linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v8 00/10] x86: macrofying inline asm for better compilation

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Message-ID: <CAGXu5jK307b+bs6h-1f6dhRCj3HfoQQmbACuurOE9RbhzijHAQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:   Fri, 21 Sep 2018 11:26:38 -0700
From:   Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
To:     Nadav Amit <namit@...are.com>
Cc:     Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, X86 ML <x86@...nel.org>,
        Masahiro Yamada <yamada.masahiro@...ionext.com>,
        Sam Ravnborg <sam@...nborg.org>,
        Alok Kataria <akataria@...are.com>,
        Christopher Li <sparse@...isli.org>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>, Jan Beulich <JBeulich@...e.com>,
        Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...hat.com>,
        Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>,
        Kate Stewart <kstewart@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Sparse Mailing-list <linux-sparse@...r.kernel.org>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Philippe Ombredanne <pombredanne@...b.com>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        virtualization@...ts.linux-foundation.org,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Chris Zankel <chris@...kel.net>,
        Max Filippov <jcmvbkbc@...il.com>,
        linux-xtensa@...ux-xtensa.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v8 00/10] x86: macrofying inline asm for better compilation

On Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 2:28 PM, Nadav Amit <namit@...are.com> wrote:
> This patch-set deals with an interesting yet stupid problem: kernel code
> that does not get inlined despite its simplicity. There are several
> causes for this behavior: "cold" attribute on __init, different function
> optimization levels; conditional constant computations based on
> __builtin_constant_p(); and finally large inline assembly blocks.
>
> This patch-set deals with the inline assembly problem. I separated these
> patches from the others (that were sent in the RFC) for easier
> inclusion. I also separated the removal of unnecessary new-lines which
> would be sent separately.
>
> The problem with inline assembly is that inline assembly is often used
> by the kernel for things that are other than code - for example,
> assembly directives and data. GCC however is oblivious to the content of
> the blocks and assumes their cost in space and time is proportional to
> the number of the perceived assembly "instruction", according to the
> number of newlines and semicolons. Alternatives, paravirt and other
> mechanisms are affected, causing code not to be inlined, and degrading
> compilation quality in general.
>
> The solution that this patch-set carries for this problem is to create
> an assembly macro, and then call it from the inline assembly block.  As
> a result, the compiler sees a single "instruction" and assigns the more
> appropriate cost to the code.
>
> To avoid uglification of the code, as many noted, the macros are first
> precompiled into an assembly file, which is later assembled together
> with the C files. This also enables to avoid duplicate implementation
> that was set before for the asm and C code. This can be seen in the
> exception table changes.
>
> Overall this patch-set slightly increases the kernel size (my build was
> done using my Ubuntu 18.04 config + localyesconfig for the record):
>
>    text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
> 18140829 10224724 2957312 31322865 1ddf2f1 ./vmlinux before
> 18163608 10227348 2957312 31348268 1de562c ./vmlinux after (+0.1%)
>
> The number of static functions in the image is reduced by 379, but
> actually inlining is even better, which does not always shows in these
> numbers: a function may be inlined causing the calling function not to
> be inlined.
>
> I ran some limited number of benchmarks, and in general the performance
> impact is not very notable. You can still see >10 cycles shaved off some
> syscalls that manipulate page-tables (e.g., mprotect()), in which
> paravirt caused many functions not to be inlined. In addition this
> patch-set can prevent issues such as [1], and improves code readability
> and maintainability.
>
> [1] https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/10450037/
>
> v7->v8: * Add acks (Masahiro, Max)
>         * Rebase on 4.19 (Ingo)

I've tested the series for booting and with the refcount lkdtm tests.
Looks good, thanks!

Tested-by: Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>

-Kees

-- 
Kees Cook
Pixel Security