[PATCH 2/2]AArch64: Add better costing for vector constants and operations

Richard Sandiford richard.sandiford@arm.com
Mon Oct 25 09:54:15 GMT 2021


Tamar Christina <Tamar.Christina@arm.com> writes:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Richard Sandiford <richard.sandiford@arm.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2021 11:40 AM
>> To: Tamar Christina via Gcc-patches <gcc-patches@gcc.gnu.org>
>> Cc: Tamar Christina <Tamar.Christina@arm.com>; Richard Earnshaw
>> <Richard.Earnshaw@arm.com>; nd <nd@arm.com>; Marcus Shawcroft
>> <Marcus.Shawcroft@arm.com>
>> Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2]AArch64: Add better costing for vector constants
>> and operations
>> 
>> Tamar Christina via Gcc-patches <gcc-patches@gcc.gnu.org> writes:
>> >> I'm still a bit sceptical about treating the high-part cost as lower.
>> >> ISTM that the subreg cases are the ones that are truly “free” and any
>> >> others should have a normal cost.  So if CSE handled the subreg case
>> >> itself (to model how the rtx would actually be generated) then
>> >> aarch64 code would have to do less work.  I imagine that will be true for
>> other targets as well.
>> >
>> > I guess the main problem is that CSE lacks context because it's not
>> > until after combine that the high part becomes truly "free" when pushed
>> into a high operation.
>> 
>> Yeah.  And the aarch64 code is just being asked to cost the operation it's
>> given, which could for example come from an existing
>> aarch64_simd_mov_from_<mode>high.  I think we should try to ensure that
>> a aarch64_simd_mov_from_<mode>high followed by some arithmetic on
>> the result is more expensive than the fused operation (when fusing is
>> possible).
>> 
>> An analogy might be: if the cost code is given:
>> 
>>   (add (reg X) (reg Y))
>> 
>> then, at some later point, the (reg X) might be replaced with a multiplication,
>> in which case we'd have a MADD operation and the addition is effectively
>> free.  Something similar would happen if (reg X) became a shift by a small
>> amount on newer cores, although I guess then you could argue either that
>> the cost of the add disappears or that the cost of the shift disappears.
>> 
>> But we shouldn't count ADD as free on the basis that it could be combined
>> with a multiplication or shift in future.  We have to cost what we're given.  I
>> think the same thing applies to the high part.
>> 
>> Here we're trying to prevent cse1 from replacing a DUP (lane) with a MOVI
>> by saying that the DUP is strictly cheaper than the MOVI.
>> I don't think that's really true though, and the cost tables in the patch say that
>> DUP is more expensive (rather than less expensive) than MOVI.
>
> No we're not. The front end has already pushed the constant into each operation that needs it
> which is the entire problem.

I think we're talking about different things here.  I'll come to the
gimple stuff below, but I was talking purely about the effect on the
RTL optimisers.  What I meant above is that, in the cse1 dumps,
the patch leads to changes like:

 (insn 20 19 21 2 (set (reg:V8QI 96 [ _8 ])
-        (const_vector:V8QI [
+        (vec_select:V8QI (reg:V16QI 116)
+            (parallel:V16QI [
+                    (const_int 8 [0x8])
+                    (const_int 9 [0x9])
+                    (const_int 10 [0xa])
+                    (const_int 11 [0xb])
+                    (const_int 12 [0xc])
+                    (const_int 13 [0xd])
+                    (const_int 14 [0xe])
+                    (const_int 15 [0xf])
+                ]))) "include/arm_neon.h":6477:22 1394 {aarch64_simd_mov_from_v16qihigh}
+     (expr_list:REG_EQUAL (const_vector:V8QI [
                 (const_int 3 [0x3]) repeated x8
-            ])) "include/arm_neon.h":6477:22 1160 {*aarch64_simd_movv8qi}
-     (expr_list:REG_DEAD (reg:V16QI 117)
-        (nil)))
+            ])
+        (expr_list:REG_DEAD (reg:V16QI 117)
+            (nil))))

The pre-cse1 code is:

(insn 19 18 20 2 (set (reg:V16QI 117)
        (const_vector:V16QI [
                (const_int 3 [0x3]) repeated x16
            ])) "include/arm_neon.h":6477:22 1166 {*aarch64_simd_movv16qi}
     (nil))
(insn 20 19 21 2 (set (reg:V8QI 96 [ _8 ])
        (vec_select:V8QI (reg:V16QI 117)
            (parallel:V16QI [
                    (const_int 8 [0x8])
                    (const_int 9 [0x9])
                    (const_int 10 [0xa])
                    (const_int 11 [0xb])
                    (const_int 12 [0xc])
                    (const_int 13 [0xd])
                    (const_int 14 [0xe])
                    (const_int 15 [0xf])
                ]))) "include/arm_neon.h":6477:22 1394 {aarch64_simd_mov_from_v16qihigh}
     (nil))

That is, before the patch, we folded insn 19 into insn 20 to get:

(insn 20 19 21 2 (set (reg:V8QI 96 [ _8 ])
        (const_vector:V8QI [
                (const_int 3 [0x3]) repeated x8
            ])) "include/arm_neon.h":6477:22 1160 {*aarch64_simd_movv8qi}
     (expr_list:REG_DEAD (reg:V16QI 117)
        (nil)))

After the patch we reject that because:

  (set (reg:V8QI X) (const_vector:V8QI [3]))

is costed as a MOVI (cost 4) and the original aarch64_simd_mov_from_v16qihigh
is costed as zero.  In other words, the patch makes the DUP (lane) in the
“mov high” strictly cheaper than a constant move (MOVI).

