threads / discuss / 59541

Dubious diff using --diff-algorithm=histogram

Subject: Dubious diff using --diff-algorithm=histogram

## tl;dr

3 messages between Apr 4, 2023 and Apr 28, 2023.

replies: 2people: 1as markdown or json

Alejandro Colomar· Apr 4, 2023, 19:51 UTC · lore
Hi,

I've met some strange diff with the histogram algorithm. I know this has a lot of magic in it, and it's probably not so trivial to improve, and maybe my code base is so weird that it makes the histogram do crazy stuff, but I wanted to show it to you in case there's anything that can be improved.

So, patience is showing a better diff than histogram, which shouldn't happen usually, and less in this case, where p++ is such a common thing to do (although maybe this nxt_slow_path() macro is called a lot in the file and confuses the histogram?).

Code base: <https://github.com/nginx/unit.git>

Cheers, Alex

---
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=histogram 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..92bdfb1f 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
-    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
-
         p++;
 
+    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
+
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
         }
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=patience 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..92bdfb1f 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
+        p++;
+
     if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
 
-        p++;
-
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
         }
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=myers 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..92bdfb1f 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
-    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
-
         p++;
 
+    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
+
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
         }
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=minimal 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..92bdfb1f 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
-    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
-
         p++;
 
+    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
+
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
         }
-- 
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5
Alejandro Colomar· Apr 4, 2023, 19:53 UTC · re: Alejandro Colomar · lore

Re: Dubious diff using --diff-algorithm=histogram

On 4/4/23 21:51, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
Show 17 quoted lines
> Hi,
> 
> I've met some strange diff with the histogram algorithm.  I know this
> has a lot of magic in it, and it's probably not so trivial to improve,
> and maybe my code base is so weird that it makes the histogram do crazy
> stuff, but I wanted to show it to you in case there's anything that can
> be improved.
> 
> So, patience is showing a better diff than histogram, which shouldn't
> happen usually, and less in this case, where p++ is such a common thing
> to do (although maybe this nxt_slow_path() macro is called a lot in the
> file and confuses the histogram?).
> 
> Code base: <https://github.com/nginx/unit.git>
> 
> Cheers,
> Alex
Now this has surprised me even more:
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=histogram 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..3559f2e2 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,9 +340,9 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
-    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
+    p++;
 
-        p++;
+    if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
 
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
alx@asus5775:~/src/nginx/unit/space$ git diff --diff-algorithm=patience 
diff --git a/src/nxt_http_parse.c b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
index 8646a6ce..3559f2e2 100644
--- a/src/nxt_http_parse.c
+++ b/src/nxt_http_parse.c
@@ -340,10 +340,10 @@ nxt_http_parse_request_line(nxt_http_request_parse_t *rp, u_char **pos,
 
 space_after_target:
 
+    p++;
+
     if (nxt_slow_path(end - p < 10)) {
 
-        p++;
-
         if (p == end) {
             return NXT_AGAIN;
         }
-- 
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5
Alejandro Colomar· Apr 28, 2023, 21:36 UTC · re: Alejandro Colomar · lore

Re: Dubious diff using --diff-algorithm=histogram

Here's another example of a dubious diff using histogram:
@@ -50,8 +65,11 @@ .SH Examples
     nxt_unit_ctx_t   *ctx;
     nxt_unit_init_t  init;
 
-    bzero(&init, sizeof(nxt_unit_init_t));
+    if (argc == 3 && strcmp(argv[1], "-t") == 0) {
+        nthreads = atoi(argv[2]);
+    }
 
+    bzero(&init, sizeof(nxt_unit_init_t));
     init.callbacks.request_handler = &request_handler;
     init.callbacks.ready_handler = &ready_handler;
 


That call to bzero(3) is the only one in the entire file.
patience shows this instead:


@@ -50,8 +65,11 @@ .SH Examples
     nxt_unit_ctx_t   *ctx;
     nxt_unit_init_t  init;
 
+    if (argc == 3 && strcmp(argv[1], "-t") == 0) {
+        nthreads = atoi(argv[2]);
+    }
+
     bzero(&init, sizeof(nxt_unit_init_t));
-
     init.callbacks.request_handler = &request_handler;
     init.callbacks.ready_handler = &ready_handler;
 
-- 
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
GPG key fingerprint: A9348594CE31283A826FBDD8D57633D441E25BB5

← back to recent threads