TECHNOTES.txt

APCu Quick-Start Braindump

This is a rapidly written braindump of how APCu currently works in the
form of a quick-start guide to start hacking on APCu.

1. Install and use APC a bit so you know what it does from the end-user's
   perspective.  
   user-space functions are all explained here: https://www.php.net/apcu

2. Grab the current APC code from https://github.com/krakjoe/apcu
    
   apcu/php_apc.c has most of the code for the user-visible stuff.  It is
   also a regular PHP extension in the sense that there are MINIT, MINFO, 
   MSHUTDOWN, RSHUTDOWN, etc. functions.  

3. Build it.

   cd apcu
   phpize
   ./configure --enable-apcu
   make
   make test
   cp modules/apcu.so /usr/local/lib/php
   apachectl restart

4. Debugging Hints

     apachectl stop
     gdb /usr/bin/httpd
     break ??
     run -X

   Grab the .gdbinit from the PHP source tree and have a look at the macros.

5. The basics of APCu

   APCu has three main component parts:
        1) shared memory allocator
        2) pooling
        3) user land cache

5.1) APCu SMA
   
   It is a pretty standard memory allocator, now supporting third party extensions.

   apc_sma_malloc and apc_sma_free behave to the caller just like malloc and free,
   they are generated from macros in apc_sma.h

    Note:   apc_sma.h is formatted and designed such that the SMA APCu 
            uses can be used by third parties in their own extensions without
            interfering with, or consuming the resources of APCu itself

    apc_sma is a structure of type apc_sma_t, it is statically allocated at runtime,
    appropriate handlers are generated and set, and the structure made ready for initialization.

    MINIT then initializes apc_sma with apc_sma_api_init(). 
    APCu SMA then takes care of mmaping the shared memory. 
    ( which you can obtain in any compilation unit with apc_sma_api_extern(apc_sma) )

    At this point, we have a completely useless 32MB chunk of memory at our disposal, before
    it can be used, an apc_cache_header_t is initialized at the beginning of the region of
    mmapp'ed memory.
    
    The header serves as a place to store, among other things, statistical information and a lock.
    
    Immediately after the header comes a zero sized block, immediately after that a single
    block with a size equal to the remaining size of the shared memory.

    At this point, the shared memory looks like this:

     +--------+--------+----------------------------------+
     | header | 0-size |              shared              |
     +--------+--------+----------------------------------+

   The blocks are just a simple offset-based linked list (so no pointers):

     typedef struct block_t block_t;
     struct block_t {
         size_t size;       /* size of this block */
         size_t prev_size;  /* size of sequentially previous block, 0 if prev is allocated */
         size_t fnext;      /* offset in segment of next free block */
         size_t fprev;      /* offset in segment of prev free block */
#ifdef APC_SMA_CANARIES
         size_t canary;     /* canary to check for memory overwrites */
#endif
     };

   The BLOCKAT macro turns an offset into an actual address for you:

     #define BLOCKAT(offset) ((block_t*)((char *)shmaddr + offset))

   where shmaddr = sma->shaddrs[0]

   And the OFFSET macro goes the other way:

     #define OFFSET(block) ((int)(((char*)block) - (char*)shmaddr))

   Allocating a block (`sma_allocate`) walks through the linked list of blocks until it finds one that is >= 
   to the requested size. The first call to allocate will hit the second block.  We then
   chop up that block so it looks like this:

     +--------+-------+-------+-------------------------+
     | header | block | block |         block           |
     +--------+-------+-------+-------------------------+

   Then we unlink that block from the linked list so it won't show up
   as an available block on the next allocate.  So we actually have:

     +--------+-------+       +-------------------------+
     | header | block |------>|         block           |
     +--------+-------+       +-------------------------+

   And header->avail along with block->size of the remaining large
   block are updated accordingly.  The arrow there representing the
   link which now points to a block with an offset further along in
   the segment.

   When the block is freed the steps are basically just reversed.  
   The block is put back and then the deallocate code looks at the block before and after to see 
   if the block immediately before and after are free and if so the blocks are combined.  So you never
   have 2 free blocks next to each other, apart from at the front with that
   0-sized dummy block.  This mostly prevents fragmentation.

   Block start pointers are aligned to the system's word boundary (usually 8 bytes) with the `ALIGNWORD` macro.
  
