Re: [PATCH 1/2] x86/bitops: implement __test_bit

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Mon Aug 31 2015 - 04:15:36 EST



* Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> > Disassembly of section .text:
> >
> > 00000000 <__variable_test_bit>:
> > __variable_test_bit():
> > 0: 8b 54 24 08 mov 0x8(%esp),%edx
> > 4: 8b 44 24 04 mov 0x4(%esp),%eax
> > 8: 0f a3 02 bt %eax,(%edx)
> > b: 19 c0 sbb %eax,%eax
> > d: c3 ret
> > e: 66 90 xchg %ax,%ax
> >
> > 00000010 <__constant_test_bit>:
> > __constant_test_bit():
> > 10: 8b 4c 24 04 mov 0x4(%esp),%ecx
> > 14: 8b 44 24 08 mov 0x8(%esp),%eax
> > 18: 89 ca mov %ecx,%edx
> > 1a: c1 fa 04 sar $0x4,%edx
> > 1d: 8b 04 90 mov (%eax,%edx,4),%eax
> > 20: d3 e8 shr %cl,%eax
> > 22: 83 e0 01 and $0x1,%eax
> > 25: c3 ret
>
> But that's due to the forced interface of generating a return code. Please
> compare it at an inlined usage site, where GCC is free to do the comparison
> directly and use the result in flags.

So I was thinking about the patch below on top of yours.

But turns out GCC indeed generates worse code even under the best of
circumstances. For example the nested_vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr() change:

@@ -4275,24 +4275,24 @@ static void nested_vmx_disable_intercept
*/
if (msr <= 0x1fff) {
if (type & MSR_TYPE_R &&
- !test_bit(msr, msr_bitmap_l1 + 0x000 / f))
+ !__test_bit(msr, msr_bitmap_l1 + 0x000 / f))
/* read-low */
__clear_bit(msr, msr_bitmap_nested + 0x000 / f);

before (i.e. your series):

ffffffff818b1082: 89 d0 mov %edx,%eax
ffffffff818b1084: 48 0f a3 07 bt %rax,(%rdi)
ffffffff818b1088: 45 19 c0 sbb %r8d,%r8d
ffffffff818b108b: 45 85 c0 test %r8d,%r8d
ffffffff818b108e: 75 04 jne ffffffff818b1094 <nested_vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr+0x43>

after (with my 'optimization' patch applied):

ffffffff818b1091: 89 d0 mov %edx,%eax
ffffffff818b1093: 49 89 c0 mov %rax,%r8
ffffffff818b1096: 49 c1 f8 06 sar $0x6,%r8
ffffffff818b109a: 4e 8b 04 c7 mov (%rdi,%r8,8),%r8
ffffffff818b109e: 49 0f a3 d0 bt %rdx,%r8
ffffffff818b10a2: 72 04 jb ffffffff818b10a8 <nested_vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr+0x48>

So GCC when left to its own devices, generates one more instruction and 4 more
bytes. Why does GCC do that? Why doesn't it use BT directly and use the flag, i.e.
something like [pseudocode]:

ffffffff818b1082: 89 d0 mov %edx,%eax
ffffffff818b1084: 48 0f a3 07 bt %rax,(%rdi)
ffffffff818b108e: 75 04 jne ffffffff818b1094 <nested_vmx_disable_intercept_for_msr+0x43>

?

In any case I take back my objection:

Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks,

Ingo


---
arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h | 19 +------------------
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 18 deletions(-)

Index: tip/arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h
===================================================================
--- tip.orig/arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h
+++ tip/arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h
@@ -323,24 +323,12 @@ static inline int variable_test_bit(long
return oldbit;
}

-static __always_inline int __constant_test_bit(long nr, const unsigned long *addr)
+static __always_inline int __test_bit(long nr, const unsigned long *addr)
{
return ((1UL << (nr & (BITS_PER_LONG-1))) &
(addr[nr >> _BITOPS_LONG_SHIFT])) != 0;
}

-static inline int __variable_test_bit(long nr, const unsigned long *addr)
-{
- int oldbit;
-
- asm volatile("bt %2,%1\n\t"
- "sbb %0,%0"
- : "=r" (oldbit)
- : "m" (*addr), "Ir" (nr));
-
- return oldbit;
-}
-
#if 0 /* Fool kernel-doc since it doesn't do macros yet */
/**
* test_bit - Determine whether a bit is set
@@ -362,11 +350,6 @@ static int __test_bit(int nr, const vola
? constant_test_bit((nr), (addr)) \
: variable_test_bit((nr), (addr)))

-#define __test_bit(nr, addr) \
- (__builtin_constant_p((nr)) \
- ? __constant_test_bit((nr), (addr)) \
- : __variable_test_bit((nr), (addr)))
-
/**
* __ffs - find first set bit in word
* @word: The word to search

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