On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:43:03 +0300, Denis Vlasenko wrote:
> On Tuesday 14 June 2005 07:26, [email protected] wrote:
> > The problem with that approach is GCC would still just relocate the push/pop
> > block to the bottom of the function. This means you won't be likely to pick
> > up anything useful in L1 or L2 as the function exits normally - in fact
> > you'd typically be guaranteed to be picking up a partial line of gorp that
> > is completely worthless later on.
> >
> > This is one of my issues with the notion of unlikely() being smoothed on
> > everywhere like Bondo<g> - it also makes it "unlikely" that you'll get any
> > serendipitous L1/L2 advantages that could be had by locating related
> > functions next to each other.
> >
> > When you take the unlikely stuff completely out of line in a seperate
> > functions located elsewhere, the mainline code can make better use of the
> > caches. The Intel parts thrive on L1 hits and die if they're not getting
> > them.
>
> That's exactly what compiler can do by itself. The fact that currently
> it isn't smart enough to od it means that it has to be improved.
> You propose that people have to do compiler's job.
Not just the compiler -- the linker would need to be a lot smarter too:
/* foo.c */
extern int bar1(void), bar2(void), bar3(void);
main() {
if (likely(bar1()))
bar2();
else
bar3();
}
/* bar.c */
int bar1(void) { return 1; }
int bar2(void) { whatever; }
int bar3(void) { whatever; }
When you compile bar.c the compiler has _no_ idea which functions are likely
to be called.
And doing this manually is trivial:
1. Add two sections to vmlinux.lds.S: .fast.text and .slow.text
2. Define __fast __attribute__(__section__(".fast.text"))
3. Define __slow similarly
4. Start tagging functions with __fast and __slow as needed
Very little work for much potential gain, AFAICS.
--
Chuck
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