Re: [PATCH] Remove unnecessary IFUNC dispatch for __memset_chk.

[Zack Weinberg <zackw at panix dot com>]

On 08/09/2015 01:56 PM, H.J. Lu wrote:

>> Thanks, that clarifies what IFUNC _does_, but it doesn't help me
>> understand how it interacts with the libc_hidden_* optimization.  I see
>> in the code that e.g. __GI_memset is pointed directly at __memset_sse2
>> (for amd64) but I do not understand whether that is a limitation of the
>> current implementation, a a deliberate choice to avoid indirection at
>> the cost of missing out on AVX2 tuning, or both.
> 
> Those comments were made when the first IFUNC implementation
> was done.  We have improved IFUNC implementation since then
> and those comments may not be true today.  But we have to verify
> that at least the extra indirect via PLT doesn't hurt performance on
> most of current processors.

That doesn't help me understand.  Let me try to ask more specific questions.

Is an IFUNC's variant-selecting function called only once per process,
or every time?

If we sent libc.so-internal calls to 'memset' through the PLT (as is
currently done for 'malloc') would that mean they were subject to IFUNC
dispatch?

Is there any *other* way (that already exists - nothing that would
require binutils changes) to cause libc.so-internal calls to 'memset' to
be subject to IFUNC dispatch?  Compared to using the PLT, what are the
costs and benefits of doing it that way?

What is the function of __libc_ifunc_impl_list?  The document you
referred me to does not mention it or suggest that it might be necessary.

zw

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