Issue #28618: Make hot functions using __attribute__((hot))

When Python is not compiled with PGO, the performance of Python on call_simple
and call_method microbenchmarks depend highly on the code placement. In the
worst case, the performance slowdown can be up to 70%.

The GCC __attribute__((hot)) attribute helps to keep hot code close to reduce
the risk of such major slowdown. This attribute is ignored when Python is
compiled with PGO.

The following functions are considered as hot according to statistics collected
by perf record/perf report:

* _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault()
* call_function()
* _PyFunction_FastCall()
* PyFrame_New()
* frame_dealloc()
* PyErr_Occurred()

diff --git a/Include/pyport.h b/Include/pyport.h
index 20f3db748155c835edf621a00ea7ab4224916a99..b91fc7468ab22935c1f30061de1c2a392ac8eee5 100644 (file)
--- a/Include/pyport.h
+++ b/Include/pyport.h
@@ -490,13 +490,36 @@ extern "C" {
  *    typedef int T1 Py_DEPRECATED(2.4);
  *    extern int x() Py_DEPRECATED(2.5);
  */
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && ((__GNUC__ >= 4) || \
-              (__GNUC__ == 3) && (__GNUC_MINOR__ >= 1))
+#if defined(__GNUC__) \
+    && ((__GNUC__ >= 4) || (__GNUC__ == 3) && (__GNUC_MINOR__ >= 1))
 #define Py_DEPRECATED(VERSION_UNUSED) __attribute__((__deprecated__))
 #else
 #define Py_DEPRECATED(VERSION_UNUSED)
 #endif
 
+
+/* Py_HOT_FUNCTION
+ * The hot attribute on a function is used to inform the compiler that the
+ * function is a hot spot of the compiled program. The function is optimized
+ * more aggressively and on many target it is placed into special subsection of
+ * the text section so all hot functions appears close together improving
+ * locality.
+ *
+ * Usage:
+ *    int Py_HOT_FUNCTION x() { return 3; }
+ *
+ * Issue #28618: This attribute must not be abused, otherwise it can have a
+ * negative effect on performance. Only the functions were Python spend most of
+ * its time must use it. Use a profiler when running performance benchmark
+ * suite to find these functions.
+ */
+#if defined(__GNUC__) \
+    && ((__GNUC__ >= 5) || (__GNUC__ == 4) && (__GNUC_MINOR__ >= 3))
+#define _Py_HOT_FUNCTION __attribute__((hot))
+#else
+#define _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
+#endif
+
 /**************************************************************************
 Prototypes that are missing from the standard include files on some systems
 (and possibly only some versions of such systems.)

diff --git a/Objects/frameobject.c b/Objects/frameobject.c
index 62f9f34c8ebf7ceae84276a1cca4d459dcf24ce0..eed538498c552f56b85da35a6ae21e0952ed1a42 100644 (file)
--- a/Objects/frameobject.c
+++ b/Objects/frameobject.c
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ static int numfree = 0;         /* number of frames currently in free_list */
 /* max value for numfree */
 #define PyFrame_MAXFREELIST 200
 
-static void
+static void _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 frame_dealloc(PyFrameObject *f)
 {
     PyObject **p, **valuestack;
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ int _PyFrame_Init()
     return 1;
 }
 
-PyFrameObject *
+PyFrameObject* _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 PyFrame_New(PyThreadState *tstate, PyCodeObject *code, PyObject *globals,
             PyObject *locals)
 {

diff --git a/Python/ceval.c b/Python/ceval.c
index 6cc6dfc744c618ea2f6ab49a6bbc18d510674794..d08b316db45949ef2aa0efdc5c6e9698ef551bc7 100644 (file)
--- a/Python/ceval.c
+++ b/Python/ceval.c
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ PyEval_EvalFrameEx(PyFrameObject *f, int throwflag)
     return tstate->interp->eval_frame(f, throwflag);
 }
 
-PyObject *
+PyObject* _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 _PyEval_EvalFrameDefault(PyFrameObject *f, int throwflag)
 {
 #ifdef DXPAIRS
@@ -4771,7 +4771,7 @@ if (tstate->use_tracing && tstate->c_profilefunc) { \
     x = call; \
     }
 
-static PyObject *
+static PyObject* _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 call_function(PyObject ***pp_stack, Py_ssize_t oparg, PyObject *kwnames)
 {
     PyObject **pfunc = (*pp_stack) - oparg - 1;
@@ -4844,7 +4844,7 @@ call_function(PyObject ***pp_stack, Py_ssize_t oparg, PyObject *kwnames)
    done before evaluating the frame.
 */
 
-static PyObject*
+static PyObject* _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 _PyFunction_FastCall(PyCodeObject *co, PyObject **args, Py_ssize_t nargs,
                      PyObject *globals)
 {

diff --git a/Python/errors.c b/Python/errors.c
index 0c38f7cf0cd2b99f53a1c0e200fdf2ad6f0b5349..d459fae622aee74e2c65f26fcae0487243797226 100644 (file)
--- a/Python/errors.c
+++ b/Python/errors.c
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ PyErr_SetString(PyObject *exception, const char *string)
 }
 
 
-PyObject *
+PyObject* _Py_HOT_FUNCTION
 PyErr_Occurred(void)
 {
     PyThreadState *tstate = PyThreadState_GET();