Re: [PATCH v7 09/16] SUNRPC/cache: use new hashtable implementation

Mathieu Desnoyers
2012-10-29T15:13:48Z

* Linus Torvalds (torvalds@linux-foundation.org) wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 5:42 AM, Mathieu Desnoyers
> <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com> wrote:
> >
> > So defining e.g.:
> >
> > #include <linux/log2.h>
> >
> > #define DFR_HASH_BITS (PAGE_SHIFT - ilog2(BITS_PER_LONG))
> >
> > would keep the intended behavior in all cases: use one page for the hash
> > array.
>
> Well, since that wasn't true before either because of the long-time
> bug you point out, clearly the page size isn't all that important. I
> think it's more important to have small and simple code, and "9" is
> certainly that, compared to playing ilog2 games with not-so-obvious
> things.
>
> Because there's no reason to believe that '9' is in any way a worse
> random number than something page-shift-related, is there? And getting
> away from *previous* overly-complicated size calculations that had
> been broken because they were too complicated and random, sounds like
> a good idea.

Good point. I agree that unless we really care about the precise number
of TLB entries and cache lines used by this hash table, we might want to
stay away from page-size and pointer-size based calculation.

It might not hurt to explain this in the patch changelog though.

Thanks,

Mathieu

--
Mathieu Desnoyers
Operating System Efficiency R&D Consultant
EfficiOS Inc.