[PATCH 3/6] run-command: add an "ungroup" option to run_process_parallel()

["Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason" <avarab@gmail.com>]

Extend the parallel execution API added in c553c72eed6 (run-command:
add an asynchronous parallel child processor, 2015-12-15) to support a
mode where the stdout and stderr of the processes isn't captured and
output in a deterministic order, instead we'll leave it to the kernel
and stdio to sort it out.

This gives the API same functionality as GNU parallel's --ungroup
option. As we'll see in a subsequent commit the main reason to want
this is to support stdout and stderr being connected to the TTY in the
case of jobs=1, demonstrated here with GNU parallel:

	$ parallel --ungroup 'test -t {} && echo TTY || echo NTTY' ::: 1 2
	TTY
	TTY
	$ parallel 'test -t {} && echo TTY || echo NTTY' ::: 1 2
	NTTY
	NTTY

Another is as GNU parallel's documentation notes a potential for
optimization. Our results will be a bit different, but in cases where
you want to run processes in parallel where the exact order isn't
important this can be a lot faster:

	$ hyperfine -r 3 -L o ,--ungroup 'parallel {o} seq ::: 10000000 >/dev/null '
	Benchmark 1: parallel  seq ::: 10000000 >/dev/null
	  Time (mean ± σ):     220.2 ms ±   9.3 ms    [User: 124.9 ms, System: 96.1 ms]
	  Range (min … max):   212.3 ms … 230.5 ms    3 runs

	Benchmark 2: parallel --ungroup seq ::: 10000000 >/dev/null
	  Time (mean ± σ):     154.7 ms ±   0.9 ms    [User: 136.2 ms, System: 25.1 ms]
	  Range (min … max):   153.9 ms … 155.7 ms    3 runs

	Summary
	  'parallel --ungroup seq ::: 10000000 >/dev/null ' ran
	    1.42 ± 0.06 times faster than 'parallel  seq ::: 10000000 >/dev/null '

A large part of the juggling in the API is to make the API safer for
its maintenance and consumers alike.

For the maintenance of the API we e.g. avoid malloc()-ing the
"pp->pfd", ensuring that SANITIZE=address and other similar tools will
catch any unexpected misuse.

For API consumers we take pains to never pass the non-NULL "out"
buffer to an API user that provided the "ungroup" option. The
resulting code in t/helper/test-run-command.c isn't typical of such a
user, i.e. they'd typically use one mode or the other, and would know
whether they'd provided "ungroup" or not.

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>
---
 run-command.c               | 95 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 run-command.h               | 32 +++++++++----
 t/helper/test-run-command.c | 31 +++++++++---
 t/t0061-run-command.sh      | 30 ++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 151 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)

diff --git a/run-command.c b/run-command.c
index 7b8159aa235..873de21ffaf 100644
--- a/run-command.c
+++ b/run-command.c
@@ -1468,7 +1468,7 @@ int pipe_command(struct child_process *cmd,
 enum child_state {
 	GIT_CP_FREE,
 	GIT_CP_WORKING,
-	GIT_CP_WAIT_CLEANUP,
+	GIT_CP_WAIT_CLEANUP, /* only for !ungroup */
 };
 
 struct parallel_processes {
@@ -1494,6 +1494,7 @@ struct parallel_processes {
 	struct pollfd *pfd;
 
 	unsigned shutdown : 1;
+	unsigned ungroup:1;
 
 	int output_owner;
 	struct strbuf buffered_output; /* of finished children */
@@ -1537,8 +1538,9 @@ static void pp_init(struct parallel_processes *pp,
 		    get_next_task_fn get_next_task,
 		    start_failure_fn start_failure,
 		    task_finished_fn task_finished,
-		    void *data)
+		    void *data, struct run_process_parallel_opts *opts)
 {
+	const int ungroup = opts->ungroup;
 	int i;
 
 	if (n < 1)
@@ -1556,16 +1558,22 @@ static void pp_init(struct parallel_processes *pp,
 	pp->start_failure = start_failure ? start_failure : default_start_failure;
 	pp->task_finished = task_finished ? task_finished : default_task_finished;
 
