mm/vmscan: reduce lru_lock contention via vmstat-derived scan-balance cost

The anon/file scan balance in get_scan_count() is driven by two scalars in
struct lruvec, anon_cost and file_cost, accumulated by every reclaim
producer under lruvec->lru_lock.  The acquisition sites for cost work
specifically are:

  - shrink_inactive_list() re-takes lru_lock at function exit purely
    to call lru_note_cost_unlock_irq() with (nr_pageout, nr_scanned -
    nr_reclaimed). One acquisition per inactive shrink.
  - shrink_active_list() does the same with (0, nr_rotated). One
    acquisition per active shrink.
  - workingset_refault() takes the lock via folio_lruvec_lock_irq()
    purely to record the refault cost. One acquisition per refault.
  - prepare_scan_control() takes lru_lock just to snapshot the two
    scalars into sc->{anon,file}_cost.
  - lru_note_cost_unlock_irq() itself walks parent_lruvec and
    re-acquires lru_lock on each ancestor to propagate the update,
    adding O(memcg-depth) acquisitions per producer call.

This hurts because lru_lock is already a heavy contention point on
memory-heavy workloads: every isolate_lru_folios(), move_folios_to_lru()
and folio_add_lru() takes it.  The cost work itself is trivial (two scalar
bumps and one comparison), but it contends with and causes contention for
actual LRU manipulation.  The parent_lruvec() walk also multiplies
cost-update overhead by memcg hierarchy depth.

Replace the producer-side accumulators with a read-side accumulator fed
from per-LRU vmstat counters.  The old producer formula was:

  cost = nr_io * SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX + nr_rotated

Reuse NR_VMSCAN_WRITE for reclaim-driven anon pageout submissions.  It is
already bumped by writeout() for the same successful outcome that fed
reclaim_stat.nr_pageout.  Reclaim does not submit filesystem folios from
this path, so there is no file pageout term.  Charge NR_VMSCAN_WRITE via
lruvec_stat_mod_folio() and include it in memcg_node_stat_items so it can
be sampled per lruvec and aggregated through the memcg hierarchy.

Add explicit PGROTATE_{ANON,FILE} node_stat counters for the remaining
producer-local input.  They are bumped from shrink_inactive_list() by
nr_scanned - nr_reclaimed and from shrink_active_list() by nr_rotated. 
WORKINGSET_RESTORE_{ANON,FILE} already captures the refault IO that
lru_note_cost_refault() used to bill.

Add a per-side struct lru_cost { count, last_rotated, last_io } to struct
lruvec.  In prepare_scan_control() the two monotonic inputs are sampled
separately - rotated from PGROTATE_ANON/FILE, io from
WORKINGSET_RESTORE_BASE + f plus (for anon) NR_VMSCAN_WRITE - and the raw
per-side deltas are computed against cost->last_rotated and cost->last_io
before the SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX IO weighting is applied.  Extracting the
deltas from the individual counters (rather than from a pre-weighted sum)
keeps the unsigned modular subtraction bounded by the true per-counter
growth, so a signed-long wraparound of any underlying vmstat still yields
the correct delta on 32-bit.  The weighted delta is folded into
cost->count.  Since one vmstat delta can cover many producer events
between reclaim passes, halve cost->count on both sides until their sum is
back within the lrusize/4 bound instead of halving only once.

Moving accumulation and decay to the reclaim side also improves the cost
model across reclaim gaps.  With producer-side decay, events that happen
while reclaim is idle still age each other before reclaim ever samples the
costs.  If a workload refaults a large anon set and then a smaller file
set before reclaim runs again, the later file activity can age the earlier
anon activity out of the cost model.  The new scheme observes the whole
between-reclaim delta and decays anon and file proportionally, so the
scan-balance history better represents what happened since the last
reclaim pass.

A dedicated per-lruvec spinlock, cost_lock, serialises the delta
extraction, the cost->count update and the halving loop against concurrent
reclaimers in the same memcg+node.

Hierarchy aggregation is now implicit in the vmstat accounting.  The
producer-side parent_lruvec() walk and lru_reparent_memcg() cost splice
existed only because anon_cost/file_cost were private lruvec fields.  With
the cost expressed as lruvec vmstats, rstat propagates the underlying
counters through the memcg hierarchy and prepare_scan_control() consumes
the same ratelimited rstat view as the surrounding reclaim heuristics.

NR_VMSCAN_WRITE is accounted at writeout(), so reclaim_stat.nr_pageout is
no longer needed and is removed.

memcg-v1's memory.stat anon_cost/file_cost is now sourced from
cost[].count instead of the removed lruvec anon_cost/file_cost fields. 
The reported values only refresh when prepare_scan_control() runs and are
bounded at ~lrusize/4 by the halving loop; the scan-balance signal they
express is unchanged.

