[for-next][PATCH 2/4] tracing: Process constants for (un)likely() profiler

From: Steven Rostedt
Date: Thu Jan 19 2017 - 09:02:34 EST


From: "Steven Rostedt (VMware)" <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>

When running the likely/unlikely profiler, one of the results did not look
accurate. It noted that the unlikely() in link_path_walk() was 100%
incorrect. When I added a trace_printk() to see what was happening there, it
became 80% correct! Looking deeper into what whas happening, I found that
gcc split that if statement into two paths. One where the if statement
became a constant, the other path a variable. The other path had the if
statement always hit (making the unlikely there, always false), but since
the #define unlikely() has:

#define unlikely() (__builtin_constant_p(x) ? !!(x) : __branch_check__(x, 0))

Where constants are ignored by the branch profiler, the "constant" path
made by the compiler was ignored, even though it was hit 80% of the time.

By just passing the constant value to the __branch_check__() function and
tracing it out of line (as always correct, as likely/unlikely isn't a factor
for constants), then we get back the accurate readings of branches that were
optimized by gcc causing part of the execution to become constant.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/compiler.h | 14 ++++++++------
kernel/trace/trace_branch.c | 6 +++++-
2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/compiler.h b/include/linux/compiler.h
index cf0fa5d86059..bbbe1570de1c 100644
--- a/include/linux/compiler.h
+++ b/include/linux/compiler.h
@@ -107,12 +107,13 @@ struct ftrace_branch_data {
*/
#if defined(CONFIG_TRACE_BRANCH_PROFILING) \
&& !defined(DISABLE_BRANCH_PROFILING) && !defined(__CHECKER__)
-void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val, int expect);
+void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val,
+ int expect, int is_constant);

#define likely_notrace(x) __builtin_expect(!!(x), 1)
#define unlikely_notrace(x) __builtin_expect(!!(x), 0)

-#define __branch_check__(x, expect) ({ \
+#define __branch_check__(x, expect, is_constant) ({ \
int ______r; \
static struct ftrace_branch_data \
__attribute__((__aligned__(4))) \
@@ -122,8 +123,9 @@ void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val, int expect);
.file = __FILE__, \
.line = __LINE__, \
}; \
- ______r = likely_notrace(x); \
- ftrace_likely_update(&______f, ______r, expect); \
+ ______r = __builtin_expect(!!(x), expect); \
+ ftrace_likely_update(&______f, ______r, \
+ expect, is_constant); \
______r; \
})

@@ -133,10 +135,10 @@ void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val, int expect);
* written by Daniel Walker.
*/
# ifndef likely
-# define likely(x) (__builtin_constant_p(x) ? !!(x) : __branch_check__(x, 1))
+# define likely(x) (__branch_check__(x, 1, __builtin_constant_p(x)))
# endif
# ifndef unlikely
-# define unlikely(x) (__builtin_constant_p(x) ? !!(x) : __branch_check__(x, 0))
+# define unlikely(x) (__branch_check__(x, 0, __builtin_constant_p(x)))
# endif

#ifdef CONFIG_PROFILE_ALL_BRANCHES
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_branch.c b/kernel/trace/trace_branch.c
index 75489de546b6..7afe426ea528 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_branch.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_branch.c
@@ -200,8 +200,12 @@ void trace_likely_condition(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val, int expect)
}
#endif /* CONFIG_BRANCH_TRACER */

-void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val, int expect)
+void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_branch_data *f, int val,
+ int expect, int is_constant)
{
+ /* A constant is always correct */
+ if (is_constant)
+ val = expect;
/*
* I would love to have a trace point here instead, but the
* trace point code is so inundated with unlikely and likely
--
2.10.2