Re: [dpdk-dev] [RFC PATCH v2] build: add platform meson option

[David Christensen <drc@linux.vnet.ibm.com>]

On 2/19/21 1:11 AM, Juraj Linkeš wrote:
> 
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson@intel.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 6, 2021 3:43 PM
>> To: David Christensen <drc@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
>> Cc: Juraj Linkeš <juraj.linkes@pantheon.tech>; thomas@monjalon.net;
>> Honnappa.Nagarahalli@arm.com; dev@dpdk.org
>> Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH v2] build: add platform meson option
>>
>> On Tue, Jan 05, 2021 at 02:17:44PM -0800, David Christensen wrote:
>>>>> The current meson option 'machine' should only specify the ISA,
>>>>> which is not sufficient for Arm, where setting ISA implies other setting as
>> well.
>>>>> Add a new meson option, 'platform', which differentiates the type
>>>>> of the build
>>>>> (native/generic) and sets machine accordingly, unless the user
>>>>> chooses to override it.
>>>>> The 'machine' option also doesn't describe very well what it sets,
>>>>> so introduce a new option 'cpu_instruction_set', but keep
>>>>> 'machine' for backward compatibility.
>>>>> These two new variables, taken together, achieve what 'machine'
>>>>> was setting per architecture - setting the ISA in x86 build and
>>>>> setting native/default 'build type' in aarch64 build - is now
>>>>> properly being set for all architectures in a uniform manner.
>>>>>
>>>>> Signed-off-by: Juraj Linkeš <juraj.linkes@pantheon.tech>
>>>>> ---
>>>>>    config/arm/meson.build        |  4 +--
>>>>>    config/meson.build            | 47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
>>>>>    devtools/test-meson-builds.sh |  9 ++++---
>>>>>    meson_options.txt             |  8 ++++--
>>>>>    4 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
>>>>>
>>>>> diff --git a/config/arm/meson.build b/config/arm/meson.build index
>>>>> 42b4e43c7..6b09a74a7 100644
>>>>> --- a/config/arm/meson.build
>>>>> +++ b/config/arm/meson.build
>>>>> @@ -3,10 +3,10 @@
>>>>>    # Copyright(c) 2017 Cavium, Inc
>>>>>
>>>>>    # for checking defines we need to use the correct compiler flags
>>>>> -march_opt = '-
>>>>> march=@0@'.format(machine)
>>>>> +march_opt = '-march=@0@'.format(cpu_instruction_set)
>>>>>
>>>>>    arm_force_native_march = false
>>>>> -arm_force_default_march = (machine == 'default')
>>>>> +arm_force_default_march = (platform == 'generic')
>>>>>
>>>>>    flags_common_default = [
>>>>>    	# Accelarate rte_memcpy. Be sure to run unit test
>>>>> (memcpy_perf_autotest) diff --git a/config/meson.build
>>>>> b/config/meson.build index a3154e29c..647116513 100644
>>>>> --- a/config/meson.build
>>>>> +++ b/config/meson.build
>>>>> @@ -63,42 +63,63 @@ if not is_windows
>>>>>    			pmd_subdir_opt)
>>>>>    endif
>>>>>
>>>>> -# set the machine type and cflags for it
>>>>> +platform = get_option('platform')
>>>>> +
>>>>> +# set the cpu_instruction_set type and cflags for it
>>>>>    if meson.is_cross_build()
>>>>> -	machine = host_machine.cpu()
>>>>> +	cpu_instruction_set = host_machine.cpu()
>>>>>    else
>>>>> -	machine = get_option('machine')
>>>>> +	cpu_instruction_set = get_option('cpu_instruction_set')
>>>>> +	if get_option('machine') != 'auto'
>>>>> +		warning('The "machine" option is deprecated. ' +
>>>>> +		        'Please use "cpu_instruction_set" instead.')
>>>>> +		if cpu_instruction_set != 'auto'
>>>>> +			error('Setting both "machine" and ' +
>>>>> +			      '"cpu_instruction_set" is unsupported.')
>>>>> +		endif
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = get_option('machine')
>>>>> +	endif
>>>>> +endif
>>>>> +
>>>>> +if platform == 'native'
>>>>> +	if cpu_instruction_set == 'auto'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'native'
>>>>> +	endif
>>>>> +elif platform == 'generic'
>>>>> +	if cpu_instruction_set == 'auto'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'default'
>>>>> +	endif
>>>>>    endif
>>>>>
>>>>> -# machine type 'default' is special, it defaults to the per arch
>>>>> agreed common
>>>>> +if cpu_instruction_set == 'default'
>>>>> +# cpu_instruction_set type 'default' is special, it defaults to
>>>>> +the per arch agreed common
>>>>>    # minimal baseline needed for DPDK.
>>>>>    # That might not be the most optimized, but the most portable
>>>>> version while  # still being able to support the CPU features required for
