Mikulas Patocka wrote:
>
> Hi.
>
> arch/i386/kernel/entry.S
> xchgl %eax, ORIG_EAX(%esp) # orig_eax (get the error code. )
> movl %esp,%edx
> xchgl %ecx, ES(%esp) # get the address and save es.
> pushl %eax # push the error code
>
> xchg with memory operand has implicit lock prefix and is slooooooow. It is
Here is a patch that removes the xchg instructions. As an interesting
note, I tested the difference in cycles between one xchgl and two movl
instructions on 3 different processors (a Celeron, a K6-2, and an
Athlon, all UP). The celeron and K6-2 showed noticable improvements.
The real surprise was the the Athlon, where the times were identical.
This means that either the Athlon has a really fast lock cycle or it is
ignoring it.
--
Brian Gerst
diff -urN linux-2.4.0t9/arch/i386/kernel/entry.S linux/arch/i386/kernel/entry.S
--- linux-2.4.0t9/arch/i386/kernel/entry.S Tue Oct 3 20:05:10 2000
+++ linux/arch/i386/kernel/entry.S Wed Oct 4 20:17:09 2000
@@ -305,16 +305,18 @@
pushl %ebx
cld
movl %es,%ecx
- xchgl %eax, ORIG_EAX(%esp) # orig_eax (get the error code. )
+ movl ORIG_EAX(%esp), %esi # get the error code
+ movl ES(%esp), %edi # get the function address
+ movl %eax, ORIG_EAX(%esp)
+ movl %ecx, ES(%esp)
movl %esp,%edx
- xchgl %ecx, ES(%esp) # get the address and save es.
- pushl %eax # push the error code
- pushl %edx
+ pushl %esi # push the error code
+ pushl %edx # push the pt_regs pointer
movl $(__KERNEL_DS),%edx
movl %edx,%ds
movl %edx,%es
GET_CURRENT(%ebx)
- call *%ecx
+ call *%edi
addl $8,%esp
jmp ret_from_exception
