diff mbox series

[RFC] skb: Define NET_IP_ALIGN based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS

Message ID 20181004173631.3nchegr6rm3jgz24@xylophone.i.decadent.org.uk (mailing list archive)
State New, archived
Headers show
Series [RFC] skb: Define NET_IP_ALIGN based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS | expand

Commit Message

Ben Hutchings Oct. 4, 2018, 5:36 p.m. UTC
NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.

Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
However several other architectures (conditionally) define
CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.

Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.

Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk>
---
 arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h | 11 -----------
 arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  8 --------
 include/linux/skbuff.h               |  7 +++----
 3 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)

Comments

Ard Biesheuvel Oct. 4, 2018, 5:43 p.m. UTC | #1
(+ Arnd, Russell, Catalin, Will)

On 4 October 2018 at 19:36, Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk> wrote:
> NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
> unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
> header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.
>
> Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
> However several other architectures (conditionally) define
> CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
> NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.
>
> Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
> NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
>
> Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk>

While this makes sense for arm64, I don't think it is appropriate for
ARM per se.

The unusual thing about ARM is that some instructions require 32-bit
alignment even when CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS is set,
(i.e., load/store multiple, load/store double), and we rely on
alignment fixups done by the kernel to deal with the fallout if such
instructions happen to be used on unaligned quantities (Russell,
please correct me if this is inaccurate)


> ---
>  arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h | 11 -----------
>  arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  8 --------
>  include/linux/skbuff.h               |  7 +++----
>  3 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
> index 52fadded5c1e..65c8210d2787 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
> @@ -525,17 +525,6 @@ extern void cvt_fd(float *from, double *to);
>  extern void cvt_df(double *from, float *to);
>  extern void _nmask_and_or_msr(unsigned long nmask, unsigned long or_val);
>
> -#ifdef CONFIG_PPC64
> -/*
> - * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware. On the other hand
> - * unaligned DMA can be very expensive on some ppc64 IO chips (it does
> - * powers of 2 writes until it reaches sufficient alignment).
> - *
> - * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
> - */
> -#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
> -#endif
> -
>  #endif /* __KERNEL__ */
>  #endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
>  #endif /* _ASM_POWERPC_PROCESSOR_H */
> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
> index d53c54b842da..0108efc9726e 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
> @@ -33,14 +33,6 @@ struct vm86;
>  #include <linux/irqflags.h>
>  #include <linux/mem_encrypt.h>
>
> -/*
> - * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware.  On the other hand
> - * unaligned DMA can be quite expensive on some Nehalem processors.
> - *
> - * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
> - */
> -#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
> -
>  #define HBP_NUM 4
>  /*
>   * Default implementation of macro that returns current
> diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
> index 17a13e4785fc..42467be8021f 100644
> --- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
> +++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
> @@ -2435,11 +2435,10 @@ static inline int pskb_network_may_pull(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int len)
>   * The downside to this alignment of the IP header is that the DMA is now
>   * unaligned. On some architectures the cost of an unaligned DMA is high
>   * and this cost outweighs the gains made by aligning the IP header.
> - *
> - * Since this trade off varies between architectures, we allow NET_IP_ALIGN
> - * to be overridden.
>   */
> -#ifndef NET_IP_ALIGN
> +#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
> +#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
> +#else
>  #define NET_IP_ALIGN   2
>  #endif
>
> --
> Ben Hutchings, Software Developer                         Codethink Ltd
> https://www.codethink.co.uk/                 Dale House, 35 Dale Street
>                                      Manchester, M1 2HF, United Kingdom
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> linux-arm-kernel mailing list
> linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-arm-kernel
Ard Biesheuvel Oct. 4, 2018, 5:44 p.m. UTC | #2
(+ Arnd but really)