Under pure MGLRU the scan-balance signal itself is not consumed (both
prepare_scan_control() and get_scan_count() are short-circuited on the
MGLRU paths, and MGLRU's own type/tier selection comes from
read_ctrl_pos() on lrugen->{avg_refaulted,avg_total,refaulted,evicted},
not from anon_cost/file_cost).  NR_VMSCAN_WRITE naturally covers writeout
from either reclaim implementation, and PGROTATE_{ANON,FILE} are bumped
from evict_folios() so per-memcg observability of rotation-driven reclaim
work stays consistent across both implementations.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260720164207.450685-3-usama.arif@linux.dev
Signed-off-by: Usama Arif <usama.arif@linux.dev>
Acked-by: Johannes Weiner <hannes@cmpxchg.org>
Cc: Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@google.com>
Cc: Baoquan He <baoquan.he@linux.dev>
Cc: Chris Li <chrisl@kernel.org>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>
Cc: David Rientjes <rientjes@google.com>
Cc: Kairui Song <kasong@tencent.com>
Cc: Liam R. Howlett <liam@infradead.org>
Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@kernel.org>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Muchun Song <muchun.song@linux.dev>
Cc: Nhat Pham <nphamcs@gmail.com>
Cc: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@linux.dev>
Cc: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@linux.dev>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>
Cc: Wei Xu <weixugc@google.com>
Cc: Yuanchu Xie <yuanchu@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>

include/linux/mmzone.h

@@ -323,6 +323,8 @@ enum node_stat_item {
 	PGSCAN_PROACTIVE,
 	PGSCAN_ANON,
 	PGSCAN_FILE,
+	PGROTATE_ANON,
+	PGROTATE_FILE,
 	PGREFILL,
 #ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE
 	NR_HUGETLB,
@@ -755,6 +757,12 @@ void lru_gen_reparent_memcg(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, struct mem_cgroup *parent,
 
 #endif /* CONFIG_LRU_GEN */
 
+struct lru_cost {
+	unsigned long		count;
+	unsigned long		last_rotated;
+	unsigned long		last_io;
+};
+
 struct lruvec {
 	struct list_head		lists[NR_LRU_LISTS];
 	/* per lruvec lru_lock for memcg */
@@ -763,9 +771,12 @@ struct lruvec {
 	 * These track the cost of reclaiming one LRU - file or anon -
 	 * over the other. As the observed cost of reclaiming one LRU
 	 * increases, the reclaim scan balance tips toward the other.
+	 * Updated and decayed at prepare_scan_control() time; cost_lock
+	 * serialises that update.
 	 */
-	unsigned long			anon_cost;
-	unsigned long			file_cost;
+	struct lru_cost			cost[ANON_AND_FILE];
+	/* Protects cost[]. */
+	spinlock_t			cost_lock;
 	/* Non-resident age, driven by LRU movement */
 	atomic_long_t			nonresident_age;
 	/* Refaults at the time of last reclaim cycle */

include/linux/vmstat.h

@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ struct reclaim_stat {
 	unsigned nr_congested;
 	unsigned nr_writeback;
 	unsigned nr_immediate;
-	unsigned nr_pageout;
 	unsigned nr_activate[ANON_AND_FILE];
 	unsigned nr_ref_keep;
 	unsigned nr_unmap_fail;

mm/folio.c

@@ -265,73 +265,6 @@ void folio_rotate_reclaimable(struct folio *folio)
 	folio_batch_add_and_move(folio, lru_move_tail);
 }
 
