tree 7eb411e56f381b65bcafd0aa750f6f6705f3e451
parent 1bac0497ef9af8d933860672223e38bd6ac4934a
author Steven Rostedt <srostedt@redhat.com> 1255466030 -0400
committer Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> 1255500833 +0200

function-graph/x86: Replace unbalanced ret with jmp

The function graph tracer replaces the return address with a hook
to trace the exit of the function call. This hook will finish by
returning to the real location the function should return to.

But the current implementation uses a ret to jump to the real
return location. This causes a imbalance between calls and ret.
That is the original function does a call, the ret goes to the
handler and then the handler does a ret without a matching call.

Although the function graph tracer itself still breaks the branch
predictor by replacing the original ret, by using a second ret and
causing an imbalance, it breaks the predictor even more.

This patch replaces the ret with a jmp to keep the calls and ret
balanced. I tested this on one box and it showed a 1.7% increase in
performance. Another box only showed a small 0.3% increase. But no
box that I tested this on showed a decrease in performance by
making this change.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Acked-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@polymtl.ca>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@gmail.com>
LKML-Reference: <20091013203425.042034383@goodmis.org>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>