On 4 October 2018 at 19:43, Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel@linaro.org> wrote:
> (+ Arnd, Russell, Catalin, Will)
>
> On 4 October 2018 at 19:36, Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk> wrote:
>> NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
>> unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
>> header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.
>>
>> Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
>> However several other architectures (conditionally) define
>> CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
>> NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.
>>
>> Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
>> NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk>
>
> While this makes sense for arm64, I don't think it is appropriate for
> ARM per se.
>
> The unusual thing about ARM is that some instructions require 32-bit
> alignment even when CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS is set,
> (i.e., load/store multiple, load/store double), and we rely on
> alignment fixups done by the kernel to deal with the fallout if such
> instructions happen to be used on unaligned quantities (Russell,
> please correct me if this is inaccurate)
>
>
>> ---
>>  arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h | 11 -----------
>>  arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  8 --------
>>  include/linux/skbuff.h               |  7 +++----
>>  3 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
>> index 52fadded5c1e..65c8210d2787 100644
>> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
>> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
>> @@ -525,17 +525,6 @@ extern void cvt_fd(float *from, double *to);
>>  extern void cvt_df(double *from, float *to);
>>  extern void _nmask_and_or_msr(unsigned long nmask, unsigned long or_val);
>>
>> -#ifdef CONFIG_PPC64
>> -/*
>> - * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware. On the other hand
>> - * unaligned DMA can be very expensive on some ppc64 IO chips (it does
>> - * powers of 2 writes until it reaches sufficient alignment).
>> - *
>> - * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
>> - */
>> -#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
>> -#endif
>> -
>>  #endif /* __KERNEL__ */
>>  #endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
>>  #endif /* _ASM_POWERPC_PROCESSOR_H */
>> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
>> index d53c54b842da..0108efc9726e 100644
>> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
>> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
>> @@ -33,14 +33,6 @@ struct vm86;
>>  #include <linux/irqflags.h>
>>  #include <linux/mem_encrypt.h>
>>
>> -/*
>> - * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware.  On the other hand
>> - * unaligned DMA can be quite expensive on some Nehalem processors.
>> - *
>> - * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
>> - */
>> -#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
>> -
>>  #define HBP_NUM 4
>>  /*
>>   * Default implementation of macro that returns current
>> diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
>> index 17a13e4785fc..42467be8021f 100644
>> --- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
>> +++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
>> @@ -2435,11 +2435,10 @@ static inline int pskb_network_may_pull(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int len)
>>   * The downside to this alignment of the IP header is that the DMA is now
>>   * unaligned. On some architectures the cost of an unaligned DMA is high
>>   * and this cost outweighs the gains made by aligning the IP header.
>> - *
>> - * Since this trade off varies between architectures, we allow NET_IP_ALIGN
>> - * to be overridden.
>>   */
>> -#ifndef NET_IP_ALIGN
>> +#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
>> +#define NET_IP_ALIGN   0
>> +#else
>>  #define NET_IP_ALIGN   2
>>  #endif
>>
>> --
>> Ben Hutchings, Software Developer                         Codethink Ltd
>> https://www.codethink.co.uk/                 Dale House, 35 Dale Street
>>                                      Manchester, M1 2HF, United Kingdom
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> linux-arm-kernel mailing list
>> linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
>> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-arm-kernel
Russell King (Oracle) Oct. 4, 2018, 6:07 p.m. UTC | #3
On Thu, Oct 04, 2018 at 07:43:59PM +0200, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> (+ Arnd, Russell, Catalin, Will)
> 
> On 4 October 2018 at 19:36, Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk> wrote:
> > NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
> > unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
> > header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.
> >
> > Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
> > However several other architectures (conditionally) define
> > CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
> > NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.
> >
> > Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
> > NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk>
> 
> While this makes sense for arm64, I don't think it is appropriate for
> ARM per se.
> 
> The unusual thing about ARM is that some instructions require 32-bit
> alignment even when CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS is set,
> (i.e., load/store multiple, load/store double), and we rely on
> alignment fixups done by the kernel to deal with the fallout if such
> instructions happen to be used on unaligned quantities (Russell,
> please correct me if this is inaccurate)

Correct, and we do have some assembly that use ldmia in the net code
(eg, for checksum calculation.)  Having NET_IP_ALIGN be 0 on ARM
coupled with a network adapter that doesn't do its own checksumming
would mean every non-hw-checksummed IP packet hitting the alignment
fixup - and not just once per packet.

