linux/kernel
David Rientjes 2da02997e0 mm: add dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes sysctls
This change introduces two new sysctls to /proc/sys/vm:
dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes.

dirty_background_bytes is the counterpart to dirty_background_ratio and
dirty_bytes is the counterpart to dirty_ratio.

With growing memory capacities of individual machines, it's no longer
sufficient to specify dirty thresholds as a percentage of the amount of
dirtyable memory over the entire system.

dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes specify quantities of memory, in
bytes, that represent the dirty limits for the entire system.  If either
of these values is set, its value represents the amount of dirty memory
that is needed to commence either background or direct writeback.

When a `bytes' or `ratio' file is written, its counterpart becomes a
function of the written value.  For example, if dirty_bytes is written to
be 8096, 8K of memory is required to commence direct writeback.
dirty_ratio is then functionally equivalent to 8K / the amount of
dirtyable memory:

	dirtyable_memory = free pages + mapped pages + file cache

	dirty_background_bytes = dirty_background_ratio * dirtyable_memory
		-or-
	dirty_background_ratio = dirty_background_bytes / dirtyable_memory

		AND

	dirty_bytes = dirty_ratio * dirtyable_memory
		-or-
	dirty_ratio = dirty_bytes / dirtyable_memory

Only one of dirty_background_bytes and dirty_background_ratio may be
specified at a time, and only one of dirty_bytes and dirty_ratio may be
specified.  When one sysctl is written, the other appears as 0 when read.

The `bytes' files operate on a page size granularity since dirty limits
are compared with ZVC values, which are in page units.

Prior to this change, the minimum dirty_ratio was 5 as implemented by
get_dirty_limits() although /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio would show any user
written value between 0 and 100.  This restriction is maintained, but
dirty_bytes has a lower limit of only one page.

Also prior to this change, the dirty_background_ratio could not equal or
exceed dirty_ratio.  This restriction is maintained in addition to
restricting dirty_background_bytes.  If either background threshold equals
or exceeds that of the dirty threshold, it is implicitly set to half the
dirty threshold.

