Re: Some platform-specific MemSet research

Rocco Altier wrote:
> I wanted to chime in that I also see this speedup from using XLC 6.0
> (IBM's cc), even in 32bit mode.  I have tested on AIX 5.2 and 5.1.
> 
> I think this would be good to include in the regular release.  
> 
> Not sure how many people are running older versions of AIX that would
> want a new version of postgres.
> 

OK, perfect.  I will work on making it platform-specific and report
back.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


>     -rocco
> 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: pgsql-hackers-owner@postgresql.org 
> > [mailto:pgsql-hackers-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Bruce Momjian
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 01, 2006 12:11 PM
> > To: Seneca Cunningham
> > Cc: Martijn van Oosterhout; pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
> > Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Some platform-specific MemSet research
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > My guess is that there is some really fast assembler for 
> > memory copy on
> > AIX, and only libc memset() has it.  If you want, we can make
> > MEMSET_LOOP_LIMIT in c.h a configure value, and allow template/aix to
> > set it to zero, causing memset() to be always used.
> > 
> > Are you prepared to make this optimization decision for all AIX users
> > using gcc, or only for certain versions?
> > 
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -------------
> > 
> > Seneca Cunningham wrote:
> > > Martijn van Oosterhout wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Jan 24, 2006 at 05:24:28PM -0500, Seneca Cunningham wrote:
> > > > 
> > > >>After reading the post on -patches proposing that MemSet 
> > be changed to
> > > >>use long instead of int32 on the grounds that a pair of 
> > x86-64 linux
> > > >>boxes took less time to execute the long code 64*10^6 
> > times[1], I took a
> > > >>look at how the testcode performed on AIX with gcc.  
> > While the switch to
> > > >>long did result in a minor performance improvement, dropping the
> > > >>MemSetLoop in favour of the native memset resulted in the 
> > tests taking
> > > >>~25% the time as the MemSetLoop-like int loop. The 32-bit 
> > linux system I
> > > >>ran the expanded tests on showed that for the buffer size 
> > range that
> > > >>postgres can use the looping MemSet instead of memset 
> > (size <= 1024
> > > >>bytes), MemSet generally had better performance.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Could you please check the asm output to see what's going 
> > on. We've had
> > > > tests like these produce odd results in the past because 
> > the compiler
> > > > optimised away stuff that didn't have any effect. Since 
> > every memset
> > > > after the first is a no-op, you want to make sure it's 
> > still actually
> > > > doing the work...
> > > 
> > > Well, on both linux and AIX, all 30 of the 64000000 iterations loops
> > > from the source exist (10 int, 10 long, 10 memset).  According to my
> > > understanding of the assembler, memset itself is only 
> > called for values
> > > >= 64 bytes on both platforms and the memset is called in 
> > each iteration.
> > > 
> > > The assembler for the 64 byte loops, with prepended line 
> > number, first
> > > loop MemSetLoop int-variant, second loop memset, third loop 
> > MemSetLoop
> > > long-variant:
> > > 
> > > 64-bit AIX:
> > > 
> > >     419     addi 3,1,112
> > >     420     li 4,0
> > >     421     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     422     nop
> > >     423     lis 10,0x3d0
> > >     424     cmpld 6,26,16
> > >     425     li 11,0
> > >     426     ori 10,10,36864
> > >     427 L..41:
> > >     428     bge 6,L..42
> > >     429     mr 9,26
> > >     430     li 0,0
> > >     431 L..44:
> > >     432     stw 0,0(9)
> > >     433     addi 9,9,4
> > >     434     cmpld 7,16,9
> > >     435     bgt 7,L..44
> > >     436 L..42:
> > >     437     addi 0,11,1
> > >     438     extsw 11,0
> > >     439     cmpw 7,11,10
> > >     440     bne+ 7,L..41
> > >     441     li 4,0
> > >     442     mr 3,22
> > >     443     lis 25,0x3d0
> > >     444     li 28,0
> > >     445     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     446     nop
> > >     447     li 4,64
> > >     448     addi 5,1,112
> > >     449     ld 3,LC..9(2)
> > >     450     mr 6,22
> > >     451     ori 25,25,36864
> > >     452     bl .print_time
> > >     453     addi 3,1,112
> > >     454     li 4,0
> > >     455     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     456     nop
> > >     457 L..46:
> > >     458     mr 3,26
> > >     459     li 4,0
> > >     460     li 5,64
> > >     461     bl .memset
> > >     462     nop
> > >     463     addi 0,28,1
> > >     464     extsw 28,0
> > >     465     cmpw 7,28,25
> > >     466     bne+ 7,L..46
> > >     467     li 4,0
> > >     468     mr 3,22
> > >     469     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     470     nop
> > >     471     li 4,64
> > >     472     addi 5,1,112
