Re: [PATCH v5] hashtable: introduce a small and naive hashtable

From: Sasha Levin
Date: Sat Sep 15 2012 - 11:48:45 EST


On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 5:14 PM, Mathieu Desnoyers
<mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> * Sasha Levin (levinsasha928@xxxxxxxxx) wrote:
>> This hashtable implementation is using hlist buckets to provide a simple
>> hashtable to prevent it from getting reimplemented all over the kernel.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <levinsasha928@xxxxxxxxx>
>> ---
>>
>> Changes from v4:
>>
>> - Addressed comments by Mathieu Desnoyers.
>>
>> include/linux/hashtable.h | 190 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> 1 file changed, 190 insertions(+)
>> create mode 100644 include/linux/hashtable.h
>>
>> diff --git a/include/linux/hashtable.h b/include/linux/hashtable.h
>> new file mode 100644
>> index 0000000..6d0c6c2
>> --- /dev/null
>> +++ b/include/linux/hashtable.h
>> @@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
>> +/*
>> + * Hash table implementation
>> + * (C) 2012 Sasha Levin <levinsasha928@xxxxxxxxx>
>> + */
>> +
>> +#ifndef _LINUX_HASHTABLE_H
>> +#define _LINUX_HASHTABLE_H
>> +
>> +#include <linux/list.h>
>> +#include <linux/types.h>
>> +#include <linux/kernel.h>
>> +#include <linux/hash.h>
>> +#include <linux/rculist.h>
>> +
>> +#define DEFINE_HASHTABLE(name, bits) \
>> + struct hlist_head name[HASH_SIZE(bits)] = \
>> + { [0 ... HASH_SIZE(bits) - 1] = HLIST_HEAD_INIT }
>> +
>> +#define DECLARE_HASHTABLE(name, bits) \
>> + struct hlist_head name[1 << (bits)]
>> +
>> +#define HASH_SIZE(name) (1 << HASH_BITS(name))
>> +#define HASH_BITS(name) ilog2(ARRAY_SIZE(name))
>> +
>> +/* Use hash_32 when possible to allow for fast 32bit hashing in 64bit kernels. */
>> +#define hash_min(val, bits) \
>> +({ \
>> + sizeof(val) <= 4 ? \
>> + hash_32(val, bits) : \
>> + hash_long(val, bits); \
>> +})
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * hash_init - initialize a hash table
>> + * @hashtable: hashtable to be initialized
>> + *
>> + * Calculates the size of the hashtable from the given parameter, otherwise
>> + * same as hash_init_size.
>> + *
>> + * This has to be a macro since HASH_BITS() will not work on pointers since
>> + * it calculates the size during preprocessing.
>> + */
>> +#define hash_init(hashtable) \
>> +({ \
>> + int __i; \
>> + \
>> + for (__i = 0; __i < HASH_BITS(hashtable); __i++) \
>
> I think this fails to initialize the whole table. You'd need
>
> HASH_BITS -> HASH_SIZE

Right.

Unfortunately it's pretty hard catching something like this :/

> Which brings the following question: how did you test this code ? It
> would be nice to have a small test module along with this patchset that
> stress-tests this simple hash table in various configurations (on stack,
> in data, etc).

I do two things:

- A small userspace test (since this header works just fine from
userspace as well).
- Build a kernel with all ~20 commits and stresstest it a bit, since
things like workqueue were converted, it finds issues pretty fast.

I agree that there should be something similar to the list sort test
we currently have, but I'm not sure if it should be in the scope of
this initial patch.

> Also, I don't see how hash_init() can be useful, since DEFINE_HASHTABLE
> already initialize the array entries. If it is for dynamically allocated
> hash tables, this also won't work, considering the comment "This has to
> be a macro since HASH_BITS() will not work on pointers since it
> calculates the size during preprocessing."

hash_init() is actually used to clear the hashtable in two of the
commits I've used to send along with this one. Since as you've said we
now have DEFINE_HASHTABLE and DECLARE_HASHTABLE, maybe it should be
now called hash_clear() or something similar. I don't have a strong
opinion about this.

>> + INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&hashtable[__i]); \
>> +})
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * hash_add - add an object to a hashtable
>> + * @hashtable: hashtable to add to
>> + * @node: the &struct hlist_node of the object to be added
>> + * @key: the key of the object to be added
>> + */
>> +#define hash_add(hashtable, node, key) \
>> + hlist_add_head(node, &hashtable[hash_min(key, HASH_BITS(hashtable))]);
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * hash_add_rcu - add an object to a rcu enabled hashtable
>> + * @hashtable: hashtable to add to
>> + * @node: the &struct hlist_node of the object to be added
>> + * @key: the key of the object to be added
>> + */
>> +#define hash_add_rcu(hashtable, node, key) \
>> + hlist_add_head_rcu(node, &hashtable[hash_min(key, HASH_BITS(hashtable))]);
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * hash_hashed - check whether an object is in any hashtable
>> + * @node: the &struct hlist_node of the object to be checked
>> + */
>> +#define hash_hashed(node) (!hlist_unhashed(node))
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * hash_empty - check whether a hashtable is empty
>> + * @hashtable: hashtable to check
>> + *
>> + * This has to be a macro since HASH_BITS() will not work on pointers since
>> + * it calculates the size during preprocessing.
>
> So I get that hash_empty is only expected to be used for statically
> defined hash tables ? Does it support hash tables in dynamically
> allocated memory ? On the stack ? If these are never expected to be
> supported, this should be documented.

Like the rest of the code, this hashtable implementation only works
with non-dynamically allocated hashtables (on the stack/statically
defined/etc are supported).

How would you create a dynamic hashtable with this code to begin with?


Thanks,
Sasha
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