Why won't GCC auto-vectorize this loop?

5
votes

I have the following C program (a simplification of my actual use case which exhibits the same behavior)

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
    const float * __restrict__ const input = malloc(20000*sizeof(float));
    float * __restrict__ const output = malloc(20000*sizeof(float));

    unsigned int pos=0;
    while(1) {
            unsigned int rest=100;
            for(unsigned int i=pos;i<pos+rest; i++) {
                    output[i] = input[i] * 0.1;
            }

            pos+=rest;            
            if(pos>10000) {
                    break;
            }
    }
}

When I compile with 

 -O3 -g -Wall -ftree-vectorizer-verbose=5 -msse -msse2 -msse3 -march=native -mtune=native --std=c99 -fPIC -ffast-math

I get the output

main.c:10: note: not vectorized: unhandled data-ref

where 10 is the line of the inner for loop. When I looked up why it might say this, it seemed to be saying that the pointers could be aliased, but they can't be in my code, as I have the __restrict keyword. They also suggested including the -msse flags, but they don't seem to do anything either. Any help?

3
cgccvectorization
What version gcc? A working example might be useful as well, as a hacked up version vectorized when I tried it with 4.4.5 - ergosys
could you post example code that compiles? when I filled in some dummy values, the loop was vectorized... - Christoph
I've updated the example to be compilable. It still won't vectorize. I'm using "gcc (Debian 4.4.5-10) 4.4.5" - Jeremy Salwen

3 Answers

3
votes

It certainly seems like a bug. In the following, equivalent functions, foo() is vectorised but bar() is not, when compiling for an x86-64 target:

void foo(const float * restrict input, float * restrict output)
{
    unsigned int pos;
    for (pos = 0; pos < 10100; pos++)
        output[pos] = input[pos] * 0.1;
}

void bar(const float * restrict input, float * restrict output)
{
    unsigned int pos;
    unsigned int i;
    for (pos = 0; pos <= 10000; pos += 100)
        for (i = 0; i < 100; i++)
            output[pos + i] = input[pos + i] * 0.1;
}

Adding the -m32 flag, to compile for an x86 target instead, causes both functions to be vectorised.

2
votes

It doesn't like the outer loop format which is preventing it from understanding the inner loop. I can get it to vectorize if I just fold it into a single loop:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
    const float * __restrict__ input = malloc(20000*sizeof(float));
    float * __restrict__ output = malloc(20000*sizeof(float));

    for(unsigned int i=0; i<=10100; i++) {
            output[i] = input[i] * 0.1f;
    }
}

(note that I didn't think too hard about how to properly translate the pos+rest limit into a single for loop condition, it may be wrong)

You might be able to take advantage of this by putting a simplified inner loop into a function which you call with pointers and a count. Even when it is inlined again it may work fine. This is assuming you deleted parts of your while() loop that I have just simplified away but you need to retain.

1
votes

try:

const float * __restrict__ input = ...;
float * __restrict__ output = ...;

experiment a bit by changing things around:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>

int main(int argc, char ** argv) {

    const float * __restrict__ input = new float[20000];
    float * __restrict__  output = new float[20000];

    unsigned int pos=0;
    while(1) {
        unsigned int rest=100;
        output += pos;
        input += pos;
        for(unsigned int i=0;i<rest; ++i) {
            output[i] = input[i] * 0.1;
        }

        pos+=rest;
        if(pos>10000) {
            break;
        }
    }
}

g++ -O3 -g -Wall -ftree-vectorizer-verbose=7 -msse -msse2 -msse3 -c test.cpp

test.cpp:14: note: versioning for alias required: can't determine dependence between *D.4096_24 and *D.4095_21
test.cpp:14: note: mark for run-time aliasing test between *D.4096_24 and *D.4095_21
test.cpp:14: note: Alignment of access forced using versioning.
test.cpp:14: note: Vectorizing an unaligned access.
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_load_cost: unaligned supported by hardware.
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_load_cost: inside_cost = 2, outside_cost = 0 .
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_simple_cost: inside_cost = 2, outside_cost = 0 .
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_simple_cost: inside_cost = 2, outside_cost = 1 .
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_simple_cost: inside_cost = 1, outside_cost = 0 .
test.cpp:14: note: vect_model_store_cost: inside_cost = 1, outside_cost = 0 .
test.cpp:14: note: cost model: Adding cost of checks for loop versioning to treat misalignment.

test.cpp:14: note: cost model: Adding cost of checks for loop versioning aliasing.

test.cpp:14: note: Cost model analysis:
  Vector inside of loop cost: 8
  Vector outside of loop cost: 6
  Scalar iteration cost: 5
  Scalar outside cost: 1
  prologue iterations: 0
  epilogue iterations: 0
  Calculated minimum iters for profitability: 2

test.cpp:14: note:   Profitability threshold = 3

test.cpp:14: note: Vectorization may not be profitable.
test.cpp:14: note: create runtime check for data references *D.4096_24 and *D.4095_21
test.cpp:14: note: created 1 versioning for alias checks.

test.cpp:14: note: LOOP VECTORIZED.
test.cpp:4: note: vectorized 1 loops in function.

Compilation finished at Wed Feb 16 19:17:59