On 30 Oct 2012, at 8:11 PM, Greg Ungerer wrote: > Hi Larry, > > On 31/10/12 03:39, Larry Baker wrote: >>> On 10/30/2012 08:38 PM, Luis Alves wrote: >>>>> What you are seeing though is a classic case of memory fragmentation. >>>> >>>> Thats true. If I spam a lot of 'ls' with other commands between, it >>>> eventually works. (I guess at some point a memory chunk of 1024k >>>> becomes available). >>>> I've tried to rebuild the kernel using as memory allocator SLOB and >>>> SLUB, but the result seems to be the same as using SLAB. >>>> >> >> I've tried those solutions too -- no good. I decided that was because those >> are kernel memory allocation policies, and have no effect on user memory >> allocation. Is that correct? >> >>>>> I would dig into the busybox ls code. Wanting to allocate a block of >>>>> 512k in a single chunk seems a bit crazy. >>>> >>>> I've tried with standalone 'ls' and the result is the same. >>>> It also fails wanting to allocate exacly 528384 (always the same value >>>> and only when ls'ing NFS mounts). >>>> (the mem alloc value is actually pretty rounded 512k + 4k) >>>> >>>> Could it be related to NFS kernel code? >>> >>> It could be. From the stack back trace: >>> >>> [<008446e8>] 0x8446e8 (inside <warn_alloc_failed>) >>> [<0084683a>] 0x84683a (inside <__alloc_pages_nodemask>) >>> [<00851e34>] 0x851e34 (inside <do_mmap_pgoff>) >>> [<008526c2>] 0x8526c2 <sys_old_mmap> >>> [<008526c2>] 0x8526c2 <sys_old_mmap> >>> [<0084e200>] 0x84e200 (inside <vm_mmap_pgoff>) >>> [<0085270a>] 0x85270a (inside <sys_old_mmap>) >>> >>> That looks like an mmap system call. And mmap is the underlying >>> allocator used by malloc() in uClibc (for non-MMU). So to me it >>> looks like a malloc somewhere in busybox. That is just a first >>> guess, it needs some further investigation. >>> >>> >>>> Don't know if it's relevant, but I'm using latest kernel sources from >>>> your git, gcc-4.7.2, running kernel from flash (XIP) and user binaries >>>> compiled with -msep-data (running from flash also). >>> >>> I wouldn't suspect anything different. But if you can try older kernel >>> versions you could confirm that. >>> >>> >>>> By the way, like Larry pointed out, is there a way to compile user >>>> binaries with shared flat libraries? >>>> Long time ago I've tried to enable UCLIBC_FORMAT_SHARED_FLAT in uClibc >>>> config, but then it was failing building (don't remember where/why it >>>> fails). >>> >>> I haven't used shared libraries in these setups for years. So I am >>> not sure what state they are in. Seems like it might have bit rotted >>> from your experiences. >>> >> >> Rats. >> >> It seems to me the root of the problem on memory constrained systems is the >> power-of-2 memory allocator; a boxcar memory allocator would work better, I >> think. I have read there used to be a non-power-of-2 memory allocator, >> named page_alloc2. Is there any chance it can be revived for 2.6 kernels? >> (See my post of 23 October 2012.) > > I am sure it could be. But it would take a little effort though. > I think Phil Wilshire made an effort a few years back to bring the > page_alloc2 code up to date with 2.6 kernels.
