block alloc: add lifecycle APIs for cache_entry structs

It has been observed that the time spent loading an index with a large
number of entries is partly dominated by malloc() calls. This change
is in preparation for using memory pools to reduce the number of
malloc() calls made to allocate cahce entries when loading an index.

Add an API to allocate and discard cache entries, abstracting the
details of managing the memory backing the cache entries. This commit
does actually change how memory is managed - this will be done in a
later commit in the series.

This change makes the distinction between cache entries that are
associated with an index and cache entries that are not associated with
an index. A main use of cache entries is with an index, and we can
optimize the memory management around this. We still have other cases
where a cache entry is not persisted with an index, and so we need to
handle the "transient" use case as well.

To keep the congnitive overhead of managing the cache entries, there
will only be a single discard function. This means there must be enough
information kept with the cache entry so that we know how to discard
them.

A summary of the main functions in the API is:

make_cache_entry: create cache entry for use in an index. Uses specified
                  parameters to populate cache_entry fields.

make_empty_cache_entry: Create an empty cache entry for use in an index.
                        Returns cache entry with empty fields.

make_transient_cache_entry: create cache entry that is not used in an
                            index. Uses specified parameters to populate
                            cache_entry fields.

make_empty_transient_cache_entry: create cache entry that is not used in
                                  an index. Returns cache entry with
                                  empty fields.

discard_cache_entry: A single function that knows how to discard a cache
                     entry regardless of how it was allocated.

Signed-off-by: Jameson Miller <jamill@microsoft.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>

1 files changed, 34 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/cache.h b/cache.h
index 7953d52caa..5aadaebaeb 100644
--- a/cache.h
+++ b/cache.h
@@ -339,6 +339,40 @@ extern void remove_name_hash(struct index_state *istate, struct cache_entry *ce)
 extern void free_name_hash(struct index_state *istate);
 
 
+/* Cache entry creation and cleanup */
+
+/*
+ * Create cache_entry intended for use in the specified index. Caller
+ * is responsible for discarding the cache_entry with
+ * `discard_cache_entry`.
+ */
+struct cache_entry *make_cache_entry(struct index_state *istate,
+				     unsigned int mode,
+				     const struct object_id *oid,
+				     const char *path,
+				     int stage,
+				     unsigned int refresh_options);
+
+struct cache_entry *make_empty_cache_entry(struct index_state *istate,
+					   size_t name_len);
+
+/*
+ * Create a cache_entry that is not intended to be added to an index.
+ * Caller is responsible for discarding the cache_entry
+ * with `discard_cache_entry`.
+ */
+struct cache_entry *make_transient_cache_entry(unsigned int mode,
+					       const struct object_id *oid,
+					       const char *path,
+					       int stage);
+
+struct cache_entry *make_empty_transient_cache_entry(size_t name_len);
+
+/*
+ * Discard cache entry.
+ */
+void discard_cache_entry(struct cache_entry *ce);
+
 #ifndef NO_THE_INDEX_COMPATIBILITY_MACROS
 #define active_cache (the_index.cache)
 #define active_nr (the_index.cache_nr)
@@ -698,12 +732,6 @@ extern int remove_file_from_index(struct index_state *, const char *path);
 extern int add_to_index(struct index_state *, const char *path, struct stat *, int flags);
 extern int add_file_to_index(struct index_state *, const char *path, int flags);
 
-extern struct cache_entry *make_cache_entry(unsigned int mode,
-					    const struct object_id *oid,
-					    const char *path,
-					    int stage,
-					    unsigned int refresh_options);
-
 extern int chmod_index_entry(struct index_state *, struct cache_entry *ce, char flip);
 extern int ce_same_name(const struct cache_entry *a, const struct cache_entry *b);
 extern void set_object_name_for_intent_to_add_entry(struct cache_entry *ce);