From: Liew Rui Yan <aethernet65535@gmail.com>
To: sj@kernel.org
Cc: damon@lists.linux.dev, linux-mm@kvack.org,
Liew Rui Yan <aethernet65535@gmail.com>
Subject: [RFC PATCH] mm/damon/ops-common: optimize damon_hot_score() using fls()
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2026 15:24:31 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260320072431.248235-1-aethernet65535@gmail.com> (raw)
The current implementation of damon_hot_score() uses a manual for-loop
to calculate the value of 'age_in_log'. This can be efficiently replaced
by the fls().
In a simulated performance test with 10,000,000 iterations, this
optimization showed a significant reduction in latency:
- Average Latency: Reduced from ~9ns to ~1ns.
- P99 Latency: Reduced from ~60ns to ~41ns.
- Throughput: The loop-based version mostly fell into the 40-50ns range,
while the fls-based version shifted significantly towards the 20-39ns
range in the test environment.
Although these results are based on a simulated kernel module test
environment [1], they indicate a clear instruction-level optimization.
[1] https://github.com/aethernet65535/damon-hot-score-fls-optimize/blob/master/test-kernel-module/fls.c
Signed-off-by: Liew Rui Yan <aethernet65535@gmail.com>
---
Note on testing methodology:
I attempted to measure the performance directly within the kernel using
bpftrace, perf, and ktime inside damon_hot_score(). However, the results
were highly unstable (ktime), and in some cases (perf/bpftrace) the
function was difficult to trace reliably (likely due to my own tracing
limitations).
Despite the instability of in-kernel ktime measurements, one thing
remained consistent: the fls-based version significantly improves the
"long tail" latency compared to the for-loop.
Test results from the simulated module:
- fls-based:
DAMON Perf Test: Starting 10000000 iterations
=============================================
Total Iterations : 10000000
Average Latency : 1 ns
P95 Latency : 40 ns
P99 Latency : 41 ns
---------------------------------------------
Range (ns) | Count | Percent
---------------------------------------------
20-39 | 3522000 | 35%
40-59 | 6478000 | 64%
60-79 | 0 | 0%
=============================================
- for-loop:
DAMON Perf Test: Starting 10000000 iterations
=============================================
Total Iterations : 10000000
Average Latency : 9 ns
P95 Latency : 51 ns
P99 Latency : 60 ns
---------------------------------------------
Range (ns) | Count | Percent
---------------------------------------------
20-39 | 0 | 0%
40-59 | 9894000 | 98%
60-79 | 98000 | 0%
=============================================
Full raw benchmark results can be found at [2].
If anyone could suggest a more robust way to profile this specific
function within live DAMON context, I would greatly appreciate the
guidance.
[2] https://github.com/aethernet65535/damon-hot-score-fls-optimize/tree/master/result-raw
mm/damon/ops-common.c | 4 +---
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/damon/ops-common.c b/mm/damon/ops-common.c
index 8c6d613425c1..0294de61a23a 100644
--- a/mm/damon/ops-common.c
+++ b/mm/damon/ops-common.c
@@ -117,9 +117,7 @@ int damon_hot_score(struct damon_ctx *c, struct damon_region *r,
damon_max_nr_accesses(&c->attrs);
age_in_sec = (unsigned long)r->age * c->attrs.aggr_interval / 1000000;
- for (age_in_log = 0; age_in_log < DAMON_MAX_AGE_IN_LOG && age_in_sec;
- age_in_log++, age_in_sec >>= 1)
- ;
+ age_in_log = min_t(int, fls(age_in_sec), DAMON_MAX_AGE_IN_LOG);
/* If frequency is 0, higher age means it's colder */
if (freq_subscore == 0)
--
2.53.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-03-20 7:24 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-03-20 7:24 Liew Rui Yan [this message]
2026-03-20 15:05 ` [RFC PATCH] mm/damon/ops-common: optimize damon_hot_score() using fls() SeongJae Park
2026-03-20 19:20 ` [PATCH v2] mm/damon/ops-common: optimize damon_hot_score() using ilog2() Liew Rui Yan
2026-03-21 0:23 ` SeongJae Park
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