Re: [PATCH 12/15] [GSOC] cat-file: reuse ref-filter logic

On Sat, Jul 03 2021, ZheNing Hu wrote:

Most of the problem, although this may not entirely fix the performance regression, is that you're either looking up everything twice now, or taking a much more expensive path.

I think using gprof is probably much more handy here. See [1. I did a
`git rev-list --all >rla` and ran that piped into 'git cat-file --batch'
with/without your pathces. Results:
    
    $ gprof ./git-master ./gmon-master.out | head -n 10
    Flat profile:
    
    Each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
      %   cumulative   self              self     total           
     time   seconds   seconds    calls  ms/call  ms/call  name    
     14.29      0.02     0.02   475186     0.00     0.00  nth_packed_object_offset
     14.29      0.04     0.02   237835     0.00     0.00  hash_to_hex_algop_r
      7.14      0.05     0.01  5220425     0.00     0.00  hashcmp_algop
      7.14      0.06     0.01  4757120     0.00     0.00  hex2chr
      7.14      0.07     0.01  1732023     0.00     0.00  find_entry_ptr

And:
    
    $ gprof ./git-new ./gmon-new.out |head -n 10
    Flat profile:
    
    Each sample counts as 0.01 seconds.
      %   cumulative   self              self     total
     time   seconds   seconds    calls  ms/call  ms/call  name
      7.32      0.06     0.06   764570     0.00     0.00  lookup_object
      7.32      0.12     0.06   237835     0.00     0.00  parse_commit_date
      4.88      0.16     0.04   712779     0.00     0.00  nth_packed_object_offset
      3.66      0.19     0.03   964574     0.00     0.00  bsearch_hash
      3.66      0.22     0.03   237835     0.00     0.00  grab_sub_body_contents

If you e.g. make lookup_object() simply die when it's called you'll see that before we don't call it at all, after your patch it's our #1 function.

Before when we have the simplest case of writing out an object this is
our callstack:
    
    (gdb) bt
    #0  batch_write (opt=0x7fffffffde50, data=0x555555ab9470, len=52) at builtin/cat-file.c:298
    #1  0x000055555558b160 in batch_object_write (obj_name=0x55555597cef0 "504fe6b39f7747be6427f28d9ca97decf5e6cecf", scratch=0x7fffffffd8c0,
        opt=0x7fffffffde50, data=0x7fffffffd7f0) at builtin/cat-file.c:375
    #2  0x000055555558b36e in batch_one_object (obj_name=0x55555597cef0 "504fe6b39f7747be6427f28d9ca97decf5e6cecf", scratch=0x7fffffffd8c0, opt=0x7fffffffde50,
        data=0x7fffffffd7f0) at builtin/cat-file.c:431
    #3  0x000055555558b8ed in batch_objects (opt=0x7fffffffde50) at builtin/cat-file.c:588
    #4  0x000055555558c0d3 in cmd_cat_file (argc=0, argv=0x7fffffffe1e0, prefix=0x0) at builtin/cat-file.c:716
    #5  0x0000555555573adb in run_builtin (p=0x555555941870 <commands+240>, argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1e0) at git.c:461
    #6  0x0000555555573f00 in handle_builtin (argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1e0) at git.c:714
    #7  0x0000555555574182 in run_argv (argcp=0x7fffffffe08c, argv=0x7fffffffe080) at git.c:781
    #8  0x000055555557460f in cmd_main (argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1e0) at git.c:912
    #9  0x000055555565b508 in main (argc=3, argv=0x7fffffffe1d8) at common-main.c:52

After (well, here we're not even to writing it, just looking it up), the
BUG() is my addition:
    
