]> git.baikalelectronics.ru Git - kernel.git/commit
kernel: sysctl: make drop_caches write-only
authorJohannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Sun, 1 Dec 2019 01:56:08 +0000 (17:56 -0800)
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Sun, 1 Dec 2019 20:59:07 +0000 (12:59 -0800)
commitbc199b55566e92dbf8d5dae79faa371ad69dbc2c
treee7efe9dcc3da3f40f1dad57b2e70954348e31fc7
parent448b8a04fb7daff4817ae3c977311ff2afdb0dd5
kernel: sysctl: make drop_caches write-only

Currently, the drop_caches proc file and sysctl read back the last value
written, suggesting this is somehow a stateful setting instead of a
one-time command.  Make it write-only, like e.g.  compact_memory.

While mitigating a VM problem at scale in our fleet, there was confusion
about whether writing to this file will permanently switch the kernel into
a non-caching mode.  This influences the decision making in a tense
situation, where tens of people are trying to fix tens of thousands of
affected machines: Do we need a rollback strategy?  What are the
performance implications of operating in a non-caching state for several
days?  It also caused confusion when the kernel team said we may need to
write the file several times to make sure it's effective ("But it already
reads back 3?").

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20191031221602.9375-1-hannes@cmpxchg.org
Signed-off-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Acked-by: Chris Down <chris@chrisdown.name>
Acked-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Acked-by: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Acked-by: Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
kernel/sysctl.c