+	pp->ungroup = ungroup;
+
 	pp->nr_processes = 0;
 	pp->output_owner = 0;
 	pp->shutdown = 0;
 	CALLOC_ARRAY(pp->children, n);
-	CALLOC_ARRAY(pp->pfd, n);
+	if (!ungroup)
+		CALLOC_ARRAY(pp->pfd, n);
+
 	strbuf_init(&pp->buffered_output, 0);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
 		strbuf_init(&pp->children[i].err, 0);
 		child_process_init(&pp->children[i].process);
+		if (ungroup)
+			continue;
 		pp->pfd[i].events = POLLIN | POLLHUP;
 		pp->pfd[i].fd = -1;
 	}
@@ -1576,6 +1584,7 @@ static void pp_init(struct parallel_processes *pp,
 
 static void pp_cleanup(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 {
+	const int ungroup = pp->ungroup;
 	int i;
 
 	trace_printf("run_processes_parallel: done");
@@ -1585,14 +1594,17 @@ static void pp_cleanup(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 	}
 
 	free(pp->children);
-	free(pp->pfd);
+	if (!ungroup)
+		free(pp->pfd);
 
 	/*
 	 * When get_next_task added messages to the buffer in its last
 	 * iteration, the buffered output is non empty.
 	 */
-	strbuf_write(&pp->buffered_output, stderr);
-	strbuf_release(&pp->buffered_output);
+	if (!ungroup) {
+		strbuf_write(&pp->buffered_output, stderr);
+		strbuf_release(&pp->buffered_output);
+	}
 
 	sigchain_pop_common();
 }
@@ -1606,6 +1618,7 @@ static void pp_cleanup(struct parallel_processes *pp)
  */
 static int pp_start_one(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 {
+	const int ungroup = pp->ungroup;
 	int i, code;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < pp->max_processes; i++)
@@ -1615,24 +1628,31 @@ static int pp_start_one(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 		BUG("bookkeeping is hard");
 
 	code = pp->get_next_task(&pp->children[i].process,
-				 &pp->children[i].err,
+				 ungroup ? NULL : &pp->children[i].err,
 				 pp->data,
 				 &pp->children[i].data);
 	if (!code) {
-		strbuf_addbuf(&pp->buffered_output, &pp->children[i].err);
-		strbuf_reset(&pp->children[i].err);
+		if (!ungroup) {
+			strbuf_addbuf(&pp->buffered_output, &pp->children[i].err);
+			strbuf_reset(&pp->children[i].err);
+		}
 		return 1;
 	}
-	pp->children[i].process.err = -1;
-	pp->children[i].process.stdout_to_stderr = 1;
-	pp->children[i].process.no_stdin = 1;
+
+	if (!ungroup) {
+		pp->children[i].process.err = -1;
+		pp->children[i].process.stdout_to_stderr = 1;
+		pp->children[i].process.no_stdin = 1;
+	}
 
 	if (start_command(&pp->children[i].process)) {
-		code = pp->start_failure(&pp->children[i].err,
+		code = pp->start_failure(ungroup ? NULL : &pp->children[i].err,
 					 pp->data,
 					 pp->children[i].data);
-		strbuf_addbuf(&pp->buffered_output, &pp->children[i].err);
-		strbuf_reset(&pp->children[i].err);
+		if (!ungroup) {
+			strbuf_addbuf(&pp->buffered_output, &pp->children[i].err);
+			strbuf_reset(&pp->children[i].err);
+		}
 		if (code)
 			pp->shutdown = 1;
 		return code;
@@ -1640,14 +1660,26 @@ static int pp_start_one(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 
 	pp->nr_processes++;
 	pp->children[i].state = GIT_CP_WORKING;
-	pp->pfd[i].fd = pp->children[i].process.err;
+	if (!ungroup)
+		pp->pfd[i].fd = pp->children[i].process.err;
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void pp_mark_working_for_cleanup(struct parallel_processes *pp)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < pp->max_processes; i++)
+		if (pp->children[i].state == GIT_CP_WORKING)
+			pp->children[i].state = GIT_CP_WAIT_CLEANUP;
+}
+
 static void pp_buffer_stderr(struct parallel_processes *pp, int output_timeout)
 {
 	int i;
 
