netdev - Re: [PATCH 1/3] tg3: Limit minimum tx queue wakeup threshold

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Date:	Thu, 21 Aug 2014 16:06:07 -0700
From:	Benjamin Poirier <bpoirier@...e.de>
To:	Michael Chan <mchan@...adcom.com>
Cc:	Prashant Sreedharan <prashant@...adcom.com>,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] tg3: Limit minimum tx queue wakeup threshold

On 2014/08/21 15:32, Michael Chan wrote:
> On Thu, 2014-08-21 at 15:04 -0700, Benjamin Poirier wrote: 
> > On 2014/08/19 15:00, Michael Chan wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2014-08-19 at 11:52 -0700, Benjamin Poirier wrote: 
> > > > diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.c
> > > > index 3ac5d23..b11c0fd 100644
> > > > --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.c
> > > > +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.c
> > > > @@ -202,7 +202,8 @@ static inline void _tg3_flag_clear(enum TG3_FLAGS flag, unsigned long *bits)
> > > >  #endif
> > > >  
> > > >  /* minimum number of free TX descriptors required to wake up TX process */
> > > > -#define TG3_TX_WAKEUP_THRESH(tnapi)            ((tnapi)->tx_pending / 4)
> > > > +#define TG3_TX_WAKEUP_THRESH(tnapi)    max_t(u32, (tnapi)->tx_pending / 4, \
> > > > +                                             MAX_SKB_FRAGS + 1)
> > > 
> > > I think we should precompute this and store it in something like
> > > tp->tx_wake_thresh.
> > 
> > I've tried this by adding the following patch at the end of the v2
> > series but I did not measure a significant latency improvement. Was
> > there another reason for the change? 
> 
> Just performance.  The wake up threshold is checked in the tx fast path
> in both start_xmit() and tg3_tx().  I would optimize such code for speed

I don't see what you mean. The code in those two functions that used to
invoke TG3_TX_WAKEUP_THRESH is wrapped in unlikely() conditions. You
can't tell me that's the fast path ;) It's only checked when the queue
is stopped.

Moreover, the patches I've sent already add tg3_napi.wakeup_thresh. It
is over those patches that I've made the measurements.

> as much as possible.  In the current code, it was just a right shift
> operation.  Now, with max_t() added, I think I prefer having it
> pre-computed.  The performance difference may not be measurable, but I
> think the compiled code size may be smaller too.

Maybe in certain areas, but not overall:

with v2 patches 1-3
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
 149495    1247       0  150742   24cd6 drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.o
with v2 patches 1-3 + tx_wake_thresh_def
   text    data     bss     dec     hex filename
 149524    1247       0  150771   24cf3 drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.o

I really don't see a gain.

> 
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