NakayoshiFork

nakayoshi_fork gem solves CoW friendly problem on MRI 2.2 and later.

Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

gem 'nakayoshi_fork'

And then execute:

$ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

$ gem install nakayoshi_fork

Usage

You only need to require "nakayoshi-fork".

If you want to disable nakayoshi-fork, then use fork(nakayoshi: false) or fork(cow_friendly: false).

Mechanism

MRI 2.1 employs generational GC algorithms that separate YOUNG objects and OLD objects. Young objects will be promoted to old objects when they survive 1 GC. After surviving 1 GC, set OLD bit for each young objects. So that we can recognize the promoted objects are old objects. MRI 2.1 uses bitmap for the old object bit and it is CoW friendly.

However, Ruby 2.2 employs an algorithm to promote young objects after 3 GCs. To count GC surviving number, all of objects have age field per objects (2 bits field to count 0 to 3). Created objects are age 0, and age 3 objects are promoted (old) objects.

Unfortunately, age fileds are embed to object header, so that when there are many young objects, but promoted soon is problem because their object headers are written and mark as dirty page. This is why MRI 2.2 has CoW friendly problem on fork.

nakayoshi_fork gem promotes most of young objects before fork by invoking GC some times.

Result:

The following results are tests using nakayoshi-fork on my environment (2GB 64bit CPU Ubuntu machine).

Test script is here:

# make 2**(n+1) ary
def make_obj n
  if n > 0
    [make_obj(n-1), make_obj(n-1)]
  else
    []
  end
end

def object_count
  b = GC.stat[:total_allocated_objects] || GC.stat[:total_allocated_object]
  yield
  a = GC.stat[:total_allocated_objects] || GC.stat[:total_allocated_object]
  a - b
end

created = object_count{
  $objs = make_obj(21) # 4M objects -> 4M * 40B = 160MB
}

puts "created #{created} objects, consumed: #{created * 40 / (1024 * 1024)} MB"

def mem_usage
  _, total, used, free = `free -m -o | grep Mem`.split(/\s+/)
  {total_mem: total, used_mem: used, free_mem: free}
end

# make 10 processes
10.times{
  fork{
    puts 'before gc: ' + mem_usage.inspect
    sleep 5
    puts :GC
    GC.start
    sleep 5
    puts 'after gc :' + mem_usage.inspect
    sleep 5
  }
}
10.times{Process.wait}
puts 'after terminate all processes: ' + mem_usage.inspect

Without nakayoshi-fork:

ruby 2.0.0p402 (2014-02-11) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194305 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"386", :free_mem=>"1615"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"390", :free_mem=>"1611"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"391", :free_mem=>"1610"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"392", :free_mem=>"1609"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"392", :free_mem=>"1609"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"392", :free_mem=>"1609"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"394", :free_mem=>"1607"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"394", :free_mem=>"1607"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"394", :free_mem=>"1607"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"393", :free_mem=>"1607"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"421", :free_mem=>"1580"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"422", :free_mem=>"1579"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"425", :free_mem=>"1576"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"425", :free_mem=>"1576"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"424", :free_mem=>"1576"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"424", :free_mem=>"1577"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"422", :free_mem=>"1579"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"423", :free_mem=>"1578"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"423", :free_mem=>"1578"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"423", :free_mem=>"1578"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"385", :free_mem=>"1616"}

ruby 2.1.5p312 (2015-03-10 revision 49912) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194305 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"308", :free_mem=>"1693"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"309", :free_mem=>"1692"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"312", :free_mem=>"1689"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"314", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"314", :free_mem=>"1686"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"585", :free_mem=>"1416"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"587", :free_mem=>"1414"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"587", :free_mem=>"1414"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"587", :free_mem=>"1414"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"586", :free_mem=>"1415"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"307", :free_mem=>"1694"}

ruby 2.2.3p134 (2015-06-15 revision 50899) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194304 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"319", :free_mem=>"1682"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"321", :free_mem=>"1680"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"325", :free_mem=>"1675"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"335", :free_mem=>"1666"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"330", :free_mem=>"1671"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"351", :free_mem=>"1650"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"351", :free_mem=>"1650"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"353", :free_mem=>"1648"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"354", :free_mem=>"1647"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"354", :free_mem=>"1647"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1300", :free_mem=>"701"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1300", :free_mem=>"701"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1300", :free_mem=>"701"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1302", :free_mem=>"699"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1301", :free_mem=>"700"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1302", :free_mem=>"699"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1301", :free_mem=>"699"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1301", :free_mem=>"699"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1301", :free_mem=>"700"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1300", :free_mem=>"700"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"307", :free_mem=>"1693"}

ruby 2.3.0dev (2015-08-16 trunk 51564) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194304 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1691"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1691"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1691"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"312", :free_mem=>"1689"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"311", :free_mem=>"1690"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"314", :free_mem=>"1687"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"314", :free_mem=>"1687"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"316", :free_mem=>"1685"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"316", :free_mem=>"1685"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1268", :free_mem=>"732"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1269", :free_mem=>"732"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1269", :free_mem=>"732"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1269", :free_mem=>"732"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1270", :free_mem=>"731"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1270", :free_mem=>"731"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1270", :free_mem=>"731"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1270", :free_mem=>"731"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1269", :free_mem=>"731"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"1269", :free_mem=>"732"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"308", :free_mem=>"1693"}

You can see Ruby 2.2 and Ruby 2.3 consume memory after fork+GC.

Using nakayoshi-fork:

ruby 2.0.0p402 (2014-02-11) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194305 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"391", :free_mem=>"1610"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"394", :free_mem=>"1607"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"394", :free_mem=>"1607"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"395", :free_mem=>"1606"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"397", :free_mem=>"1604"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"396", :free_mem=>"1605"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"397", :free_mem=>"1604"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"396", :free_mem=>"1604"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"397", :free_mem=>"1604"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"396", :free_mem=>"1605"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"427", :free_mem=>"1574"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"425", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"425", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"425", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"426", :free_mem=>"1575"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"388", :free_mem=>"1613"}

ruby 2.1.5p312 (2015-03-10 revision 49912) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194305 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1690"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1685"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1637"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"363", :free_mem=>"1638"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1691"}

ruby 2.2.3p134 (2015-06-15 revision 50899) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194304 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"311", :free_mem=>"1690"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"311", :free_mem=>"1690"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"314", :free_mem=>"1687"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1684"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1684"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"368", :free_mem=>"1633"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"369", :free_mem=>"1632"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"369", :free_mem=>"1632"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"369", :free_mem=>"1632"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"311", :free_mem=>"1690"}

ruby 2.3.0dev (2015-08-16 trunk 51564) [x86_64-linux]
created 4194304 objects, consumed: 160 MB
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"312", :free_mem=>"1689"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"313", :free_mem=>"1688"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"312", :free_mem=>"1689"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1685"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"315", :free_mem=>"1686"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1684"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"317", :free_mem=>"1684"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"318", :free_mem=>"1683"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"319", :free_mem=>"1682"}
before gc: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"319", :free_mem=>"1682"}
...
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"361", :free_mem=>"1640"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"361", :free_mem=>"1640"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"361", :free_mem=>"1640"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"361", :free_mem=>"1640"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after gc : {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"362", :free_mem=>"1639"}
after terminate all processes: {:total_mem=>"2001", :used_mem=>"310", :free_mem=>"1691"}

You can see the improvement after GCs on MRI 2.2 and MRI 2.3-dev.

Contributing

1. Fork it ( https://github.com/[my-github-username]/nakayoshi_fork/fork )
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b my-new-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -am 'Add some feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin my-new-feature)
5. Create a new Pull Request