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help / color / mirror / Atom feedFrom: Nathan Bossart <nathan@postgresql.org>
Subject: [PATCH v11 1/4] Remove some unnecessary optimizations in popcount code.
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2026 09:26:54 -0600
Over the past few releases, we've added a huge amount of complexity
to our popcount implementations. Commits fbe327e5b4, 79e232ca01,
8c6653516c, and 25dc485074 did some preliminary refactoring, but
many opportunities remain. In particular, if we disclaim interest
in micro-optimizing this code for 32-bit builds and in unproven
alignment checks, we can remove a decent chunk of code.
This commit does the following:
* Removes the code in pg_popcount() and pg_popcount_masked() that
sets the function pointer threshold based on SIDEOF_VOID_P.
Consequently, 32-bit builds should follow the inline path for
inputs between 4-8 bytes instead of calling pg_popcount_optimized()
(which is probably just calling pg_popcount_portable(), anyway).
While it is possible that this results in a small regression for
those inputs on 32-bit builds, it seems unlikely to produce
noticeable performance differences on those machines. Furthermore,
I found no evidence of past benchmarks for this area of code for
32-bit builds.
* Removes the 32-bit optimizations in pg_popcount_portable() and
pg_popcount_masked_portable(). This means that 32-bit builds
instead use a simple while loop. As above, we are not too
concerned about regressions on 32-bit machines.
* Removes 32-bit optimizations in pg_popcount_x86.c. This is dead
code because everything in this file is only compiled when
HAVE_X86_64_POPCNTQ is defined, and that macro is only defined for
x86-64.
* Removes alignment checks in pg_popcount_sse42() and
pg_popcount_masked_sse42(). These are unnecessary for x86, and
it's unclear whether they make any meaningful performance
difference. Since we allow misaligned accesses now, this commit
also adds pg_attribute_no_sanitize_alignment() to these functions.
Suggested-by: John Naylor <johncnaylorls@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: John Naylor <johncnaylorls@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CANWCAZY7R%2Biy%2Br9YM_sySNydHzNqUirx1xk0tB3ej5HO62GdgQ%40mail.gmail.com
---
src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h | 16 +-------
src/port/pg_bitutils.c | 30 ---------------
src/port/pg_popcount_x86.c | 67 ++++++----------------------------
3 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 99 deletions(-)
diff --git a/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h b/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
index 35761f509ec..20c11b79c61 100644
--- a/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
+++ b/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
@@ -333,13 +333,7 @@ pg_popcount(const char *buf, int bytes)
* We set the threshold to the point at which we'll first use special
* instructions in the optimized version.
*/
-#if SIZEOF_VOID_P >= 8
- int threshold = 8;
-#else
- int threshold = 4;
-#endif
-
- if (bytes < threshold)
+ if (bytes < 8)
{
uint64 popcnt = 0;
@@ -364,13 +358,7 @@ pg_popcount_masked(const char *buf, int bytes, bits8 mask)
* We set the threshold to the point at which we'll first use special
* instructions in the optimized version.
