Re: [patch] generic-ipi: remove kmalloc, cleanup

Rusty Russell
2009-02-13T23:39:59Z

On Thursday 12 February 2009 22:39:14 Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> So it put in unconditionally, how about this?
>
>
> --
> Subject: generic-smp: remove single ipi fallback for smp_call_function_many()
>
> In preparation of removing the kmalloc() calls from the generic-ipi code
> get rid of the single ipi fallback for smp_call_function_many().
>
> Because we cannot get around carrying the cpumask in the data -- imagine
> 2 such calls with different but overlapping masks -- put in a full mask.

OK, if you really want this, please just change it to:
unsigned long cpumask_bits[BITS_TO_LONGS(CONFIG_NR_CPUS)];

The 'struct cpumask' will be undefined soon when CONFIG_CPUMASK_OFFSTACK=y,
which will prevent assignment and declaration on stack.

I'd be fascinated to see perf numbers once you kill the kmalloc. Because
this patch will add num_possible_cpus * NR_CPUS/8 bytes to the kernel which
is something we're trying to avoid unless necessary.

Thanks,
Rusty.