-void lru_note_cost_unlock_irq(struct lruvec *lruvec, bool file,
-		unsigned int nr_io, unsigned int nr_rotated)
-		__releases(lruvec->lru_lock)
-		__releases(rcu)
-{
-	unsigned long cost;
-
-	/*
-	 * Reflect the relative cost of incurring IO and spending CPU
-	 * time on rotations. This doesn't attempt to make a precise
-	 * comparison, it just says: if reloads are about comparable
-	 * between the LRU lists, or rotations are overwhelmingly
-	 * different between them, adjust scan balance for CPU work.
-	 */
-	cost = nr_io * SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX + nr_rotated;
-	if (!cost) {
-		spin_unlock_irq(&lruvec->lru_lock);
-		rcu_read_unlock();
-		return;
-	}
-
-	for (;;) {
-		unsigned long lrusize;
-
-		/* Record cost event */
-		if (file)
-			lruvec->file_cost += cost;
-		else
-			lruvec->anon_cost += cost;
-
-		/*
-		 * Decay previous events
-		 *
-		 * Because workloads change over time (and to avoid
-		 * overflow) we keep these statistics as a floating
-		 * average, which ends up weighing recent refaults
-		 * more than old ones.
-		 */
-		lrusize = lruvec_page_state(lruvec, NR_INACTIVE_ANON) +
-			  lruvec_page_state(lruvec, NR_ACTIVE_ANON) +
-			  lruvec_page_state(lruvec, NR_INACTIVE_FILE) +
-			  lruvec_page_state(lruvec, NR_ACTIVE_FILE);
-
-		if (lruvec->file_cost + lruvec->anon_cost > lrusize / 4) {
-			lruvec->file_cost /= 2;
-			lruvec->anon_cost /= 2;
-		}
-
-		spin_unlock_irq(&lruvec->lru_lock);
-		lruvec = parent_lruvec(lruvec);
-		if (!lruvec) {
-			rcu_read_unlock();
-			break;
-		}
-		spin_lock_irq(&lruvec->lru_lock);
-	}
-}
-
-void lru_note_cost_refault(struct folio *folio)
-{
-	struct lruvec *lruvec;
-
-	lruvec = folio_lruvec_lock_irq(folio);
-	lru_note_cost_unlock_irq(lruvec, folio_is_file_lru(folio),
-				folio_nr_pages(folio), 0);
-}
-
 static void lru_activate(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct folio *folio)
 {
 	long nr_pages = folio_nr_pages(folio);
@@ -1162,8 +1095,6 @@ void lru_reparent_memcg(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, struct mem_cgroup *parent, int
 
 	child_lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, NODE_DATA(nid));
 	parent_lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(parent, NODE_DATA(nid));
-	parent_lruvec->anon_cost += child_lruvec->anon_cost;
-	parent_lruvec->file_cost += child_lruvec->file_cost;
 
 	for_each_lru(lru)
 		lruvec_reparent_lru(child_lruvec, parent_lruvec, lru, nid);

mm/internal.h

@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@ void workingset_refault(struct folio *folio, void *shadow);
 void workingset_activation(struct folio *folio);
 
 /* mm/folio.c */
-void lru_note_cost_unlock_irq(struct lruvec *lruvec, bool file,
-		unsigned int nr_io, unsigned int nr_rotated);
-void lru_note_cost_refault(struct folio *folio);
 void folio_add_lru_vma(struct folio *folio, struct vm_area_struct *vma);
 
 static inline bool folio_may_be_lru_cached(struct folio *folio)

mm/memcontrol-v1.c

@@ -2287,8 +2287,8 @@ void memcg1_stat_format(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, struct seq_buf *s)
 		for_each_online_pgdat(pgdat) {
 			mz = memcg->nodeinfo[pgdat->node_id];
 
-			anon_cost += mz->lruvec.anon_cost;
-			file_cost += mz->lruvec.file_cost;
+			anon_cost += mz->lruvec.cost[WORKINGSET_ANON].count;
+			file_cost += mz->lruvec.cost[WORKINGSET_FILE].count;
 		}
 		seq_buf_printf(s, "anon_cost %lu\n", anon_cost);
 		seq_buf_printf(s, "file_cost %lu\n", file_cost);

mm/memcontrol.c

@@ -399,6 +399,7 @@ static const unsigned int memcg_node_stat_items[] = {
 	NR_SHMEM_THPS,
 	NR_FILE_THPS,
 	NR_ANON_THPS,
+	NR_VMSCAN_WRITE,
 	NR_VMALLOC,
 	NR_KERNEL_STACK_KB,
 	NR_PAGETABLE,
@@ -425,6 +426,8 @@ static const unsigned int memcg_node_stat_items[] = {
 	PGSCAN_PROACTIVE,
 	PGSCAN_ANON,
 	PGSCAN_FILE,
+	PGROTATE_ANON,
+	PGROTATE_FILE,
 	PGREFILL,
 #ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE
 	NR_HUGETLB,
@@ -524,7 +527,7 @@ unsigned long lruvec_page_state(struct lruvec *lruvec, enum node_stat_item idx)
  * reading from per-CPU delta skew must present as zero.
  *
  * XXX: This helper (and its node/global peers) exists because we place
- * monotonically-incremented event counters (PGROTATE_*, PGRECLAIM_PAGEOUT_*)
+ * monotonically-incremented event counters (NR_VMSCAN_WRITE and PGROTATE_*)
  * into enum node_stat_item.
  */
 unsigned long lruvec_page_state_monotonic(struct lruvec *lruvec,

mm/mmzone.c

@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ void lruvec_init(struct lruvec *lruvec)
 
