[dm-devel] [PATCH] dm-writeboost: Remove unsure BUG() from init_rambuf_pool

[Alasdair G Kergon]

On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 08:40:52PM +0900, Satoru Takeuchi wrote:
> In addition, I'd like to know your opinion about whether setting
> the upper limit of nr_rambuf_pool argument is neccesary or not.
 
1) If it's a parameter passed from userspace under the control of the
sysadmin, then you should just trust the sysadmin to set a sensible
value, and only return an error if the value they ask for is unobtainable.

Example: dm-ioctl.c copy_params()

2) If certain large values would be useless, leaving no memory for
anything else, then you could apply a sensible limit based on the amount 
of memory available.

Example: dm_bufio.c 

 * Memory management policy:
 *      Limit the number of buffers to DM_BUFIO_MEMORY_PERCENT of main memory
 *      or DM_BUFIO_VMALLOC_PERCENT of vmalloc memory (whichever is lower).
 *      Always allocate at least DM_BUFIO_MIN_BUFFERS buffers.

Alasdair