synchronous readahead makes more sense. b) clear PG_readahead => implicit clear of PG_reclaim one(and only one) page will not be reclaimed in time it can be avoided by checking PageWriteback(page) in readahead first c) set PG_reclaim => implicit set of PG_readahead will confuse readahead and make it restart the size rampup process it's a trivial problem, and can mostly be avoided by checking PageWriteback(page) first in readahead d) set PG_readahead => implicit set of PG_reclaim PG_readahead will never be set on already cached pages. PG_reclaim will always be cleared on dirtying a page. so not a problem. In summary, a) we get better behavior b,d) possible interactions can be avoided c) racy condition exists that might affect readahead, but the chance is _really_ low, and the hurt on readahead is trivial. Compound pages also use PG_reclaim, but for now they do not interact with reclaim/readahead code. Signed-off-by: Fengguang Wu Cc: Rusty Russell Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds nï’¢–>x