Subject: [PATCH v2 06/10] xdiff: split xrecord_t.ha into line_hash and minimal_perfect_hash

From: "Ezekiel Newren via GitGitGadget" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2025 22:19:44 +0000

From: Ezekiel Newren <[email-masked]>

The ha field is serving two different purposes, which makes the code
harder to read. At first glance it looks like many places assume
there could never be hash collisions between lines of the two input
files. In reality, line_hash is used together with xdl_recmatch() to
ensure correct comparisons of lines, even when collisions occur.

To make this clearer, the old ha field has been split:
  * line_hash: The straightforward hash of a line, requiring no
    additional context.
  * minimal_perfect_hash: Not a new concept, but now a separate
    field. It comes from the classifier's general-purpose hash table,
    which assigns each line a unique and minimal hash across the two
    files.

Signed-off-by: Ezekiel Newren <[email-masked]>
---
 xdiff/xdiffi.c     |  6 +++---
 xdiff/xhistogram.c |  4 ++--
 xdiff/xpatience.c  | 10 +++++-----
 xdiff/xprepare.c   | 16 ++++++++--------
 xdiff/xtypes.h     |  3 ++-
 5 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/xdiff/xdiffi.c b/xdiff/xdiffi.c
index edd05466df..436c34697d 100644
--- a/xdiff/xdiffi.c
+++ b/xdiff/xdiffi.c
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@
 
 #include "xinclude.h"
 
-static unsigned long get_hash(xdfile_t *xdf, long index)
+static size_t get_hash(xdfile_t *xdf, long index)
 {
-	return xdf->recs[xdf->rindex[index]].ha;
+	return xdf->recs[xdf->rindex[index]].minimal_perfect_hash;
 }
 
 #define XDL_MAX_COST_MIN 256
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ static xdchange_t *xdl_add_change(xdchange_t *xscr, long i1, long i2, long chg1,
 
 static int recs_match(xrecord_t *rec1, xrecord_t *rec2)
 {
-	return (rec1->ha == rec2->ha);
+	return rec1->minimal_perfect_hash == rec2->minimal_perfect_hash;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/xdiff/xhistogram.c b/xdiff/xhistogram.c
index 6dc450b1fe..5ae1282c27 100644
--- a/xdiff/xhistogram.c
+++ b/xdiff/xhistogram.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ struct region {
 
 static int cmp_recs(xrecord_t *r1, xrecord_t *r2)
 {
-	return r1->ha == r2->ha;
+	return r1->minimal_perfect_hash == r2->minimal_perfect_hash;
 
 }
 
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ static int cmp_recs(xrecord_t *r1, xrecord_t *r2)
 	(cmp_recs(REC(i->env, s1, l1), REC(i->env, s2, l2)))
 
 #define TABLE_HASH(index, side, line) \
-	XDL_HASHLONG((REC(index->env, side, line))->ha, index->table_bits)
+	XDL_HASHLONG((REC(index->env, side, line))->minimal_perfect_hash, index->table_bits)
 
 static int scanA(struct histindex *index, int line1, int count1)
 {
diff --git a/xdiff/xpatience.c b/xdiff/xpatience.c
index bb61354f22..cc53266f3b 100644
--- a/xdiff/xpatience.c
+++ b/xdiff/xpatience.c
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@
 struct hashmap {
 	int nr, alloc;
 	struct entry {
-		unsigned long hash;
+		size_t minimal_perfect_hash;
 		/*
 		 * 0 = unused entry, 1 = first line, 2 = second, etc.
 		 * line2 is NON_UNIQUE if the line is not unique
@@ -101,10 +101,10 @@ static void insert_record(xpparam_t const *xpp, int line, struct hashmap *map,
 	 * So we multiply ha by 2 in the hope that the hashing was
 	 * "unique enough".
 	 */
-	int index = (int)((record->ha << 1) % map->alloc);
+	int index = (int)((record->minimal_perfect_hash << 1) % map->alloc);
 
 	while (map->entries[index].line1) {
-		if (map->entries[index].hash != record->ha) {
+		if (map->entries[index].minimal_perfect_hash != record->minimal_perfect_hash) {
 			if (++index >= map->alloc)
 				index = 0;
 			continue;
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ static void insert_record(xpparam_t const *xpp, int line, struct hashmap *map,
 	if (pass == 2)
 		return;
 	map->entries[index].line1 = line;
-	map->entries[index].hash = record->ha;
+	map->entries[index].minimal_perfect_hash = record->minimal_perfect_hash;
 	map->entries[index].anchor = is_anchor(xpp, (const char *)map->env->xdf1.recs[line - 1].ptr);
 	if (!map->first)
 		map->first = map->entries + index;
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ static int match(struct hashmap *map, int line1, int line2)
 {
 	xrecord_t *record1 = &map->env->xdf1.recs[line1 - 1];
 	xrecord_t *record2 = &map->env->xdf2.recs[line2 - 1];
-	return record1->ha == record2->ha;
+	return record1->minimal_perfect_hash == record2->minimal_perfect_hash;
 }
 
 static int patience_diff(xpparam_t const *xpp, xdfenv_t *env,
diff --git a/xdiff/xprepare.c b/xdiff/xprepare.c
index 85e56021da..16236bd045 100644
--- a/xdiff/xprepare.c
+++ b/xdiff/xprepare.c
@@ -96,9 +96,9 @@ static int xdl_classify_record(unsigned int pass, xdlclassifier_t *cf, xrecord_t
 	long hi;
 	xdlclass_t *rcrec;
 
