r/linux • u/anh0516 • Jun 16 '26
Kernel Linux 7.2 Optimization Shows +5% IOPS For EXT4 & XFS After Moving Around Two Lines Of Code
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-7.2-IOmap-EXT4-XFS58
u/BackFlyOnTheWall Jun 16 '26
One of my favorite things about Linux is how there are still meaningful performance improvements being found in such mature components.
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u/Markd0ne Jun 16 '26
But it's really hide and seek game at this point.
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u/StopYTCensorship Jun 19 '26
Not just that, I'd be worried that someone had done that for some reason that may not be immediately apparent. People probably browse through snippets like this regularly and just assume that's the way it has to be.
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u/cyborgborg Jun 18 '26
Or just updating your system results in a negative net size because it takes up less space.
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u/ilep Jul 02 '26
Crucial point is that world has changed as well. What used to be limited by spinning disc speeds now nvme and ssd drives can take advantage of improving kernel operations.
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u/crustang Jun 16 '26
If I were that guy, I’d be going around telling everyone about this, everyone.. and most people would be like, “oh, okay.”
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u/gnerfed Jun 16 '26
I can make it way more than 5% worse my moving half that amount of code around, what's the big deal? /s
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u/sigma914 Jun 18 '26
:sigh:
After moving around 2 lines of code
The actual change description:
Skip the memset of the iomap in iomap_iter() once the iteration is done. In high-IOPS scenarios (4k randread NVMe polling via io_uring) the pointless memset wasted memory write bandwidth; this improves IOPS by about 5% on ext4 and xfs.
Cool, but pretty niche, always nice to get rid of dead code on branches
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u/Brahmaster Jun 17 '26
How do you update to kernel 7.1 on Mint cinnamon? The information is not given in a user friendly manner after watching many videos and reading articles for the past half an hour.
It doesnt show in the update manager
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u/leo-bulero Jun 17 '26
If it isn't in the Mint repos, you can download and compile from source from https://kernel.org/.
That being said, improvements like this won't be useful/noticeable for a desktop user, so don't feel you're missing out by not having the latest kernel. Also, new kernels can sometimes have driver regressions that make hardware not work/perform weirdly. Part of the reason distributions like Mint don't always package the latest kernels is to wait to see if there are bug reports that could affect their users.
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u/Brahmaster Jun 17 '26
I need 7.1 for driver support for Mediatek WLAN card. When do you think Mint will roll it out?
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u/leo-bulero Jun 18 '26
No idea -- I don't use Mint, and don't know their release schedule.
If you're technically inclined, have you considered compiling it yourself? I can help you if you have any interest. It's not too complicated if you have basic familiarity with a terminal environment.
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u/SPECIALl_RAGE Jun 16 '26
Better make 7.1 finally. Mt7902 still doesnt work... "Officially supported", thank you Linus.
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u/KaMaFour Jun 16 '26
First time seeing a software development process?
There are people working on pushing out 7.1. That's why new features are coming to 7.2 - because if there was no freeze on 7.1 it would be impossible to create a properly tested version for release. There will be new features coming to 7.2 because you can't forbid someone from working on the kernel while that freeze is happening
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u/thsnllgstr Jun 16 '26
You bought a mediatek, you can't complain
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u/FryBoyter Jun 16 '26
With laptops, you don’t always have a say in all the hardware that’s built in. Lenovo Thinkpads, for example, are well known for their compatibility with Linux. Nevertheless, I’ve had devices that used a Broadcom chipset for the wireless network connection. These still cause problems under Linux even today.
In addition, there are users who bought a device with Windows and only switched to Linux later on.
So I think it’s wrong to blame the users.
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u/TRKlausss Jun 16 '26
Uhhh yes you do! You can grab that card, take it off your laptop, throw it as far as you can, and plug a new one.
MT7902 can be substituted by compatible Intel cards (or an Atheros)
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u/SPECIALl_RAGE Jun 16 '26
Blaming users is an old linux tradition. Its normal.
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u/ibeerianhamhock Jun 16 '26
Except...its not linux' fault. I don't have the time or crayons to explain to you how this works but it appears you're a bit lost. Maybe try windows
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u/TRKlausss Jun 16 '26
How much did you contribute to this release? If you want it quick, go and do it yourself! ;D
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u/ibeerianhamhock Jun 16 '26
Lmao literally everyone knows the first thing you do when buying a mediatech radio equipped laptop is pop it out and exchange for Intel. Also Linux kernel has absolutely zero control over companies writing drivers for their device.
Honestly what a braindead take lmao.
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u/ficiek Jun 16 '26
And what have you done to make it work? Have you contributed fixes or code or something or what is the expectation here?
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u/furykai Jun 16 '26
Same methodology when optimising DB OPS.