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Kuan-Wei Chiu 86bda539fb lib/list_sort: remove dummy cmp() calls to speed up merge_final()
Historically, list_sort() implemented a hack in merge_final():
    if (unlikely(!++count))
        cmp(priv, b, b);

This was introduced 16 years ago in commit 835cc0c847 ("lib: more
scalable list_sort()") so that callers could periodically invoke
cond_resched() within their comparison functions when merging highly
unbalanced lists.

An audit of the kernel tree reveals that fs/ubifs/ was the sole user of
this mechanism.  Recent discussions and inspections by Richard Weinberger
confirm that UBIFS lists are strictly bounded in size (a few thousand
elements at most), meaning it does not strictly rely on these dummy
callbacks to prevent soft lockups.

For the vast majority of list_sort() users (such as block layer IO
schedulers and file systems), this hack results in completely wasted
function calls.  In the worst-case scenario (merging an already sorted
list where 'a' is exhausted quickly), it results in approximately
(N/2)/256 unnecessary cmp() invocations.

Remove the dummy cmp(priv, b, b) fallback from merge_final().  This saves
unnecessary function calls, avoids branching overhead in the tight loop,
and slightly speeds up the final merge step for all generic list_sort()
users.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: remove now-unused local]
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260320180938.1827148-3-visitorckw@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Kuan-Wei Chiu <visitorckw@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Christoph Hellwig <hch@lst.de>
Cc: Ching-Chun (Jim) Huang <jserv@ccns.ncku.edu.tw>
Cc: Mars Cheng <marscheng@google.com>
Cc: Richard Weinberger <richard@nod.at>
Cc: Yu-Chun Lin <eleanor15x@gmail.com>
Cc: Zhihao Cheng <chengzhihao1@huawei.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
History 2026-04-02 23:36:22 -07:00
arch xor: make xor.ko self-contained in lib/raid/ 2026-04-02 23:36:20 -07:00
block block-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:36:18 -08:00
certs Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
crypto async_xor: use xor_gen 2026-04-02 23:36:21 -07:00
Documentation doc: watchdog: futher improvements 2026-03-27 21:19:47 -07:00
drivers cxl fixes for v7.0-rc6 2026-03-24 12:41:29 -07:00
fs ubifs: remove unnecessary cond_resched() from list_sort() compare 2026-04-02 23:36:22 -07:00
include xor: pass the entire operation to the low-level ops 2026-04-02 23:36:21 -07:00
init io_uring-7.0-20260305 2026-03-06 08:31:36 -08:00
io_uring io_uring-7.0-20260320 2026-03-20 09:58:56 -07:00
ipc Convert 'alloc_obj' family to use the new default GFP_KERNEL argument 2026-02-21 17:09:51 -08:00
kernel fork: zero vmap stack using clear_pages() instead of memset() 2026-03-27 21:19:49 -07:00
lib lib/list_sort: remove dummy cmp() calls to speed up merge_final() 2026-04-02 23:36:22 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm mm/damon/stat: monitor all System RAM resources 2026-03-23 09:35:05 -07:00
net Including fixes from wireless, Bluetooth and netfilter. 2026-03-19 11:25:40 -07:00
rust Rust fixes for v7.0 (2nd) 2026-03-14 12:35:16 -07:00
samples drm-fixes for 7.0-rc4 2026-03-13 15:38:55 -07:00
scripts scripts/decodecode: return 0 on success 2026-03-27 21:19:48 -07:00
security xen/privcmd: add boot control for restricted usage in domU 2026-03-20 12:06:01 +01:00
sound driver core: platform: use generic driver_override infrastructure 2026-03-17 20:30:57 +01:00
tools selftests: fix ARCH normalization to handle command-line argument 2026-03-27 21:19:44 -07:00
usr kbuild: uapi: drop dependency on CC_CAN_LINK 2026-01-16 15:02:11 -07:00
virt KVM generic changes for 7.0 2026-03-11 18:01:55 +01:00
.clang-format Devicetree updates for v7.0: 2026-02-11 18:27:08 -08:00
.clippy.toml rust: clean Rust 1.88.0's warning about clippy::disallowed_macros configuration 2025-05-07 00:11:47 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore MAINTAINERS: remove Alyssa Rosenzweig 2025-09-18 21:17:31 +02:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore rust: kbuild: add proc macro library support 2025-11-24 17:15:36 +01:00
.mailmap mailmap: update Guru Das Srinagesh's email address 2026-03-27 21:19:39 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS CREDITS: simplify the end-of-file alphabetical order comment 2026-03-27 21:19:45 -07:00
Kbuild sched: Make migrate_{en,dis}able() inline 2025-09-25 09:57:16 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS get_maintainer: add ** glob pattern support 2026-03-27 21:19:38 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.0-rc5 2026-03-22 14:42:17 -07:00
README docs: add AI Coding Assistants documentation 2026-01-06 14:55:06 -07:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer - Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher - Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert - Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer - Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator - Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer - Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor - Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer - Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant - LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst