linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v4.16-rc5 (3)] x86/vdso: on Intel, VDSO should handle CLOCK_MONOTONIC

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Date:   Thu, 15 Mar 2018 21:41:36 +0000
From:   Jason Vas Dias <jason.vas.dias@...il.com>
To:     Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, x86@...nel.org, mingo@...nel.org,
        peterz@...radead.org, andi@...stfloor.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4.16-rc5 (3)] x86/vdso: on Intel, VDSO should handle CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW

Hi Thomas -
RE:
On 15/03/2018, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de> wrote:
> Jason,
>
> On Thu, 15 Mar 2018, jason.vas.dias@...il.com wrote:
>
>>   Resent to address reviewer comments.
>
> I was being patient so far and tried to guide you through the patch
> submission process, but unfortunately this turns out to be just waste of my
> time.
>
> You have not addressed any of the comments I made here:
>
> [1]
> https://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.DEB.2.21.1803141511340.2481@nanos.tec.linutronix.de
> [2]
> https://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.DEB.2.21.1803141527300.2481@nanos.tec.linutronix.de
>

I'm really sorry about that - I did not see those mails ,
and have searched for them in my inbox -
are you sure they were sent to 'linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org' ?
That is the only list I am subscribed to .
I clicked on the links , but the 'To:' field is just
'linux-kernel' .

If I had seen those messages before I re-submitted,
those issues would have been fixed.

checkpatch.pl did not report them -
I ran it with all patches and it reported
no errors .

And I did send the test results in a previous mail -

$ gcc -m64 -o timer timer.c

( must be compiled in 64-bit mode).

This is using the new rdtscp() function :
$ ./timer -r 100
...
Total time: 0.000002806S - Average Latency: 0.000000028S N zero
deltas: 0 N inconsistent deltas: 0
Average of 100 average latencies of 100 samples : 0.000000027S

This is using the rdtsc_ordered() function:

$ ./timer -m -r 100
Total time: 0.000005269S - Average Latency: 0.000000052S N zero
deltas: 0 N inconsistent deltas: 0
Average of 100 average latencies of 100 samples : 0.000000047S

timer.c is a very short program that just reads N_SAMPLES (a
compile-time option)
timespecs using either CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW (no -m) or CLOCK_MONOTONIC
first parameter to clock_gettime(),  then
computes the deltas as long long, then averages them , counting any
zero deltas, or deltas where the previous timespec is somehow
greater than the current timespec, which are reported as
inconsitencies (note 'inconistent deltas:0' and 'zero deltas: 0' in output).

So my initial claim that rdtscp() can be twice as fast as rdtsc_ordered()
was not far-fetched - this is what I am seeing .

I think this is because of the explicit barrier() call in rdtsc_ordered() .
This must be slower than than the internal processor pipeline
"cancellation point" (barrier) used by the rdtscp instruction itself.
This is the only reason for the rdtscp call  -  plus all modern Intel
& AMD CPUs support it, and it DOES solve the ordering problem,
whereby instructions in one pipeline of a task can get different
rdtsc() results than instructions in another pipeline.

I will document the results better in the ChangeLog , fix all issues
you identified, and resend .

I did not mean to ignore your comments -
those mails are nowhere in my Inbox -
please ,  confirm the actual email address
they are getting sent to.

Thanks & Regards,
Jason

View attachment "timer.c" of type "text/x-csrc" (3601 bytes)