Re: [PATCH 2/3] mm/filemap: initiate readahead even if IOCB_NOWAIT is set for the I/O
From: Florian Weimer <hidden>
Date: 2019-01-30 15:04:46
Also in:
linux-mm, lkml
From: Florian Weimer <hidden>
Date: 2019-01-30 15:04:46
Also in:
linux-mm, lkml
* Vlastimil Babka:
preadv2(RWF_NOWAIT) can be used to open a side-channel to pagecache contents, as it reveals metadata about residency of pages in pagecache. If preadv2(RWF_NOWAIT) returns immediately, it provides a clear "page not resident" information, and vice versa. Close that sidechannel by always initiating readahead on the cache if we encounter a cache miss for preadv2(RWF_NOWAIT); with that in place, probing the pagecache residency itself will actually populate the cache, making the sidechannel useless.
I think this needs to use a different flag because the semantics are so much different. If I understand this change correctly, previously, RWF_NOWAIT essentially avoided any I/O, and now it does not. Thanks, Florian