Linux + x86_64 optimisations.

Add likely() macro.
Optimise a few obvious code paths with likely/unlikely.
Change algo to sse2_amd64 by default.
Move priority change to worker threads only.
Detect number of CPUs and set default number of threads == CPUs.
Add scheduling policy change to worker threads to SCHED_IDLE first and fallback to SCHED_BATCH on linux.
Don't error when failing to set priority.
Add CPU affinity and bind worker threads to CPUs when number of threads is a multiple of number of CPUs.
Update NEWS with changes.

NEWS

@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+- Linux x86_64 optimisations - Con Kolivas
+- Optimise for x86_64 by default by using sse2_64 algo
+- Detects CPUs and sets number of threads accordingly
+- Uses CPU affinity for each thread where appropriate
+- Sets scheduling policy to lowest possible
+- Minor performance tweaks
 
 Version 1.0.1 - May 14, 2011
 

cpu-miner.c

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "cpuminer-config.h"
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
@@ -33,6 +34,35 @@
 #define DEF_RPC_PASSWORD	"rpcpass"
 #define DEF_RPC_USERPASS	DEF_RPC_USERNAME ":" DEF_RPC_PASSWORD
 
+#ifdef __linux /* Linux specific policy and affinity management */
+#include <sched.h>
+static inline void drop_policy(void)
+{
+	struct sched_param param;
+
+	if (unlikely(sched_setscheduler(0, SCHED_IDLE, &param) == -1))
+		sched_setscheduler(0, SCHED_BATCH, &param);
+}
+
+static inline void affine_to_cpu(int id, int cpu)
+{
+	cpu_set_t set;
+
+	CPU_ZERO(&set);
+	CPU_SET(cpu, &set);
+	sched_setaffinity(0, sizeof(&set), &set);
+	applog(LOG_INFO, "Binding thread %d to cpu %d", id, cpu);
+}
+#else
+static inline void drop_policy(void)
+{
+}
+
+static inline void affine_to_cpu(int id, int cpu)
+{
+}
+#endif
+		
 enum workio_commands {
 	WC_GET_WORK,
 	WC_SUBMIT_WORK,
@@ -83,8 +113,13 @@ static int opt_fail_pause = 30;
 int opt_scantime = 5;
 static json_t *opt_config;
 static const bool opt_time = true;
+#ifdef WANT_X8664_SSE2
+static enum sha256_algos opt_algo = ALGO_SSE2_64;
+#else
 static enum sha256_algos opt_algo = ALGO_C;
-static int opt_n_threads = 1;
+#endif
+static int opt_n_threads;
+static int num_processors;
 static char *rpc_url;
 static char *rpc_userpass;
 static char *rpc_user, *rpc_pass;
@@ -214,12 +249,12 @@ static bool jobj_binary(const json_t *obj, const char *key,
 	json_t *tmp;
 
 	tmp = json_object_get(obj, key);
-	if (!tmp) {
+	if (unlikely(!tmp)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON key '%s' not found", key);
 		return false;
 	}
 	hexstr = json_string_value(tmp);
-	if (!hexstr) {
+	if (unlikely(!hexstr)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON key '%s' is not a string", key);
 		return false;
 	}
@@ -231,23 +266,23 @@ static bool jobj_binary(const json_t *obj, const char *key,
 
 static bool work_decode(const json_t *val, struct work *work)
 {
-	if (!jobj_binary(val, "midstate",
-			 work->midstate, sizeof(work->midstate))) {
+	if (unlikely(!jobj_binary(val, "midstate",
+			 work->midstate, sizeof(work->midstate)))) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON inval midstate");
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 
-	if (!jobj_binary(val, "data", work->data, sizeof(work->data))) {
+	if (unlikely(!jobj_binary(val, "data", work->data, sizeof(work->data)))) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON inval data");
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 
-	if (!jobj_binary(val, "hash1", work->hash1, sizeof(work->hash1))) {
+	if (unlikely(!jobj_binary(val, "hash1", work->hash1, sizeof(work->hash1)))) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON inval hash1");
 		goto err_out;
 	}
 
-	if (!jobj_binary(val, "target", work->target, sizeof(work->target))) {
+	if (unlikely(!jobj_binary(val, "target", work->target, sizeof(work->target)))) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "JSON inval target");
 		goto err_out;
 	}
@@ -269,7 +304,7 @@ static bool submit_upstream_work(CURL *curl, const struct work *work)
 
 	/* build hex string */
 	hexstr = bin2hex(work->data, sizeof(work->data));
-	if (!hexstr) {
+	if (unlikely(!hexstr)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "submit_upstream_work OOM");
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -284,7 +319,7 @@ static bool submit_upstream_work(CURL *curl, const struct work *work)
 
 	/* issue JSON-RPC request */
 	val = json_rpc_call(curl, rpc_url, rpc_userpass, s, false, false);
-	if (!val) {
+	if (unlikely(!val)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "submit_upstream_work json_rpc_call failed");
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -351,7 +386,7 @@ static bool workio_get_work(struct workio_cmd *wc, CURL *curl)
 
 	/* obtain new work from bitcoin via JSON-RPC */
 	while (!get_upstream_work(curl, ret_work)) {
-		if ((opt_retries >= 0) && (++failures > opt_retries)) {
+		if (unlikely((opt_retries >= 0) && (++failures > opt_retries))) {
 			applog(LOG_ERR, "json_rpc_call failed, terminating workio thread");
 			free(ret_work);
 			return false;
@@ -376,7 +411,7 @@ static bool workio_submit_work(struct workio_cmd *wc, CURL *curl)
 
