Merge tag 'docs-5.3' of git://git.lwn.net/linux

Pull Documentation updates from Jonathan Corbet:
 "It's been a relatively busy cycle for docs:

   - A fair pile of RST conversions, many from Mauro. These create more
     than the usual number of simple but annoying merge conflicts with
     other trees, unfortunately. He has a lot more of these waiting on
     the wings that, I think, will go to you directly later on.

   - A new document on how to use merges and rebases in kernel repos,
     and one on Spectre vulnerabilities.

   - Various improvements to the build system, including automatic
     markup of function() references because some people, for reasons I
     will never understand, were of the opinion that
     :c:func:``function()`` is unattractive and not fun to type.

   - We now recommend using sphinx 1.7, but still support back to 1.4.

   - Lots of smaller improvements, warning fixes, typo fixes, etc"

* tag 'docs-5.3' of git://git.lwn.net/linux: (129 commits)
  docs: automarkup.py: ignore exceptions when seeking for xrefs
  docs: Move binderfs to admin-guide
  Disable Sphinx SmartyPants in HTML output
  doc: RCU callback locks need only _bh, not necessarily _irq
  docs: format kernel-parameters -- as code
  Doc : doc-guide : Fix a typo
  platform: x86: get rid of a non-existent document
  Add the RCU docs to the core-api manual
  Documentation: RCU: Add TOC tree hooks
  Documentation: RCU: Rename txt files to rst
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU UP systems to reST
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU linked list to reST
  Documentation: RCU: Convert RCU basic concepts to reST
  docs: filesystems: Remove uneeded .rst extension on toctables
  scripts/sphinx-pre-install: fix out-of-tree build
  docs: zh_CN: submitting-drivers.rst: Remove a duplicated Documentation/
  Documentation: PGP: update for newer HW devices
  Documentation: Add section about CPU vulnerabilities for Spectre
  Documentation: platform: Delete x86-laptop-drivers.txt
  docs: Note that :c:func: should no longer be used
  ...

1 files changed, 101 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/device-mapper/dm-service-time.rst b/Documentation/device-mapper/dm-service-time.rst
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+===============
+dm-service-time
+===============
+
+dm-service-time is a path selector module for device-mapper targets,
+which selects a path with the shortest estimated service time for
+the incoming I/O.
+
+The service time for each path is estimated by dividing the total size
+of in-flight I/Os on a path with the performance value of the path.
+The performance value is a relative throughput value among all paths
+in a path-group, and it can be specified as a table argument.
+
+The path selector name is 'service-time'.
+
+Table parameters for each path:
+
+    [<repeat_count> [<relative_throughput>]]
+	<repeat_count>:
+			The number of I/Os to dispatch using the selected
+			path before switching to the next path.
+			If not given, internal default is used.  To check
+			the default value, see the activated table.
+	<relative_throughput>:
+			The relative throughput value of the path
+			among all paths in the path-group.
+			The valid range is 0-100.
+			If not given, minimum value '1' is used.
+			If '0' is given, the path isn't selected while
+			other paths having a positive value are available.
+
+Status for each path:
+
+    <status> <fail-count> <in-flight-size> <relative_throughput>
+	<status>:
+		'A' if the path is active, 'F' if the path is failed.
+	<fail-count>:
+		The number of path failures.
+	<in-flight-size>:
+		The size of in-flight I/Os on the path.
+	<relative_throughput>:
+		The relative throughput value of the path
+		among all paths in the path-group.
+
+
+Algorithm
+=========
+
+dm-service-time adds the I/O size to 'in-flight-size' when the I/O is
+dispatched and subtracts when completed.
+Basically, dm-service-time selects a path having minimum service time
+which is calculated by::
+
+	('in-flight-size' + 'size-of-incoming-io') / 'relative_throughput'
+
+However, some optimizations below are used to reduce the calculation
+as much as possible.
+
+	1. If the paths have the same 'relative_throughput', skip
+	   the division and just compare the 'in-flight-size'.
+
+	2. If the paths have the same 'in-flight-size', skip the division
+	   and just compare the 'relative_throughput'.
+
+	3. If some paths have non-zero 'relative_throughput' and others
+	   have zero 'relative_throughput', ignore those paths with zero
+	   'relative_throughput'.
+
+If such optimizations can't be applied, calculate service time, and
+compare service time.
+If calculated service time is equal, the path having maximum
+'relative_throughput' may be better.  So compare 'relative_throughput'
+then.
+
+
+Examples
+========
+In case that 2 paths (sda and sdb) are used with repeat_count == 128
+and sda has an average throughput 1GB/s and sdb has 4GB/s,
+'relative_throughput' value may be '1' for sda and '4' for sdb::
+
+  # echo "0 10 multipath 0 0 1 1 service-time 0 2 2 8:0 128 1 8:16 128 4" \
+    dmsetup create test
+  #
+  # dmsetup table
+  test: 0 10 multipath 0 0 1 1 service-time 0 2 2 8:0 128 1 8:16 128 4
+  #
+  # dmsetup status
+  test: 0 10 multipath 2 0 0 0 1 1 E 0 2 2 8:0 A 0 0 1 8:16 A 0 0 4
+
+
+Or '2' for sda and '8' for sdb would be also true::
+
+  # echo "0 10 multipath 0 0 1 1 service-time 0 2 2 8:0 128 2 8:16 128 8" \
+    dmsetup create test
+  #
+  # dmsetup table
+  test: 0 10 multipath 0 0 1 1 service-time 0 2 2 8:0 128 2 8:16 128 8
+  #
+  # dmsetup status
+  test: 0 10 multipath 2 0 0 0 1 1 E 0 2 2 8:0 A 0 0 2 8:16 A 0 0 8