[PATCH v7] mbuf: optimize segment prefree
Morten Brørup
mb at smartsharesystems.com
Thu Oct 23 18:18:50 CEST 2025
Refactored rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg() for both performance and readability.
With the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro, the common likely code path
now fits within one instruction cache line on x86-64 when built with GCC.
Signed-off-by: Morten Brørup <mb at smartsharesystems.com>
Acked-by: Konstantin Ananyev <konstantin.ananyev at huawei.com>
Acked-by: Chengwen Feng <fengchengwen at huawei.com>
Reviewed-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson at intel.com>
---
v7:
* Go back to long names instead of numerical value in RTE_MBUF_DIRECT()
macro.
(Konstantin Ananyev)
* Updated static_assert() accordingly.
v6:
* Fixed Doxygen error in RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro description.
(Thomas Monjalon)
* Added specific RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro implementation for API
documentation purposes, using flag names instead of numerical value.
v5:
* Removed the plain RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro, and only use the optimized
variant. (Bruce Richardson)
Further testing on Godbolt confirmed that other compilers benefit from
the optimized macro too.
* Shortened the description of the RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro, and only
provide one example of code emitted by a compiler. (Bruce Richardson)
* Consolidated the static_assert() into one, covering both little and big
endian.
This also reduces the amount of endian-conditional source code and
improves readability.
(Bruce Richardson)
* Added comment about MSB meaning "most significant byte".
v4:
* Enabled the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro for GCC on all
architectures.
v3:
* Rewrote the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro for readability; use
numerical value instead of long names. (Bruce Richardson)
* Enabled the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro for Loongarch too.
v2:
* Fixed typo in commit description.
* Fixed indentation.
* Added detailed description to the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT() macro.
(Stephen Hemminger)
* Added static_assert() to verify that the optimized RTE_MBUF_DIRECT()
macro is valid, specifically that the tested bits are in the MSB of the
64-bit field.
---
lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf.h | 51 +++++++++++++++-------------------------
lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf_core.h | 48 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
2 files changed, 65 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
diff --git a/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf.h b/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
index 3df22125de..2004391f57 100644
--- a/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
+++ b/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf.h
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
* http://www.kohala.com/start/tcpipiv2.html
*/
+#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <rte_common.h>
@@ -1458,44 +1459,30 @@ static inline int __rte_pktmbuf_pinned_extbuf_decref(struct rte_mbuf *m)
static __rte_always_inline struct rte_mbuf *
rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(struct rte_mbuf *m)
{
- __rte_mbuf_sanity_check(m, 0);
-
- if (likely(rte_mbuf_refcnt_read(m) == 1)) {
-
- if (!RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(m)) {
- rte_pktmbuf_detach(m);
- if (RTE_MBUF_HAS_EXTBUF(m) &&
- RTE_MBUF_HAS_PINNED_EXTBUF(m) &&
- __rte_pktmbuf_pinned_extbuf_decref(m))
- return NULL;
- }
-
- if (m->next != NULL)
- m->next = NULL;
- if (m->nb_segs != 1)
- m->nb_segs = 1;
+ bool refcnt_not_one;
- return m;
+ __rte_mbuf_sanity_check(m, 0);
- } else if (__rte_mbuf_refcnt_update(m, -1) == 0) {
+ refcnt_not_one = unlikely(rte_mbuf_refcnt_read(m) != 1);
+ if (refcnt_not_one && __rte_mbuf_refcnt_update(m, -1) != 0)
+ return NULL;
- if (!RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(m)) {
- rte_pktmbuf_detach(m);
- if (RTE_MBUF_HAS_EXTBUF(m) &&
- RTE_MBUF_HAS_PINNED_EXTBUF(m) &&
- __rte_pktmbuf_pinned_extbuf_decref(m))
- return NULL;
- }
+ if (unlikely(!RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(m))) {
+ rte_pktmbuf_detach(m);
+ if (RTE_MBUF_HAS_EXTBUF(m) &&
+ RTE_MBUF_HAS_PINNED_EXTBUF(m) &&
+ __rte_pktmbuf_pinned_extbuf_decref(m))
+ return NULL;
+ }
- if (m->next != NULL)
- m->next = NULL;
- if (m->nb_segs != 1)
- m->nb_segs = 1;
+ if (refcnt_not_one)
rte_mbuf_refcnt_set(m, 1);
+ if (m->nb_segs != 1)
+ m->nb_segs = 1;
+ if (m->next != NULL)
+ m->next = NULL;
- return m;
- }
- return NULL;
+ return m;
}
/**
diff --git a/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf_core.h b/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf_core.h
index a0df265b5d..506f7146f1 100644
--- a/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf_core.h
+++ b/lib/mbuf/rte_mbuf_core.h
@@ -711,9 +711,53 @@ struct rte_mbuf_ext_shared_info {
*
* If a mbuf embeds its own data after the rte_mbuf structure, this mbuf
* can be defined as a direct mbuf.
- */
+ *
+ * Note: Macro optimized for code size.
+ *
+ * The plain macro would be:
+ * \code{.c}
+ * #define RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(mb) \
+ * (!((mb)->ol_flags & (RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL)))
+ * \endcode
+ *
+ * The flags RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT and RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL are both in the MSB (most significant
+ * byte) of the 64-bit ol_flags field, so we only compare this one byte instead of all 64 bits.
+ *
+ * E.g., GCC version 16.0.0 20251019 (experimental) generates the following code for x86-64.
+ *
+ * With the plain macro, 17 bytes of instructions:
+ * \code
+ * movabs rax,0x6000000000000000 // 10 bytes
+ * and rax,QWORD PTR [rdi+0x18] // 4 bytes
+ * sete al // 3 bytes
+ * \endcode
+ * With this optimized macro, only 7 bytes of instructions:
+ * \code
+ * test BYTE PTR [rdi+0x1f],0x60 // 4 bytes
+ * sete al // 3 bytes
+ * \endcode
+ */
+#ifdef __DOXYGEN__
+#define RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(mb) \
+ !(((const char *)(&(mb)->ol_flags))[MSB_OFFSET /* 7 or 0, depending on endianness */] & \
+ (char)((RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL) >> (7 * CHAR_BIT)))
+#else /* !__DOXYGEN__ */
+#if RTE_BYTE_ORDER == RTE_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+/* On little endian architecture, the MSB of a 64-bit integer is at byte offset 7. */
+#define RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(mb) \
+ !(((const char *)(&(mb)->ol_flags))[7] & \
+ (char)((RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL) >> (7 * CHAR_BIT)))
+#elif RTE_BYTE_ORDER == RTE_BIG_ENDIAN
+/* On big endian architecture, the MSB of a 64-bit integer is at byte offset 0. */
#define RTE_MBUF_DIRECT(mb) \
- (!((mb)->ol_flags & (RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL)))
+ !(((const char *)(&(mb)->ol_flags))[0] & \
+ (char)((RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL) >> (7 * CHAR_BIT)))
+#endif /* RTE_BYTE_ORDER */
+#endif /* !__DOXYGEN__ */
+/* Verify the optimization above. */
+static_assert(((RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL) & (UINT64_C(0xFF) << (7 * CHAR_BIT))) ==
+ (RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL),
+ "(RTE_MBUF_F_INDIRECT | RTE_MBUF_F_EXTERNAL) is not at MSB");
/** Uninitialized or unspecified port. */
#define RTE_MBUF_PORT_INVALID UINT16_MAX
--
2.43.0
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