Re: [f2fs-dev] [PATCH v2 0/2] f2fs: enable buffered RWF_DONTCACHE

  I focused on writes in v2. FOP_DONTCACHE also enables buffered reads, and
  F2FS uses the generic filemap_read() path for them. I will add read
  cache-residency, and throughput results.

  Only applications that explicitly pass RWF_DONTCACHE pay this cost; normal
  buffered I/O does not opt in. The current numbers show the cost at maximum
  write throughput. A rate-limited workload may behave differently, which this
  test does not measure.

  Before the patch F2FS returns EOPNOTSUPP for RWF_DONTCACHE, so there is no
  direct dontcache comparison. I will compare normal buffered read/write before
  and after the patch to check common-path overhead.

  Thanks,

On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 9:50 AM Chao Yu <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> On 8/20/26 15:14, Wenjie Qi wrote:
> > This series enables buffered RWF_DONTCACHE on F2FS for sustained one-pass
> > streaming writes, where retaining the written data can displace more useful
> > cache.
> >
> > Patch 1 keeps normal and dropbehind folios in separate write bios and
> > defers dropbehind completion unless it runs in preemptible task context.
> > Its eligibility check matches the proposed bio_in_atomic() helper instead
> > of checking only in_task().
> >
> > Patch 2 passes FGP_DONTCACHE to the F2FS buffered write folio lookup and
> > advertises FOP_DONTCACHE.
> >
> > Tests were run on a Xiaomi phone with 10.7 GiB of kernel-visible memory,
> > running Android 16 and Linux 6.12.69 with 4 KiB pages.  /data used F2FS.
> >
> > The performance test wrote exactly 64 GiB per run at 4 KiB,
> > 8 KiB, 16 KiB, 32 KiB, 64 KiB, 128 KiB, 256 KiB, 512 KiB, and 1 MiB.
> > Two counterbalanced rounds ran ascending normal-first and descending
> > dontcache-first.  Values below are equal-weight means of both runs; N=2.
> > The pwritev2() writer models the streaming workload; it does not show that
> > an unchanged Android application already issues RWF_DONTCACHE.
> >
> > Android remained active with displays off.  Each run started after a cache
> > reset and at least 120 seconds of cooldown.  Throughput and one-second
> > kswapd0/global-memory samples cover the write loop.
> >
>
> Thanks very much for the update.
>
> > Write-loop throughput was:
>
> What about read?
>
> >
> >            normal MiB/s              dontcache MiB/s
> >   I/O      r1       r2      mean      r1       r2      mean     change
> >   4K      946.28   935.74   941.01   291.36   309.31   300.33   -68.08%
> >   8K     1077.05  1105.84  1091.45   477.79   479.79   478.79   -56.13%
> >   16K    1126.84  1118.49  1122.67   643.40   652.06   647.73   -42.30%
> >   32K    1150.62  1036.33  1093.48   762.24   751.45   756.84   -30.79%
> >   64K    1144.80  1163.82  1154.31   852.11   851.19   851.65   -26.22%
> >   128K   1166.29  1162.84  1164.57   867.47   865.05   866.26   -25.61%
> >   256K   1153.61  1172.78  1163.19   895.53   885.33   890.43   -23.45%
> >   512K   1173.61  1197.34  1185.48   903.09   903.01   903.05   -23.82%
> >   1M     1126.22  1154.59  1140.41   850.74   894.60   872.67   -23.48%
>
> Seems side-effect, how will this affect userspace applications?
>
> >
> > Average kswapd0 CPU and average global Cached were:
> >
> >   I/O      kswapd0 CPU, normal/DC        Cached MiB, normal/DC
> >   4K             18.45% / 0%                 4830.15 / 686.56
> >   8K             21.60% / 0%                 4862.35 / 591.48
> >   16K            22.75% / 0%                 4905.47 / 625.07
> >   32K            22.05% / 0%                 4945.82 / 561.59
> >   64K            23.46% / 0%                 4920.77 / 639.78
> >   128K           23.16% / 0%                 4971.37 / 693.26
> >   256K           23.68% / 0%                 4956.93 / 668.60
> >   512K           24.25% / 0%                 4972.22 / 663.92
> >   1M             22.01% / 0%                 5001.09 / 705.30
> >
> > Other global memory means were:
> >
> >            MemAvailable MiB       Dirty MiB          Writeback MiB
> >   I/O       normal / DC          normal / DC          normal / DC
> >   4K      6513.08 / 6382.31     640.48 / 33.93       37.94 / 0.09
> >   8K      6560.77 / 6529.33     690.89 / 43.57       40.84 / 0.54
> >   16K     6587.46 / 6519.94     789.16 / 62.67       61.58 / 4.64
> >   32K     6571.95 / 6566.74     850.48 / 69.14       67.69 / 9.24
> >   64K     6600.64 / 6559.89    856.97 / 134.28      59.60 / 16.19
> >   128K    6627.03 / 6465.10    873.68 / 137.57      60.57 / 41.50
> >   256K    6615.58 / 6541.09    885.98 / 158.15      61.25 / 29.57
> >   512K    6625.52 / 6534.41    900.65 / 139.07      63.65 / 30.35
> >   1M      6677.09 / 6539.89    909.70 / 187.56      51.58 / 33.46
> >
> >            Active(file) MiB      Inactive(file) MiB
> >   I/O       normal / DC             normal / DC
> >   4K       279.57 / 264.13         4426.38 / 183.12
> >   8K       262.32 / 260.97         4472.62 / 182.19
> >   16K      392.09 / 252.95         4392.78 / 195.82
> >   32K      254.30 / 248.44         4554.18 / 187.34
> >   64K      252.73 / 244.94         4545.40 / 267.28
> >   128K     322.02 / 243.95         4530.63 / 298.91
> >   256K     245.47 / 240.02         4586.64 / 303.92
> >   512K     254.75 / 232.05         4591.17 / 288.27
> >   1M       238.88 / 233.64         4638.81 / 341.00
>
> Can we compare the data before/after the patch?
>
> Thanks,
>
> >
> > Dontcache left zero target-file pages resident at every size.  Normal
> > retained about 1.19--1.24 million pages.  Normal runs incurred roughly
> > 15.6 million kswapd page scans and steals per run, while dontcache recorded
> > zero.  Direct scan and allocation-stall deltas were zero in both modes.
> >
> > Changes since the RFC:
> >
> > - match the stricter proposed bio_in_atomic() eligibility rule;
> > - add phone correctness and two-round 64-GiB performance results.
> >
> > Wenjie Qi (2):
> >    f2fs: complete dropbehind write bios in safe task context
> >    f2fs: enable buffered RWF_DONTCACHE
> >
> >   fs/f2fs/data.c | 59 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
> >   fs/f2fs/file.c |  2 +-
> >   2 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
> >
>


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