    (gdb) bt
    #0  BUG_fl (file=0x5555558ade71 "object.c", line=91, fmt=0x5555558ade6e "yo") at usage.c:290
    #1  0x00005555557441ca in lookup_object (r=0x5555559755c0 <the_repo>, oid=0x555555975160 <oi>) at object.c:91
    #2  0x000055555569dfc8 in lookup_commit (r=0x5555559755c0 <the_repo>, oid=0x555555975160 <oi>) at commit.c:62
    #3  0x00005555557445f5 in parse_object_buffer (r=0x5555559755c0 <the_repo>, oid=0x555555975160 <oi>, type=OBJ_COMMIT, size=342, buffer=0x555555ab48e0,
        eaten_p=0x7fffffffd36c) at object.c:215
    #4  0x0000555555785094 in get_object (ref=0x7fffffffd6b0, deref=0, obj=0x7fffffffd520, oi=0x555555975160 <oi>, err=0x7fffffffd860) at ref-filter.c:1803
    #5  0x0000555555785c99 in populate_value (ref=0x7fffffffd6b0, err=0x7fffffffd860) at ref-filter.c:2030
    #6  0x0000555555785d7b in get_ref_atom_value (ref=0x7fffffffd6b0, atom=0, v=0x7fffffffd628, err=0x7fffffffd860) at ref-filter.c:2064
    #7  0x000055555578742f in format_ref_array_item (info=0x7fffffffd6b0, format=0x7fffffffde30, final_buf=0x7fffffffd880, error_buf=0x7fffffffd860)
        at ref-filter.c:2659
    #8  0x000055555558ab1c in batch_object_write (obj_name=0x55555597e3f0 "504fe6b39f7747be6427f28d9ca97decf5e6cecf", scratch=0x7fffffffd880,
        err=0x7fffffffd860, opt=0x7fffffffde10, data=0x7fffffffd800) at builtin/cat-file.c:225
    #9  0x000055555558ade5 in batch_one_object (obj_name=0x55555597e3f0 "504fe6b39f7747be6427f28d9ca97decf5e6cecf", scratch=0x7fffffffd880, err=0x7fffffffd860,
        opt=0x7fffffffde10, data=0x7fffffffd800) at builtin/cat-file.c:298
    #10 0x000055555558b394 in batch_objects (batch=0x7fffffffde10, options=0x7fffffffd900) at builtin/cat-file.c:458
    #11 0x000055555558bbd5 in cmd_cat_file (argc=0, argv=0x7fffffffe1d0, prefix=0x0) at builtin/cat-file.c:585
    #12 0x0000555555573adb in run_builtin (p=0x555555942850 <commands+240>, argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1d0) at git.c:461
    #13 0x0000555555573f00 in handle_builtin (argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1d0) at git.c:714
    #14 0x0000555555574182 in run_argv (argcp=0x7fffffffe07c, argv=0x7fffffffe070) at git.c:781
    #15 0x000055555557460f in cmd_main (argc=2, argv=0x7fffffffe1d0) at git.c:912
    #16 0x000055555565afc1 in main (argc=3, argv=0x7fffffffe1c8) at common-main.c:52

I.e. before in batch_object_write() we could use a cheap path of doing oid_object_info_extended() and directly emitting the content. With your version we're all the way down to parse_object_buffer(). Meaning that we're going to be creating a "struct commit" or whatever if we're looking at a commit, just to print out the raw contents.

I think the best next step here is to add a t/perf/t1006-cat-file.sh test to stress these various cases, i.e. a plain --batch without a format, with format, with --batch-all-objects etc. Try to then run that on each of your commits against the preceding one and see if/when you have regressions.

Aside from any double-lookups etc, the problem is also that you're
trying to handle a really general case (e.g. with textconv) in a
codepath that needs to be really fast. If anything we should be
inserting some more more optimization shortcuts for common cases into
it. E.g. I was able to trivially speed up 'cat-file --batch-check' on
"master" by hardcoding a path for our default format (patch at the end
of this mail):
    
    # passed all 2 test(s)
    1..2
    Test                             origin/master     HEAD
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    1006.2: cat-file --batch-check   0.60(0.37+0.23)   0.35(0.33+0.02) -41.7%

Anything that needs to handle general format patching is going to be slower. I think /some/ performance regression if we're using something that's not just the current light strbuf_expand() probably can't be avoided, but we could/should try to make up the difference at least for the common case of --batch or --batch-check without --textconv and perhaps hardcode (and document that it's faster) a path for the default formats).

1. https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/gprof/Output.html