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authorYafang Shao <laoar.shao@gmail.com>2024-05-15 17:17:27 +0800
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2024-05-22 08:49:13 -0700
commit681ce8623567ba7e7333908e9826b77145312dda (patch)
tree545213689ec5dcfd291f0a50018639d631088afc /fs/fs-writeback.c
parent29c73fc794c83505066ee6db893b2a83ac5fac63 (diff)
vfs: Delete the associated dentry when deleting a file
Our applications, built on Elasticsearch[0], frequently create and delete files. These applications operate within containers, some with a memory limit exceeding 100GB. Over prolonged periods, the accumulation of negative dentries within these containers can amount to tens of gigabytes. Upon container exit, directories are deleted. However, due to the numerous associated dentries, this process can be time-consuming. Our users have expressed frustration with this prolonged exit duration, which constitutes our first issue. Simultaneously, other processes may attempt to access the parent directory of the Elasticsearch directories. Since the task responsible for deleting the dentries holds the inode lock, processes attempting directory lookup experience significant delays. This issue, our second problem, is easily demonstrated: - Task 1 generates negative dentries: $ pwd ~/test $ mkdir es && cd es/ && ./create_and_delete_files.sh [ After generating tens of GB dentries ] $ cd ~/test && rm -rf es [ It will take a long duration to finish ] - Task 2 attempts to lookup the 'test/' directory $ pwd ~/test $ ls The 'ls' command in Task 2 experiences prolonged execution as Task 1 is deleting the dentries. We've devised a solution to address both issues by deleting associated dentry when removing a file. Interestingly, we've noted that a similar patch was proposed years ago[1], although it was rejected citing the absence of tangible issues caused by negative dentries. Given our current challenges, we're resubmitting the proposal. All relevant stakeholders from previous discussions have been included for reference. Some alternative solutions are also under discussion[2][3], such as shrinking child dentries outside of the parent inode lock or even asynchronously shrinking child dentries. However, given the straightforward nature of the current solution, I believe this approach is still necessary. [ NOTE! This is a pretty fundamental change in how we deal with unlinking dentries, and it doesn't change the fact that you can have lots of negative dentries from just doing negative lookups. But the kernel test robot is at least initially happy with this from a performance angle, so I'm applying this ASAP just to get more testing and as a "known fix for an issue people hit in real life". Put another way: we should still look at the alternatives, and this patch may get reverted if somebody finds a performance regression on some other load. - Linus ] Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Yafang Shao <laoar.shao@gmail.com> Link: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch [0] Link: https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-fsdevel/patch/1502099673-31620-1-git-send-email-wangkai86@huawei.com [1] Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/20240511200240.6354-2-torvalds@linux-foundation.org/ [2] Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/CAHk-=wjEMf8Du4UFzxuToGDnF3yLaMcrYeyNAaH1NJWa6fwcNQ@mail.gmail.com/ [3] Cc: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk> Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org> Cc: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz> Cc: Waiman Long <longman@redhat.com> Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org> Cc: Wangkai <wangkai86@huawei.com> Cc: Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org> Tested-by: kernel test robot <oliver.sang@intel.com> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/202405221518.ecea2810-oliver.sang@intel.com/ Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
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