Re: [PATCH] 2.5: push BKL out of llseek

Andrew Morton (akpm@zip.com.au)
Tue, 29 Jan 2002 17:26:41 -0800


Robert Love wrote:
>
> @@ -84,9 +84,9 @@
> fn = default_llseek;
> if (file->f_op && file->f_op->llseek)
> fn = file->f_op->llseek;
> - lock_kernel();
> + down(&file->f_dentry->d_inode->i_sem);
> retval = fn(file, offset, origin);
> - unlock_kernel();
> + up(&file->f_dentry->d_inode->i_sem);
> return retval;
> }

Just a little word of caution here. Remember the
apache-flock-synchronisation fiasco, where removal
of the BKL halved Apache throughput on 8-way x86.

This was because the BKL removal turned serialisation
on a quick codepath from a spinlock into a schedule().

So... I'd suggest that changes such as this should be
benchmarked in isolation; otherwise we end up spending
quite some time hunting down mysterious reports of
performance regression, and having to rethink stuff.

And llseek is *fast*. If we're seeing significant
lock contention in there then adding a schedule() is
likely to turn Anton into one unhappy dbencher.

-
-
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