Currently there is only one user for btrfs metadata readahead, and
that's scrub.
But even for the single user, it's not providing the correct
functionality it needs, as scrub needs reada for commit root, which
current readahead can't provide. (Although it's pretty easy to add such
feature).
Despite this, there are some extra problems related to metadata
readahead:
- Duplicated feature with btrfs_path::reada
- Partly duplicated feature of btrfs_fs_info::buffer_radix
Btrfs already caches its metadata in buffer_radix, while readahead
tries to read the tree block no matter if it's already cached.
- Poor layer separation
Metadata readahead works kinda at device level.
This is definitely not the correct layer it should be, since metadata
is at btrfs logical address space, it should not bother device at all.
This brings extra chance for bugs to sneak in, while brings
unnecessary complexity.
- Dead code
In the very beginning of scrub.c we have #undef DEBUG, rendering all
the debug related code useless and unable to test.
Thus here I purpose to remove the metadata readahead mechanism
completely.
[BENCHMARK]
There is a full benchmark for the scrub performance difference using the
old btrfs_reada_add() and btrfs_path::reada.
For the worst case (no dirty metadata, slow HDD), there could be a 5%
performance drop for scrub.
For other cases (even SATA SSD), there is no distinguishable performance
difference.
The number is reported scrub speed, in MiB/s.
The resolution is limited by the reported duration, which only has a
resolution of 1 second.
Old New Diff
SSD 455.3 466.332 +2.42%
HDD 103.927 98.012 -5.69%
Comprehensive test methodology is in the cover letter of the patch.
Signed-off-by: Qu Wenruo <wqu@suse.com> Signed-off-by: David Sterba <dsterba@suse.com>