 	/* submit solution to bitcoin via JSON-RPC */
 	while (!submit_upstream_work(curl, wc->u.work)) {
-		if ((opt_retries >= 0) && (++failures > opt_retries)) {
+		if (unlikely((opt_retries >= 0) && (++failures > opt_retries))) {
 			applog(LOG_ERR, "...terminating workio thread");
 			return false;
 		}
@@ -397,7 +432,7 @@ static void *workio_thread(void *userdata)
 	bool ok = true;
 
 	curl = curl_easy_init();
-	if (!curl) {
+	if (unlikely(!curl)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "CURL initialization failed");
 		return NULL;
 	}
@@ -514,6 +549,17 @@ static void *miner_thread(void *userdata)
 	int thr_id = mythr->id;
 	uint32_t max_nonce = 0xffffff;
 
+	/* Set worker threads to nice 19 and then preferentially to SCHED_IDLE
+	 * and if that fails, then SCHED_BATCH. No need for this to be an
+	 * error if it fails */
+	setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0, 19);
+	drop_policy();
+
+	/* Cpu affinity only makes sense if the number of threads is a multiple
+	 * of the number of CPUs */
+	if (!(opt_n_threads % num_processors))
+		affine_to_cpu(mythr->id, mythr->id % num_processors);
+
 	while (1) {
 		struct work work __attribute__((aligned(128)));
 		unsigned long hashes_done;
@@ -522,7 +568,7 @@ static void *miner_thread(void *userdata)
 		bool rc;
 
 		/* obtain new work from internal workio thread */
-		if (!get_work(mythr, &work)) {
+		if (unlikely(!get_work(mythr, &work))) {
 			applog(LOG_ERR, "work retrieval failed, exiting "
 				"mining thread %d", mythr->id);
 			goto out;
@@ -658,7 +704,7 @@ static void *longpoll_thread(void *userdata)
 	applog(LOG_INFO, "Long-polling activated for %s", lp_url);
 
 	curl = curl_easy_init();
-	if (!curl) {
+	if (unlikely(!curl)) {
 		applog(LOG_ERR, "CURL initialization failed");
 		goto out;
 	}
@@ -668,7 +714,7 @@ static void *longpoll_thread(void *userdata)
 
 		val = json_rpc_call(curl, lp_url, rpc_userpass, rpc_req,
 				    false, true);
-		if (val) {
+		if (likely(val)) {
 			failures = 0;
 			json_decref(val);
 
@@ -809,6 +855,9 @@ static void parse_arg (int key, char *arg)
 	default:
 		show_usage();
 	}
+	num_processors = sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
+	if (!opt_n_threads)
+		opt_n_threads = num_processors;
 }
 
 static void parse_config(void)
@@ -886,10 +935,6 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 		openlog("cpuminer", LOG_PID, LOG_USER);
 #endif
 
-	/* set our priority to the highest (aka "nicest, least intrusive") */
-	if (setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0, 19))
-		perror("setpriority");
-
 	work_restart = calloc(opt_n_threads, sizeof(*work_restart));
 	if (!work_restart)
 		return 1;
@@ -922,7 +967,7 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 			return 1;
 
 		/* start longpoll thread */
-		if (pthread_create(&thr->pth, NULL, longpoll_thread, thr)) {
+		if (unlikely(pthread_create(&thr->pth, NULL, longpoll_thread, thr))) {
 			applog(LOG_ERR, "longpoll thread create failed");
 			return 1;
 		}
@@ -938,7 +983,7 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 		if (!thr->q)
 			return 1;
 
-		if (pthread_create(&thr->pth, NULL, miner_thread, thr)) {
+		if (unlikely(pthread_create(&thr->pth, NULL, miner_thread, thr))) {
 			applog(LOG_ERR, "thread %d create failed", i);
 			return 1;
 		}

miner.h

@@ -87,12 +87,14 @@ enum {
 };
 #endif
 
-#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2) && defined(__OPTIMIZE__)
 #undef unlikely
-#define unlikely(expr) (__builtin_expect((expr), 0))
+#undef likely
+#if defined(__GNUC__) && (__GNUC__ > 2) && defined(__OPTIMIZE__)
+#define unlikely(expr) (__builtin_expect(!!(expr), 0))
+#define likely(expr) (__builtin_expect(!!(expr), 1))
 #else
-#undef unlikely
 #define unlikely(expr) (expr)
+#define likely(expr) (expr)
 #endif
 
 #if defined(__i386__)

sha256_sse2_amd64.c

@@ -100,13 +100,13 @@ int scanhash_sse2_64(int thr_id, const unsigned char *pmidstate,
 
 	for (j = 0; j < 4; j++) {
 	    mi.m = m_4hash[7];
-	    if (mi.i[j] == 0)
+	    if (unlikely(mi.i[j] == 0))
 		break;
         }
 
 	/* If j = true, we found a hit...so check it */
 	/* Use the C version for a check... */
-	if (j != 4) {
+	if (unlikely(j != 4)) {
 		for (i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
 		    mi.m = m_4hash[i];
 		    *(uint32_t *)&(phash)[i*4] = mi.i[j];
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ int scanhash_sse2_64(int thr_id, const unsigned char *pmidstate,
 
 	nonce += 4;
 
-        if ((nonce >= max_nonce) || work_restart[thr_id].restart)
+        if (unlikely((nonce >= max_nonce) || work_restart[thr_id].restart))
         {
             *nHashesDone = nonce;
             return -1;