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leitaoakpm00
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mm/vmstat: fix vmstat_shepherd double-scheduling vmstat_update
vmstat_shepherd uses delayed_work_pending() to check whether vmstat_update is already scheduled for a given CPU before queuing it. However, delayed_work_pending() only tests WORK_STRUCT_PENDING_BIT, which is cleared the moment a worker thread picks up the work to execute it. This means that while vmstat_update is actively running on a CPU, delayed_work_pending() returns false. If need_update() also returns true at that point (per-cpu counters not yet zeroed mid-flush), the shepherd queues a second invocation with delay=0, causing vmstat_update to run again immediately after finishing. On a 72-CPU system this race is readily observable: before the fix, many CPUs show invocation gaps well below 500 jiffies (the minimum round_jiffies_relative() can produce), with the most extreme cases reaching 0 jiffies—vmstat_update called twice within the same jiffy. Fix this by replacing delayed_work_pending() with work_busy(), which returns non-zero for both WORK_BUSY_PENDING (timer armed or work queued) and WORK_BUSY_RUNNING (work currently executing). The shepherd now correctly skips a CPU in all busy states. After the fix, all sub-jiffy and most sub-100-jiffie gaps disappear. The remaining early invocations have gaps in the 700–999 jiffie range, attributable to round_jiffies_relative() aligning to a nearer jiffie-second boundary rather than to this race. Each spurious vmstat_update invocation has a measurable side effect: refresh_cpu_vm_stats() calls decay_pcp_high() for every zone, which drains idle per-CPU pages back to the buddy allocator via free_pcppages_bulk(), taking the zone spinlock each time. Eliminating the double-scheduling therefore reduces zone lock contention directly. On a 72-CPU stress-ng workload measured with perf lock contention: free_pcppages_bulk contention count: ~55% reduction free_pcppages_bulk total wait time: ~57% reduction free_pcppages_bulk max wait time: ~47% reduction Note: work_busy() is inherently racy—between the check and the subsequent queue_delayed_work_on() call, vmstat_update can finish execution, leaving the work neither pending nor running. In that narrow window the shepherd can still queue a second invocation. After the fix, this residual race is rare and produces only occasional small gaps, a significant improvement over the systematic double-scheduling seen with delayed_work_pending(). Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260409-vmstat-v2-1-e9d9a6db08ad@debian.org Fixes: 7b8da4c ("vmstat: get rid of the ugly cpu_stat_off variable") Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org> Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org> Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com> Reviewed-by: Dmitry Ilvokhin <d@ilvokhin.com> Cc: Christoph Lameter <cl@linux.com> Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org> Cc: Liam Howlett <liam.howlett@oracle.com> Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org> Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org> Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev> Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
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mm/vmstat.c

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Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -2139,7 +2139,7 @@ static void vmstat_shepherd(struct work_struct *w)
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if (cpu_is_isolated(cpu))
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continue;
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if (!delayed_work_pending(dw) && need_update(cpu))
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if (!work_busy(&dw->work) && need_update(cpu))
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queue_delayed_work_on(cpu, mm_percpu_wq, dw, 0);
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}
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