JDK-7132029 : G1: mixed GC phase lasts for longer than it should
  • Type: Bug
  • Component: hotspot
  • Sub-Component: gc
  • Affected Version: hs23
  • Priority: P2
  • Status: Closed
  • Resolution: Fixed
  • OS: generic
  • CPU: generic
  • Submitted: 2012-01-20
  • Updated: 2013-09-18
  • Resolved: 2012-03-24
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JDK 7 JDK 8 Other
7u4Fixed 8Fixed hs23Fixed
Related Reports
Relates :  
JDK-7146246 - G1: expose some of the -XX flags that drive which old regions to collect during mixed GCs
Relates :  
JDK-7145441 - G1: collection set chooser-related cleanup
Relates :  
JDK-7146242 - G1: alternative heuristic on deciding which old regions not to collect
Description
It turns out that, under certain circumstances, G1 goes into "mixed GC" phase and does not come out of it in a timely manner. In some cases, several mixed GCs collect no old regions but are still considered "mixed". This, unfortunately, causes a serious issue: while we're in mixed GC mode we do not allow a new conc mark cycle to start. So, we have seen cases where a series of mixed GCs take place, the next cycle starts too late, and we end up with an evac failure / Full GC.

Many thanks to Charlie Hunt for discovering this.
Comments
EVALUATION http://hg.openjdk.java.net/lambda/lambda/hotspot/rev/a9647476d1a4
22-03-2012
EVALUATION http://hg.openjdk.java.net/hsx/hotspot-comp/hotspot/rev/a9647476d1a4
18-02-2012
EVALUATION http://hg.openjdk.java.net/hsx/hotspot-gc/hotspot/rev/a9647476d1a4
15-02-2012
EVALUATION One of the reasons this issue happens is that the code that adds old regions to the CSet is suboptimal when the young regions are predicted to take longer to collect that the pause time. It bails out early without actually adding any old regions but also does not flag that mixed GCs should not fail. So, it's possible to do a series of mixed GCs that have no old regions and that also block out the initiation of a conc mark cycle.
20-01-2012