Acked-by: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Dave Chinner <david@fromorbit.com>
Cc: Christoph Lameter <cl@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
Cc: Andrea Righi <righi.andrea@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
2009-01-06 15:59:03 -08:00
..
irq Merge branch 'cpus4096-for-linus-3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2009-01-03 12:04:39 -08:00
power cpumask: convert rest of files in kernel/ 2009-01-01 10:12:28 +10:30
time Merge branch 'cpus4096-for-linus-3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2009-01-03 12:04:39 -08:00
trace Merge branch 'cpus4096-for-linus-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2009-01-02 11:44:09 -08:00
.gitignore
acct.c
audit_tree.c audit: validate comparison operations, store them in sane form 2009-01-04 15:14:42 -05:00
audit.c
audit.h fixing audit rule ordering mess, part 1 2009-01-04 15:14:41 -05:00
auditfilter.c audit: validate comparison operations, store them in sane form 2009-01-04 15:14:42 -05:00
auditsc.c make sure that filterkey of task,always rules is reported 2009-01-04 15:14:42 -05:00
backtracetest.c
bounds.c
capability.c sanitize audit_log_capset() 2009-01-04 15:14:41 -05:00
cgroup_debug.c
cgroup_freezer.c
cgroup.c mm: remove cgroup_mm_owner_callbacks 2009-01-06 15:59:01 -08:00
compat.c cpumask: convert kernel/compat.c 2009-01-01 10:12:24 +10:30
configs.c
cpu.c stop_machine: introduce stop_machine_create/destroy. 2009-01-05 08:40:14 +10:30
cpuset.c oom: print triggering task's cpuset and mems allowed 2009-01-06 15:58:59 -08:00
cred-internals.h
cred.c
delayacct.c
dma-coherent.c
dma.c
exec_domain.c
exit.c mm: remove cgroup_mm_owner_callbacks 2009-01-06 15:59:01 -08:00
extable.c Merge branch 'core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-30 16:10:19 -08:00
fork.c
freezer.c
futex_compat.c
futex.c Merge branch 'core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-30 16:10:19 -08:00
hrtimer.c Merge branch 'irq-fixes-for-linus-4' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-31 09:00:59 -08:00
itimer.c
kallsyms.c
Kconfig.freezer
Kconfig.hz
Kconfig.preempt
kexec.c cpumask: prepare for iterators to only go to nr_cpu_ids/nr_cpumask_bits.: core 2009-01-01 10:12:15 +10:30
kfifo.c
kgdb.c
kmod.c
kprobes.c
ksysfs.c
kthread.c
latencytop.c
lockdep_internals.h
lockdep_proc.c
lockdep.c Merge branch 'core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-30 16:10:19 -08:00
Makefile Merge branch 'core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-30 16:10:19 -08:00
marker.c
module.c module: convert to stop_machine_create/destroy. 2009-01-05 08:40:15 +10:30
mutex-debug.c
mutex-debug.h
mutex.c
mutex.h
notifier.c
ns_cgroup.c
nsproxy.c
panic.c
params.c
pid_namespace.c
pid.c
pm_qos_params.c
posix-cpu-timers.c
posix-timers.c
printk.c
profile.c cpumask: convert kernel/profile.c 2009-01-01 10:12:27 +10:30
ptrace.c
rcuclassic.c cpumask: convert RCU implementations, fix 2009-01-03 18:59:25 +01:00
rcupdate.c
rcupreempt_trace.c
rcupreempt.c cpumask: convert RCU implementations 2009-01-01 10:12:26 +10:30
rcutorture.c cpumask: convert RCU implementations 2009-01-01 10:12:26 +10:30
rcutree_trace.c
rcutree.c
relay.c
res_counter.c
resource.c
rtmutex_common.h
rtmutex-debug.c
rtmutex-debug.h
rtmutex-tester.c
rtmutex.c
rtmutex.h
rwsem.c
sched_clock.c
sched_cpupri.c
sched_cpupri.h
sched_debug.c
sched_fair.c Merge branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rusty/linux-2.6-cpumask into merge-rr-cpumask 2009-01-03 18:53:31 +01:00
sched_features.h
sched_idletask.c
sched_rt.c sched: put back some stack hog changes that were undone in kernel/sched.c 2009-01-03 19:00:09 +01:00
sched_stats.h Merge branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/rusty/linux-2.6-cpumask into merge-rr-cpumask 2009-01-03 18:53:31 +01:00
sched.c Merge branch 'cpus4096-for-linus-3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2009-01-03 12:04:39 -08:00
seccomp.c
semaphore.c
signal.c
smp.c cpumask: prepare for iterators to only go to nr_cpu_ids/nr_cpumask_bits.: core 2009-01-01 10:12:15 +10:30
softirq.c Merge branch 'cpus4096-for-linus-3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2009-01-03 12:04:39 -08:00
softlockup.c cpumask: convert rest of files in kernel/ 2009-01-01 10:12:28 +10:30
spinlock.c
srcu.c
stacktrace.c
stop_machine.c stop_machine: introduce stop_machine_create/destroy. 2009-01-05 08:40:14 +10:30
sys_ni.c
sys.c Merge branch 'core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-30 16:10:19 -08:00
sysctl_check.c
sysctl.c mm: add dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes sysctls 2009-01-06 15:59:03 -08:00
taskstats.c cpumask: convert rest of files in kernel/ 2009-01-01 10:12:28 +10:30
test_kprobes.c
time.c
timeconst.pl
timer.c [PATCH] idle cputime accounting 2008-12-31 15:11:46 +01:00
tracepoint.c
tsacct.c
uid16.c
user_namespace.c
user.c
utsname_sysctl.c
utsname.c
wait.c
workqueue.c cpumask: convert kernel/workqueue.c 2009-01-01 10:12:25 +10:30