selftests/mm: compaction_test: fix bogus test success and reduce probability of OOM-killer invocation
Reset nr_hugepages to zero before the start of the test.
If a non-zero number of hugepages is already set before the start of the
test, the following problems arise:
- The probability of the test getting OOM-killed increases. Proof:
The test wants to run on 80% of available memory to prevent OOM-killing
(see original code comments). Let the value of mem_free at the start
of the test, when nr_hugepages = 0, be x. In the other case, when
nr_hugepages > 0, let the memory consumed by hugepages be y. In the
former case, the test operates on 0.8 * x of memory. In the latter,
the test operates on 0.8 * (x - y) of memory, with y already filled,
hence, memory consumed is y + 0.8 * (x - y) = 0.8 * x + 0.2 * y > 0.8 *
x. Q.E.D
- The probability of a bogus test success increases. Proof: Let the
memory consumed by hugepages be greater than 25% of x, with x and y
defined as above. The definition of compaction_index is c_index = (x -
y)/z where z is the memory consumed by hugepages after trying to
increase them again. In check_compaction(), we set the number of
hugepages to zero, and then increase them back; the probability that
they will be set back to consume at least y amount of memory again is
very high (since there is not much delay between the two attempts of
changing nr_hugepages). Hence, z >= y > (x/4) (by the 25% assumption).
Therefore, c_index = (x - y)/z <= (x - y)/y = x/y - 1 < 4 - 1 = 3
hence, c_index can always be forced to be less than 3, thereby the test
succeeding always. Q.E.D
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20240521074358.675031-4-dev.jain@arm.com
Fixes: bd67d5c15cc1 ("Test compaction of mlocked memory")
Signed-off-by: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@arm.com>
Cc: Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>
Cc: Sri Jayaramappa <sjayaram@akamai.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>