> > >     473     ld 3,LC..11(2)
> > >     474     mr 6,22
> > >     475     bl .print_time
> > >     476     addi 3,1,112
> > >     477     li 4,0
> > >     478     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     479     nop
> > >     480     lis 10,0x3d0
> > >     481     cmpld 6,26,16
> > >     482     li 11,0
> > >     483     ori 10,10,36864
> > >     484 L..48:
> > >     485     bge 6,L..49
> > >     486     mr 9,26
> > >     487     li 0,0
> > >     488 L..51:
> > >     489     std 0,0(9)
> > >     490     addi 9,9,8
> > >     491     cmpld 7,9,16
> > >     492     blt 7,L..51
> > >     493 L..49:
> > >     494     addi 0,11,1
> > >     495     extsw 11,0
> > >     496     cmpw 7,11,10
> > >     497     bne+ 7,L..48
> > >     498     li 4,0
> > >     499     mr 3,22
> > >     500     bl .gettimeofday
> > >     501     nop
> > >     502     li 4,64
> > >     503     addi 5,1,112
> > >     504     ld 3,LC..13(2)
> > >     505     mr 6,22
> > >     506     bl .print_time
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 32-bit Linux:
> > > 
> > >     387     popl    %ecx
> > >     388     popl    %edi
> > >     389     pushl   $0
> > >     390     leal    -20(%ebp), %edx
> > >     391     pushl   %edx
> > >     392     call    gettimeofday
> > >     393     xorl    %edx, %edx
> > >     394     addl    $16, %esp
> > >     395 .L41:
> > >     396     movl    -4160(%ebp), %eax
> > >     397     cmpl    %eax, -4144(%ebp)
> > >     398     jae .L42
> > >     399     movl    -4144(%ebp), %eax
> > >     400 .L44:
> > >     401     movl    $0, (%eax)
> > >     402     addl    $4, %eax
> > >     403     cmpl    %eax, -4160(%ebp)
> > >     404     ja  .L44
> > >     405 .L42:
> > >     406     incl    %edx
> > >     407     cmpl    $64000000, %edx
> > >     408     jne .L41
> > >     409     subl    $8, %esp
> > >     410     pushl   $0
> > >     411     leal    -28(%ebp), %edx
> > >     412     pushl   %edx
> > >     413     call    gettimeofday
> > >     414     leal    -28(%ebp), %eax
> > >     415     movl    %eax, (%esp)
> > >     416     leal    -20(%ebp), %ecx
> > >     417     movl    $64, %edx
> > >     418     movl    $.LC5, %eax
> > >     419     call    print_time
> > >     420     popl    %eax
> > >     421     popl    %edx
> > >     422     pushl   $0
> > >     423     leal    -20(%ebp), %edx
> > >     424     pushl   %edx
> > >     425     call    gettimeofday
> > >     426     xorl    %edi, %edi
> > >     427     addl    $16, %esp
> > >     428 .L46:
> > >     429     pushl   %eax
> > >     430     pushl   $64
> > >     431     pushl   $0
> > >     432     movl    -4144(%ebp), %ecx
> > >     433     pushl   %ecx
> > >     434     call    memset
> > >     435     incl    %edi
> > >     436     addl    $16, %esp
> > >     437     cmpl    $64000000, %edi
> > >     438     jne .L46
> > >     439     subl    $8, %esp
> > >     440     pushl   $0
> > >     441     leal    -28(%ebp), %eax
> > >     442     pushl   %eax
> > >     443     call    gettimeofday
> > >     444     leal    -28(%ebp), %edx
> > >     445     movl    %edx, (%esp)
> > >     446     leal    -20(%ebp), %ecx
> > >     447     movl    $64, %edx
> > >     448     movl    $.LC6, %eax
> > >     449     call    print_time
> > >     450     popl    %eax
> > >     451     popl    %edx
> > >     452     pushl   $0
> > >     453     leal    -20(%ebp), %eax
> > >     454     pushl   %eax
> > >     455     call    gettimeofday
> > >     456     xorl    %edx, %edx
> > >     457     addl    $16, %esp
> > >     458 .L48:
> > >     459     movl    -4160(%ebp), %eax
> > >     460     cmpl    %eax, -4144(%ebp)
> > >     461     jae .L49
> > >     462     movl    -4144(%ebp), %eax
> > >     463 .L51:
> > >     464     movl    $0, (%eax)
> > >     465     addl    $4, %eax
> > >     466     cmpl    -4160(%ebp), %eax
> > >     467     jb  .L51
> > >     468 .L49:
> > >     469     incl    %edx
> > >     470     cmpl    $64000000, %edx
> > >     471     jne .L48
> > >     472     subl    $8, %esp
> > >     473     pushl   $0
> > >     474     leal    -28(%ebp), %edx
> > >     475     pushl   %edx
> > >     476     call    gettimeofday
> > >     477     leal    -28(%ebp), %eax
> > >     478     movl    %eax, (%esp)
> > >     479     leal    -20(%ebp), %ecx
> > >     480     movl    $64, %edx
> > >     481     movl    $.LC7, %eax
> > >     482     call    print_time
> > > 
> > > -- 
> > > Seneca Cunningham
> > > scunning@ca.afilias.info
> > > 
> > > ---------------------------(end of 
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> > > 
> > 
> > -- 
> >   Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
> >   pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
> >   +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
> >   +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, 
> > Pennsylvania 19073
> > 
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--  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610)
359-1001+  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square,
Pennsylvania19073