* index towards 0 implies failure is due to lack of memory
* index towards 1000 implies failure is due to fragmentation
*
- * Only compact if a failure would be due to fragmentation.
+ * Only compact if a failure would be due to fragmentation. Also
+ * ignore fragindex for non-costly orders where the alternative to
+ * a successful reclaim/compaction is OOM. Fragindex and the
+ * vm.extfrag_threshold sysctl is meant as a heuristic to prevent
+ * excessive compaction for costly orders, but it should not be at the
+ * expense of system stability.
*/
- if (ret == COMPACT_CONTINUE) {
+ if (ret == COMPACT_CONTINUE && (order > PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)) {
fragindex = fragmentation_index(zone, order);
if (fragindex >= 0 && fragindex <= sysctl_extfrag_threshold)
ret = COMPACT_NOT_SUITABLE_ZONE;