>> DPDK.
>>>>>    # This can be bumped up by the DPDK project, but it can never be
>>>>> an  # invariant like 'native'
>>>>> -if machine == 'default'
>>>>>    	if host_machine.cpu_family().startswith('x86')
>>>>>    		# matches the old pre-meson build systems default
>>>>> -		machine = 'corei7'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'corei7'
>>>>>    	elif host_machine.cpu_family().startswith('arm')
>>>>> -		machine = 'armv7-a'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'armv7-a'
>>>>>    	elif host_machine.cpu_family().startswith('aarch')
>>>>>    		# arm64 manages defaults in config/arm/meson.build
>>>>> -		machine = 'default'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'default'
>>>>>    	elif host_machine.cpu_family().startswith('ppc')
>>>>> -		machine = 'power8'
>>>>> +		cpu_instruction_set = 'power8'
>>>>>    	endif
>>>>>    endif
>>>
>>> This change forces the build on a P9 system to use the P8 instruction set.
>>> Prior to this change the "native" machine type was used which resulted
>>> in P9 instructions when built on a P9 system.  How do I force the
>>> build to use the
>>> power9 instruction set in this case?
>>>
>>> Dave
>>
>>  From looking at the patch, setting the "platform" to "native", or the
>> instruction_set to "native" should do this.
>> While I consider generic builds a good thing, I wonder if there is an expectation
>> that "native" is always the default build type for DPDK builds?
>>
>> /Bruce
> 
> I left this patch alone so that people could chime in, but noone did, so let's try to find some agreeable solution.
> 
> My current thoughts are as such:
> The platform parameter specifies a set of DPDK options that will be used. This is what arm uses for its builds, x86 and ppc don't use this.
> The cpu_instruction_set sets just one configuration among the "platform" configuration set.
> We want the build to work on most machines of the machine architecture. That implies platform=generic (as in use config options that will work on everything of that architecture) and cpu_instruction_set=generic (as in use ISA that will work on all cpus of the build machine architecture).
> Setting cpu_instruction_set=generic changes the build without cmdline options for ppc. Thus, the expectation may be that cpu_instruction_set should be native by default.
> 
> For arm, cpu_instruction_set is ignored (and thus the value doen't matter), since we can't use that without other config options (e.g. DPDK config for an SoC (such as RTE_ARM_FEATURE_ATOMICS) used with an invalid cpu_instuction_set). That means the only relevant parameter for Arm is platform and if we want to have a build usable on most machines of the build type, we have to use platform=generic.
> 
> For x86 and ppc, there's no difference between native and generic platform (as it's a new argument, the purpose of which is to differentiate DPDK config across platforms, which doesn't exist for x86 and ppc - DPDK config is the same (correct me if I'm wrong)).
> 
> So it basically boils down to what should be the default value of cpu_instruction_set when platform=generic (for platform=native, it's obviously native):
> 1. cpu_instruction_set=native, this would preserve the current behavior, but we won't use the 'auto' default. I think we can fall back to this if we don't agree on anything better.
> 2. cpu_instruction_set=auto, the same as cpu_instruction_set=generic,
> 3. cpu_instruction_set=generic, this changes behavior for ppc builds, but we may be able to remedy this:
> Similarly to arm (arm is using platform for this, but the idea is the same), if cpu_instruction_set is generic, we can do some discovery for pcc and set the ISA accordingly (either power8 or power9). If I understand it correctly, power8 is a different architecture from power9 (I could be wrong on this), so this is desirable. There's some logic in config/ppc/meson.build, but it doesn't seem sufficient as a discovery mechanism between power8/power9.

POWER8 code (Power ISA v2.07) runs on POWER9 CPUs (Power ISA v3.0), so 
setting cpu_instruction_set to GENERIC is a reasonable option. POWER10 
CPUs (Power ISA v3.1) are around the corner so I want to make sure 
developers can tune the application for the platform as easily as 
possible.  I'm fine with supporting GENERIC, just need clear 
instructions on how to build for a particular ISA.

Dave