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From: Matthieu Moy <Matthieu.Moy@grenoble-inp•fr>
To: William Duclot <william.duclot@ensimag•grenoble-inp.fr>
Cc: git@vger•kernel.org,
	simon rabourg <simon.rabourg@ensimag•grenoble-inp.fr>,
	francois beutin <francois.beutin@ensimag•grenoble-inp.fr>,
	antoine queru <antoine.queru@ensimag•grenoble-inp.fr>,
	mhagger@alum•mit.edu
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] strbuf: allow to use preallocated memory
Date: Mon, 30 May 2016 16:34:43 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <vpqpos38vi4.fsf@anie.imag.fr> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1639412597.204503.1464617754937.JavaMail.zimbra@ensimag.grenoble-inp.fr> (William Duclot's message of "Mon, 30 May 2016 16:15:54 +0200 (CEST)")

William Duclot <william.duclot@ensimag•grenoble-inp.fr> writes:

> Matthieu Moy <Matthieu.Moy@grenoble-inp•fr> writes:
>
>> void strbuf_grow(struct strbuf *sb, size_t extra)
>> {
>> 	int new_buf = !sb->alloc;
>> ...
>> 	if (sb->flags & STRBUF_OWNS_MEMORY) {
>> 		if (new_buf) // <---------------------------------------- (1)
>> 			sb->buf = NULL;
>> 		ALLOC_GROW(sb->buf, sb->len + extra + 1, sb->alloc);
>> 	} else {
>> 		/*
>> 		 * The strbuf doesn't own the buffer: to avoid to realloc it,
>> 		 * the strbuf needs to use a new buffer without freeing the old
>> 		 */
>> 		if (sb->len + extra + 1 > sb->alloc) {
>> 			size_t new_alloc = MAX(sb->len + extra + 1, alloc_nr(sb->alloc));
>> 			char *buf = xmalloc(new_alloc);
>> 			memcpy(buf, sb->buf, sb->alloc);
>> 			sb->buf = buf;
>> 			sb->alloc = new_alloc;
>> 			sb->flags |= STRBUF_OWNS_MEMORY;
>> 		}
>> 	}
>> 
>> 	if (new_buf) // <---------------------------------------- (2)
>> 		sb->buf[0] = '\0';
>> }
>> 
>> I think (1) is now dead code, since sb->alloc == 0 implies that
>> STRBUF_OWNS_MEMORY is set. (2) seems redundant since you've just
>> memcpy-ed the existing '\0' into the buffer.
>
> You're right for (1), I hadn't noticed that.
> For (2), we'll still have to set sb->buf[new_alloc-1]='\0' after the memcpy, if we
> have sb->alloc==0 then the memcpy won't copy it.

That sounds like one more reason to memcpy len + 1 bytes, and you'll get
the '\0' copied.

>> After your patch, there are differences between
>> strbuf_wrap_preallocated() which I think are inconsistencies:
>> 
>> * strbuf_attach() does not check for NULL buffer, but it doesn't accept
>>   them either if I read correctly. It would make sense to add the check
>>   to strbuf_attach(), but it's weird to have the performance-critical
>>   oriented function do the expensive stuff that the
>>   non-performance-critical one doesn't.
>
> I agree that strbuf_attach should do the check (it seems strange that it
> doesn't already do it, as the "buffer never NULL" invariant is not new).
> I don't understand your "but" part, what "expensive stuff" are you talking
> about?

"expensive stuff" was an exageration for "== NULL" test. It's not that
expensive, but costs a tiny bit of CPU time.

> xmemdupz can only allocate the same size it will copy.

Indeed, so forget about it.

>>> +/**
>>> + * Allow the caller to give a pre-allocated piece of memory for the strbuf
>>> + * to use and indicate that the strbuf must use exclusively this buffer,
>>> + * never realloc() it or allocate a new one. It means that the string can
>>> + * be manipulated but cannot overflow the pre-allocated buffer. The
>>> + * pre-allocated buffer will never be freed.
>>> + */
>> 
>> Perhaps say explicitly that although the allocated buffer has a fixed
>> size, the string itself can grow as long as it does not overflow the
>> buffer?
>
> That's what I meant by "the string can be manipulated but cannot overflow
> the pre-allocated buffer". I'll try to reformulate

Maybe "the string can grow, but cannot overflow"?

>>> @@ -91,6 +116,8 @@ extern void strbuf_release(struct strbuf *);
>>>   * Detach the string from the strbuf and returns it; you now own the
>>>   * storage the string occupies and it is your responsibility from then on
>>>   * to release it with `free(3)` when you are done with it.
>>> + * Must allocate a copy of the buffer in case of a preallocated/fixed
>>> buffer.
>>> + * Performance-critical operations have to be aware of this.
>> 
>> Better than just warn about performance, you can give the alternative.
>
> I'm not sure what you mean, I don't think there really is an alternative for
> detaching a string?

So, is the comment above saying "You're doomed, there's no way you can
get good performance anyway"?

The alternative is just that you don't have to call strbuf_release since
the caller can access the .buf field and is already the one responsible
for freeing it when needed, and it's safe to just call strbuf_init() if
one needs to re-initialize the stbuf structure.

-- 
Matthieu Moy
http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/

  reply	other threads:[~2016-05-30 14:34 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 38+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2016-05-30 10:36 [PATCH 0/2] strbuf: improve API William Duclot
2016-05-30 10:36 ` [PATCH 1/2] strbuf: add tests William Duclot
2016-05-30 11:26   ` Johannes Schindelin
2016-05-30 13:42     ` Simon Rabourg
2016-05-30 11:56   ` Matthieu Moy
2016-05-31  2:04   ` Michael Haggerty
2016-05-31  9:48     ` Simon Rabourg
2016-05-30 10:36 ` [PATCH 2/2] strbuf: allow to use preallocated memory William Duclot
2016-05-30 12:13   ` Johannes Schindelin
2016-05-30 13:20     ` William Duclot
2016-05-31  6:21       ` Johannes Schindelin
2016-05-31  3:05     ` Michael Haggerty
2016-05-31  6:41       ` Johannes Schindelin
2016-05-31  8:25         ` Michael Haggerty
2016-05-30 12:52   ` Matthieu Moy
2016-05-30 14:15     ` William Duclot
2016-05-30 14:34       ` Matthieu Moy [this message]
2016-05-30 15:16         ` William Duclot
2016-05-31  4:05     ` Michael Haggerty
2016-05-31 15:59       ` William Duclot
2016-06-03 14:04       ` William Duclot
2016-05-30 21:56   ` Mike Hommey
2016-05-30 22:46     ` William Duclot
2016-05-30 22:50       ` Mike Hommey
2016-05-31  6:34   ` Junio C Hamano
2016-05-31 15:45     ` William
2016-05-31 15:54       ` Matthieu Moy
2016-05-31 16:08         ` William Duclot
2016-05-30 11:32 ` [PATCH 0/2] strbuf: improve API Remi Galan Alfonso
2016-06-01  7:42   ` Jeff King
2016-06-01 19:50     ` David Turner
2016-06-01 20:09       ` Jeff King
2016-06-01 20:22         ` David Turner
2016-06-01 21:07     ` Jeff King
2016-06-02 11:11       ` Michael Haggerty
2016-06-02 12:58         ` Matthieu Moy
2016-06-02 14:22           ` William Duclot
2016-06-24 17:20         ` Jeff King

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