Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86/pmu: Avoid ternary operator by directly referring to counters->type

From: Like Xu
Date: Wed Dec 07 2022 - 03:45:29 EST


On 7/12/2022 1:19 am, Sean Christopherson wrote:
On Tue, Dec 06, 2022, Like Xu wrote:
diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
index e5cec07ca8d9..28b0a784f6e9 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/pmu_intel.c
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ static struct kvm_pmc *intel_rdpmc_ecx_to_pmc(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu,
}
if (idx >= num_counters)
return NULL;
- *mask &= pmu->counter_bitmask[fixed ? KVM_PMC_FIXED : KVM_PMC_GP];
+ *mask &= pmu->counter_bitmask[counters->type];

In terms of readability, I have a slight preference for the current code as I

IMO, using counters->type directly just like pmc_bitmask() will add more readability
and opportunistically helps some stale compilers behave better.

don't have to look at counters->type to understand its possible values.
When someone tries to add a new type of pmc type, the code bugs up.

Are there new types coming along? If so, I definitely would not object to refactoring
this code in the context of a series that adds a new type(s). But "fixing" this one
case is not sufficient to support a new type, e.g. intel_is_valid_rdpmc_ecx() also
needs to be updated. Actually, even this function would need additional updates
to perform a similar sanity check.

True but this part of the change is semantically relevant, which should not
be present in a harmless generic optimization like this one. Right ?


if (fixed) {
counters = pmu->fixed_counters;
num_counters = pmu->nr_arch_fixed_counters;
} else {
counters = pmu->gp_counters;
num_counters = pmu->nr_arch_gp_counters;
}
if (idx >= num_counters)
return NULL;

And, this one will make all usage of pmu->counter_bitmask[] more consistent.

How's that? There's literally one instance of using ->type

static inline u64 pmc_bitmask(struct kvm_pmc *pmc)
{
struct kvm_pmu *pmu = pmc_to_pmu(pmc);

return pmu->counter_bitmask[pmc->type];
}

everything else is hardcoded. And using pmc->type there make perfect sense in
that case. But in intel_rdpmc_ecx_to_pmc(), there is already usage of "fixed",
so IMO switching to ->type makes that function somewhat inconsistent with itself.

More, it's rare to see code like " [ a ? b : c] " in the world of both KVM and x86.
Good practice (branchless) should be scattered everywhere and not the other way around.

I have absolutely no objection to your "slight preference". Thanks for your time in reviewing this.