Re: [PATCH v3 2/2] mm/mglru: maintain workingset refault context across state transitions

[Leno Hou]

On 3/18/26 11:30 AM, Kairui Song wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 16, 2026 at 1:56 PM Leno Hou via B4 Relay
> <devnull+lenohou.gmail.com@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > From: Leno Hou <lenohou@xxxxxxxxx>
> >
> > When MGLRU state is toggled dynamically, existing shadow entries (eviction
> > tokens) lose their context. Traditional LRU and MGLRU handle workingset
> > refaults using different logic. Without context, shadow entries
> > re-activated by the "wrong" reclaim logic trigger excessive page
> > activations (pgactivate) and system thrashing, as the kernel cannot
> > correctly distinguish if a refaulted page was originally managed by
> > MGLRU or the traditional LRU.
> >
> > This patch introduces shadow entry context tracking:
> >
> > - Encode MGLRU origin: Introduce WORKINGSET_MGLRU_SHIFT into the shadow
> >    entry (eviction token) encoding. This adds an 'is_mglru' bit to shadow
> >    entries, allowing the kernel to correctly identify the originating
> >    reclaim logic for a page even after the global MGLRU state has been
> >    toggled.
>
> Hi Leno,
>
> I really don't think it's a good idea to waste one bit there just for
> the transition state which is rarely used. And if you switched between
> MGLRU / non-MGLRU then the refault distance check is already kind of
> meaning less unless we unify their logic of reactivation.
>
> BTW I tried that sometime ago: https://lwn.net/Articles/945266/
>
> > - Refault logic dispatch: Use this 'is_mglru' bit in workingset_refault()
> >    and workingset_test_recent() to dispatch refault events to the correct
> >    handler (lru_gen_refault vs. traditional workingset refault).
>
> Hmm, restoring the folio ref count in MGLRU is not the same thing as
> reactivation or restoring the workingset flag in non-MGLRU case, and
> not really comparable. Not sure this will be helpful.
>
> Maybe for now we just igore this part, shadow is just a hint after
> all, switch the LRU at runtime is already a huge performance impact
> factor and not recommend, that the shadow part is trivial compared to
> that.

Hi Kairui,


Thank you for the insightful feedback. I completely agree with your 
assessment: the workingset refault context is indeed just a hint, and 
trying to align or convert these tokens between MGLRU and non-MGLRU 
states is overly complex and likely unnecessary, especially given that 
runtime switching is an extreme and infrequent operation.

I have decided to take your advice and completely remove the patches 
related to workingset refault context tracking and folio_lru_gen state 
checking.

My revised patch will focus solely on the lru_drain_core state machine, 
which is the minimal and robust approach to address the primary issue: 
preventing cgroup OOMs caused by the race condition during state 
transitions. This should significantly reduce the complexity and risk of 
the patch series.

I've sent a simplified v4 patch series that focuses strictly on the 
lru_drain_core logic, removing all the disputed context-tracking code.
And this patch was tested on latest 7.0.0-rc1 with 1000 iterations
toggle on/off and no OOM.


Thank you for helping me sharpen the focus of this fix.


Best regards,
Leno Hou