 	memset(lruvec, 0, sizeof(struct lruvec));
 	spin_lock_init(&lruvec->lru_lock);
+	spin_lock_init(&lruvec->cost_lock);
 	zswap_lruvec_state_init(lruvec);
 
 	for_each_lru(lru)

mm/vmscan.c

@@ -670,7 +670,7 @@ static pageout_t pageout(struct swap_io_ctx *ctx, struct address_space *mapping,
 		folio_clear_reclaim(folio);
 
 	trace_mm_vmscan_write_folio(folio);
-	node_stat_add_folio(folio, NR_VMSCAN_WRITE);
+	lruvec_stat_mod_folio(folio, NR_VMSCAN_WRITE, folio_nr_pages(folio));
 	return PAGE_SUCCESS;
 }
 
@@ -1412,8 +1412,6 @@ retry:
 					sc->nr_scanned -= (nr_pages - 1);
 					nr_pages = 1;
 				}
-				stat->nr_pageout += nr_pages;
-
 				if (folio_test_writeback(folio))
 					goto keep;
 				if (folio_test_dirty(folio))
@@ -2036,10 +2034,10 @@ static unsigned long shrink_inactive_list(unsigned long nr_to_scan,
 	item = PGSTEAL_KSWAPD + reclaimer_offset(sc);
 	mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, item, nr_reclaimed);
 	mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, PGSTEAL_ANON + file, nr_reclaimed);
+	if (nr_scanned > nr_reclaimed)
+		mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, PGROTATE_ANON + file,
+				 nr_scanned - nr_reclaimed);
 
-	lruvec_lock_irq(lruvec);
-	lru_note_cost_unlock_irq(lruvec, file, stat.nr_pageout,
-					nr_scanned - nr_reclaimed);
 	handle_reclaim_writeback(nr_taken, pgdat, sc, &stat);
 	trace_mm_vmscan_lru_shrink_inactive(pgdat->node_id,
 			nr_scanned, nr_reclaimed, &stat, sc->priority, file);
@@ -2145,9 +2143,9 @@ static void shrink_active_list(unsigned long nr_to_scan,
 	count_vm_events(PGDEACTIVATE, nr_deactivate);
 	count_memcg_events(lruvec_memcg(lruvec), PGDEACTIVATE, nr_deactivate);
 	mod_node_page_state(pgdat, NR_ISOLATED_ANON + file, -nr_taken);
+	if (nr_rotated)
+		mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, PGROTATE_ANON + file, nr_rotated);
 
-	lruvec_lock_irq(lruvec);
-	lru_note_cost_unlock_irq(lruvec, file, 0, nr_rotated);
 	trace_mm_vmscan_lru_shrink_active(pgdat->node_id, nr_taken, nr_activate,
 			nr_deactivate, nr_rotated, sc->priority, file);
 }
@@ -2280,8 +2278,10 @@ enum scan_balance {
 
 static void prepare_scan_control(pg_data_t *pgdat, struct scan_control *sc)
 {
-	unsigned long file;
+	struct lru_cost *anon_cost, *file_cost;
 	struct lruvec *target_lruvec;
+	unsigned long lrusize;
+	unsigned long file;
 
 	if (lru_gen_enabled() && !lru_gen_switching())
 		return;
@@ -2297,11 +2297,69 @@ static void prepare_scan_control(pg_data_t *pgdat, struct scan_control *sc)
 
