Subject: Re: [Patch v2] skbuff: Hide GFP_ATOMIC page allocation failures for dropped packets

From: Ben Greear <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 May 2013 09:00:45 -0700

On 05/27/2013 03:41 PM, Francois Romieu wrote:
> [email-masked] <[email-masked]> :
> [...]
>> Failed GFP_ATOMIC allocations by the network stack result in dropped
>> packets, which will be received on a subsequent retransmit, and an
>> unnecessary, noisy warning with a kernel backtrace.
>>
>> These warnings are harmless, but they still cause users to panic and
>> file bug reports over dropped packets. It would be better to hide the
>> failed allocation warnings and backtraces, and let retransmits handle
>> dropped packets quietly.
>
> Linux VM may be perfect but device drivers do stupid things.
>
> Please don't paper over it just because some shit ends in your backyard.

We should rate-limit these messages at least.  When a system is low on memory
the logs can quickly fill up with useless OOM messages, further slowing
the system...

Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <[email-masked]>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com