync_modes {
  */
 struct writeback_control {
 	enum writeback_sync_modes sync_mode;
-	unsigned long *older_than_this;	/* If !NULL, only write back inodes
-					   older than this */
 	long nr_to_write;		/* Write this many pages, and decrement
 					   this for each page written */
 	long pages_skipped;		/* Pages which were not written */
-	long inodes_written;		/* # of inodes written (at least) */
 
 	/*
 	 * For a_ops->writepages(): is start or end are non-zero then this is
@@ -56,8 +53,7 @@ void writeback_inodes_sb_nr(struct super_block *, unsigned long nr);
 int writeback_inodes_sb_if_idle(struct super_block *);
 int writeback_inodes_sb_nr_if_idle(struct super_block *, unsigned long nr);
 void sync_inodes_sb(struct super_block *);
-void writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb,
+long writeback_inodes_wb(struct bdi_writeback *wb, long nr_pages);
-		struct writeback_control *wbc);
 long wb_do_writeback(struct bdi_writeback *wb, int force_wait);
 void wakeup_flusher_threads(long nr_pages);
 

include/trace/events/writeback.h

@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ DEFINE_EVENT(writeback_work_class, name, \
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_nothread);
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_queue);
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_exec);
+DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_start);
+DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_written);
+DEFINE_WRITEBACK_WORK_EVENT(writeback_wait);
 
 TRACE_EVENT(writeback_pages_written,
 	TP_PROTO(long pages_written),
@@ -101,6 +104,30 @@ DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(writeback_bdi_register);
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(writeback_bdi_unregister);
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(writeback_thread_start);
 DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(writeback_thread_stop);
+DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(balance_dirty_start);
+DEFINE_WRITEBACK_EVENT(balance_dirty_wait);
+
+TRACE_EVENT(balance_dirty_written,
+
+	TP_PROTO(struct backing_dev_info *bdi, int written),
+
+	TP_ARGS(bdi, written),
+
+	TP_STRUCT__entry(
+		__array(char,	name, 32)
+		__field(int,	written)
+	),
+
+	TP_fast_assign(
+		strncpy(__entry->name, dev_name(bdi->dev), 32);
+		__entry->written = written;
+	),
+
+	TP_printk("bdi %s written %d",
+		  __entry->name,
+		  __entry->written
+	)
+);
 
 DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(wbc_class,
 	TP_PROTO(struct writeback_control *wbc, struct backing_dev_info *bdi),
@@ -114,7 +141,6 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(wbc_class,
 		__field(int, for_background)
 		__field(int, for_reclaim)
 		__field(int, range_cyclic)
-		__field(unsigned long, older_than_this)
 		__field(long, range_start)
 		__field(long, range_end)
 	),
@@ -128,14 +154,12 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(wbc_class,
 		__entry->for_background	= wbc->for_background;
 		__entry->for_reclaim	= wbc->for_reclaim;
 		__entry->range_cyclic	= wbc->range_cyclic;
-		__entry->older_than_this = wbc->older_than_this ?
-						*wbc->older_than_this : 0;
 		__entry->range_start	= (long)wbc->range_start;
 		__entry->range_end	= (long)wbc->range_end;
 	),
 
 	TP_printk("bdi %s: towrt=%ld skip=%ld mode=%d kupd=%d "
-		"bgrd=%d reclm=%d cyclic=%d older=0x%lx "
+		"bgrd=%d reclm=%d cyclic=%d "
 		"start=0x%lx end=0x%lx",
 		__entry->name,
 		__entry->nr_to_write,
@@ -145,7 +169,6 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(wbc_class,
 		__entry->for_background,
 		__entry->for_reclaim,
 		__entry->range_cyclic,
-		__entry->older_than_this,
 		__entry->range_start,
 		__entry->range_end)
 )
@@ -154,12 +177,6 @@ DECLARE_EVENT_CLASS(wbc_class,
 DEFINE_EVENT(wbc_class, name, \
 	TP_PROTO(struct writeback_control *wbc, struct backing_dev_info *bdi), \
 	TP_ARGS(wbc, bdi))
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_writeback_start);
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_writeback_written);
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_writeback_wait);
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_balance_dirty_start);
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_balance_dirty_written);
-DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_balance_dirty_wait);
 DEFINE_WBC_EVENT(wbc_writepage);
 
 TRACE_EVENT(writeback_queue_io,

mm/backing-dev.c

@@ -260,18 +260,6 @@ int bdi_has_dirty_io(struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
 	return wb_has_dirty_io(&bdi->wb);
 }
 
-static void bdi_flush_io(struct backing_dev_info *bdi)
-{
-	struct writeback_control wbc = {
-		.sync_mode		= WB_SYNC_NONE,
-		.older_than_this	= NULL,
-		.range_cyclic		= 1,
-		.nr_to_write		= 1024,
-	};
-
-	writeback_inodes_wb(&bdi->wb, &wbc);
-}
-
 /*
  * kupdated() used to do this. We cannot do it from the bdi_forker_thread()
  * or we risk deadlocking on ->s_umount. The longer term solution would be
@@ -457,9 +445,10 @@ static int bdi_forker_thread(void *ptr)
 			if (IS_ERR(task)) {
 				/*
 				 * If thread creation fails, force writeout of
-				 * the bdi from the thread.
+				 * the bdi from the thread. Hopefully 1024 is
+				 * large enough for efficient IO.
 				 */
-				bdi_flush_io(bdi);
+				writeback_inodes_wb(&bdi->wb, 1024);
 			} else {
 				/*
 				 * The spinlock makes sure we do not lose

mm/page-writeback.c

@@ -491,13 +491,6 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct address_space *mapping,
 	struct backing_dev_info *bdi = mapping->backing_dev_info;
 
 	for (;;) {
-		struct writeback_control wbc = {
-			.sync_mode	= WB_SYNC_NONE,
-			.older_than_this = NULL,
-			.nr_to_write	= write_chunk,
-			.range_cyclic	= 1,
-		};
-
 		nr_reclaimable = global_page_state(NR_FILE_DIRTY) +
 					global_page_state(NR_UNSTABLE_NFS);
 		nr_writeback = global_page_state(NR_WRITEBACK);
@@ -559,17 +552,17 @@ static void balance_dirty_pages(struct address_space *mapping,
 		 * threshold otherwise wait until the disk writes catch
 		 * up.
 		 */
-		trace_wbc_balance_dirty_start(&wbc, bdi);
+		trace_balance_dirty_start(bdi);
 		if (bdi_nr_reclaimable > bdi_thresh) {
-			writeback_inodes_wb(&bdi->wb, &wbc);
+			pages_written += writeback_inodes_wb(&bdi->wb,
-			pages_written += write_chunk - wbc.nr_to_write;
+							     write_chunk);
-			trace_wbc_balance_dirty_written(&wbc, bdi);
+			trace_balance_dirty_written(bdi, pages_written);
 			if (pages_written >= write_chunk)
 				break;		/* We've done our duty */
 		}
-		trace_wbc_balance_dirty_wait(&wbc, bdi);
 		__set_current_state(TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
 		io_schedule_timeout(pause);
+		trace_balance_dirty_wait(bdi);
 
 		/*
 		 * Increase the delay for each loop, up to our previous