Preventing this fold seems like a key part of being able to match the
*l2 forms in the testcase, since otherwise the “mov high” disappears and
isn't available for combining later.

> MOVI as I mentioned before is the one case where this is a toss up.  But there are far
> more constants that cannot be created with a movi.  A simple example is
>
> #include <arm_neon.h>
>
> int8x16_t square(int8x16_t full, int8x8_t small) {
>     int8x16_t cst = {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,15};
>     int8x8_t low = vget_high_s8 (cst);
>     int8x8_t res1 = vmul_s8 (small, low);
>     return vaddq_s8 (vmulq_s8 (full, cst), vcombine_s8 (res1, res1));
> }
>
> Where in Gimple we get
>
>   <bb 2> [local count: 1073741824]:
>   _2 = __builtin_aarch64_get_highv16qi ({ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 });
>   _4 = _2 * small_3(D);
>   _6 = full_5(D) * { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 };
>   _7 = __builtin_aarch64_combinev8qi (_4, _4);
>   _8 = _6 + _7;
>   return _8;
>
> Regardless of what happens to __builtin_aarch64_get_highv16qi nothing will recreate the relationship
> with cst, whether __builtin_aarch64_get_highv16qi is lowered or not, constant prop will still push in constants.

Yeah, constants are (by design) free in gimple.  But that's OK in itself,
because RTL optimisers have the job of removing any duplicates that end
up requiring separate moves.  I think we both agree on that.

E.g. for:

#include <arm_neon.h>

void foo(int8x16_t *x) {
  x[0] = vaddq_s8 (x[0], (int8x16_t) {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15});
  x[1] = vaddq_s8 (x[1], (int8x16_t) {0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15});
}

the final gimple is:

  <bb 2> [local count: 1073741824]:
  _1 = *x_4(D);
  _5 = _1 + { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 };
  *x_4(D) = _5;
  _2 = MEM[(int8x16_t *)x_4(D) + 16B];
  _7 = _2 + { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 };
  MEM[(int8x16_t *)x_4(D) + 16B] = _7;
  return;

but cse1 removes the duplicated constant even before the patch.

> This codegen results in us rematerializing the constant twice.
>
> square:
>         adrp    x0, .LC0
>         ldr     d2, [x0, #:lo12:.LC0]
>         adrp    x0, .LC1
>         ldr     q3, [x0, #:lo12:.LC1]
>         mul     v1.8b, v2.8b, v1.8b
>         dup     d2, v1.d[0]
>         ins     v2.d[1], v1.d[0]
>         mla     v2.16b, v0.16b, v3.16b
>         mov     v0.16b, v2.16b
>         ret
> .LC1:
>         .byte   0
>         .byte   1
>         .byte   2
>         .byte   3
>         .byte   4
>         .byte   5
>         .byte   6
>         .byte   7
>         .byte   8
>         .byte   9
>         .byte   10
>         .byte   11
>         .byte   12
>         .byte   13
>         .byte   15
>         .byte   0
>
> Regardless whether it's pushed into a high operation or not this codegen it's still far more expensive to do this codegen.

The problem is that here, the patch is preventing CSE from first folding
the RTL equivalent of:

  _2 = __builtin_aarch64_get_highv16qi ({ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 });

to the RTL equivalent of:

  { 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 }

Preventing the fold keeps two instances of the original (RTL) constant and
so prompts CSE to remove the duplicate.

CSE does do the fold without the patch.  Before cse1 we have:

(insn 7 4 8 2 (set (reg:V16QI 99)
        (const_vector:V16QI [
                (const_int 0 [0])
                (const_int 1 [0x1])
                (const_int 2 [0x2])
                (const_int 3 [0x3])
                (const_int 4 [0x4])
                (const_int 5 [0x5])
                (const_int 6 [0x6])
                (const_int 7 [0x7])
                (const_int 8 [0x8])
                (const_int 9 [0x9])
                (const_int 10 [0xa])
                (const_int 11 [0xb])
                (const_int 12 [0xc])
                (const_int 13 [0xd])
                (const_int 15 [0xf])
                (const_int 0 [0])
            ])) "include/arm_neon.h":6449:11 1166 {*aarch64_simd_movv16qi}
     (nil))
(insn 8 7 9 2 (set (reg:V8QI 92 [ _2 ])
        (vec_select:V8QI (reg:V16QI 99)
            (parallel:V16QI [
                    (const_int 8 [0x8])
                    (const_int 9 [0x9])
                    (const_int 10 [0xa])
                    (const_int 11 [0xb])
                    (const_int 12 [0xc])
                    (const_int 13 [0xd])
                    (const_int 14 [0xe])
                    (const_int 15 [0xf])
                ]))) "include/arm_neon.h":6449:11 1394 {aarch64_simd_mov_from_v16qihigh}
     (nil))

then unpatched cse1 converts insn 8 to:

