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From: David Laight <david.laight.linux@gmail.com>
To: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	Andrey Konovalov <andreyknvl@gmail.com>,
	Andy Shevchenko <andy@kernel.org>,
	Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>,
	Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>,
	Peter Collingbourne <pcc@google.com>,
	Vincenzo Frascino <vincenzo.frascino@arm.com>,
	Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [GIT PULL] string fixes for v6.15-rc1
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2025 21:23:10 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250407212310.0a934bad@pumpkin> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAHk-=wijG2dSOOFr8CCYygwxZQxdTUj73rfB8=tyZP-3G-8-og@mail.gmail.com>

On Sun, 6 Apr 2025 19:04:29 -0700
Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> wrote:

...
> For something like wcslen() the answer is "DON'T DO THIS". Because
> there is absolutely zero upside to trying to recognize this pattern,
> and there is real downside.

gcc also has a nasty habit of converting:
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
		dst[i] = src[i];
into a call to memcpy().
If I wanted a memcpy() call I'd write one - so will most people.
But if 'len' is very small (may even known to be less than, say, 4)
you really want the loop - which is why it was written.

I've even seen (not gcc) it converted to a 'rep movsw' 'rep movsb'
pair at a time when a P4 might have been a likely target cpu.
The 0 to 3 byte 'rep movsb' had a setup cost of IIRC 150 clocks.

	David

      parent reply	other threads:[~2025-04-07 20:23 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 11+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2025-04-06 17:54 [GIT PULL] string fixes for v6.15-rc1 Kees Cook
2025-04-06 19:04 ` Linus Torvalds
2025-04-06 19:31   ` Linus Torvalds
2025-04-07  1:32   ` Kees Cook
2025-04-07  2:04     ` Linus Torvalds
2025-04-07 17:37       ` Nathan Chancellor
2025-04-07 19:02         ` Linus Torvalds
2025-04-07 19:25           ` Nathan Chancellor
2025-04-07 20:25             ` Linus Torvalds
2025-04-07 21:01               ` Nathan Chancellor
2025-04-07 20:23       ` David Laight [this message]

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