Remove maxmem and maxmemtot options

> The option 'maxmem' ('mm') is used to set the maximum memory used for one
> buffer (in kilobytes).  'maxmemtot' is used to set the maximum memory used for
> all buffers (in kilobytes).  The defaults depend on the system used.  These
> are not hard limits, but tell Vim when to move text into a swap file.  If you
> don't like Vim to swap to a file, set 'maxmem' and 'maxmemtot' to a very large
> value.  The swap file will then only be used for recovery.  If you don't want
> a swap file at all, set 'updatecount' to 0, or use the "-n" argument when
> starting Vim.

On today's systems these values are huge (4GB in my machine with 8GB of RAM
since it's set as half the available memory by default) so the limits are
never reached in practice, but Vim wastes a lot of time checking if the limit
was reached.

If the limit is reached Vim starts saving pieces of the swap file that were in
memory to the disk. Said in a different way: Vim implements its own memory
swapping mechanism. This is unnecessary and inefficient since the operating
system already virtualized the memory and will swap to the disk if programs
start using too much memory.

This change does...

1. Reduce the number of config options and need for documentation.
2. Make the code more efficient as we don't have to keep track of memory usage
   nor check if the memory limits were reached to start swapping to disk every
   time we need memory for buffers.
3. Simplify the code. Once `memfile.c` is simple enough it could be replaced by
   actual operating system memory mapping (`mmap`, `MemoryViewOfFile`...).

This change does not prevent Vim to recover changes from swap files since the
swapping code is never triggered with the huge limits set by default.

1 files changed, 9 insertions, 138 deletions

diff --git a/src/nvim/memfile.c b/src/nvim/memfile.c
index 5d6639c4d0..7f40c5b10e 100644
--- a/src/nvim/memfile.c
+++ b/src/nvim/memfile.c
@@ -57,8 +57,6 @@
 #define MEMFILE_PAGE_SIZE 4096       /// default page size
 
 
-static size_t total_mem_used = 0;    /// total memory used for memfiles
-
 #ifdef INCLUDE_GENERATED_DECLARATIONS
 # include "memfile.c.generated.h"
 #endif
@@ -95,7 +93,6 @@ memfile_T *mf_open(char_u *fname, int flags)
   mfp->mf_used_first = NULL;         // used list is empty
   mfp->mf_used_last = NULL;
   mfp->mf_dirty = false;
-  mfp->mf_used_count = 0;
   mf_hash_init(&mfp->mf_hash);
   mf_hash_init(&mfp->mf_trans);
   mfp->mf_page_size = MEMFILE_PAGE_SIZE;
@@ -131,25 +128,6 @@ memfile_T *mf_open(char_u *fname, int flags)
   mfp->mf_neg_count = 0;
   mfp->mf_infile_count = mfp->mf_blocknr_max;
 
-  // Compute maximum number of pages ('maxmem' is in Kbytes):
-  //         'mammem' * 1Kbyte / page-size-in-bytes.
-  // Avoid overflow by first reducing page size as much as possible.
-  {
-    int shift = 10;
-    unsigned page_size = mfp->mf_page_size;
-
-    while (shift > 0 && (page_size & 1) == 0) {
-      page_size /= 2;
-      --shift;
-    }
-
-    assert(p_mm <= LONG_MAX >> shift);  // check we don't overflow
-    assert((uintmax_t)(p_mm << shift) <= UINT_MAX);  // check we can cast safely
-    mfp->mf_used_count_max = (unsigned)(p_mm << shift) / page_size;
-    if (mfp->mf_used_count_max < 10)
-      mfp->mf_used_count_max = 10;
-  }
-
   return mfp;
 }
 
@@ -193,7 +171,6 @@ void mf_close(memfile_T *mfp, bool del_file)
 
   // free entries in used list
   for (bhdr_T *hp = mfp->mf_used_first, *nextp; hp != NULL; hp = nextp) {
-    total_mem_used -= hp->bh_page_count * mfp->mf_page_size;
     nextp = hp->bh_next;
     mf_free_bhdr(hp);
   }
@@ -241,13 +218,6 @@ void mf_close_file(buf_T *buf, bool getlines)
 /// and the size it indicates differs from what was guessed.
 void mf_new_page_size(memfile_T *mfp, unsigned new_size)
 {
-  // Correct the memory used for block 0 to the new size, because it will be
-  // freed with that size later on.
-  if (new_size >= mfp->mf_page_size) {
-    total_mem_used += new_size - mfp->mf_page_size;
-  } else {
-    total_mem_used -= mfp->mf_page_size - new_size;
-  }
   mfp->mf_page_size = new_size;
 }
 
@@ -257,10 +227,7 @@ void mf_new_page_size(memfile_T *mfp, unsigned new_size)
 /// @param page_count  Desired number of pages.
 bhdr_T *mf_new(memfile_T *mfp, bool negative, unsigned page_count)
 {
-  // If we reached the maximum size for the used memory blocks, release one.
-  // If a bhdr_T is returned, use it and adjust the page_count if necessary.
-  // If no bhdr_T is returned, a new one will be created.
-  bhdr_T *hp = mf_release(mfp, page_count);  // the block to be returned
+  bhdr_T *hp = NULL;
 
