From 543467d6fe97e27e22a26e367fda972dbefebbff Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Laveesh Bansal Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2026 14:50:58 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 1/2] writeback: fix 100% CPU usage when dirtytime_expire_interval is 0 When vm.dirtytime_expire_seconds is set to 0, wakeup_dirtytime_writeback() schedules delayed work with a delay of 0, causing immediate execution. The function then reschedules itself with 0 delay again, creating an infinite busy loop that causes 100% kworker CPU usage. Fix by: - Only scheduling delayed work in wakeup_dirtytime_writeback() when dirtytime_expire_interval is non-zero - Cancelling the delayed work in dirtytime_interval_handler() when the interval is set to 0 - Adding a guard in start_dirtytime_writeback() for defensive coding Tested by booting kernel in QEMU with virtme-ng: - Before fix: kworker CPU spikes to ~73% - After fix: CPU remains at normal levels - Setting interval back to non-zero correctly resumes writeback Fixes: a2f4870697a5 ("fs: make sure the timestamps for lazytime inodes eventually get written") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Closes: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=220227 Signed-off-by: Laveesh Bansal Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260106145059.543282-2-laveeshb@laveeshbansal.com Reviewed-by: Jan Kara Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner --- fs/fs-writeback.c | 14 ++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/fs/fs-writeback.c b/fs/fs-writeback.c index 6800886c4d10..cd21c74cd0e5 100644 --- a/fs/fs-writeback.c +++ b/fs/fs-writeback.c @@ -2492,7 +2492,8 @@ static void wakeup_dirtytime_writeback(struct work_struct *w) wb_wakeup(wb); } rcu_read_unlock(); - schedule_delayed_work(&dirtytime_work, dirtytime_expire_interval * HZ); + if (dirtytime_expire_interval) + schedule_delayed_work(&dirtytime_work, dirtytime_expire_interval * HZ); } static int dirtytime_interval_handler(const struct ctl_table *table, int write, @@ -2501,8 +2502,12 @@ static int dirtytime_interval_handler(const struct ctl_table *table, int write, int ret; ret = proc_dointvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos); - if (ret == 0 && write) - mod_delayed_work(system_percpu_wq, &dirtytime_work, 0); + if (ret == 0 && write) { + if (dirtytime_expire_interval) + mod_delayed_work(system_percpu_wq, &dirtytime_work, 0); + else + cancel_delayed_work_sync(&dirtytime_work); + } return ret; } @@ -2519,7 +2524,8 @@ static const struct ctl_table vm_fs_writeback_table[] = { static int __init start_dirtytime_writeback(void) { - schedule_delayed_work(&dirtytime_work, dirtytime_expire_interval * HZ); + if (dirtytime_expire_interval) + schedule_delayed_work(&dirtytime_work, dirtytime_expire_interval * HZ); register_sysctl_init("vm", vm_fs_writeback_table); return 0; } From 30ef9a20f1fdf6ab483d64fe3d54ba7d07b9b46f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Laveesh Bansal Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2026 14:50:59 +0000 Subject: [PATCH 2/2] docs: clarify that dirtytime_expire_seconds=0 disables writeback Document that setting vm.dirtytime_expire_seconds to zero disables periodic dirtytime writeback, matching the behavior of the related dirty_writeback_centisecs sysctl which already documents this. Signed-off-by: Laveesh Bansal Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260106145059.543282-3-laveeshb@laveeshbansal.com Reviewed-by: Jan Kara Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner --- Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst | 2 ++ 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst index 4d71211fdad8..e2fdbc521033 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst @@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ eventually gets pushed out to disk. This tunable is used to define when dirty inode is old enough to be eligible for writeback by the kernel flusher threads. And, it is also used as the interval to wakeup dirtytime_writeback thread. +Setting this to zero disables periodic dirtytime writeback. + dirty_writeback_centisecs =========================