[PATCH v1] riscv: kconfig: enable -mtune built kernel

[PATCH v1] riscv: kconfig: enable -mtune built kernel

[Andy Chiu]

On a machine that supports native unaligned access, enabling unaligned
access code-gen can result in a significant speedup on certain workloads.
As the adoption of application-level core increases, it has become
essential to build a kernel utilizing what's available on the platform.

Here are the examples of throughput improvement when the build is
configured to utilize misaligned access code-gen:

LZ4 compress: +90.6% (Ascalon-X), +35.1% (K3-X100)
LZ4 decompress: +9.8% (Ascalon-X), +76.6% (K3-X100)
ZSTD compress: +35.4% (Ascaloon-X), +19.4% (K3-X100)
ZSTD decompress: +26.0% (Ascalon-X), +7.5% (K3-X100)

btrfs create: +7.4% (Ascalon-X), +4.5% (K3-X100)
btrfs unlink: +7.2% (Ascalon-X), +2.6% (K3-X100)

To enable such code-gen, the build system not only has to remove
-mstrict-align restriction, but also needs to set the proper -mtune cost
model to emit such accesses. -mstrict-align is gated by NONPORTABLE and
RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, and -mtune=generic-ooo enables the
code-gen to emit misaligned accesses.

Add an entry in Kconfig so it allows the build system to select different
mtune options. Also, select NONPORTABLE and
RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS when building with "generic-ooo", and
"tt-ascalon-d8".

Signed-off-by: Andy Chiu <tchiu@tenstorrent.com>
---
 arch/riscv/Kconfig  | 62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 arch/riscv/Makefile | 14 ++++++++++
 2 files changed, 76 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/riscv/Kconfig b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
index e7891a2a89da..d53225fead4a 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
@@ -980,8 +980,67 @@ config RISCV_SBI_FWFT_DELEGATE_MISALIGNED
 
 	  If you don't know what to do here, say N.
 
+config TOOLCHAIN_HAS_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON_D8
+	def_bool $(cc-option,-mtune=tt-ascalon-d8)
+
+choice
+	prompt "CPU tuning (-mtune)"
+	default RISCV_MTUNE_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT
+	help
+	  Select the microarchitecture the compiler should tune the kernel
+	  for. This only affects instruction scheduling and cost models, not
+	  the ISA, but some choices also assume fast unaligned accesses and
+	  therefore result in a non-portable kernel.
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT
+	bool "Toolchain default"
+	help
+	  Do not pass -mtune; use whatever the toolchain was configured with.
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE_GENERIC_OOO
+	bool "generic-ooo"
+	depends on $(cc-option,-mtune=generic-ooo)
+	select NONPORTABLE
+	select RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
+	help
+	  Tune for a generic out-of-order core (-mtune=generic-ooo). This
+	  also assumes fast unaligned scalar accesses.
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON
+	bool "Tenstorrent Ascalon"
+	depends on TOOLCHAIN_HAS_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON_D8
+	select NONPORTABLE
+	select RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
+	help
+	  Tune for the Tenstorrent Ascalon core (-mtune=tt-ascalon-d8). This
+	  also assumes fast unaligned scalar accesses.
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM
+	bool "Custom"
+	help
+	  Pass -mtune=<RISCV_MTUNE> to the compiler.
+
+endchoice
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE
+	string "Custom -mtune value" if RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM
+	default "generic-ooo" if RISCV_MTUNE_GENERIC_OOO
+	default "tt-ascalon-d8" if RISCV_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON
+	default ""
+	help
+	  The value passed to -mtune=, e.g. "sifive-7-series". Only
+	  editable when the "Custom" CPU tuning is selected, in which case
+	  it must not be empty or the build will fail.
+
+config RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
+	bool
+	help
+	  Selected by -mtune choices that imply fast unaligned scalar
+	  accesses. Forces RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
+
 choice
 	prompt "Unaligned Accesses Support"
+	default RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS if RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
 	default RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 	help
 	  This determines the level of support for unaligned accesses. This
@@ -991,6 +1050,7 @@ choice
 
 config RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 	bool "Probe for hardware unaligned access support"
+	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
 	select RISCV_SCALAR_MISALIGNED
 	help
 	  During boot, the kernel will run a series of tests to determine the
@@ -1002,6 +1062,7 @@ config RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 
 config RISCV_EMULATED_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 	bool "Emulate unaligned access where system support is missing"
+	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
 	select RISCV_SCALAR_MISALIGNED
 	help
 	  If unaligned memory accesses trap into the kernel as they are not
@@ -1012,6 +1073,7 @@ config RISCV_EMULATED_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 config RISCV_SLOW_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
 	bool "Assume the system supports slow unaligned memory accesses"
 	depends on NONPORTABLE
+	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
 	help
 	  Assume that the system supports slow unaligned memory accesses. The
 	  kernel and userspace programs may not be able to run at all on systems
diff --git a/arch/riscv/Makefile b/arch/riscv/Makefile
index 44f5a439741a..08f1a32228ef 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/Makefile
@@ -89,6 +89,11 @@ CC_FLAGS_FPU  := -march=$(shell echo $(riscv-march-y) | sed -E 's/(rv32ima|rv64i
 
 KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mno-save-restore
 
+riscv-mtune := $(CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE:"%"=%)
+ifneq ($(riscv-mtune),)
+KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mtune=$(riscv-mtune)
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_CMODEL_MEDLOW),y)
 	KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mcmodel=medlow
 endif
@@ -149,6 +154,15 @@ KBUILD_IMAGE				:= $(boot)/$(boot-image-y)
 libs-y += arch/riscv/lib/
 libs-$(CONFIG_EFI_STUB) += $(objtree)/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/lib.a
 
+archprepare: checkmtune
+PHONY += checkmtune
+checkmtune:
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM)$(riscv-mtune),y)
+	@echo '*** CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM is set but CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE is empty.' >&2
+	@echo '*** Set the custom -mtune value or pick another CPU tuning.' >&2
+	@false
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(KBUILD_EXTMOD),)
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_MMU),y)
 prepare: vdso_prepare
-- 
2.43.0


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Re: [PATCH v1] riscv: kconfig: enable -mtune built kernel

[Jisheng Zhang]

On Tue, Nov 10, 2026 at 02:07:59PM -0600, Andy Chiu wrote:
> On a machine that supports native unaligned access, enabling unaligned
> access code-gen can result in a significant speedup on certain workloads.
> As the adoption of application-level core increases, it has become
> essential to build a kernel utilizing what's available on the platform.
> 
> Here are the examples of throughput improvement when the build is
> configured to utilize misaligned access code-gen:
> 
> LZ4 compress: +90.6% (Ascalon-X), +35.1% (K3-X100)
> LZ4 decompress: +9.8% (Ascalon-X), +76.6% (K3-X100)
> ZSTD compress: +35.4% (Ascaloon-X), +19.4% (K3-X100)
> ZSTD decompress: +26.0% (Ascalon-X), +7.5% (K3-X100)
> 
> btrfs create: +7.4% (Ascalon-X), +4.5% (K3-X100)
> btrfs unlink: +7.2% (Ascalon-X), +2.6% (K3-X100)

how much improvement is from unaliagned access, and how much is from
-mtune. So these numbers don't explain why -mtune is neceesary.
> 
> To enable such code-gen, the build system not only has to remove
> -mstrict-align restriction, but also needs to set the proper -mtune cost
> model to emit such accesses. -mstrict-align is gated by NONPORTABLE and
> RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, and -mtune=generic-ooo enables the


Following the same reason as arm64, I don't think we should introduce
per-cpu -mtune options into arch/riscv/Kconfig.

IIRC, arm64 intentionally avoided adding -mtune options to Kconfig to
prevent endless per-vendor or even per-cpu option bloat, toolchain
flag churn, and fragmention away from a sigle Image.

From another side, when someone needs a custom -mtune for a fixed
target, they can pass the already well supported KCFLAGS="-mtune ..."
at build time without needing dedicated Kconfig symbols for every
core.

Furthermore, having an -mtune option silently select NONPORTABLE and
RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS breaks user expectations. NONPORTABLE
breaks cross platform compatibility, while -mtune is just a compiler
scheduling hint

