static keys: Introduce 'struct static_key', static_key_true()/false() and static_key_slow_[inc|dec]()
So here's a boot tested patch on top of Jason's series that does
all the cleanups I talked about and turns jump labels into a
more intuitive to use facility. It should also address the
various misconceptions and confusions that surround jump labels.
Typical usage scenarios:
#include <linux/static_key.h>
struct static_key key = STATIC_KEY_INIT_TRUE;
if (static_key_false(&key))
do unlikely code
else
do likely code
Or:
if (static_key_true(&key))
do likely code
else
do unlikely code
The static key is modified via:
static_key_slow_inc(&key);
...
static_key_slow_dec(&key);
The 'slow' prefix makes it abundantly clear that this is an
expensive operation.
I've updated all in-kernel code to use this everywhere. Note
that I (intentionally) have not pushed through the rename
blindly through to the lowest levels: the actual jump-label
patching arch facility should be named like that, so we want to
decouple jump labels from the static-key facility a bit.
On non-jump-label enabled architectures static keys default to
likely()/unlikely() branches.
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Acked-by: Jason Baron <jbaron@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Cc: a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl
Cc: mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com
Cc: davem@davemloft.net
Cc: ddaney.cavm@gmail.com
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20120222085809.GA26397@elte.hu
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
diff --git a/arch/Kconfig b/arch/Kconfig
index 4f55c73..5b448a7 100644
--- a/arch/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/Kconfig
@@ -47,18 +47,29 @@
If in doubt, say "N".
config JUMP_LABEL
- bool "Optimize trace point call sites"
+ bool "Optimize very unlikely/likely branches"
depends on HAVE_ARCH_JUMP_LABEL
help
- If it is detected that the compiler has support for "asm goto",
- the kernel will compile trace point locations with just a
- nop instruction. When trace points are enabled, the nop will
- be converted to a jump to the trace function. This technique
- lowers overhead and stress on the branch prediction of the
- processor.
+ This option enables a transparent branch optimization that
+ makes certain almost-always-true or almost-always-false branch
+ conditions even cheaper to execute within the kernel.
- On i386, options added to the compiler flags may increase
- the size of the kernel slightly.
+ Certain performance-sensitive kernel code, such as trace points,
+ scheduler functionality, networking code and KVM have such
+ branches and include support for this optimization technique.
+
+ If it is detected that the compiler has support for "asm goto",
+ the kernel will compile such branches with just a nop
+ instruction. When the condition flag is toggled to true, the
+ nop will be converted to a jump instruction to execute the
+ conditional block of instructions.
+
+ This technique lowers overhead and stress on the branch prediction
+ of the processor and generally makes the kernel faster. The update
+ of the condition is slower, but those are always very rare.
+
+ ( On 32-bit x86, the necessary options added to the compiler
+ flags may increase the size of the kernel slightly. )
config OPTPROBES
def_bool y