+	assert(!pp->ungroup);
+
 	while ((i = poll(pp->pfd, pp->max_processes, output_timeout)) < 0) {
 		if (errno == EINTR)
 			continue;
@@ -1674,6 +1706,9 @@ static void pp_buffer_stderr(struct parallel_processes *pp, int output_timeout)
 static void pp_output(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 {
 	int i = pp->output_owner;
+
+	assert(!pp->ungroup);
+
 	if (pp->children[i].state == GIT_CP_WORKING &&
 	    pp->children[i].err.len) {
 		strbuf_write(&pp->children[i].err, stderr);
@@ -1683,10 +1718,15 @@ static void pp_output(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 
 static int pp_collect_finished(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 {
+	const int ungroup = pp->ungroup;
 	int i, code;
 	int n = pp->max_processes;
 	int result = 0;
 
+	if (ungroup)
+		for (i = 0; i < pp->max_processes; i++)
+			pp->children[i].state = GIT_CP_WAIT_CLEANUP;
+
 	while (pp->nr_processes > 0) {
 		for (i = 0; i < pp->max_processes; i++)
 			if (pp->children[i].state == GIT_CP_WAIT_CLEANUP)
@@ -1697,8 +1737,8 @@ static int pp_collect_finished(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 		code = finish_command(&pp->children[i].process);
 
 		code = pp->task_finished(code,
-					 &pp->children[i].err, pp->data,
-					 pp->children[i].data);
+					 ungroup ? NULL : &pp->children[i].err,
+					 pp->data, pp->children[i].data);
 
 		if (code)
 			result = code;
@@ -1707,10 +1747,13 @@ static int pp_collect_finished(struct parallel_processes *pp)
 
 		pp->nr_processes--;
 		pp->children[i].state = GIT_CP_FREE;
-		pp->pfd[i].fd = -1;
+		if (!ungroup)
+			pp->pfd[i].fd = -1;
 		child_process_init(&pp->children[i].process);
 
-		if (i != pp->output_owner) {
+		if (ungroup) {
+			/* no strbuf_*() work to do here */
+		} else if (i != pp->output_owner) {
 			strbuf_addbuf(&pp->buffered_output, &pp->children[i].err);
 			strbuf_reset(&pp->children[i].err);
 		} else {
@@ -1744,12 +1787,14 @@ static int run_processes_parallel_1(int n, get_next_task_fn get_next_task,
 				    void *pp_cb,
 				    struct run_process_parallel_opts *opts)
 {
+	const int ungroup = opts->ungroup;
 	int i, code;
 	int output_timeout = 100;
 	int spawn_cap = 4;
 	struct parallel_processes pp;
 
