Is DLIST_STATIC_INIT() a net loss?

From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org
Cc: Andres Freund <andres(at)anarazel(dot)de>
Subject: Is DLIST_STATIC_INIT() a net loss?
Date: 2018-12-13 17:35:15
Message-ID: 30244.1544722515@sss.pgh.pa.us
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I happened to notice today that the initializer macro for dlist_head
variables is

#define DLIST_STATIC_INIT(name) {{&(name).head, &(name).head}}

However, all the functions that work with dlists are prepared to handle
a dlist_head that starts out as zeroes, so that this could also be

#define DLIST_STATIC_INIT(name) {{NULL, NULL}}

I submit that we'd be better off with the latter. The number of cycles
that the linker and loader expend on getting those non-constant values
correctly set up (especially in PIE builds) probably dwarf what it
costs for the first dlist access to initialize them. It's especially
obviously a loss in processes that never touch the particular dlist
at all.

Another thought is that maybe we should deprecate the use of the
[DS]LIST_STATIC_INIT macros altogether, and just write

static dlist_header myheader;

leaving the compiler to drop such variables into a BSS area instead
of an initialized-data area. I'm not very sure how much that saves,
but I bet it saves something.

regards, tom lane

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