[dpdk-dev] [PATCH 3/9] mbuf: set mbuf fields while in pool

[Bruce Richardson]

On Wed, Mar 08, 2017 at 10:41:55AM +0100, Olivier Matz wrote:
> Set the value of m->refcnt to 1, m->nb_segs to 1 and m->next
> to NULL when the mbuf is stored inside the mempool (unused).
> This is done in rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(), before freeing or
> recycling a mbuf.
> 
> Before this patch, the value of m->refcnt was expected to be 0
> while in pool.
> 
> The objectives are:
> 
> - to avoid drivers to set m->next to NULL in the early Rx path, since
>   this field is in the second 64B of the mbuf and its access could
>   trigger a cache miss
> 
> - rationalize the behavior of raw_alloc/raw_free: one is now the
>   symmetric of the other, and refcnt is never changed in these functions.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Olivier Matz <olivier.matz at 6wind.com>
> ---
>  drivers/net/mlx5/mlx5_rxtx.c     |  5 ++---
>  drivers/net/mpipe/mpipe_tilegx.c |  1 +
>  lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.c       |  2 ++
>  lib/librte_mbuf/rte_mbuf.h       | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
>  4 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
> 
<snip>
>  /**
> @@ -1244,9 +1262,13 @@ rte_pktmbuf_prefree_seg(struct rte_mbuf *m)
>  	__rte_mbuf_sanity_check(m, 0);
>  
>  	if (likely(rte_mbuf_refcnt_update(m, -1) == 0)) {
> -		/* if this is an indirect mbuf, it is detached. */
>  		if (RTE_MBUF_INDIRECT(m))
>  			rte_pktmbuf_detach(m);
> +
> +		m->next = NULL;
> +		m->nb_segs = 1;
> +		rte_mbuf_refcnt_set(m, 1);
> +
>  		return m;
>  	}
>  	return NULL;

Do we need to make this change to prefree_seg? If we update the detach
function to set the next point to null on detaching a segment, and if we
change the "free" function which frees a whole chain of mbufs, we should
be covered, should we not? If we are freeing a standalone segment, that
segment should already have it's nb_segs and next pointers correct.

/Bruce