   // Decide on the number to use:
   // If there is a free block, use its number.
@@ -268,34 +235,22 @@ bhdr_T *mf_new(memfile_T *mfp, bool negative, unsigned page_count)
   // a positive number.
   bhdr_T *freep = mfp->mf_free_first;        // first free block
   if (!negative && freep != NULL && freep->bh_page_count >= page_count) {
-    // If the block in the free list has more pages, take only the number
-    // of pages needed and allocate a new bhdr_T with data.
-    //
-    // If the number of pages matches and mf_release() did not return a
-    // bhdr_T, use the bhdr_T from the free list and allocate the data.
-    //
-    // If the number of pages matches and mf_release() returned a bhdr_T,
-    // just use the number and free the bhdr_T from the free list
     if (freep->bh_page_count > page_count) {
-      if (hp == NULL) {
-        hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
-      }
+      // If the block in the free list has more pages, take only the number
+      // of pages needed and allocate a new bhdr_T with data.
+      hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
       hp->bh_bnum = freep->bh_bnum;
       freep->bh_bnum += page_count;
       freep->bh_page_count -= page_count;
-    } else if (hp == NULL) {    // need to allocate memory for this block
+    } else {    // need to allocate memory for this block
+      // If the number of pages matches use the bhdr_T from the free list and
+      // allocate the data.
       void *p = xmalloc(mfp->mf_page_size * page_count);
       hp = mf_rem_free(mfp);
       hp->bh_data = p;
-    } else {                    // use the number, remove entry from free list
-      freep = mf_rem_free(mfp);
-      hp->bh_bnum = freep->bh_bnum;
-      xfree(freep);
     }
   } else {                      // get a new number
-    if (hp == NULL) {
-      hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
-    }
+    hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
     if (negative) {
       hp->bh_bnum = mfp->mf_blocknr_min--;
       mfp->mf_neg_count++;
@@ -336,13 +291,7 @@ bhdr_T *mf_get(memfile_T *mfp, blocknr_T nr, unsigned page_count)
 
     // could check here if the block is in the free list
 
-    // Check if we need to flush an existing block.
-    // If so, use that block.
-    // If not, allocate a new block.
-    hp = mf_release(mfp, page_count);
-    if (hp == NULL) {
-      hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
-    }
+    hp = mf_alloc_bhdr(mfp, page_count);
 
     hp->bh_bnum = nr;
     hp->bh_flags = 0;
@@ -508,8 +457,6 @@ static void mf_ins_used(memfile_T *mfp, bhdr_T *hp)
   } else {
     hp->bh_next->bh_prev = hp;
   }
-  mfp->mf_used_count += hp->bh_page_count;
-  total_mem_used += hp->bh_page_count * mfp->mf_page_size;
 }
 
 /// Remove block from memfile's used list.
@@ -524,82 +471,6 @@ static void mf_rem_used(memfile_T *mfp, bhdr_T *hp)
     mfp->mf_used_first = hp->bh_next;
   else
     hp->bh_prev->bh_next = hp->bh_next;
-
-  mfp->mf_used_count -= hp->bh_page_count;
-  total_mem_used -= hp->bh_page_count * mfp->mf_page_size;
-}
-
-/// Try to release the least recently used block from the used list if the
-/// number of used memory blocks gets too big.
-///
-/// @return  The block header, when release needed and possible.
-///              Resulting block header includes memory block, so it can be
-///              reused.  Page count is checked to be right.
-///          NULL, when release not needed, or not possible.
-///              Not needed when number of blocks less than allowed maximum and
-///              total memory used below 'maxmemtot'.
-///              Not possible when:
-///              - Called while closing file.
-///              - Tried to create swap file but couldn't.
-///              - All blocks are locked.
-///              - Unlocked dirty block found, but flush failed.
-static bhdr_T *mf_release(memfile_T *mfp, unsigned page_count)
-{
-  // don't release while in mf_close_file()
-  if (mf_dont_release)
-    return NULL;
-
-  /// Need to release a block if the number of blocks for this memfile is
-  /// higher than the maximum one or total memory used is over 'maxmemtot'.
-  bool need_release = (mfp->mf_used_count >= mfp->mf_used_count_max
-                       || (total_mem_used >> 10) >= (size_t)p_mmt);
-
-  /// Try to create swap file if the amount of memory used is getting too high.
-  if (mfp->mf_fd < 0 && need_release && p_uc) {
-    // find for which buffer this memfile is
-    buf_T *buf = NULL;
-    FOR_ALL_BUFFERS(bp) {
-      if (bp->b_ml.ml_mfp == mfp) {
-        buf = bp;
-        break;
-      }
-    }
-    if (buf != NULL && buf->b_may_swap) {
-      ml_open_file(buf);
-    }
-  }
-
-  /// Don't release a block if:
-  ///     there is no file for this memfile
-  ///     or
-  ///         the number of blocks for this memfile is lower than the maximum
-  ///         and
-  ///         total memory used is not up to 'maxmemtot'
-  if (mfp->mf_fd < 0 || !need_release)
-    return NULL;
-
-  bhdr_T *hp;
-  for (hp = mfp->mf_used_last; hp != NULL; hp = hp->bh_prev)
-    if (!(hp->bh_flags & BH_LOCKED))
-      break;
-  if (hp == NULL)       // not a single one that can be released
-    return NULL;
-
-  // If the block is dirty, write it.
-  // If the write fails we don't free it.
-  if ((hp->bh_flags & BH_DIRTY) && mf_write(mfp, hp) == FAIL)
-    return NULL;
-
-  mf_rem_used(mfp, hp);
-  mf_rem_hash(mfp, hp);
-
-  /// Make sure page_count of bh_data is right.
-  if (hp->bh_page_count != page_count) {
-    xfree(hp->bh_data);
-    hp->bh_data = xmalloc(mfp->mf_page_size * page_count);
-    hp->bh_page_count = page_count;
-  }
-  return hp;
 }
 
 /// Release as many blocks as possible.