Mailing List Archive

CVS: python/dist/src/Objects obmalloc.c,2.19,2.20
Update of /cvsroot/python/python/dist/src/Objects
In directory usw-pr-cvs1:/tmp/cvs-serv23826/python/Objects

Modified Files:
obmalloc.c
Log Message:
Added a long-overdue comment block giving an overview of pool operations
and terminology, plus explanation of some extreme obscurities.


Index: obmalloc.c
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/python/python/dist/src/Objects/obmalloc.c,v
retrieving revision 2.19
retrieving revision 2.20
diff -C2 -d -r2.19 -r2.20
*** obmalloc.c 30 Mar 2002 21:36:04 -0000 2.19
--- obmalloc.c 31 Mar 2002 01:05:22 -0000 2.20
***************
*** 262,267 ****

/*
! * Pool table -- doubly linked lists of partially used pools
! */
#define PTA(x) ((poolp )((uchar *)&(usedpools[2*(x)]) - 2*sizeof(block *)))
#define PT(x) PTA(x), PTA(x)
--- 262,324 ----

/*
! * Pool table -- headed, circular, doubly-linked lists of partially used pools.
!
! This is involved. For an index i, usedpools[i+i] is the header for a list of
! all partially used pools holding small blocks with "size class idx" i. So
! usedpools[0] corresponds to blocks of size 8, usedpools[2] to blocks of size
! 16, and so on: index 2*i <-> blocks of size (i+1)<<ALIGNMENT_SHIFT.
!
! The partially used pools for a given index are linked together via their
! pool_header's prevpool and nextpool members. "Partially used" means at least
! one block in the pool is currently allocated, *and* at least one block in the
! pool is not currently allocated.
!
! When all blocks in a pool are allocated, the pool is unlinked from the list,
! and isn't linked to from anything anymore (you can't find it then from
! anything obmalloc.c knows about); the pool's own prevpool and nextpool
! pointers are set to point to itself. The comments say the pool "is full" then.
!
! When a small block is returned to pymalloc, there are two cases. If its pool
! was full, its pool is relinked into the appropriate usedpools[] list, at the
! front (so the next allocation of the same size class will be taken from this
! pool). Else its pool was not full, the pool is already in a usedpools[]
! list, and isn't moved. Instead the block is just linked to the front of the
! pool's own freeblock singly-linked list. However, if that makes the pool
! entirely free of allocated blocks (the comments say the pool "is empty" then),
! the pool is unlinked from usedpools[], and inserted at the front of the
! (file static) singly-linked freepools list, via the pool header's nextpool
! member; prevpool is meaningless in this case. Pools put on the freepools
! list can be changed to belong to a different size class.
!
! Major obscurity: While the usedpools vector is declared to have poolp
! entries, it doesn't really. It really contains two pointers per (conceptual)
! poolp entry, the nextpool and prevpool members of a pool_header. The
! excruciating initialization code below fools C so that
!
! usedpool[i+i]
!
! "acts like" a genuine poolp, but only so long as you only reference its
! nextpool and prevpool members. The "- 2*sizeof(block *)" gibberish is
! compensating for that a pool_header's nextpool and prevpool members
! immediately follow a pool_header's first two members:
!
! union { block *_padding;
! uint count; } ref;
! block *freeblock;
!
! each of which consume sizeof(block *) bytes. So what usedpools[i+i] really
! contains is a fudged-up pointer p such that *if* C believes it's a poolp
! pointer, then p->nextpool and p->prevpool are both p (meaning that the headed
! circular list is empty).
!
! It's unclear why the usedpools setup is so convoluted. It could be to
! minimize the amount of cache required to hold this heavily-referenced table
! (which only *needs* the two interpool pointer members of a pool_header). OTOH,
! referencing code has to remember to "double the index" and doing so isn't
! free, usedpools[0] isn't a strictly legal pointer, and we're crucially relying
! on that C doesn't insert any padding anywhere in a pool_header at or before
! the prevpool member.
! **************************************************************************** */
!
#define PTA(x) ((poolp )((uchar *)&(usedpools[2*(x)]) - 2*sizeof(block *)))
#define PT(x) PTA(x), PTA(x)
***************
*** 620,625 ****
if (ADDRESS_IN_RANGE(p, pool->arenaindex)) {
/* We allocated this address. */
- INCMINE;
LOCK();
/*
* At this point, the pool is not empty
--- 677,682 ----
if (ADDRESS_IN_RANGE(p, pool->arenaindex)) {
/* We allocated this address. */
LOCK();
+ INCMINE;
/*
* At this point, the pool is not empty