5.2) APCu Cache

   The caching functionality of APCu is provided by a modified version of the APC source code

   Some simple tweaks have been applied: 
     Locking is written to use the best kind of locking available, and emulate it where it is not to simplify logic.
     Extension of the SMA to support multiple instances, such that additional caches using APCu do not
     increase contention of the main APCu cache.
     The possibility to control more finely what happens when resources become low for APCu.
     An exposed, coherent, and documented API and example included in the distribution.

   There's probably some of my blood in it, if you look real close ...

   The remainder of the document goes on to explain in some detail the cache itself, functionally unchanged by APCu

6. Next up is apc_cache.c which implements the cache logic.
   
   Having initialized a suitable allocator, MINIT must call apc_cache_create, using the allocator provided
   APCu will create a cache. The parameters to apc_cache_create for APCu are defined by various INI settings.
   API users can provide the same options from anywhere ( their globals for example ).
   
   The cache is stored in/described by this struct allocated locally:

    /* {{{ struct definition: apc_cache_t */
    typedef struct _apc_cache_t {
        void* shmaddr;                /* process (local) address of shared cache */
        apc_cache_header_t* header;   /* cache header (stored in SHM) */
        apc_cache_entry_t** slots;    /* array of cache slots (stored in SHM) */
        apc_sma_t* sma;               /* shared memory allocator */
        apc_serializer_t* serializer; /* serializer */
        size_t nslots;                /* number of slots in cache */
        zend_long gc_ttl;             /* maximum time on GC list for a entry */
        zend_long ttl;                /* if slot is needed and entry's access time is older than this ttl, remove it */
        zend_long smart;              /* smart parameter for gc */
        zend_bool defend;             /* defense parameter for runtime */
    } apc_cache_t; /* }}} */

   Whenever you see functions that take a 'cache' argument, this is what they
   take.

   At the beginning of the cache we have a header. The header looks like this:

    /* {{{ struct definition: apc_cache_header_t
       Any values that must be shared among processes should go in here. */
    typedef struct _apc_cache_header_t {
        apc_lock_t lock;                 /* header lock */
        zend_long nhits;                 /* hit count */
        zend_long nmisses;               /* miss count */
        zend_long ninserts;              /* insert count */
        zend_long nexpunges;             /* expunge count */
        zend_long nentries;              /* entry count */
        zend_long mem_size;              /* used */
        time_t stime;                    /* start time */
        unsigned short state;            /* cache state */
        apc_cache_slam_key_t lastkey;    /* last key inserted (not necessarily without error) */
        apc_cache_entry_t *gc;           /* gc list */
    } apc_cache_header_t; /* }}} */

   Since this is at the start of the shared memory segment, these values are accessible
   across all processes / threads and hence access to them has to be locked.

   After the header we have an array of slots.  The number of slots is user-defined
   through the apc.entries_hint ini hint.  Each slot is described by:

    /* {{{ struct definition: apc_cache_slot_t */
    typedef struct apc_cache_slot_t apc_cache_slot_t;
    struct apc_cache_slot_t {
        apc_cache_key_t key;        /* slot key */
        apc_cache_entry_t* value;   /* slot value */
        apc_cache_slot_t* next;     /* next slot in linked list */
        zend_ulong nhits;           /* number of hits to this slot */
        time_t ctime;               /* time slot was initialized */
        time_t dtime;               /* time slot was removed from cache */
        time_t atime;               /* time slot was last accessed */
    };
    /* }}} */

   The apc_cache_slot_t *next there is a linked list to other slots that happened to hash to the
   same array position.

   apc_cache_store_internal() shows what happens on a new cache insert.

     /* calculate hash and entry */
     apc_cache_hash_slot(cache, key, &h, &s);

     entry = &cache->slots[s];

   cache->slots is our array of slots in the segment.

   So, on an insert we find the array position in the slots array by hashing the key provided.
   If there are currently no other slots there, we just stick the created `apc_cache_entry_t` into the array.

     while (*entry) {
        /* process expired entries and check for entry with matching key */
     }
     /* link in new entry */
     new_entry->next = *entry;
     *entry = new_entry;

   If there are other slots already at this position we walk the link list to get to
   the end.

   While walking the linked list we also check to see if the cache has a TTL defined.
   If while walking the linked list we see a slot that has expired, we remove it
   since we are right there looking at it.  This is the only place we remove stale
   entries unless the shared memory segment fills up and we force a full expunge via
   apc_cache_expunge().  apc_cache_expunge() walks all slots attempting deletion, how
   deletion occurs depends on runtime parameters, see INSTALL for runtime parameter
   configuration details.

   apc_cache_rlocked_find() simply hashes and returns the entry if it is there. If it is there
   but older than the mtime in the entry we are looking for, we return indicating we didn't find it.

