kernel_optimize_test/Documentation
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
..
ABI mm: show node to memory section relationship with symlinks in sysfs 2009-01-06 15:59:00 -08:00
accounting
acpi
aoe
arm Merge branch 'for-rmk' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ycmiao/pxa-linux-2.6 into devel 2008-12-29 18:08:11 +00:00
auxdisplay
blackfin
block Documentation: remove reference to ll_rw_blk.c and moved drivers/block/elevator.c 2008-12-29 08:28:43 +01:00
blockdev
cdrom
cgroups
connector
console
controllers
cpu-freq doc: Update sh cpufreq documentation. 2008-12-22 18:44:47 +09:00
cpuidle
cris
crypto
development-process
device-mapper
DocBook
driver-model
dvb V4L/DVB (9812): [PATCH] short help for Technisat cards to select the right configuration 2008-12-30 09:38:35 -02:00
early-userspace
fault-injection
fb [ARM] pxafb: add support for overlay1 and overlay2 as framebuffer devices 2008-12-29 18:00:04 +08:00
filesystems mm: add dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes sysctls 2009-01-06 15:59:03 -08:00
firmware_class
frv
hwmon
i2c
i2o
ia64
ide
infiniband
input
ioctl UBI: document UBI ioctls 2008-12-09 15:59:07 +02:00
isdn
ja_JP
kbuild kbuild: document environment variables 2009-01-02 20:43:25 +01:00
kdump
ko_KR
laptops
lguest lguest: move the initial guest page table creation code to the host 2008-12-30 09:26:11 +10:30
m68k
make
mips
mn10300
mtd
namespaces
netlabel
networking dccp ccid-2: Phase out the use of boolean Ack Vector sysctl 2008-12-08 01:19:06 -08:00
parisc
PCI
pcmcia
power
powerpc gianfar: Convert gianfar to an of_platform_driver 2008-12-16 15:29:15 -08:00
prctl
RCU 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
s390
scheduler Merge branch 'sched-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/linux-2.6-tip 2008-12-28 12:27:58 -08:00
scsi [SCSI] cxgb3i: Add cxgb3i iSCSI driver. 2008-12-30 10:45:33 -06:00
serial
sh sh: Kill off remaining CONFIG_SH_KGDB bits. 2008-12-22 18:44:05 +09:00
sound Merge branch 'topic/oxygen' into to-push 2008-12-25 11:40:30 +01:00
sparc
spi spi documentation: use __initdata on struct 2008-12-01 19:55:24 -08:00
sysctl mm: add dirty_background_bytes and dirty_bytes sysctls 2009-01-06 15:59:03 -08:00
telephony
thermal
timers
tracers
uml
usb Merge branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6 into for-upstream 2009-01-02 13:17:13 +00:00
video4linux V4L/DVB (10157): Add USB ID for the Sil4701 radio from DealExtreme 2009-01-02 17:13:56 -02:00
vm
w1
watchdog
x86 Merge branches 'x86/apic', 'x86/cleanups', 'x86/cpufeature', 'x86/crashdump', 'x86/debug', 'x86/defconfig', 'x86/detect-hyper', 'x86/doc', 'x86/dumpstack', 'x86/early-printk', 'x86/fpu', 'x86/idle', 'x86/io', 'x86/memory-corruption-check', 'x86/microcode', 'x86/mm', 'x86/mtrr', 'x86/nmi-watchdog', 'x86/pat2', 'x86/pci-ioapic-boot-irq-quirks', 'x86/ptrace', 'x86/quirks', 'x86/reboot', 'x86/setup-memory', 'x86/signal', 'x86/sparse-fixes', 'x86/time', 'x86/uv' and 'x86/xen' into x86/core 2008-12-23 16:27:23 +01:00
zh_CN
00-INDEX
applying-patches.txt
atomic_ops.txt
basic_profiling.txt
binfmt_misc.txt
braille-console.txt
bt8xxgpio.txt
BUG-HUNTING
c2port.txt
cachetlb.txt
Changes
CodingStyle
cpu-hotplug.txt x86: use possible_cpus=NUM to extend the possible cpus allowed 2008-12-18 12:08:05 +01:00
cpu-load.txt
cpusets.txt
cputopology.txt sysfs: add documentation to cputopology.txt for system cpumasks 2008-12-19 17:47:12 +10:30
credentials.txt
dcdbas.txt
debugging-modules.txt
debugging-via-ohci1394.txt
dell_rbu.txt
devices.txt
DMA-API.txt DMA-API.txt: fix description of pci_map_sg/dma_map_sg scatterlists handling 2008-12-01 19:55:24 -08:00
DMA-attributes.txt
DMA-ISA-LPC.txt
DMA-mapping.txt
dontdiff
edac.txt
eisa.txt
email-clients.txt
exception.txt
feature-removal-schedule.txt remove ide-scsi 2009-01-02 16:12:51 +01:00
ftrace.txt ftrace: improve documentation 2008-11-28 13:15:14 +01:00
gpio.txt
highuid.txt
HOWTO
hw_random.txt
ics932s401
initrd.txt
Intel-IOMMU.txt
io_ordering.txt
io-mapping.txt
IO-mapping.txt
iostats.txt
IPMI.txt
IRQ-affinity.txt
IRQ.txt
irqflags-tracing.txt
isapnp.txt
java.txt
kernel-doc-nano-HOWTO.txt
kernel-docs.txt
kernel-parameters.txt Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git390.osdl.marist.edu/pub/scm/linux-2.6 2008-12-28 12:33:21 -08:00
keys-request-key.txt
keys.txt
kobject.txt
kprobes.txt
kref.txt
ldm.txt
leds-class.txt
local_ops.txt documentation: local_ops fix on_each_cpu 2008-12-01 13:51:26 +01:00
lockdep-design.txt
lockstat.txt
logo.gif
logo.txt
magic-number.txt
Makefile
ManagementStyle
markers.txt markers: comment marker_synchronize_unregister() on data dependency 2008-11-28 16:47:41 +01:00
mca.txt
md.txt
memory-barriers.txt
memory-hotplug.txt mm: show node to memory section relationship with symlinks in sysfs 2009-01-06 15:59:00 -08:00
memory.txt
mono.txt
mutex-design.txt
nmi_watchdog.txt
nommu-mmap.txt
numastat.txt
oops-tracing.txt
parport-lowlevel.txt
parport.txt
pi-futex.txt
pnp.txt
preempt-locking.txt
printk-formats.txt
prio_tree.txt
rbtree.txt
rfkill.txt
robust-futex-ABI.txt
robust-futexes.txt
rt-mutex-design.txt
rt-mutex.txt
rtc.txt
SAK.txt
SecurityBugs
SELinux.txt
serial-console.txt
sgi-ioc4.txt
sgi-visws.txt
SM501.txt
Smack.txt
sparse.txt
spinlocks.txt
stable_api_nonsense.txt
stable_kernel_rules.txt
SubmitChecklist
SubmittingDrivers
SubmittingPatches
svga.txt
sysfs-rules.txt
sysrq.txt
tracepoints.txt tracepoints: Documentation TPPROTO misspelt in Documentation/tracepoints.txt 2008-11-29 15:13:42 +01:00
unaligned-memory-access.txt
unicode.txt
unshare.txt
VGA-softcursor.txt
video-output.txt
volatile-considered-harmful.txt
voyager.txt
zorro.txt