thanks

> code-gen to emit misaligned accesses.
> 
> Add an entry in Kconfig so it allows the build system to select different
> mtune options. Also, select NONPORTABLE and
> RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS when building with "generic-ooo", and
> "tt-ascalon-d8".
> 
> Signed-off-by: Andy Chiu <tchiu@tenstorrent.com>
> ---
>  arch/riscv/Kconfig  | 62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  arch/riscv/Makefile | 14 ++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 76 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/riscv/Kconfig b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
> index e7891a2a89da..d53225fead4a 100644
> --- a/arch/riscv/Kconfig
> +++ b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
> @@ -980,8 +980,67 @@ config RISCV_SBI_FWFT_DELEGATE_MISALIGNED
>  
>  	  If you don't know what to do here, say N.
>  
> +config TOOLCHAIN_HAS_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON_D8
> +	def_bool $(cc-option,-mtune=tt-ascalon-d8)
> +
> +choice
> +	prompt "CPU tuning (-mtune)"
> +	default RISCV_MTUNE_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT
> +	help
> +	  Select the microarchitecture the compiler should tune the kernel
> +	  for. This only affects instruction scheduling and cost models, not
> +	  the ISA, but some choices also assume fast unaligned accesses and
> +	  therefore result in a non-portable kernel.
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE_TOOLCHAIN_DEFAULT
> +	bool "Toolchain default"
> +	help
> +	  Do not pass -mtune; use whatever the toolchain was configured with.
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE_GENERIC_OOO
> +	bool "generic-ooo"
> +	depends on $(cc-option,-mtune=generic-ooo)
> +	select NONPORTABLE
> +	select RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
> +	help
> +	  Tune for a generic out-of-order core (-mtune=generic-ooo). This
> +	  also assumes fast unaligned scalar accesses.
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON
> +	bool "Tenstorrent Ascalon"
> +	depends on TOOLCHAIN_HAS_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON_D8
> +	select NONPORTABLE
> +	select RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
> +	help
> +	  Tune for the Tenstorrent Ascalon core (-mtune=tt-ascalon-d8). This
> +	  also assumes fast unaligned scalar accesses.
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM
> +	bool "Custom"
> +	help
> +	  Pass -mtune=<RISCV_MTUNE> to the compiler.
> +
> +endchoice
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE
> +	string "Custom -mtune value" if RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM
> +	default "generic-ooo" if RISCV_MTUNE_GENERIC_OOO
> +	default "tt-ascalon-d8" if RISCV_MTUNE_TT_ASCALON
> +	default ""
> +	help
> +	  The value passed to -mtune=, e.g. "sifive-7-series". Only
> +	  editable when the "Custom" CPU tuning is selected, in which case
> +	  it must not be empty or the build will fail.
> +
> +config RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
> +	bool
> +	help
> +	  Selected by -mtune choices that imply fast unaligned scalar
> +	  accesses. Forces RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
> +
>  choice
>  	prompt "Unaligned Accesses Support"
> +	default RISCV_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS if RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
>  	default RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  	help
>  	  This determines the level of support for unaligned accesses. This
> @@ -991,6 +1050,7 @@ choice
>  
>  config RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  	bool "Probe for hardware unaligned access support"
> +	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
>  	select RISCV_SCALAR_MISALIGNED
>  	help
>  	  During boot, the kernel will run a series of tests to determine the
> @@ -1002,6 +1062,7 @@ config RISCV_PROBE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  
>  config RISCV_EMULATED_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  	bool "Emulate unaligned access where system support is missing"
> +	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
>  	select RISCV_SCALAR_MISALIGNED
>  	help
>  	  If unaligned memory accesses trap into the kernel as they are not
> @@ -1012,6 +1073,7 @@ config RISCV_EMULATED_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  config RISCV_SLOW_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>  	bool "Assume the system supports slow unaligned memory accesses"
>  	depends on NONPORTABLE
> +	depends on !RISCV_MTUNE_FAST_UNALIGNED
>  	help
>  	  Assume that the system supports slow unaligned memory accesses. The
>  	  kernel and userspace programs may not be able to run at all on systems
> diff --git a/arch/riscv/Makefile b/arch/riscv/Makefile
> index 44f5a439741a..08f1a32228ef 100644
> --- a/arch/riscv/Makefile
> +++ b/arch/riscv/Makefile
> @@ -89,6 +89,11 @@ CC_FLAGS_FPU  := -march=$(shell echo $(riscv-march-y) | sed -E 's/(rv32ima|rv64i
>  
>  KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mno-save-restore
>  
> +riscv-mtune := $(CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE:"%"=%)
> +ifneq ($(riscv-mtune),)
> +KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mtune=$(riscv-mtune)
> +endif
> +
>  ifeq ($(CONFIG_CMODEL_MEDLOW),y)
>  	KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mcmodel=medlow
>  endif
> @@ -149,6 +154,15 @@ KBUILD_IMAGE				:= $(boot)/$(boot-image-y)
>  libs-y += arch/riscv/lib/
>  libs-$(CONFIG_EFI_STUB) += $(objtree)/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/lib.a
>  
> +archprepare: checkmtune
> +PHONY += checkmtune
> +checkmtune:
> +ifeq ($(CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM)$(riscv-mtune),y)
> +	@echo '*** CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE_CUSTOM is set but CONFIG_RISCV_MTUNE is empty.' >&2
> +	@echo '*** Set the custom -mtune value or pick another CPU tuning.' >&2
> +	@false
> +endif
> +
>  ifeq ($(KBUILD_EXTMOD),)
>  ifeq ($(CONFIG_MMU),y)
>  prepare: vdso_prepare
> -- 
> 2.43.0
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> linux-riscv mailing list
> linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org
> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-riscv

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