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package/openblas: allow disabling multithreading

PATCH New Thomas De Schampheleire 2 participants 4 messages Dec 2, 2020 – Jan 5, 2021

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#0 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 package/openblas: allow disabling multithreading

From: Thomas De Schampheleire <[email protected]>

Buildroot would automatically enable multithreading in OpenBLAS if the architecture supports it. However, one may want to avoid OpenBLAS creating threads itself and configure single-threaded operation. To accommodate this use case, add a config option for multithreading.

When multithreading is disabled, but OpenBLAS functions are called in the same application by multiple threads, then locking is mandatory. The USE_LOCKING flag was added in version 0.3.7 with following release note:

a new option USE_LOCKING was added to ensure thread safety when OpenBLAS itself is built without multithreading but will be called from multiple threads.

However, if one knows that OpenBLAS will only be called from single-threaded applications, then passing USE_LOCKING is not necessary, so make it a config option too.

---

This patch was sent earlier but had no response.

 package/openblas/Config.in   | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 package/openblas/openblas.mk |  8 +++++++-
 2 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
package/openblas/Config.in +21 -0
index 3f658c862a..e09f3d0c5a 100644
@@ -73,4 +73,25 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_TARGET
 	string "OpenBLAS target CPU"
 	default BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_DEFAULT_TARGET
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD
+	bool "use multithreading"
+	default y
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
+	help
+	  Tell OpenBLAS to use multithreading, by passing USE_THREAD=1.
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_LOCKING
+	bool "use locking"
+	default y
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+	help
+	  Tell OpenBLAS to use locking, by passing USE_LOCKING=1.
+	  Locking is implicitly enabled when USE_THREAD=1, in which case
+	  disabling this option will not have an effect.
+	  However, if USE_THREAD=0 (i.e. OpenBLAS itself will run in
+	  single-threaded mode) but an application makes OpenBLAS
+	  function calls from multiple threads, then locking is
+	  mandatory for correct operation.
+
 endif
package/openblas/openblas.mk +7 -1
index 9701df9148..0fd761c89c 100644
@@ -25,12 +25,18 @@ OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += ONLY_CBLAS=1
 endif
 
 # Enable/Disable multi-threading (not for static-only since it uses dlfcn.h)
-ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS):$(BR2_STATIC_LIBS),y:)
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD),y)
 OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += USE_THREAD=1
 else
 OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += USE_THREAD=0
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_LOCKING),y)
+OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += USE_LOCKING=1
+else
+OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += USE_LOCKING=0
+endif
+
 # We don't know if OpenMP is available or not, so disable
 OPENBLAS_MAKE_OPTS += USE_OPENMP=0
 
Signature · 1 line
2.26.2
#1 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 package/openblas: allow disabling multithreading

Hello Thomas,

package/openblas/Config.in config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_TARGET · line 87

Quoted 12 lines · On Wed, 2 Dec 2020 15:50:24 +0100 Thomas De Schampheleire…
package/openblas/Config.in +12 -0
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD
+	bool "use multithreading"
+	default y
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+	depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
+	help
+	  Tell OpenBLAS to use multithreading, by passing USE_THREAD=1.
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_LOCKING
+	bool "use locking"
+	default y
+	depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS

Should this instead be:

depends on !BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD

indeed, as you're explaining in the help text, when USE_THREAD=1, the USE_LOCKING option has no effect, as it is forcefully enabled.

And perhaps drop the "default y" ?

Thanks,

Thomas

Signature · 3 lines
Thomas Petazzoni, CTO, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com
#2 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 package/openblas: allow disabling multithreading

Hi Thomas,

First of all, best wishes for 2021 and thanks for applying my patches recently!

El s?b, 2 ene 2021 a las 17:34, Thomas Petazzoni
(<[email protected]>) escribi?:

Quoted 21 lines

Hello Thomas,

package/openblas/Config.in config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_TARGET · line 87

Quoted 12 lines · On Wed, 2 Dec 2020 15:50:24 +0100 Thomas De Schampheleire…
package/openblas/Config.in +12 -0
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD
+     bool "use multithreading"
+     default y
+     depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS
+     depends on !BR2_STATIC_LIBS
+     help
+       Tell OpenBLAS to use multithreading, by passing USE_THREAD=1.
+
+config BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_LOCKING
+     bool "use locking"
+     default y
+     depends on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS

Should this instead be:

Quoted 4 lines

depends on !BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD

indeed, as you're explaining in the help text, when USE_THREAD=1, the USE_LOCKING option has no effect, as it is forcefully enabled.

We can indeed add this inverse dependency on BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD, this is more clear. However, I think we also have to retain the dependency on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS, right? Because if there is no thread support, it does not make sense to lock.
If only depending on !BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD, then the USE_LOCKING option becomes visible if !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS . Right?

Quoted 2 lines

And perhaps drop the "default y" ?

I added 'default y' because the introduction of USE_LOCKING in openblas actually lead to a regression if you were using it in single-threaded mode from a multi-threaded application. The regression is only at run-time and causes incorrect math results in some cases (ugh!).
So, the 'default y' would help existing users in this situation when upgrading Buildroot and its contained openblas.

We could remove the 'default y' too. In my own repo I can make sure to enable USE_LOCKING explicitly. This may be fine if we assume there are few users that use openblas, and even fewer that use it in single-threaded mode from a multithreaded application.

Thanks,
Thomas

#3 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 package/openblas: allow disabling multithreading

Quoted 1 line · On Tue, 5 Jan 2021 15:19:22 +0100 Thomas De Schampheleire…

First of all, best wishes for 2021 and thanks for applying my patches recently!

Best wishes to you as well!

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 6 lines

Should this instead be:

depends on !BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD

indeed, as you're explaining in the help text, when USE_THREAD=1, the USE_LOCKING option has no effect, as it is forcefully enabled.

Quoted 8 lines

We can indeed add this inverse dependency on BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD, this is more clear. However, I think we also have to retain the dependency on BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS, right? Because if there is no thread support, it does not make sense to lock.
If only depending on !BR2_PACKAGE_OPENBLAS_USE_THREAD, then the USE_LOCKING option becomes visible if !BR2_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_THREADS . Right?

Right, seems a good idea.

Quoted 10 lines
Quoted 1 line

And perhaps drop the "default y" ?

I added 'default y' because the introduction of USE_LOCKING in openblas actually lead to a regression if you were using it in single-threaded mode from a multi-threaded application. The regression is only at run-time and causes incorrect math results in some cases (ugh!).
So, the 'default y' would help existing users in this situation when upgrading Buildroot and its contained openblas.

Quoted 4 lines

We could remove the 'default y' too. In my own repo I can make sure to enable USE_LOCKING explicitly. This may be fine if we assume there are few users that use openblas, and even fewer that use it in single-threaded mode from a multithreaded application.

Right, fair enough with "default y" then.

Thomas

Signature · 3 lines
Thomas Petazzoni, CTO, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com