So it's likely that this change could provoke reports of performance
regressions for ARM.
Will Deacon Oct. 5, 2018, 1:16 p.m. UTC | #4
On Thu, Oct 04, 2018 at 07:43:59PM +0200, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> (+ Arnd, Russell, Catalin, Will)
> 
> On 4 October 2018 at 19:36, Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk> wrote:
> > NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
> > unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
> > header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.
> >
> > Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
> > However several other architectures (conditionally) define
> > CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
> > NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.
> >
> > Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
> > NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Ben Hutchings <ben.hutchings@codethink.co.uk>
> 
> While this makes sense for arm64, I don't think it is appropriate for
> ARM per se.

Agreed that this makes sense for arm64, and I'd be happy to take a patch
defining it as 0 there.

Will
David Laight Oct. 5, 2018, 4:59 p.m. UTC | #5
From: Ben Hutchings
> Sent: 04 October 2018 18:37
> 
> NET_IP_ALIGN is supposed to be defined as 0 if DMA writes to an
> unaligned buffer would be more expensive than CPU access to unaligned
> header fields, and otherwise defined as 2.
> 
> Currently only ppc64 and x86 configurations define it to be 0.
> However several other architectures (conditionally) define
> CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS, which seems to imply that
> NET_IP_ALIGN should be 0.
> 
> Remove the overriding definitions for ppc64 and x86 and define
> NET_IP_ALIGN solely based on CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS.

Even if CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS is set unaligned
accesses are likely to be slightly slower than aligned ones.
So having NET_IP_ALIGN set to 2 might make sense even on x86.
(ISTR DM saying why this isn't done.)

I've also met systems when misaligned DMA transfers (for ethernet receive)
were so bad that is was necessary to DMA to a 4n aligned buffer and
then do a misaligned copy to the real rx buffer (skb equiv) for the
network stack - which required the buffer be 4n+2 aligned.
(sparc sbus with the original DMA part.)

	David

-
Registered Address Lakeside, Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, MK1 1PT, UK
Registration No: 1397386 (Wales)
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
index 52fadded5c1e..65c8210d2787 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/processor.h
@@ -525,17 +525,6 @@  extern void cvt_fd(float *from, double *to);
 extern void cvt_df(double *from, float *to);
 extern void _nmask_and_or_msr(unsigned long nmask, unsigned long or_val);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_PPC64
-/*
- * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware. On the other hand 
- * unaligned DMA can be very expensive on some ppc64 IO chips (it does
- * powers of 2 writes until it reaches sufficient alignment).
- *
- * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
- */
-#define NET_IP_ALIGN	0
-#endif
-
 #endif /* __KERNEL__ */
 #endif /* __ASSEMBLY__ */
 #endif /* _ASM_POWERPC_PROCESSOR_H */
diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
index d53c54b842da..0108efc9726e 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h
@@ -33,14 +33,6 @@  struct vm86;
 #include <linux/irqflags.h>
 #include <linux/mem_encrypt.h>
 
-/*
- * We handle most unaligned accesses in hardware.  On the other hand
- * unaligned DMA can be quite expensive on some Nehalem processors.
- *
- * Based on this we disable the IP header alignment in network drivers.
- */
-#define NET_IP_ALIGN	0
-
 #define HBP_NUM 4
 /*
  * Default implementation of macro that returns current
diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
index 17a13e4785fc..42467be8021f 100644
--- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
+++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
@@ -2435,11 +2435,10 @@  static inline int pskb_network_may_pull(struct sk_buff *skb, unsigned int len)
  * The downside to this alignment of the IP header is that the DMA is now
  * unaligned. On some architectures the cost of an unaligned DMA is high
  * and this cost outweighs the gains made by aligning the IP header.
- *
- * Since this trade off varies between architectures, we allow NET_IP_ALIGN
- * to be overridden.
  */
-#ifndef NET_IP_ALIGN
+#ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_EFFICIENT_UNALIGNED_ACCESS
+#define NET_IP_ALIGN	0
+#else
 #define NET_IP_ALIGN	2
 #endif