The strncmp benchmark uses the bpf_strncmp helper and a hand-written
loop to compare two strings. The values of the strings are filled from
userspace. One of the strings is non-const (in .bss) while the other is
const (in .rodata) since that is the requirement of bpf_strncmp.
The problem is that in the hand-written loop, Clang optimizes the reads
from the const string to always return 0 which breaks the benchmark.
Use barrier_var to prevent the optimization.
The effect can be seen on the strncmp-no-helper variant.
Before this change:
# ./bench strncmp-no-helper
Setting up benchmark 'strncmp-no-helper'...
Benchmark 'strncmp-no-helper' started.
Iter 0 (112.309us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 1 (-23.238us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 2 ( 58.994us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 3 (-30.466us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 4 ( 29.996us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 5 ( 16.949us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Iter 6 (-60.035us): hits 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000M/s
Summary: hits 0.000 ± 0.000M/s ( 0.000M/prod), drops 0.000 ± 0.000M/s, total operations 0.000 ± 0.000M/s
After this change:
# ./bench strncmp-no-helper
Setting up benchmark 'strncmp-no-helper'...
Benchmark 'strncmp-no-helper' started.
Iter 0 ( 77.711us): hits 5.534M/s ( 5.534M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 5.534M/s
Iter 1 ( 11.215us): hits 6.006M/s ( 6.006M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 6.006M/s
Iter 2 (-14.253us): hits 5.931M/s ( 5.931M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 5.931M/s
Iter 3 ( 59.087us): hits 6.005M/s ( 6.005M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 6.005M/s
Iter 4 (-21.379us): hits 6.010M/s ( 6.010M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 6.010M/s
Iter 5 (-20.310us): hits 5.861M/s ( 5.861M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 5.861M/s
Iter 6 ( 53.937us): hits 6.004M/s ( 6.004M/prod), drops 0.000M/s, total operations 6.004M/s
Summary: hits 5.969 ± 0.061M/s ( 5.969M/prod), drops 0.000 ± 0.000M/s, total operations 5.969 ± 0.061M/s
Suggested-by: Andrii Nakryiko <andrii@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: 9c42652f8be3 ("selftests/bpf: Add benchmark for bpf_strncmp() helper")
Signed-off-by: Viktor Malik <vmalik@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/strncmp_bench.c | 5 ++++-
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/strncmp_bench.c b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/strncmp_bench.c
index 18373a7df76e..f47bf88f8d2a 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/strncmp_bench.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/strncmp_bench.c
@@ -35,7 +35,10 @@ static __always_inline int local_strncmp(const char *s1, unsigned int sz,
SEC("tp/syscalls/sys_enter_getpgid")
int strncmp_no_helper(void *ctx)
{
- if (local_strncmp(str, cmp_str_len + 1, target) < 0)
+ const char *target_str = target;
+
+ barrier_var(target_str);
+ if (local_strncmp(str, cmp_str_len + 1, target_str) < 0)
__sync_add_and_fetch(&hits, 1);
return 0;
}
--
2.48.1
