mm/slab.c: remove effectively dead code from kmem_cache_create

From: Daniel Santos
Date: Wed Feb 08 2012 - 23:16:21 EST


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.I was examining slab.c when I noticed that there is code that will never
be executed, but that the compiler probably wouldn't determine as such.
It turns out to be the case. The below instructions (from a "disas /m
kmem_cache_create" in gdb) will never be executed (or will have no
effect) since CONFIG_DEBUG_SLAB is not set and line 2301 (BUG_ON(flags &
~CREATE_MASK);) will oops us if we're using the flags in question.

2329 /*
2330 * Redzoning and user store require word alignment or
possibly larger.
2331 * Note this will be overridden by architecture or
caller mandated
2332 * alignment if either is greater than BYTES_PER_WORD.
2333 */
2334 if (flags & SLAB_STORE_USER)
2335 ralign = BYTES_PER_WORD;
0x00000000000038ae <+350>: testq $0x10000,0x20(%rsp)
0x00000000000038b7 <+359>: mov $0x8,%eax
0x00000000000038bc <+364>: cmovne %rax,%r13

2336
2337 if (flags & SLAB_RED_ZONE) {
0x00000000000038c0 <+368>: testq $0x400,0x20(%rsp)
0x00000000000038c9 <+377>: jne 0x3ba8 <kmem_cache_create+1112>

2338 ralign = REDZONE_ALIGN;
0x0000000000003bae <+1118>: mov $0x8,%r13d

2339 /* If redzoning, ensure that the second redzone
is suitably
2340 * aligned, by adjusting the object size
accordingly. */
2341 size += REDZONE_ALIGN - 1;
0x0000000000003ba8 <+1112>: addq $0x7,0x18(%rsp)

2342 size &= ~(REDZONE_ALIGN - 1);
0x0000000000003bb4 <+1124>: andq $0xfffffffffffffff8,0x18(%rsp)
0x0000000000003bba <+1130>: jmpq 0x38d7 <kmem_cache_create+391>
0x0000000000003bbf <+1135>: nop

2343 }
2344
2345 /* 2) arch mandated alignment */
2346 if (ralign < ARCH_SLAB_MINALIGN) {
0x00000000000038d7 <+391>: cmp 0x28(%rsp),%r13
0x00000000000038e8 <+408>: cmovb 0x28(%rsp),%r13

2347 ralign = ARCH_SLAB_MINALIGN;
0x00000000000038cf <+383>: cmp $0x7,%r13
0x00000000000038d3 <+387>: cmovbe %rax,%r13

2348 }
2349 /* 3) caller mandated alignment */
2350 if (ralign < align) {
2351 ralign = align;
2352 }
2353 /* disable debug if necessary */
2354 if (ralign > __alignof__(unsigned long long))
2355 flags &= ~(SLAB_RED_ZONE | SLAB_STORE_USER);
0x00000000000038dc <+396>: mov 0x20(%rsp),%rax
0x00000000000038ee <+414>: and $0xfffffffffffefbff,%rax
0x00000000000038f4 <+420>: cmp $0x9,%r13
0x00000000000038f8 <+424>: cmovb 0x20(%rsp),%rax
0x0000000000003907 <+439>: mov %rax,0x20(%rsp)

2356 /*
2357 * 4) Store it.
2358 */
2359 align = ralign;

There's another little block that I can't illustrate since
CONFIG_PAGE_POISONING doesn't get enabled on my arch, but I've added it
into the patch as well.

Of note, in situations like this where I have a pre-process macro (i.e.,
DEBUG) that's defined to either zero or non-zero, my personal coding
style is to just use it directly in the the if() and let the optomizer
compile it out (as opposed to a #if/#endif block) but I was trying to
copy the coding style already in use.