   API users are advised to use apc_cache_fetch over find for simplicity, this ensures
   correct operation, fetch sets up the call to find and takes care of copying and releasing
   the entry from the cache to a zval* provided.

   Next we need to understand what an actual cache entry looks like.  Have a look at
   apc_cache.h for the structs.  Here is the definition of apc_cache_key_t:

    /* {{{ struct definition: apc_cache_key_t */
    typedef struct _apc_cache_key_t {
        const char *str;              /* pointer to constant string key */
        zend_uint len;                /* length of data at str */
        zend_ulong h;                 /* pre-computed hash of key */
        time_t mtime;                 /* the mtime of this cached entry */
        apc_cache_owner_t owner;      /* the context that created this key */
    } apc_cache_key_t; /* }}} */  

   To create a apc_cache_key_t structure, call apc_cache_make_key(), see apc_cache.h

   Ok, on to the actual cache entry, here is the definition of apc_cache_entry_t:

    /* {{{ struct definition: apc_cache_entry_t */
    typedef struct apc_cache_entry_t apc_cache_entry_t;
    struct apc_cache_entry_t {
        zend_string *key;        /* entry key */
        zval val;                /* the zval copied at store time */
        apc_cache_entry_t *next; /* next entry in linked list */
        zend_long ttl;           /* the ttl on this specific entry */
        zend_long ref_count;     /* the reference count of this entry */
        zend_long nhits;         /* number of hits to this entry */
        time_t ctime;            /* time entry was initialized */
        time_t mtime;            /* the mtime of this cached entry */
        time_t dtime;            /* time entry was removed from cache */
        time_t atime;            /* time entry was last accessed */
        zend_long mem_size;      /* memory used */
    };
    /* }}} */

   To create an apc_cache_entry_t, call apc_cache_make_entry(), see apc_cache.h

   Any of the structures taken by apc_cache_* functions have their equivalent apc_cache_make_*
   
   If an insertion of an entry should fail, it falls to the caller of insert to free 
   the pooled resources used to create the entry. 

7. Serializers

   The way data is serialized and unserialized can be found in apc_persist.c.
   Saving to shared memory (persist) is done using `apc_persist_context_t`.
   Both the entry key and the entry's zval get persisted into shared memory in a continuous block
   for the single entry.

    typedef struct _apc_persist_context_t {
        /* Serializer to use */
        apc_serializer_t *serializer;
        /* Computed size of the needed SMA allocation */
        size_t size;
        /* Whether or not we may have to memoize refcounted addresses */
        zend_bool memoization_needed;
        /* Whether to serialize the top-level value */
        zend_bool use_serialization;
        /* Serialized object/array string, in case there can only be one */
        unsigned char *serialized_str;
        size_t serialized_str_len;
        /* Whole SMA allocation */
        char *alloc;
        /* Current position in allocation */
        char *alloc_cur;
        /* HashTable storing refcounteds for which the size has already been counted. */
        HashTable already_counted;
        /* HashTable storing already allocated refcounteds. Pointers to refcounteds are stored. */
        HashTable already_allocated;
    } apc_persist_context_t;

   The ini setting `apc.serializer` can be used to customize the `apc_serializer_t *serializer`.
   This affects which serializer is used for PHP objects or arrays.
   (for a top level null/bool/int/float/string, serializers are unnecessary and not used)

   - `apc.serializer=php` (default) will use serialize() and unserialize() for serializing arrays/
     This has lower memory usage than `apc.serializer=default` for most use cases
   - `apc.serializer=default` is used for arrays that don't contain objects, and will store the array structure in shared memory
     in a form that allows deduplicating values as well as faster unserialization of small arrays, at the cost of generally having higher memory usage.
     
     For arrays that contain objects, it falls back to php's native serialize()/unserialize()
   - APCu can be configured to use third party serializers if they are compiled with support for apcu.
     For example, `apc.serializer=igbinary` (https://github.com/igbinary/igbinary) can be used for generally faster unserialization and lower memory usage than apc.serializer=php 
     (requires that igbinary be configured and compiled after APCu is installed)

If you made it to the end of this, you should have a pretty good idea of where things are in
the code.  There is much more reading to do in headers ... good luck ...