-	pp_init(&pp, n, get_next_task, start_failure, task_finished, pp_cb);
+	pp_init(&pp, n, get_next_task, start_failure, task_finished, pp_cb,
+		opts);
 	while (1) {
 		for (i = 0;
 		    i < spawn_cap && !pp.shutdown &&
@@ -1766,8 +1811,12 @@ static int run_processes_parallel_1(int n, get_next_task_fn get_next_task,
 		}
 		if (!pp.nr_processes)
 			break;
-		pp_buffer_stderr(&pp, output_timeout);
-		pp_output(&pp);
+		if (ungroup) {
+			pp_mark_working_for_cleanup(&pp);
+		} else {
+			pp_buffer_stderr(&pp, output_timeout);
+			pp_output(&pp);
+		}
 		code = pp_collect_finished(&pp);
 		if (code) {
 			pp.shutdown = 1;
diff --git a/run-command.h b/run-command.h
index 66e7bebd88a..936d334eee0 100644
--- a/run-command.h
+++ b/run-command.h
@@ -406,6 +406,10 @@ void check_pipe(int err);
  * pp_cb is the callback cookie as passed to run_processes_parallel.
  * You can store a child process specific callback cookie in pp_task_cb.
  *
+ * The "struct strbuf *err" parameter is either a pointer to a string
+ * to write errors to, or NULL if the "ungroup" option was
+ * provided. See run_processes_parallel() below.
+ *
  * Even after returning 0 to indicate that there are no more processes,
  * this function will be called again until there are no more running
  * child processes.
@@ -424,9 +428,9 @@ typedef int (*get_next_task_fn)(struct child_process *cp,
  * This callback is called whenever there are problems starting
  * a new process.
  *
- * You must not write to stdout or stderr in this function. Add your
- * message to the strbuf out instead, which will be printed without
- * messing up the output of the other parallel processes.
+ * The "struct strbuf *err" parameter is either a pointer to a string
+ * to write errors to, or NULL if the "ungroup" option was
+ * provided. See run_processes_parallel() below.
  *
  * pp_cb is the callback cookie as passed into run_processes_parallel,
  * pp_task_cb is the callback cookie as passed into get_next_task_fn.
@@ -442,9 +446,9 @@ typedef int (*start_failure_fn)(struct strbuf *out,
 /**
  * This callback is called on every child process that finished processing.
  *
- * You must not write to stdout or stderr in this function. Add your
- * message to the strbuf out instead, which will be printed without
- * messing up the output of the other parallel processes.
+ * The "struct strbuf *err" parameter is either a pointer to a string
+ * to write errors to, or NULL if the "ungroup" option was
+ * provided. See run_processes_parallel() below.
  *
  * pp_cb is the callback cookie as passed into run_processes_parallel,
  * pp_task_cb is the callback cookie as passed into get_next_task_fn.
@@ -464,11 +468,16 @@ typedef int (*task_finished_fn)(int result,
  *
  * tr2_category & tr2_label: sets the trace2 category and label for
  * logging. These must either be unset, or both of them must be set.
+ *
+ * ungroup: Ungroup output. Output is printed as soon as possible and
+ * bypasses run-command's internal processing. This may cause output
+ * from different commands to be mixed.
  */
 struct run_process_parallel_opts
 {
 	const char *tr2_category;
 	const char *tr2_label;
+	unsigned int ungroup:1;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -478,12 +487,19 @@ struct run_process_parallel_opts
  *
  * The children started via this function run in parallel. Their output
  * (both stdout and stderr) is routed to stderr in a manner that output
- * from different tasks does not interleave.
+ * from different tasks does not interleave (but see "ungroup" above).
  *
  * start_failure_fn and task_finished_fn can be NULL to omit any
  * special handling.
  *
- * Options are passed via a "struct run_process_parallel_opts".
+ * Options are passed via a "struct run_process_parallel_opts". If the
+ * "ungroup" option isn't specified the callbacks will get a pointer
+ * to a "struct strbuf *out", and must not write to stdout or stderr
+ * as such output will mess up the output of the other parallel
+ * processes. If "ungroup" option is specified callbacks will get a
+ * NULL "struct strbuf *out" parameter, and are responsible for
+ * emitting their own output, including dealing with any race
+ * conditions due to writing in parallel to stdout and stderr.
  */
 int run_processes_parallel(int n, get_next_task_fn, start_failure_fn,
 			   task_finished_fn, void *pp_cb,
diff --git a/t/helper/test-run-command.c b/t/helper/test-run-command.c
index 9b21f2f9f83..747e57ef536 100644
--- a/t/helper/test-run-command.c
+++ b/t/helper/test-run-command.c
@@ -31,7 +31,11 @@ static int parallel_next(struct child_process *cp,
 		return 0;
 
 	strvec_pushv(&cp->args, d->args.v);
-	strbuf_addstr(err, "preloaded output of a child\n");
+	if (err)
+		strbuf_addstr(err, "preloaded output of a child\n");
+	else
+		fprintf(stderr, "preloaded output of a child\n");
+
 	number_callbacks++;
 	return 1;
 }
@@ -41,7 +45,10 @@ static int no_job(struct child_process *cp,
 		  void *cb,
 		  void **task_cb)
 {
-	strbuf_addstr(err, "no further jobs available\n");
+	if (err)
+		strbuf_addstr(err, "no further jobs available\n");
+	else
+		fprintf(stderr, "no further jobs available\n");
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -50,7 +57,10 @@ static int task_finished(int result,
 			 void *pp_cb,
 			 void *pp_task_cb)
 {
-	strbuf_addstr(err, "asking for a quick stop\n");
+	if (err)
+		strbuf_addstr(err, "asking for a quick stop\n");
+	else
+		fprintf(stderr, "asking for a quick stop\n");
 	return 1;
 }
 
@@ -412,17 +422,26 @@ int cmd__run_command(int argc, const char **argv)
 	strvec_clear(&proc.args);
 	strvec_pushv(&proc.args, (const char **)argv + 3);
 
-	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-parallel"))
+	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-parallel") ||
+	    !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-parallel-ungroup")) {
+		opts.ungroup = !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-parallel-ungroup");
 		exit(run_processes_parallel(jobs, parallel_next,
 					    NULL, NULL, &proc, &opts));
+	}
 
-	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-abort"))
+	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-abort") ||
+	    !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-abort-ungroup")) {
+		opts.ungroup = !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-abort-ungroup");
 		exit(run_processes_parallel(jobs, parallel_next, NULL,
 					    task_finished, &proc, &opts));
+	}
 
-	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-no-jobs"))
+	if (!strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-no-jobs") ||
+	    !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-no-jobs-ungroup")) {
+		opts.ungroup = !strcmp(argv[1], "run-command-no-jobs-ungroup");
 		exit(run_processes_parallel(jobs, no_job, NULL, task_finished,
 					    &proc, &opts));
+	}
 
 	fprintf(stderr, "check usage\n");
 	return 1;
diff --git a/t/t0061-run-command.sh b/t/t0061-run-command.sh
index 131fcfda90f..0a82db965e8 100755
--- a/t/t0061-run-command.sh
+++ b/t/t0061-run-command.sh
@@ -135,18 +135,36 @@ test_expect_success 'run_command runs in parallel with more jobs available than
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'run_command runs ungrouped in parallel with more jobs available than tasks' '
+	test-tool run-command run-command-parallel-ungroup 5 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 8 out &&
+	test_line_count = 4 err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'run_command runs in parallel with as many jobs as tasks' '
 	test-tool run-command run-command-parallel 4 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>actual &&
 	test_must_be_empty out &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'run_command runs ungrouped in parallel with as many jobs as tasks' '
+	test-tool run-command run-command-parallel-ungroup 4 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 8 out &&
+	test_line_count = 4 err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'run_command runs in parallel with more tasks than jobs available' '
 	test-tool run-command run-command-parallel 3 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>actual &&
 	test_must_be_empty out &&
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'run_command runs ungrouped in parallel with more tasks than jobs available' '
+	test-tool run-command run-command-parallel-ungroup 3 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>err &&
+	test_line_count = 8 out &&
+	test_line_count = 4 err
+'
+
 cat >expect <<-EOF
 preloaded output of a child
 asking for a quick stop
@@ -162,6 +180,12 @@ test_expect_success 'run_command is asked to abort gracefully' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'run_command is asked to abort gracefully (ungroup)' '
+	test-tool run-command run-command-abort-ungroup 3 false >out 2>err &&
+	test_must_be_empty out &&
+	test_line_count = 6 err
+'
+
 cat >expect <<-EOF
 no further jobs available
 EOF
@@ -172,6 +196,12 @@ test_expect_success 'run_command outputs ' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'run_command outputs (ungroup) ' '
+	test-tool run-command run-command-no-jobs-ungroup 3 sh -c "printf \"%s\n%s\n\" Hello World" >out 2>actual &&
+	test_must_be_empty out &&
+	test_cmp expect actual
+'
+
 test_trace () {
 	expect="$1"
 	shift
-- 
2.36.0.893.g80a51c675f6