Re: [PATCH nf-next] netfilter: nft_set_pipapo_avx2: restore performance optimization

Stefano Brivio
2026-04-11T10:30:22Z

Sorry for the late review.

On Wed, 1 Apr 2026 13:02:27 +0200
Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de> wrote:

> The avx2 lookup routines get the next map index to process passes as a
> function argument, but this isn't bery obvious because its hidden in the

Nits: very, it's

> lookup macro.

...right, I'm not exactly proud of it, but if we don't hide that stuff
the amount of visual noise explodes. I couldn't think of any better
solution.

> In commit 17a20e09f086 ("netfilter: nft_set: remove one argument from
> lookup and update functions") I incorrectly moved the "ret" scope into
> the loop.

This took me quite a bit to review because I stupidly assumed that that
commit was the same as the "return b;" -> "ret = b;" recent change :)
...that part is my fault of course, I didn't read the reference.

I really couldn't understand how turning those into "else if" would have
anything to do with the scope "ret"... until I realised and actually
read your reference. Oops.

But I have to say this was triggered by reading the next part which had
little to do with this...

> This has no effect on the correctness, but it can (depending on map sizes)
> cause a redundant repeat of an earlier processing step.
>
> Restore the intended 'pass map index' instead of always-0.
> Note that I did not see any change in performance numbers, so
> an alternative would be to axe this optimization and go with
> slightly simpler code instead.

This probably depends a lot on the data set we're using. I'm not sure
if the current performance tests would consistently trigger a sparse
intermediate matching bitmap (between fields) with a lot of leading
zeroes.

By the way, I don't think a branch predictor could figure that out. So
all in all I would keep the optimisation you're restoring here.

> Additionally, a recent LLM review pointed out following "bug":
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> > b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> > if (last)
> > - return b;
> > + ret = b;
> >
> > if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> > ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> Does this change introduce a logic error when last=true and no match is
> found? The old code used 'return b;' which immediately exited the loop. The
> new code changes this to 'ret = b;' to allow loop continuation, but when
> last=true and nft_pipapo_avx2_refill() returns -1 (no match found), the
> execution flow becomes:
>
> 1. ret = -1 (from 'if (last) ret = b;')
> 2. The condition 'if (unlikely(ret == -1))' evaluates to TRUE
> 3. ret = -1 / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE = -1 / 32 = 0 (integer division)
> 4. Loop continues with ret=0
>
> [..]
>
> Should this be changed to an else-if structure instead?
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
> All call sites invoke nft_pipapo_avx2_refill() only when at least one
> bit in the map is set, i.e. nft_pipapo_avx2_refill() never returns -1.

It also took me a while to understand the actual reason behind this LLM
report.

It simply seems to be inferring that your patch introduced a control
flow change in a case that would never happen anyway, so that wasn't
expected, and even though it doesn't happen now either, it reports that
it was unexpected... not exactly useful.

But anyway:

> Add a runtime debug check that fires if we'd return -1 as additional
> documentation and also make the suggested change, code might be easier
> to understand this way.

...for me it's exactly as readable as before. If you think that it
might be easier to understand this way, though, I guess that's a good
indication that it's better to change it. So, either way:

> Signed-off-by: Florian Westphal <fw@strlen.de>

Reviewed-by: Stefano Brivio <sbrivio@redhat.com>

> ---
> net/netfilter/nft_set_pipapo_avx2.c | 35 ++++++++++++-----------------
> 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/net/netfilter/nft_set_pipapo_avx2.c b/net/netfilter/nft_set_pipapo_avx2.c
> index dad265807b8b..b3f105520a85 100644
> --- a/net/netfilter/nft_set_pipapo_avx2.c
> +++ b/net/netfilter/nft_set_pipapo_avx2.c
> @@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ static void nft_pipapo_avx2_fill(unsigned long *data, int start, int len)
> * This is an alternative implementation of pipapo_refill() suitable for usage
> * with AVX2 lookup routines: we know there are four words to be scanned, at
> * a given offset inside the map, for each matching iteration.
> + * The caller must ensure at least one bit in the four words is set.
> *
> * This function doesn't actually use any AVX2 instruction.
> *
> @@ -179,6 +180,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(int offset, unsigned long *map,
> NFT_PIPAPO_AVX2_REFILL_ONE_WORD(3);
> #undef NFT_PIPAPO_AVX2_REFILL_ONE_WORD
>
> + DEBUG_NET_WARN_ON_ONCE(ret < 0);
> return ret;
> }
>
> @@ -243,8 +245,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_4b_2(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -320,8 +321,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_4b_4(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -415,8 +415,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_4b_8(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -506,8 +505,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_4b_12(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -642,8 +640,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_4b_32(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -700,8 +697,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_8b_1(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -765,8 +761,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_8b_2(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -840,8 +835,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_8b_4(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -926,8 +920,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_8b_6(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -1020,8 +1013,7 @@ static int nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_8b_16(unsigned long *map, unsigned long *fill,
> b = nft_pipapo_avx2_refill(i_ul, &map[i_ul], fill, f->mt, last);
> if (last)
> ret = b;
> -
> - if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> + else if (unlikely(ret == -1))
> ret = b / XSAVE_YMM_SIZE;
>
> continue;
> @@ -1143,6 +1135,7 @@ struct nft_pipapo_elem *pipapo_get_avx2(const struct nft_pipapo_match *m,
> const struct nft_pipapo_field *f;
> unsigned long *res, *fill, *map;
> bool map_index;
> + int ret = 0;
> int i;
>
> scratch = *raw_cpu_ptr(m->scratch);
> @@ -1167,8 +1160,8 @@ struct nft_pipapo_elem *pipapo_get_avx2(const struct nft_pipapo_match *m,
>
> nft_pipapo_for_each_field(f, i, m) {
> bool last = i == m->field_count - 1, first = !i;
> - int ret = 0;
>
> + /* NB: previous round @ret is passed to avx2 lookup fn */
> #define NFT_SET_PIPAPO_AVX2_LOOKUP(b, n) \
> (ret = nft_pipapo_avx2_lookup_##b##b_##n(res, fill, f, \
> ret, data, \

--
Stefano