-	hi = (long) XDL_HASHLONG(rec->ha, cf->hbits);
+	hi = (long) XDL_HASHLONG(rec->line_hash, cf->hbits);
 	for (rcrec = cf->rchash[hi]; rcrec; rcrec = rcrec->next)
-		if (rcrec->rec.ha == rec->ha &&
+		if (rcrec->rec.line_hash == rec->line_hash &&
 				xdl_recmatch((const char *)rcrec->rec.ptr, (long)rcrec->rec.size,
 					(const char *)rec->ptr, (long)rec->size, cf->flags))
 			break;
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ static int xdl_classify_record(unsigned int pass, xdlclassifier_t *cf, xrecord_t
 
 	(pass == 1) ? rcrec->len1++ : rcrec->len2++;
 
-	rec->ha = (unsigned long) rcrec->idx;
+	rec->minimal_perfect_hash = (size_t)rcrec->idx;
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ static int xdl_prepare_ctx(unsigned int pass, mmfile_t *mf, long narec, xpparam_
 			crec = &xdf->recs[xdf->nrec++];
 			crec->ptr = prev;
 			crec->size = cur - prev;
-			crec->ha = hav;
+			crec->line_hash = hav;
 			if (xdl_classify_record(pass, cf, crec) < 0)
 				goto abort;
 		}
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ static int xdl_cleanup_records(xdlclassifier_t *cf, xdfile_t *xdf1, xdfile_t *xd
 	if ((mlim = xdl_bogosqrt(xdf1->nrec)) > XDL_MAX_EQLIMIT)
 		mlim = XDL_MAX_EQLIMIT;
 	for (i = xdf1->dstart, recs = &xdf1->recs[xdf1->dstart]; i <= xdf1->dend; i++, recs++) {
-		rcrec = cf->rcrecs[recs->ha];
+		rcrec = cf->rcrecs[recs->minimal_perfect_hash];
 		nm = rcrec ? rcrec->len2 : 0;
 		action1[i] = (nm == 0) ? DISCARD: (nm >= mlim && !need_min) ? INVESTIGATE: KEEP;
 	}
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ static int xdl_cleanup_records(xdlclassifier_t *cf, xdfile_t *xdf1, xdfile_t *xd
 	if ((mlim = xdl_bogosqrt(xdf2->nrec)) > XDL_MAX_EQLIMIT)
 		mlim = XDL_MAX_EQLIMIT;
 	for (i = xdf2->dstart, recs = &xdf2->recs[xdf2->dstart]; i <= xdf2->dend; i++, recs++) {
-		rcrec = cf->rcrecs[recs->ha];
+		rcrec = cf->rcrecs[recs->minimal_perfect_hash];
 		nm = rcrec ? rcrec->len1 : 0;
 		action2[i] = (nm == 0) ? DISCARD: (nm >= mlim && !need_min) ? INVESTIGATE: KEEP;
 	}
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ static int xdl_trim_ends(xdfile_t *xdf1, xdfile_t *xdf2) {
 	recs2 = xdf2->recs;
 	for (i = 0, lim = XDL_MIN(xdf1->nrec, xdf2->nrec); i < lim;
 	     i++, recs1++, recs2++)
-		if (recs1->ha != recs2->ha)
+		if (recs1->minimal_perfect_hash != recs2->minimal_perfect_hash)
 			break;
 
 	xdf1->dstart = xdf2->dstart = i;
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ static int xdl_trim_ends(xdfile_t *xdf1, xdfile_t *xdf2) {
 	recs1 = xdf1->recs + xdf1->nrec - 1;
 	recs2 = xdf2->recs + xdf2->nrec - 1;
 	for (lim -= i, i = 0; i < lim; i++, recs1--, recs2--)
-		if (recs1->ha != recs2->ha)
+		if (recs1->minimal_perfect_hash != recs2->minimal_perfect_hash)
 			break;
 
 	xdf1->dend = xdf1->nrec - i - 1;
diff --git a/xdiff/xtypes.h b/xdiff/xtypes.h
index 88b1fe4649..742b81bf3b 100644
--- a/xdiff/xtypes.h
+++ b/xdiff/xtypes.h
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ typedef struct s_chastore {
 typedef struct s_xrecord {
 	uint8_t const *ptr;
 	size_t size;
-	unsigned long ha;
+	uint64_t line_hash;
+	size_t minimal_perfect_hash;
 } xrecord_t;
 
 typedef struct s_xdfile {
-- 
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