(insn 8 7 9 2 (set (reg:V8QI 92 [ _2 ])
        (const_vector:V8QI [
                (const_int 8 [0x8])
                (const_int 9 [0x9])
                (const_int 10 [0xa])
                (const_int 11 [0xb])
                (const_int 12 [0xc])
                (const_int 13 [0xd])
                (const_int 15 [0xf])
                (const_int 0 [0])
            ])) "include/arm_neon.h":6449:11 1160 {*aarch64_simd_movv8qi}
     (expr_list:REG_DEAD (reg:V16QI 99)
        (nil)))

so that there are no longer any duplicate constants (as far as the
RTL code is concerned).  Instead we have one 16-byte constant and
one 8-byte constant.

The patch prevents the fold on insn 8 by making the “mov high”
strictly cheaper than the constant move, so we keep the “mov high”
and its 16-byte input.  Keeping the “mov high” means that we do
have a duplicate constant for CSE to remove.

What I meant…

>> Also, if I've understood correctly, it looks like we'd be relying on the
>> vget_high of a constant remaining unfolded until RTL cse1.
>> I think it's likely in future that we'd try to fold vget_high at the gimple level
>> instead, since that could expose more optimisations of a different kind.  The
>> gimple optimisers would then fold vget_high(constant) in a similar way to
>> cse1 does now.
>> 
>> So perhaps we should continue to allow the vget_high(constant) to be
>> foloded in cse1 and come up with some way of coping with the folded form.

…here was that, in future, the gimple optimisers might be able to
fold the vget_high themselves.  For your example, we'd then have:

  _4 = { 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 } * small_3(D);
  _6 = full_5(D) * { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 };
  _7 = __builtin_aarch64_combinev8qi (_4, _4);
  _8 = _6 + _7;
  return _8;

In this situation, we'd need to recreate the relationship between
{ 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 } and
{ 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 }.  We can't ensure that the
relationship is never lost.

The same thing would be true for vget_low.  So a constant like:

  cst = { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 }
  … vget_low* (cst) ..;
  … vget_high* (cst) …;

could be folded to two smaller constants:

  … { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 } …;
  … { 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 0 } …;

We might then need to recreate the combined form, rather than relying
on the combined form already existing.

> CSE1 doesn't fold it, because for CSE the cost is too high to do so. Which is what this costing was attempting to fix.
> CSE simply does not touch it. It leaves it as
>
> (insn 11 10 12 2 (set (reg:V16QI 95 [ _7 ])
>         (vec_concat:V16QI (vec_select:V8QI (reg:V16QI 95 [ _7 ])
>                 (parallel:V16QI [
>                         (const_int 0 [0])
>                         (const_int 1 [0x1])
>                         (const_int 2 [0x2])
>                         (const_int 3 [0x3])
>                         (const_int 4 [0x4])
>                         (const_int 5 [0x5])
>                         (const_int 6 [0x6])
>                         (const_int 7 [0x7])
>                     ]))
>             (reg:V8QI 93 [ _4 ]))) "":6506:10 1908 {aarch64_simd_move_hi_quad_v16qi}
>      (nil))
> (insn 12 11 13 2 (set (reg:V16QI 102)
>         (const_vector:V16QI [
>                 (const_int 0 [0])
>                 (const_int 1 [0x1])
>                 (const_int 2 [0x2])
>                 (const_int 3 [0x3])
>                 (const_int 4 [0x4])
>                 (const_int 5 [0x5])
>                 (const_int 6 [0x6])
>                 (const_int 7 [0x7])
>                 (const_int 8 [0x8])
>                 (const_int 9 [0x9])
>                 (const_int 10 [0xa])
>                 (const_int 11 [0xb])
>                 (const_int 12 [0xc])
>                 (const_int 13 [0xd])
>                 (const_int 15 [0xf])
>                 (const_int 0 [0])
>             ])) "":1466:14 1166 {*aarch64_simd_movv16qi}
>      (nil))

I don't think that's true for the unpatched compiler.  Are you sure
this isn't the “pre-CSE” part of the dump?  CSE is confusing (to me)
in that it prints each function twice, once in unoptimised form and
later in optimised form.

> And I don't see any way to fix this without having Gimple not push constants in, which would lead to worse regressions.
> I can change the patch to cost the high as a dup which fixes this codegen at least and has you rematerialize movi.   If that's
> not acceptable I can drop costing for High entirely then, it's not the main thing I am fixing.

Costing the high as a dup leaves us in the same situation as before the
patch: the folded V8QI constant is cheaper than the unfolded mov high.

Thanks,
Richard


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