Subject: [PATCH v13 3/5] Remove uses of popcount builtins.

From: Nathan Bossart <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2026 10:00:21 -0600

This commit replaces the implementations of pg_popcount{32,64} with
branchless ones in plain C.  While these new implementations do not
make use of more sophisticated population count instructions
available on some CPUs, testing indicates they perform well,
especially now that they are inlined.  A follow-up commit will
replace various loops over these functions with calls to
pg_popcount(), leaving us little reason to worry about
micro-optimizing them further.

Since this commit removes the only uses of the popcount builtins,
we can also remove the corresponding configuration checks.

Suggested-by: John Naylor <[email-masked]>
Reviewed-by: John Naylor <[email-masked]>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CANWCAZY7R%2Biy%2Br9YM_sySNydHzNqUirx1xk0tB3ej5HO62GdgQ%40mail.gmail.com
---
 configure                      | 38 ----------------------------
 configure.ac                   |  1 -
 meson.build                    |  1 -
 src/include/pg_config.h.in     |  3 ---
 src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h | 46 +++++++++++-----------------------
 src/port/pg_popcount_aarch64.c |  5 ----
 6 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 80 deletions(-)

diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a10a2c85c6a..8fe368b7201 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -15878,44 +15878,6 @@ cat >>confdefs.h <<_ACEOF
 #define HAVE__BUILTIN_CTZ 1
 _ACEOF
 
-fi
-{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: checking for __builtin_popcount" >&5
-$as_echo_n "checking for __builtin_popcount... " >&6; }
-if ${pgac_cv__builtin_popcount+:} false; then :
-  $as_echo_n "(cached) " >&6
-else
-  cat confdefs.h - <<_ACEOF >conftest.$ac_ext
-/* end confdefs.h.  */
-
-int
-call__builtin_popcount(unsigned int x)
-{
-    return __builtin_popcount(x);
-}
-int
-main ()
-{
-
-  ;
-  return 0;
-}
-_ACEOF
-if ac_fn_c_try_link "$LINENO"; then :
-  pgac_cv__builtin_popcount=yes
-else
-  pgac_cv__builtin_popcount=no
-fi
-rm -f core conftest.err conftest.$ac_objext \
-    conftest$ac_exeext conftest.$ac_ext
-fi
-{ $as_echo "$as_me:${as_lineno-$LINENO}: result: $pgac_cv__builtin_popcount" >&5
-$as_echo "$pgac_cv__builtin_popcount" >&6; }
-if test x"${pgac_cv__builtin_popcount}" = xyes ; then
-
-cat >>confdefs.h <<_ACEOF
-#define HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT 1
-_ACEOF
-
 fi
 # __builtin_frame_address may draw a diagnostic for non-constant argument,
 # so it needs a different test function.
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 814e64a967e..f569b1c3f35 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1852,7 +1852,6 @@ PGAC_CHECK_BUILTIN_FUNC([__builtin_bswap64], [long int x])
 # We assume that we needn't test all widths of these explicitly:
 PGAC_CHECK_BUILTIN_FUNC([__builtin_clz], [unsigned int x])
 PGAC_CHECK_BUILTIN_FUNC([__builtin_ctz], [unsigned int x])
-PGAC_CHECK_BUILTIN_FUNC([__builtin_popcount], [unsigned int x])
 # __builtin_frame_address may draw a diagnostic for non-constant argument,
 # so it needs a different test function.
 PGAC_CHECK_BUILTIN_FUNC_PTR([__builtin_frame_address], [0])
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 96b3869df86..c89293cd80f 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -2004,7 +2004,6 @@ builtins = [
   'ctz',
   'constant_p',
   'frame_address',
-  'popcount',
   'unreachable',
 ]
 
diff --git a/src/include/pg_config.h.in b/src/include/pg_config.h.in
index 339268dc8ef..2651b56ae4d 100644
--- a/src/include/pg_config.h.in
+++ b/src/include/pg_config.h.in
@@ -526,9 +526,6 @@
 /* Define to 1 if your compiler understands __builtin_$op_overflow. */
 #undef HAVE__BUILTIN_OP_OVERFLOW
 
-/* Define to 1 if your compiler understands __builtin_popcount. */
-#undef HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT
-
 /* Define to 1 if your compiler understands __builtin_types_compatible_p. */
 #undef HAVE__BUILTIN_TYPES_COMPATIBLE_P
 
diff --git a/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h b/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
index 789663edd93..c9b1f5f17dc 100644
--- a/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
+++ b/src/include/port/pg_bitutils.h
@@ -297,51 +297,33 @@ extern uint64 pg_popcount_masked_optimized(const char *buf, int bytes, bits8 mas
 /*
  * pg_popcount32
  *		Return the number of 1 bits set in word
+ *
+ * Adapted from
+ * https://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html#CountBitsSetParallel.
  */
 static inline int
 pg_popcount32(uint32 word)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT
-	return __builtin_popcount(word);
-#else							/* !HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT */
-	int			result = 0;
-
-	while (word != 0)
-	{
-		result += pg_number_of_ones[word & 255];
-		word >>= 8;
-	}
-
-	return result;
-#endif							/* HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT */
+	word -= (word >> 1) & 0x55555555;
+	word = (word & 0x33333333) + ((word >> 2) & 0x33333333);
+	return (((word + (word >> 4)) & 0xf0f0f0f) * 0x1010101) >> 24;
 }
 
 /*
  * pg_popcount64
  *		Return the number of 1 bits set in word
+ *
+ * Adapted from
+ * https://graphics.stanford.edu/~seander/bithacks.html#CountBitsSetParallel.
  */
 static inline int
 pg_popcount64(uint64 word)
 {
-#ifdef HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT
-#if SIZEOF_LONG == 8
-	return __builtin_popcountl(word);
-#elif SIZEOF_LONG_LONG == 8
-	return __builtin_popcountll(word);
-#else
-#error "cannot find integer of the same size as uint64_t"
-#endif
-#else							/* !HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT */
-	int			result = 0;
-
-	while (word != 0)
-	{
-		result += pg_number_of_ones[word & 255];
-		word >>= 8;
-	}
-
-	return result;
-#endif							/* HAVE__BUILTIN_POPCOUNT */
+	word -= (word >> 1) & UINT64CONST(0x5555555555555555);
+	word = (word & UINT64CONST(0x3333333333333333)) +
+		((word >> 2) & UINT64CONST(0x3333333333333333));
+	word = (word + (word >> 4)) & UINT64CONST(0xf0f0f0f0f0f0f0f);
+	return (word * UINT64CONST(0x101010101010101)) >> 56;
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/src/port/pg_popcount_aarch64.c b/src/port/pg_popcount_aarch64.c
index f474ef45510..b0f10ae07a4 100644
--- a/src/port/pg_popcount_aarch64.c
+++ b/src/port/pg_popcount_aarch64.c
@@ -298,11 +298,6 @@ pg_popcount_masked_optimized(const char *buf, int bytes, bits8 mask)
 static inline int
 pg_popcount64_neon(uint64 word)
 {
-	/*
-	 * For some compilers, __builtin_popcountl() already emits Neon
-	 * instructions.  The line below should compile to the same code on those
-	 * systems.
-	 */
 	return vaddv_u8(vcnt_u8(vld1_u8((const uint8 *) &word)));
 }
 
-- 
2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)

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