Re: [PATCH 1/2] workqueue: remove unneeded test before wake up next worker

From: Tejun Heo
Date: Fri Jul 18 2014 - 18:53:25 EST


On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 06:05:14PM -0400, Tejun Heo wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 06:09:58PM +0800, Lai Jiangshan wrote:
> > In this code:
> > if ((worker->flags & WORKER_UNBOUND) && need_more_worker(pool))
> > wake_up_worker(pool);
> >
> > the first test is unneeded. Even the first test is removed, it doesn't affect
> > the wake-up logic when WORKER_UNBOUND. And it will not introduce any useless
> > wake-up when !WORKER_UNBOUND since the nr_running >= 1 except only one case.
> > It will introduce useless/redundant wake-up when cpu_intensive, but this
> > case is rare and next patch will also remove this redundant wake-up.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Lai Jiangshan <laijs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > kernel/workqueue.c | 7 ++-----
> > 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
> > index f8d54c1..6d11b9a 100644
> > --- a/kernel/workqueue.c
> > +++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
> > @@ -2047,11 +2047,8 @@ __acquires(&pool->lock)
> > if (unlikely(cpu_intensive))
> > worker_set_flags(worker, WORKER_CPU_INTENSIVE, true);
> >
> > - /*
> > - * Unbound pool isn't concurrency managed and work items should be
> > - * executed ASAP. Wake up another worker if necessary.
> > - */
> > - if ((worker->flags & WORKER_UNBOUND) && need_more_worker(pool))
> > + /* Wake up another worker if necessary. */
> > + if (need_more_worker(pool))
> > wake_up_worker(pool);
>
> What does this buy us? Sure, it may achieve about the same operation
> but it's a lot more confusing. need_more_worker() is specifically for
> concurrency management. Applying it to unmanaged workers could lead
> to okay behavior but conflating the two to save one test on worker
> flags doesn't seem like a good trade-off to me.

I take this back. We do guarantee that need_more_worker() returns
%true for unbound pools and make use of that fact but I'd like it to
retain the comment about unbound pools.

Thanks.

--
tejun
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