Re: filecache/swapcache questions [RFC] [RFT] [PATCH] kanoj-mm12-2.3.8

[kanoj@google.engr.sgi.com (Kanoj Sarcar)]

> 
> (i also tried down_trylock, but discarded it.)
> 
> well, except that kswapd itself doesn't free any memory.  it simply copies
> data from memory to disk.  shrink_mmap() actually does the freeing, and
> can do this with minimal locking, and from within regular application
> processes.  when a process calls shrink_mmap(), it will cause some pages
> to be made available to GFP.
> 

The page is not really free for reallocation, unless kswapd can
push out the contents to disk, right? Which means, kswapd should
have as minimal sleep/memallocation points as possible ...

Kanoj
kanoj@engr.sgi.com

> if you need evidence that shrink_mmap() will keep a system running without
> swapping, just run 2.3.8 :) :)
> 
> come to think of it, i don't think there is a safety guarantee in this
> mechanism to prevent a lock-up.  i'll have to think more about it.
> 
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