This patchset is the first real use-case for kmem_cache bulk _free_. The use of bulk _alloc_ is NOT included in this patchset. The full use have previously been posted here [1].
The bulk free side have the largest benefit for the network stack use-case, because network stack is hitting the kmem_cache/SLUB slowpath when freeing SKBs, due to the amount of outstanding SKBs. This is solved by using the new API kmem_cache_free_bulk(). Introduce new API napi_consume_skb(), that hides/handles bulk freeing for the caller. The drivers simply need to use this call when freeing SKBs in NAPI context, e.g. replacing their calles to dev_kfree_skb() / dev_consume_skb_any(). Driver ixgbe is the first user of this new API. [1] http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.network/384302/focus=397373 --- Jesper Dangaard Brouer (3): net: bulk free infrastructure for NAPI context, use napi_consume_skb net: bulk free SKBs that were delay free'ed due to IRQ context ixgbe: bulk free SKBs during TX completion cleanup cycle drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_main.c | 6 +- include/linux/skbuff.h | 4 + net/core/dev.c | 9 ++- net/core/skbuff.c | 87 +++++++++++++++++++++++-- 4 files changed, 96 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-) --
