[PATCHv4 26/28] x86/vdso: Align VDSO functions by CPU L1 cache line

From: Dmitry Safonov
Date: Wed Jun 12 2019 - 15:32:11 EST


From: Andrei Vagin <avagin@xxxxxxxxx>

After performance testing VDSO patches a noticeable 20% regression was
found on gettime_perf selftest with a cold cache.
As it turns to be, before time namespaces introduction, VDSO functions
were quite aligned to cache lines, but adding a new code to adjust
timens offset inside namespace created a small shift and vdso functions
become unaligned on cache lines.

Add align to vdso functions with gcc option to fix performance drop.

Coping the resulting numbers from cover letter:

Hot CPU cache (more gettime_perf.c cycles - the better):
| before | CONFIG_TIME_NS=n | host | inside timens
--------|------------|------------------|-------------|-------------
cycles | 139887013 | 139453003 | 139899785 | 128792458
diff (%)| 100 | 99.7 | 100 | 92

Cold cache (lesser tsc per gettime_perf_cold.c cycle - the better):
| before | CONFIG_TIME_NS=n | host | inside timens
--------|------------|------------------|-------------|-------------
tsc | 6748 | 6718 | 6862 | 12682
diff (%)| 100 | 99.6 | 101.7 | 188

Measured on Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz

Co-developed-by: Dmitry Safonov <dima@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Andrei Vagin <avagin@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Dmitry Safonov <dima@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/entry/vdso/Makefile | 1 +
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/entry/vdso/Makefile b/arch/x86/entry/vdso/Makefile
index b58d34120fd8..c7bfd62d1fc3 100644
--- a/arch/x86/entry/vdso/Makefile
+++ b/arch/x86/entry/vdso/Makefile
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
#

KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(DISABLE_LTO)
+KBUILD_CFLAGS += -falign-functions=$(CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT)
KASAN_SANITIZE := n
UBSAN_SANITIZE := n
OBJECT_FILES_NON_STANDARD := y
--
2.22.0