Improve timeout.c's handling of repeated timeout set/cancel.

A very common usage pattern is that we set a timeout that we don't
expect to reach, cancel it after a little bit, and later repeat.
With the original implementation of timeout.c, this results in one
setitimer() call per timeout set or cancel.  We can do a lot better
by being lazy about changing the timeout interrupt request, namely:
(1) never cancel the outstanding interrupt, even when we have no
active timeout events;
(2) if we need to set an interrupt, but there already is one pending
at or before the required time, leave it alone.  When the interrupt
happens, the signal handler will reschedule it at whatever time is
then needed.

For example, with a one-second setting for statement_timeout, this
method results in having to interact with the kernel only a little
more than once a second, no matter how many statements we execute
in between.  The mainline code might never call setitimer() at all
after the first time, while each time the signal handler fires,
it sees that the then-pending request is most of a second away,
and that's when it sets the next interrupt request for.  Each
mainline timeout-set request after that will observe that the time
it wants is past the pending interrupt request time, and do nothing.

This also works pretty well for cases where a few different timeout
lengths are in use, as long as none of them are very short.  But
that describes our usage well.

Idea and original patch by Thomas Munro; I fixed a race condition
and improved the comments.

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CA+hUKG+o6pbuHBJSGnud=TadsuXySWA7CCcPgCt2QE9F6_4iHQ@mail.gmail.com

diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/timeout.c b/src/backend/utils/misc/timeout.c
index b47e8ba2fb4903efe205d9a8df82f6aa65161b78..88139ab82b6888752a7adfe134bd6579eafce1d7 100644 (file)
--- a/src/backend/utils/misc/timeout.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/misc/timeout.c
@@ -53,18 +53,29 @@ static timeout_params *volatile active_timeouts[MAX_TIMEOUTS];
 
 /*
  * Flag controlling whether the signal handler is allowed to do anything.
- * We leave this "false" when we're not expecting interrupts, just in case.
+ * This is useful to avoid race conditions with the handler.  Note in
+ * particular that this lets us make changes in the data structures without
+ * tediously disabling and re-enabling the timer signal.  Most of the time,
+ * no interrupt would happen anyway during such critical sections, but if
+ * one does, this rule ensures it's safe.  Leaving the signal enabled across
+ * multiple operations can greatly reduce the number of kernel calls we make,
+ * too.  See comments in schedule_alarm() about that.
  *
- * Note that we don't bother to reset any pending timer interrupt when we
- * disable the signal handler; it's not really worth the cycles to do so,
- * since the probability of the interrupt actually occurring while we have
- * it disabled is low.  See comments in schedule_alarm() about that.
+ * We leave this "false" when we're not expecting interrupts, just in case.
  */
 static volatile sig_atomic_t alarm_enabled = false;
 
 #define disable_alarm() (alarm_enabled = false)
 #define enable_alarm() (alarm_enabled = true)
 
+/*
+ * State recording if and when we next expect the interrupt to fire.
+ * Note that the signal handler will unconditionally reset signal_pending to
+ * false, so that can change asynchronously even when alarm_enabled is false.
+ */
+static volatile sig_atomic_t signal_pending = false;
+static TimestampTz signal_due_at = 0;  /* valid only when signal_pending */
+
 
 /*****************************************************************************
  * Internal helper functions
@@ -185,7 +196,11 @@ enable_timeout(TimeoutId id, TimestampTz now, TimestampTz fin_time)
  * Schedule alarm for the next active timeout, if any
  *
  * We assume the caller has obtained the current time, or a close-enough
- * approximation.
+ * approximation.  (It's okay if a tick or two has passed since "now", or
+ * if a little more time elapses before we reach the kernel call; that will
+ * cause us to ask for an interrupt a tick or two later than the nearest
+ * timeout, which is no big deal.  Passing a "now" value that's in the future
+ * would be bad though.)
  */
 static void
 schedule_alarm(TimestampTz now)
@@ -193,21 +208,38 @@ schedule_alarm(TimestampTz now)
    if (num_active_timeouts > 0)
    {
        struct itimerval timeval;
+       TimestampTz nearest_timeout;
        long        secs;
        int         usecs;
 
        MemSet(&timeval, 0, sizeof(struct itimerval));
 
-       /* Get the time remaining till the nearest pending timeout */
-       TimestampDifference(now, active_timeouts[0]->fin_time,
-                           &secs, &usecs);
-
        /*
-        * It's possible that the difference is less than a microsecond;
-        * ensure we don't cancel, rather than set, the interrupt.
+        * Get the time remaining till the nearest pending timeout.  If it is
+        * negative, assume that we somehow missed an interrupt, and force
+        * signal_pending off.  This gives us a chance to recover if the
+        * kernel drops a timeout request for some reason.
         */
-       if (secs == 0 && usecs == 0)
+       nearest_timeout = active_timeouts[0]->fin_time;
+       if (now > nearest_timeout)
+       {
+           signal_pending = false;
+           /* force an interrupt as soon as possible */
+           secs = 0;
            usecs = 1;
+       }
+       else
+       {
+           TimestampDifference(now, nearest_timeout,
+                               &secs, &usecs);
+
+           /*
+            * It's possible that the difference is less than a microsecond;
+            * ensure we don't cancel, rather than set, the interrupt.
+            */
+           if (secs == 0 && usecs == 0)
+               usecs = 1;
+       }
 
        timeval.it_value.tv_sec = secs;
        timeval.it_value.tv_usec = usecs;
@@ -218,7 +250,7 @@ schedule_alarm(TimestampTz now)
         * interrupt could occur before we can set alarm_enabled, so that the
         * signal handler would fail to do anything.
         *
-        * Because we didn't bother to reset the timer in disable_alarm(),
+        * Because we didn't bother to disable the timer in disable_alarm(),
         * it's possible that a previously-set interrupt will fire between
         * enable_alarm() and setitimer().  This is safe, however.  There are
         * two possible outcomes:
@@ -244,9 +276,53 @@ schedule_alarm(TimestampTz now)
         */
        enable_alarm();
 
+       /*
+        * If there is already an interrupt pending that's at or before the
+        * needed time, we need not do anything more.  The signal handler will
+        * do the right thing in the first case, and re-schedule the interrupt
+        * for later in the second case.  It might seem that the extra
+        * interrupt is wasted work, but it's not terribly much work, and this
+        * method has very significant advantages in the common use-case where
+        * we repeatedly set a timeout that we don't expect to reach and then
+        * cancel it.  Instead of invoking setitimer() every time the timeout
+        * is set or canceled, we perform one interrupt and a re-scheduling
+        * setitimer() call at intervals roughly equal to the timeout delay.
+        * For example, with statement_timeout = 1s and a throughput of
+        * thousands of queries per second, this method requires an interrupt
+        * and setitimer() call roughly once a second, rather than thousands
+        * of setitimer() calls per second.
+        *
+        * Because of the possible passage of time between when we obtained
+        * "now" and when we reach setitimer(), the kernel's opinion of when
+        * to trigger the interrupt is likely to be a bit later than
+        * signal_due_at.  That's fine, for the same reasons described above.
+        */
+       if (signal_pending && nearest_timeout >= signal_due_at)
+           return;
+
+       /*
+        * As with calling enable_alarm(), we must set signal_pending *before*
+        * calling setitimer(); if we did it after, the signal handler could
+        * trigger before we set it, leaving us with a false opinion that a
+        * signal is still coming.
+        *
+        * Other race conditions involved with setting/checking signal_pending
+        * are okay, for the reasons described above.
+        */
+       signal_due_at = nearest_timeout;
+       signal_pending = true;
+
        /* Set the alarm timer */
        if (setitimer(ITIMER_REAL, &timeval, NULL) != 0)
+       {
+           /*
+            * Clearing signal_pending here is a bit pro forma, but not
+            * entirely so, since something in the FATAL exit path could try
+            * to use timeout facilities.
+            */
+           signal_pending = false;
            elog(FATAL, "could not enable SIGALRM timer: %m");
+       }
    }
 }
 
@@ -279,6 +355,12 @@ handle_sig_alarm(SIGNAL_ARGS)
     */
    SetLatch(MyLatch);
 
+   /*
+    * Always reset signal_pending, even if !alarm_enabled, since indeed no
+    * signal is now pending.
+    */
+   signal_pending = false;
+
    /*
     * Fire any pending timeouts, but only if we're enabled to do so.
     */
@@ -591,7 +673,7 @@ disable_timeouts(const DisableTimeoutParams *timeouts, int count)
 }
 
 /*
- * Disable SIGALRM and remove all timeouts from the active list,
+ * Disable the signal handler, remove all timeouts from the active list,
  * and optionally reset their timeout indicators.
  */
 void
@@ -602,18 +684,10 @@ disable_all_timeouts(bool keep_indicators)
    disable_alarm();
 
    /*
-    * Only bother to reset the timer if we think it's active.  We could just
-    * let the interrupt happen anyway, but it's probably a bit cheaper to do
-    * setitimer() than to let the useless interrupt happen.
+    * We used to disable the timer interrupt here, but in common usage
+    * patterns it's cheaper to leave it enabled; that may save us from having
+    * to enable it again shortly.  See comments in schedule_alarm().
     */
-   if (num_active_timeouts > 0)
-   {
-       struct itimerval timeval;
-
-       MemSet(&timeval, 0, sizeof(struct itimerval));
-       if (setitimer(ITIMER_REAL, &timeval, NULL) != 0)
-           elog(FATAL, "could not disable SIGALRM timer: %m");
-   }
 
    num_active_timeouts = 0;