Re: [PATCH V1 09/13] selftests/resctrl: Modularize fill_buf for new CAT test case

[Reinette Chatre]

Hi Sai,

On 3/10/2020 6:04 PM, Sai Praneeth Prakhya wrote:
> On Tue, 2020-03-10 at 14:59 -0700, Reinette Chatre wrote:
>> On 3/6/2020 7:40 PM, Sai Praneeth Prakhya wrote:
>>> Currently fill_buf (in-built benchmark) runs as a separate process and it
>>> runs indefinitely looping around given buffer either reading it or writing
>>> to it. But, some future test cases might want to start and stop looping
>>> around the buffer as they see fit. So, modularize fill_buf to support this
>>> use case.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Sai Praneeth Prakhya <sai.praneeth.prakhya@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> ---
>>>  tools/testing/selftests/resctrl/fill_buf.c | 66 ++++++++++++++++++++-----
>>> -----
>>>  1 file changed, 44 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
>>>
>>> diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/resctrl/fill_buf.c
>>> b/tools/testing/selftests/resctrl/fill_buf.c
>>> index 9ede7b63f059..204ae8870a32 100644
>>> --- a/tools/testing/selftests/resctrl/fill_buf.c
>>> +++ b/tools/testing/selftests/resctrl/fill_buf.c
>>> @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
>>>  #define PAGE_SIZE		(4 * 1024)
>>>  #define MB			(1024 * 1024)
>>>  
>>> -static unsigned char *startptr;
>>> +static unsigned char *startptr, *endptr;
> 
> [Snipped.. assuming code over here might not be needed for discussion]
> 
>>> +static int use_buffer_forever(int op, char *resctrl_val)
>>> +{
>>> +	int ret;
>>> +
>>>  	if (op == 0)
>>> -		ret = fill_cache_read(start_ptr, end_ptr, resctrl_val);
>>> +		ret = fill_cache_read(resctrl_val);
>>>  	else
>>> -		ret = fill_cache_write(start_ptr, end_ptr, resctrl_val);
>>> +		ret = fill_cache_write(resctrl_val);
>>>  
>>>  	if (ret) {
>>>  		printf("\n Errror in fill cache read/write...\n");
>>>  		return -1;
>>>  	}
>>>  
>>> +	return 0;
>>> +}
>>> +
>>> +static int
>>> +fill_cache(unsigned long long buf_size, int malloc_and_init, int
>>> memflush,
>>> +	   int op, char *resctrl_val)
>>> +{
>>> +	int ret;
>>> +
>>> +	ret = init_buffer(buf_size, malloc_and_init, memflush);
>>> +	if (ret)
>>> +		return ret;
>>> +
>>> +	ret = use_buffer_forever(op, resctrl_val);
>>> +	if (ret)
>>> +		return ret;
>>
>> Should buffer be freed on this error path?
> 
> Yes, that's right.. my bad. Will fix it. But the right fix is,
> use_buffer_forever() should not return at all. It's meant to loop around the
> buffer _forever_.
> 
>> I think the asymmetrical nature of the memory allocation and release
>> creates traps like this.
>>
>> It may be less error prone to have the pointer returned by init_buffer
>> and the acted on and released within fill_cache(), passed to
>> "use_buffer_forever()" as a parameter.  The buffer size is known here,
>> there is no need to keep an "end pointer" around.
> 
> The main reason for having "startptr" as a global variable is to free memory
> when fill_buf is killed. fill_buf runs as a separate process (for test cases
> like MBM, MBA and CQM) and when user issues Ctrl_c or when the test kills
> benchmark_pid (i.e. fill_buf), the buffer is freed (please see
> ctrl_handler()).

I see. Got it, thanks.

> 
> So, I thought, as "startptr" is anyways global, why pass it around as an
> argument? While making this change I thought it's natural to make "endptr"
> global as well because the function didn't really look good to just take
> endptr as an argument without startptr.

Maintaining the end pointer is unusual. The start of the buffer and the
size are known properties that the end of the buffer can be computed
from. Not a problem, it just seems inconsistent that some of the buffer
functions operate on the start pointer and size while others operate on
the start pointer and end pointer.

> I do agree that asymmetrical nature of the memory allocation and release might
> create traps, I will try to overcome this for CAT test case (other test cases
> will not need it).

Thank you very much

Reinette