On 2018-04-10 07:06 PM, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
On Tue, 10 Apr 2018, yuank...@codeaurora.org wrote:
On 2018-04-10 05:10 PM, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> On Tue, 10 Apr 2018, yuank...@codeaurora.org wrote:
> > On 2018-04-10 04:00 PM, Rafael J. Wysocki wrote:
> > > On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 9:33 AM, <yuank...@codeaurora.org> wrote:
> > > > From: John Zhao <yuank...@codeaurora.org>
> > > >
> > > > Variable tick_stopped returned by tick_nohz_tick_stopped
> > > > can have only true / false values. Since the return type
> > > > of the tick_nohz_tick_stopped is also bool, variable
> > > > tick_stopped nice to have data type as bool in place of unsigned int.
> > > > Moreover, the executed instructions cost could be minimal
> > > > without potiential data type conversion.
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: John Zhao <yuank...@codeaurora.org>
> > > > ---
> > > > kernel/time/tick-sched.h | 2 +-
> > > > 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> > > >
> > > > diff --git a/kernel/time/tick-sched.h b/kernel/time/tick-sched.h
> > > > index 6de959a..4d34309 100644
> > > > --- a/kernel/time/tick-sched.h
> > > > +++ b/kernel/time/tick-sched.h
> > > > @@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ struct tick_sched {
> > > > unsigned long check_clocks;
> > > > enum tick_nohz_mode nohz_mode;
> > > >
> > > > + bool tick_stopped : 1;
> > > > unsigned int inidle : 1;
> > > > - unsigned int tick_stopped : 1;
> > > > unsigned int idle_active : 1;
> > > > unsigned int do_timer_last : 1;
> > > > unsigned int got_idle_tick : 1;
> > >
> > > I don't think this is a good idea at all.
> > >
> > > Please see https://lkml.org/lkml/2017/11/21/384 for example.
> > [ZJ] Thanks for this sharing. Looks like, this patch fall into the case of
> > "Maybe".
>
> This patch falls into the case 'pointless' because it adds extra storage
[ZJ] 1 bit vs 1 bit. no more.
Groan. No. Care to look at the data structure? You create a new
storage,
[ZJ] Say, {unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int,
unsigned int} becomes
{bool , unsigned int, unsigned int, unsigned int,
unsigned int}
As specified by the rule No.10 at the section 6.7.2.1 of C99 TC2 as:
"If enough space remains, a bit-field that immediately follows another
bit-field in a
structure shall be packed into adjacent bits of the same unit." What
is the new storage so far?
which is incidentally merged into the other bitfield by the compiler
at a
different bit position, but there is no guarantee that a compiler
does
that. It's free to use distinct storage for that bool based bit.
[ZJ] Per the rule No.10 at section 6.7.2.1 of C99 TC2 as:
" If insufficient space remains, whether a bit-field that does
not fit is put into
the next unit or overlaps adjacent units is
implementation-defined."
So, implementation is never mind which type will be stored if any.
>> > for no benefit at all.
[ZJ] tick_stopped is returned by the tick_nohz_tick_stopped() which
is bool.
The benefit is no any potiential type conversion could be minded.
A bit stays a bit. 'bool foo : 1;' or 'unsigned int foo : 1' has to
be
evaluated as a bit. So there is a type conversion from BIT to bool
required
because BIT != bool.
[ZJ] Per the rule No.9 at section 6.7.2.1 of C99 TC2 as:
"If the value 0 or 1 is stored into a nonzero-width
bit-field of types
_Bool, the value of the bit-field shall compare equal to the value
stored."
Obviously, it is nothing related to type conversion actually.
By chance the evaluation can be done by evaluating the byte in which
the
bit is placed just because the compiler knows that the remaining bits
are
not used. There is no guarantee that this is done, it happens to be
true
for a particular compiler.
[ZJ] Actually, such as GCC owe that kind of guarantee to be promised
by ABI.
But that does not make it any more interesting. It just makes the
code
harder to read and eventually leads to bigger storage.
[ZJ] To get the benctifit to be profiled, it is given as:
number of instructions of function tick_nohz_tick_stopped():
original: 17
patched: 14
Which was saved is:
movzbl %al, %eax
testl %eax, %eax
setne %al
Say, 3 / 17 = 17 % could be gained in the instruction executed
for this function can be evaluated.
Note:
The environment I used is:
OS : Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 LTS
gcc: 6.3.0 (without optimization
for in general purpose)