Yeah, I found Phil back in March, before I found the uClinux.org mailing list (e.g., David McCullough's 1 Aug 2007 posting). His response to my inquiry was: > HI Larry, > I gave up work on that allocator quite a while ago !!! > There are other options available now > Slub for example. > > Best Regards > Phil Wilshire No good juju there. > Google and check the > archives you may be able to find it. Whose archives? kernel.org? (Was page_alloc2 part of the mainline 2.4 kernel distribution? under arch?) uclinux.org? Am I looking for page_alloc2, or a different name? Any advice on what changes to look for to port the 2.4 code to 2.6? > Regards > Greg > > >>>> On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 12:33 AM, Greg Ungerer <g...@snapgear.com >>>> <mailto:g...@snapgear.com>> wrote: >>>>> Hi Luis, >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 30/10/12 05:38, Luis Alves wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Thanks for the explanation Larry. >>>>>> >>>>>> Meanwhile I've read some stuff about non-MMU memory alocation (I had >>>>>> the wrong idea of how memory was allocated). >>>>>> I guess my system ram is not that much (only 8Mb)... >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> What you are seeing though is a classic case of memory fragmentation. >>>>> You have eneough free RAM in total, but not enough in s ingle >>>>> contiguous block. On a paged MMU system this is not a problem, pages >>>>> can be mapped so you see a contiguous block the size you want. You >>>>> can't do that without no MMU and paging. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> How would shared libs solve the problem? >>>>>> The problem is allocating memory for 'ls' data and not 'ls' itself. Is >>>>>> this correct? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> I would dig into the busybox ls code. Wanting to allocate a block of >>>>> 512k in a single chunk seems a bit crazy. >>>>> >>>>> Regards >>>>> Greg >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 5:49 PM, Larry Baker <ba...@usgs.gov >>>>>> <mailto:ba...@usgs.gov>> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Luis, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On 29 Oct 2012, at 8:32 AM, Luis Alves wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> DMA: 36*4kB 30*8kB 29*16kB 21*32kB 6*64kB 7*128kB 4*256kB 3*512kB >>>>>>> 0*1024kB 0*2048kB 0*4096kB = 5360kB >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> The largest block of memory your system has available is 524288 >>>>>>> (512*1024). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Allocation of length 528384 from process 94 (ls) failed >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> The requested size is larger than that, so uClinux tries to allocate the >>>>>>> next larger block size (1024K). There are none available. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Any sugestion? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I do not know what determines how much memory ls allocates. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I have similar memory allocation failures on my system. It does not >>>>>>> appear >>>>>>> to use a shared uclibc. I do not know (yet) how to enable building a >>>>>>> shared >>>>>>> uclibc or how to change the builds to use it. If the instructions are >>>>>>> straightforward, I would like to hear from someone. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Regards, >>>>>>> Luis >>>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>>> uClinux-dev mailing list >>>>>>> uClinux-dev@uclinux.org <mailto:uClinux-dev@uclinux.org> >>>>>>> http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/listinfo/uclinux-dev >>>>>>> This message was resent by uclinux-dev@uclinux.org >>>>>>> <mailto:uclinux-dev@uclinux.org> >>>>>>> To unsubscribe see: >>>>>>> http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/options/uclinux-dev >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Larry Baker >>>>>>> US Geological Survey >>>>>>> 650-329-5608 >>>>>>> ba...@usgs.gov <mailto:ba...@usgs.gov> >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> uClinux-dev mailing list >>>>>> uClinux-dev@uclinux.org <mailto:uClinux-dev@uclinux.org> >>>>>> http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/listinfo/uclinux-dev >>>>>> This message was resent by uclinux-dev@uclinux.org >>>>>> <mailto:uclinux-dev@uclinux.org> >>>>>> To unsubscribe see: >>>>>> http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/options/uclinux-dev >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>> Greg Ungerer -- Principal Engineer EMAIL: g...@snapgear.com >>>>> <mailto:g...@snapgear.com> >>>>> SnapGear Group, McAfee PHONE: +61 7 3435 2888 >>>>> 8 Gardner Close FAX: +61 7 3217 5323 >>>>> Milton, QLD, 4064, Australia WEB: http://www.SnapGear.com >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>> Greg Ungerer -- Principal Engineer EMAIL: g...@snapgear.com >>> <mailto:g...@snapgear.com> >>> SnapGear Group, McAfee PHONE: +61 7 3435 2888 >>> 8 Gardner Close, FAX: +61 7 3891 3630 >>> Milton, QLD, 4064, Australia WEB: http://www.SnapGear.com >> >> Larry Baker >> US Geological Survey >> 650-329-5608 >> ba...@usgs.gov <mailto:ba...@usgs.gov> >> >> >> > > > -- > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Greg Ungerer -- Principal Engineer EMAIL: g...@snapgear.com > SnapGear Group, McAfee PHONE: +61 7 3435 2888 > 8 Gardner Close FAX: +61 7 3217 5323 > Milton, QLD, 4064, Australia WEB: http://www.SnapGear.com Larry Baker US Geological Survey 650-329-5608 ba...@usgs.gov _______________________________________________ uClinux-dev mailing list uClinux-dev@uclinux.org http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/listinfo/uclinux-dev This message was resent by uclinux-dev@uclinux.org To unsubscribe see: http://mailman.uclinux.org/mailman/options/uclinux-dev
