Re: [PATCH tip/core/rcu 02/15] rcu: Size rcu_node tree from nr_cpu_ids rather than NR_CPUS

[Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>]

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 05:37:14PM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 02:47:26PM -0700, Josh Triplett wrote:
> > On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 02:05:57PM -0700, Paul E. McKenney wrote:
> > > From: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> > > 
> > > The rcu_node tree array is sized based on compile-time constants,
> > > including NR_CPUS.  Although this approach has worked well in the past,
> > > the recent trend by many distros to define NR_CPUS=4096 results in
> > > excessive grace-period-initialization latencies.
> > > 
> > > This commit therefore substitutes the run-time computed nr_cpu_ids for
> > > the compile-time NR_CPUS when building the tree.  This can result in
> > > much of the compile-time-allocated rcu_node array being unused.  If
> > > this is a major problem, you are in a specialized situation anyway,
> > > so you can manually adjust the NR_CPUS, RCU_FANOUT, and RCU_FANOUT_LEAF
> > > kernel config parameters.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
> > > ---
> > >  kernel/rcutree.c        |    2 +-
> > >  kernel/rcutree_plugin.h |    2 ++
> > >  2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/kernel/rcutree.c b/kernel/rcutree.c
> > > index a151184..9098910 100644
> > > --- a/kernel/rcutree.c
> > > +++ b/kernel/rcutree.c
> > > @@ -2672,7 +2672,7 @@ static void __init rcu_init_geometry(void)
> > >  {
> > >  	int i;
> > >  	int j;
> > > -	int n = NR_CPUS;
> > > +	int n = nr_cpu_ids;
> > 
> > Same question as before: why have this as a variable when it never
> > changes?
> 
> Ah, that explains why.  This prevented me from forgetting the random
> NR_CPUS.

Does that mean it can go away now that you've written the patches?

- Josh Triplett