Re: AIM7 40% regression with 2.6.26-rc1

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Tue May 06 2008 - 13:50:44 EST



* Matthew Wilcox <matthew@xxxxxx> wrote:

> > down(), down_interruptible() and down_try() should use
> > spin_lock_irq(), not irqsave.
>
> We talked about this ... the BKL actually requires that you be able to
> acquire it with interrupts disabled. [...]

hm, where does it require it, besides the early bootup code? (which
should just be fixed)

down_trylock() is OK as irqsave/irqrestore for legacy reasons, but that
is fundamentally atomic anyway.

> > up() seems to be doing wake-one, FIFO which is nice. Did the
> > implementation which we just removed also do that? Was it perhaps
> > accidentally doing LIFO or something like that?
>
> That's a question for someone who knows x86 assembler, I think.

the assembly is mostly just for the fastpath - and a 40% regression
cannot be about fastpath differences. In the old code the scheduling
happens in lib/semaphore-sleeper.c, and from the looks of it it appears
to be a proper FIFO as well. (plus this small wakeup weirdness it has)

i reviewed the new code in kernel/semaphore.c as well and can see
nothing bad in it - it does proper wake-up, FIFO queueing, like the
mutex code.

Ingo
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