On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 10:53:44 -0700 Mike Kravetz [off-list ref] wrote:

Two new sysfs files are added to demote hugtlb pages.  These files are
both per-hugetlb page size and per node.  Files are:
  demote_size - The size in Kb that pages are demoted to. (read-write)
  demote - The number of huge pages to demote. (write-only)

By default, demote_size is the next smallest huge page size.  Valid huge
page sizes less than huge page size may be written to this file.  When
huge pages are demoted, they are demoted to this size.

Writing a value to demote will result in an attempt to demote that
number of hugetlb pages to an appropriate number of demote_size pages.

NOTE: Demote interfaces are only provided for huge page sizes if there
is a smaller target demote huge page size.  For example, on x86 1GB huge
pages will have demote interfaces.  2MB huge pages will not have demote
interfaces.

This patch does not provide full demote functionality.  It only provides
the sysfs interfaces.

It also provides documentation for the new interfaces.

...

+static ssize_t demote_store(struct kobject *kobj,
+	       struct kobj_attribute *attr, const char *buf, size_t len)
+{
+	unsigned long nr_demote;
+	unsigned long nr_available;
+	nodemask_t nodes_allowed, *n_mask;
+	struct hstate *h;
+	int err;
+	int nid;
+
+	err = kstrtoul(buf, 10, &nr_demote);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+	h = kobj_to_hstate(kobj, &nid);
+
+	/* Synchronize with other sysfs operations modifying huge pages */
+	mutex_lock(&h->resize_lock);
+
+	spin_lock_irq(&hugetlb_lock);
+	if (nid != NUMA_NO_NODE) {
+		nr_available = h->free_huge_pages_node[nid];
+		init_nodemask_of_node(&nodes_allowed, nid);
+		n_mask = &nodes_allowed;
+	} else {
+		nr_available = h->free_huge_pages;
+		n_mask = &node_states[N_MEMORY];
+	}
+	nr_available -= h->resv_huge_pages;
+	if (nr_available <= 0)
+		goto out;
+	nr_demote = min(nr_available, nr_demote);
+
+	while (nr_demote) {
+		if (!demote_pool_huge_page(h, n_mask))
+			break;
+
+		/*
+		 * We may have dropped the lock in the routines to
+		 * demote/free a page.  Recompute nr_demote as counts could
+		 * have changed and we want to make sure we do not demote
+		 * a reserved huge page.
+		 */

This comment doesn't become true until patch #4, and is a bit confusing
in patch #1.  Also, saying "the lock" is far less helpful than saying
"hugetlb_lock"!

+		nr_demote--;
+		if (nid != NUMA_NO_NODE)
+			nr_available = h->free_huge_pages_node[nid];
+		else
+			nr_available = h->free_huge_pages;
+		nr_available -= h->resv_huge_pages;
+		if (nr_available <= 0)
+			nr_demote = 0;
+		else
+			nr_demote = min(nr_available, nr_demote);
+	}
+
+out:
+	spin_unlock_irq(&hugetlb_lock);

How long can we spend with IRQs disabled here (after patch #4!)?

+	mutex_unlock(&h->resize_lock);
+
+	return len;
+}
+HSTATE_ATTR_WO(demote);
+