Re: [PATCH 12/29] x86, tsx: Add a per thread transaction disable count

Borislav Petkov
2013-03-23T15:53:05Z

On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 02:51:56PM +0100, Andi Kleen wrote:
> Bit fields are slower and larger in code and unlike the others this is
> on hot paths.

Really? Let's see:

unsigned:
=========

.file 8 "/w/kernel/linux-2.6/arch/x86/include/asm/thread_info.h"
.loc 8 211 0
#APP
# 211 "/w/kernel/linux-2.6/arch/x86/include/asm/thread_info.h" 1
movq %gs:kernel_stack,%rax #, pfo_ret__
# 0 "" 2
.LVL238:
#NO_APP

... # AMD F10h SNB

disable:
incl -8056(%rax) # ti_25->notxn # INC mem: 4 ; 6

test:
cmpl $0, -8056(%rax) #, ti_24->notxn # CMP mem, imm: 4 ; 1

reenable:
decl -8056(%rax) # ti_25->notxn # DEC mem: 4 ; 6

bitfield:
=========

.file 8 "/w/kernel/linux-2.6/arch/x86/include/asm/thread_info.h"
.loc 8 211 0
#APP
# 211 "/w/kernel/linux-2.6/arch/x86/include/asm/thread_info.h" 1
movq %gs:kernel_stack,%rax #, pfo_ret__
# 0 "" 2
.LVL238:
#NO_APP

disable:
xorb $4, -8056(%rax) #, # XOR mem, imm: 1 ; 0

test:
testb $4, -8056(%rax) #, # TEST mem, imm: 4 ; -

reenable:
xorb $4, -8056(%rax) #, # XOR mem, imm: 1 ; 0

So let's explain. The AMD F10h column shows the respective instruction
latencies on AMD F10h. All instructions are DirectPath single.

The SNB column is something similar which I could find for Intel
Sandybridge: http://www.agner.org/optimize/instruction_tables.pdf. I'm
assuming Agner Fog's measurements are more or less accurate.

And wow, the XOR is *actually* faster. That's whopping three cycles on
AMD. Similar observation on SNB.

Now let's look at decoding bandwidth:

unsigned:
=========

disable:
13: ff 80 88 e0 ff ff incl -0x1f78(%rax)

test:
9: 83 b8 88 e0 ff ff 00 cmpl $0x0,-0x1f78(%rax)

reenable:
13: ff 88 88 e0 ff ff decl -0x1f78(%rax)

bitfield:
=========

disable:
13: 80 b0 88 e0 ff ff 04 xorb $0x4,-0x1f78(%rax)

test:
9: f6 80 88 e0 ff ff 04 testb $0x4,-0x1f78(%rax)

reenable:
13: 80 b0 88 e0 ff ff 04 xorb $0x4,-0x1f78(%rax)

This particular XOR encoding is 1 byte longer, the rest is on-par.

Oh, and compiler is gcc (Debian 4.7.2-5) 4.7.2.

So you were saying?

--
Regards/Gruss,
Boris.

Sent from a fat crate under my desk. Formatting is fine.
--