 	/*
 	 * Determine the scan balance between anon and file LRUs.
+	 *
+	 * The cost model is based on rotations, refaults and
+	 * reclaim-driven writes (anon only) on each side.
+	 *
+	 * These event counters are monotonic, so each reclaim cycle
+	 * the delta since the last scan is extracted and incorporated
+	 * into a decaying average. This ensures currency, as workloads
+	 * change over time, and avoids overflow in the calculations.
+	 *
+	 * Use lruvec_page_state_monotonic() so unsigned subtraction
+	 * yields the correct delta across a signed-long wraparound of
+	 * the underlying counter (a real hazard on 32-bit that the
+	 * clamp in lruvec_page_state() would otherwise turn into a huge
+	 * spurious delta).
 	 */
-	spin_lock_irq(&target_lruvec->lru_lock);
-	sc->anon_cost = target_lruvec->anon_cost;
-	sc->file_cost = target_lruvec->file_cost;
-	spin_unlock_irq(&target_lruvec->lru_lock);
+	spin_lock(&target_lruvec->cost_lock);
+
+	for (int f = 0; f <= 1; f++) {
+		struct lru_cost *cost = &target_lruvec->cost[f];
+		unsigned long rotated, io, nr_rotated, nr_io;
+
+		rotated = lruvec_page_state_monotonic(target_lruvec,
+						      PGROTATE_ANON + f);
+		io = lruvec_page_state_monotonic(target_lruvec,
+						 WORKINGSET_RESTORE_BASE + f);
+		if (f == WORKINGSET_ANON)
+			io += lruvec_page_state_monotonic(target_lruvec,
+							  NR_VMSCAN_WRITE);
+
+		nr_rotated = rotated - cost->last_rotated;
+		nr_io = io - cost->last_io;
+
+		/*
+		 * Reflect the relative cost of incurring IO and spending
+		 * CPU time on rotations. This doesn't attempt to make a
+		 * precise comparison, it just says: if reloads are about
+		 * comparable between the LRU lists, or rotations are
+		 * overwhelmingly different between them, adjust scan
+		 * balance for CPU work.
+		 */
+		cost->count += nr_io * SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX + nr_rotated;
+
+		cost->last_rotated = rotated;
+		cost->last_io = io;
+	}
+
+	anon_cost = &target_lruvec->cost[WORKINGSET_ANON];
+	file_cost = &target_lruvec->cost[WORKINGSET_FILE];
+
+	lrusize = lruvec_page_state(target_lruvec, NR_INACTIVE_ANON) +
+		  lruvec_page_state(target_lruvec, NR_ACTIVE_ANON) +
+		  lruvec_page_state(target_lruvec, NR_INACTIVE_FILE) +
+		  lruvec_page_state(target_lruvec, NR_ACTIVE_FILE);
+
+	while (anon_cost->count + file_cost->count > lrusize / 4) {
+		anon_cost->count /= 2;
+		file_cost->count /= 2;
+	}
+
+	sc->anon_cost = anon_cost->count;
+	sc->file_cost = file_cost->count;
+
+	spin_unlock(&target_lruvec->cost_lock);
 
 	/*
 	 * Target desirable inactive:active list ratios for the anon
@@ -4826,7 +4884,8 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
 	struct reclaim_stat stat;
 	struct lru_gen_mm_walk *walk;
 	int scanned, reclaimed;
-	int isolated = 0, type, type_scanned;
+	int isolated = 0, nr_isolated = 0, type, type_scanned;
+	unsigned long total_reclaimed = 0;
 	bool skip_retry = false;
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg = lruvec_memcg(lruvec);
 	struct pglist_data *pgdat = lruvec_pgdat(lruvec);
@@ -4838,6 +4897,7 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
 
 	scanned = isolate_folios(nr_to_scan, lruvec, sc, swappiness,
 				 &list, &isolated, &type, &type_scanned);
+	nr_isolated = isolated;
 
 	/* Scanning may have emptied the oldest gen, flush it */
 	if (scanned)
@@ -4850,6 +4910,7 @@ static int evict_folios(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
 retry:
 	reclaimed = shrink_folio_list(&list, pgdat, sc, &stat, false, memcg);
 	sc->nr_reclaimed += reclaimed;
+	total_reclaimed += reclaimed;
 	/* Retry pass is only meant for clean folios without new isolation */
 	if (isolated)
 		handle_reclaim_writeback(isolated, pgdat, sc, &stat);
@@ -4901,6 +4962,10 @@ retry:
 		goto retry;
 	}
 
+	if (nr_isolated > total_reclaimed)
+		mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, PGROTATE_ANON + type,
+				 nr_isolated - total_reclaimed);
+
 	return scanned;
 }
 

mm/vmstat.c

@@ -1301,6 +1301,8 @@ const char * const vmstat_text[] = {
 	[I(PGSCAN_PROACTIVE)]			= "pgscan_proactive",
 	[I(PGSCAN_ANON)]			= "pgscan_anon",
 	[I(PGSCAN_FILE)]			= "pgscan_file",
+	[I(PGROTATE_ANON)]			= "pgrotate_anon",
+	[I(PGROTATE_FILE)]			= "pgrotate_file",
 	[I(PGREFILL)]				= "pgrefill",
 #ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE
 	[I(NR_HUGETLB)]				= "nr_hugetlb",

mm/workingset.c

@@ -584,11 +584,6 @@ void workingset_refault(struct folio *folio, void *shadow)
 	/* Folio was active prior to eviction */
 	if (workingset) {
 		folio_set_workingset(folio);
-		/*
-		 * XXX: Move to folio_add_lru() when it supports new vs
-		 * putback
-		 */
-		lru_note_cost_refault(folio);
 		mod_lruvec_state(lruvec, WORKINGSET_RESTORE_BASE + file, nr);
 	}
 out: