JFFS3 & performance

[Jörn Engel]

On Thu, 16 December 2004 22:06:21 +0100, Joakim Tjernlund wrote:
> 
> There is still more one can do, look in lib/crc32.c in the kernel to see
> what I mean. It is tricky to get everything right, but just unrolling it a bit will help.

Sure.  But I won't do it tonight anymore and the rest of the week is
booked.

In related news, I just had a look at adler32 code.  It's pretty
obvious why it runs so fast and why we shouldn't use it as a checksum:
o It splits data into chunks of 5552 bytes.
o Inside each chunk, it basically implements the two weak checksums
  from rsync. (And those really are weak.  I once tried using them for
  a hash table and the result was horrible.)
o At the end of each chunk, it implements crc16 on both weak
  checksums.

With jffs3 node containing less than 5552 bytes each, the crc16
operation, a simple modulo, is done but once.  So in effect, we end up
with the weak checksums from rsync, which cause tons of collisions in
hash tables.  Pretty nasty for a checksum.

Istr reading something from one of the two authors that basically
states the adler32 weakness for short files.  But for long files, the
checksum is getting strong enough and much faster.  Too bad that our
"files" are short.

Jörn

-- 
Optimizations always bust things, because all optimizations are, in
the long haul, a form of cheating, and cheaters eventually get caught.
-- Larry Wall