The BPF dispatcher is a multi-way branch code generator, mainly
targeted for XDP programs. When an XDP program is executed via the
bpf_prog_run_xdp(), it is invoked via an indirect call. The indirect
call has a substantial performance impact, when retpolines are
enabled. The dispatcher transform indirect calls to direct calls, and
therefore avoids the retpoline. The dispatcher is generated using the
BPF JIT, and relies on text poking provided by bpf_arch_text_poke().
The dispatcher hijacks a trampoline function it via the __fentry__ nop
of the trampoline. One dispatcher instance currently supports up to 64
dispatch points. A user creates a dispatcher with its corresponding
trampoline with the DEFINE_BPF_DISPATCHER macro.
Signed-off-by: Björn Töpel <bjorn.topel@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20191213175112.30208-3-bjorn.topel@gmail.com