*/
-#if SIZEOF_VOID_P >= 8
- int threshold = 8;
-#else
- int threshold = 4;
-#endif
-
- if (bytes < threshold)
+ if (bytes < 8)
{
uint64 popcnt = 0;
diff --git a/src/port/pg_bitutils.c b/src/port/pg_bitutils.c
index ffda75825e5..bec06c06fc3 100644
--- a/src/port/pg_bitutils.c
+++ b/src/port/pg_bitutils.c
@@ -167,20 +167,6 @@ pg_popcount_portable(const char *buf, int bytes)
bytes -= 8;
}
- buf = (const char *) words;
- }
-#else
- /* Process in 32-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned. */
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(4, buf))
- {
- const uint32 *words = (const uint32 *) buf;
-
- while (bytes >= 4)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount32_portable(*words++);
- bytes -= 4;
- }
-
buf = (const char *) words;
}
#endif
@@ -215,22 +201,6 @@ pg_popcount_masked_portable(const char *buf, int bytes, bits8 mask)
bytes -= 8;
}
- buf = (const char *) words;
- }
-#else
- /* Process in 32-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned. */
- uint32 maskv = ~((uint32) 0) / 0xFF * mask;
-
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(4, buf))
- {
- const uint32 *words = (const uint32 *) buf;
-
- while (bytes >= 4)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount32_portable(*words++ & maskv);
- bytes -= 4;
- }
-
buf = (const char *) words;
}
#endif
diff --git a/src/port/pg_popcount_x86.c b/src/port/pg_popcount_x86.c
index 245f0167d00..7aebf69898b 100644
--- a/src/port/pg_popcount_x86.c
+++ b/src/port/pg_popcount_x86.c
@@ -376,40 +376,20 @@ __asm__ __volatile__(" popcntq %1,%0\n":"=q"(res):"rm"(word):"cc");
* pg_popcount_sse42
* Returns the number of 1-bits in buf
*/
+pg_attribute_no_sanitize_alignment()
static uint64
pg_popcount_sse42(const char *buf, int bytes)
{
uint64 popcnt = 0;
+ const uint64 *words = (const uint64 *) buf;
-#if SIZEOF_VOID_P >= 8
- /* Process in 64-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned. */
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(8, buf))
+ while (bytes >= 8)
{
- const uint64 *words = (const uint64 *) buf;
-
- while (bytes >= 8)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount64_sse42(*words++);
- bytes -= 8;
- }
-
- buf = (const char *) words;
+ popcnt += pg_popcount64_sse42(*words++);
+ bytes -= 8;
}
-#else
- /* Process in 32-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned. */
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(4, buf))
- {
- const uint32 *words = (const uint32 *) buf;
- while (bytes >= 4)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount32_sse42(*words++);
- bytes -= 4;
- }
-
- buf = (const char *) words;
- }
-#endif
+ buf = (const char *) words;
/* Process any remaining bytes */
while (bytes--)
@@ -422,44 +402,21 @@ pg_popcount_sse42(const char *buf, int bytes)
* pg_popcount_masked_sse42
* Returns the number of 1-bits in buf after applying the mask to each byte
*/
+pg_attribute_no_sanitize_alignment()
static uint64
pg_popcount_masked_sse42(const char *buf, int bytes, bits8 mask)
{
uint64 popcnt = 0;
-
-#if SIZEOF_VOID_P >= 8
- /* Process in 64-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned */
uint64 maskv = ~UINT64CONST(0) / 0xFF * mask;
+ const uint64 *words = (const uint64 *) buf;
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(8, buf))
+ while (bytes >= 8)
{
- const uint64 *words = (const uint64 *) buf;
-
- while (bytes >= 8)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount64_sse42(*words++ & maskv);
- bytes -= 8;
- }
-
- buf = (const char *) words;
+ popcnt += pg_popcount64_sse42(*words++ & maskv);
+ bytes -= 8;
}
-#else
- /* Process in 32-bit chunks if the buffer is aligned. */
- uint32 maskv = ~((uint32) 0) / 0xFF * mask;
-
- if (buf == (const char *) TYPEALIGN(4, buf))
- {
- const uint32 *words = (const uint32 *) buf;
-
- while (bytes >= 4)
- {
- popcnt += pg_popcount32_sse42(*words++ & maskv);
- bytes -= 4;
- }
- buf = (const char *) words;
- }
-#endif
+ buf = (const char *) words;
/* Process any remaining bytes */
while (bytes--)
--
2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)
--mih0IfQp6StcW7xc
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: attachment;
filename=v11-0002-Remove-specialized-word-length-popcount-implemen.patch
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To: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Cc: nathan@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v11 1/4] Remove some unnecessary optimizations in popcount code.
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