more efficient freelist allocation

This takes advantage of the fact that we can do left merges but not right merges
By allocating data from the end of the freelist entry rather than the beginning
we can guarantee that if we immediately free the record again it will be merged
with the previous freelist entry, reducing fragmentation

(This used to be ctdb commit 6d159f2c115dd5e9b8bab8798f7ac710b4427593)

ctdb/lib/tdb/common/freelist.c

@@ -208,62 +208,61 @@ update:
 }
 
 
+
 /* 
    the core of tdb_allocate - called when we have decided which
    free list entry to use
+
+   Note that we try to allocate by grabbing data from the end of an existing record,
+   not the beginning. This is so the left merge in a free is more likely to be
+   able to free up the record without fragmentation
  */
-static tdb_off_t tdb_allocate_ofs(struct tdb_context *tdb, tdb_len_t length, tdb_off_t rec_ptr,
-				struct list_struct *rec, tdb_off_t last_ptr)
+static tdb_off_t tdb_allocate_ofs(struct tdb_context *tdb, 
+				  tdb_len_t length, tdb_off_t rec_ptr,
+				  struct list_struct *rec, tdb_off_t last_ptr)
 {
-	struct list_struct newrec;
-	tdb_off_t newrec_ptr;
+#define MIN_REC_SIZE (sizeof(struct list_struct) + sizeof(tdb_off_t) + 8)
 
-	memset(&newrec, '\0', sizeof(newrec));
+	if (rec->rec_len < length + MIN_REC_SIZE) {
+		/* we have to grab the whole record */
 
-	/* found it - now possibly split it up  */
-	if (rec->rec_len > length + MIN_REC_SIZE) {
-		/* Length of left piece */
-		length = TDB_ALIGN(length, TDB_ALIGNMENT);
-		
-		/* Right piece to go on free list */
-		newrec.rec_len = rec->rec_len - (sizeof(*rec) + length);
-		newrec_ptr = rec_ptr + sizeof(*rec) + length;
-		
-		/* And left record is shortened */
-		rec->rec_len = length;
-	} else {
-		newrec_ptr = 0;
+		/* unlink it from the previous record */
+		if (tdb_ofs_write(tdb, last_ptr, &rec->next) == -1) {
+			return 0;
+		}
+
+		/* mark it not free */
+		rec->magic = TDB_MAGIC;
+		if (tdb_rec_write(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
+			return 0;
+		}
+		return rec_ptr;
 	}
-	
-	/* Remove allocated record from the free list */
-	if (tdb_ofs_write(tdb, last_ptr, &rec->next) == -1) {
-		return 0;
-	}
-	
-	/* Update header: do this before we drop alloc
-	   lock, otherwise tdb_free() might try to
-	   merge with us, thinking we're free.
-	   (Thanks Jeremy Allison). */
-	rec->magic = TDB_MAGIC;
+
+	/* we're going to just shorten the existing record */
+	rec->rec_len -= (length + sizeof(*rec));
 	if (tdb_rec_write(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
 		return 0;
 	}
-	
-	/* Did we create new block? */
-	if (newrec_ptr) {
-		/* Update allocated record tailer (we
-		   shortened it). */
-		if (update_tailer(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
-			return 0;
-		}
-		
-		/* Free new record */
-		if (tdb_free(tdb, newrec_ptr, &newrec) == -1) {
-			return 0;
-		}
+	if (update_tailer(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
+		return 0;
 	}
-	
-	/* all done - return the new record offset */
+
+	/* and setup the new record */
+	rec_ptr += sizeof(*rec) + rec->rec_len;	
+
+	memset(rec, '\0', sizeof(*rec));
+	rec->rec_len = length;
+	rec->magic = TDB_MAGIC;
+
+	if (tdb_rec_write(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	if (update_tailer(tdb, rec_ptr, rec) == -1) {
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	return rec_ptr;
 }
 
@@ -287,6 +286,7 @@ tdb_off_t tdb_allocate(struct tdb_context *tdb, tdb_len_t length, struct list_st
 
 	/* Extra bytes required for tailer */
 	length += sizeof(tdb_off_t);
+	length = TDB_ALIGN(length, TDB_ALIGNMENT);
 
  again:
 	last_ptr = FREELIST_TOP;
@@ -343,7 +343,8 @@ tdb_off_t tdb_allocate(struct tdb_context *tdb, tdb_len_t length, struct list_st
 			goto fail;
 		}
 
-		newrec_ptr = tdb_allocate_ofs(tdb, length, bestfit.rec_ptr, rec, bestfit.last_ptr);
+		newrec_ptr = tdb_allocate_ofs(tdb, length, bestfit.rec_ptr, 
+					      rec, bestfit.last_ptr);
 		tdb_unlock(tdb, -1, F_WRLCK);
 		return newrec_ptr;
 	}

ctdb/lib/tdb/common/tdb_private.h

@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ typedef uint32_t tdb_off_t;
 #define TDB_DEAD_MAGIC (0xFEE1DEAD)
 #define TDB_RECOVERY_MAGIC (0xf53bc0e7U)
 #define TDB_ALIGNMENT 4
-#define MIN_REC_SIZE (2*sizeof(struct list_struct) + TDB_ALIGNMENT)
 #define DEFAULT_HASH_SIZE 131
 #define FREELIST_TOP (sizeof(struct tdb_header))
 #define TDB_ALIGN(x,a) (((x) + (a)-1) & ~((a)-1))