diff --git a/paddle/memory/README.md b/paddle/memory/README.md index 7f95e80f980b0c0b93ecb418e6b923045313eaa5..6cb003c50bc7d142d65b0591e7e5235431d2ea42 100644 --- a/paddle/memory/README.md +++ b/paddle/memory/README.md @@ -1,4 +1,141 @@ # Region-based Heterogeneous Memory Management +## Design -Please check out the [design documentation](http://gangliao.me) to find out more details about -buddy memory allocator for both CPU and GPU. +### Usage + +To allocate 4KB CPU memory: + +```cpp +p = memory::Alloc(platform::CPUPlace(), 4*1024); +``` + +To allocate 4KB memory on the 3rd GPU: + +```cpp +p = memory::Alloc(platform::GPUPlace(2), 4*1024); +``` + +To free memory and check the so-far used amount of memory on a place: + +```cpp +auto pl = platform::GPUPlace(0); +p = memory::Alloc(pl, 4*1024); +cout << memory::Used(pl); +memory::Free(pl, p); +``` + +### API + +In `paddle/memory/memory.h` we have: + +```cpp +namespace memory { +template void* Alloc(Place, size_t); +template void Free(Place, void*); +template size_t Used(Place); +} // namespace memory +``` + +These function templates have specializations on either `platform::CPUPlace` or `platform::GPUPlace`: + +```cpp +template<> +void* Alloc(CPUPlace p, size_t size) { + return GetCPUBuddyAllocator()->Alloc(size); +} +``` + +and + +```cpp +template<> +void Alloc(GPUPlace p, size_t size) { + return GetGPUBuddyAllocator(p.id)->Alloc(size); +} +``` + +Similar specializations exist for `Free` and `Used`. + +### Implementation + +`GetCPUBuddyAllocator` and `GetGPUBuddyAllocator` are singletions. + +```cpp +BuddyAllocator* GetCPUBuddyAllocator() { + static BuddyAllocator* a = NULL; + if (a == NULL) { + a = new BuddyAllocator(new CPUAllocator /*backup allocator*/, ...); + } + return a; +} + +BuddyAllocator* GetGPUBuddyAllocator(int gpu_id) { + static BuddyAllocator* as = NULL; + if (as == NULL) { + as = new BuddyAllocator*[platform::NumGPUs()]; + for (int gpu = 0; gpu < platform::NumGPUs(); gpu++) { + as[gpu] = new BuddyAllocator(new GPUAllocator(gpu) /* backup allocator */, ...); + } + } + return as[gpu_id); +``` + +#### `BuddyAllocator` + +`BuddyAllocator` implements the buddy allocation algorithm. Its constructor takes parameters only related with the algorithm: + +```cpp +BuddyAllocator::BuddyAllocator(initial_pool_size, max_pool_size) { + ... +} +``` + +Please be aware that **`BuddyAllocator` always allocate aligned memory**, aligned on 32-bytes, which can hold a `BuddyAllocator::Block` object: + +```cpp +class BuddyAllocator { + private: + struct Block { + size_t size; + Block* left, right; + size_t index; // allocator id + }; + ... +}; +``` + +Because BuddyAllocator has the meta-data of each block, it can trace the used memory -- record the amount returned by `Alloc` freed in `Free`. Instead, `CPUAllocator` and `GPUAllocator` doesn't know the size of freed memory block and cannot do the trace. + +#### System Allocators + +The `GPUAllocator` and `CPUAllocator` are calls *system allocators*. They work as the fallback allocators of `BuddyAllocator`. + +## Justification + +I got inspiration from Majel and Caffe2, though above design look different from both. + +### Caffe2 + +In Caffe2, `Tensor::mutable_data()` allocates the memroy. In particular, [`Tensor::mutable_data`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/tensor.h#L523) calls [`Tensor::raw_mutable_data`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/tensor.h#L459), which in turn calls [`Context::New`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/tensor.h#L479). + +There are two implementations of `Context`: + +1. [`CPUContext`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context.h#L105), whose [`New` method](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context.h#L131) calls [`g_cpu_allocator.get()->New(size_t)`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context.cc#L15) to allocate the memory. + +1. [`CUDAContext`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context_gpu.h#L99), which has a data member [`int gpu_id_`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context_gpu.h#L202). This looks very similar to class `majel::GPUPlace`, who also has an `int id_` data member. `CUDAContext::New(size_t)` calls [`g_cub_allocator->DeviceAllocate(&ptr, nbytes)`](https://github.com/caffe2/caffe2/blob/v0.7.0/caffe2/core/context_gpu.cu#L355) to allocate the memory. + +### Majel + +In Majel, there are basically two allocator types: + +1. `cpu::SystemAllocator`, which has similar functionality to `caffe2::CPUContext::New/Delete`. +1. `gpu::SystemAllocator`, which has similar functionality to `caffe2::CUDAContext::New/Delete`. + +However, memory allocation is not via these two allocators. Instead, these two allocators are defined in hidden namespaces. + +In Majel there are hidden global variables like: + +1. `cpu::SystemAllocator g_cpu_allocator`, and +1. `vector g_gpu_allocators(NUM_GPUS)`. + +Programs allocate memory via a BuddyAllocator, which can take the `g_cpu_allocator` or a `g_gpu_allocators[gpu_id]` as its *fallback allocator*, so that if BuddyAllocator cannot find a block in its memory pool, it extends its memory pool by calling the fallback allocator's `New(size_t)`.