diff --git a/paddle/README.md b/paddle/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..24af37987e05761d9d6866e759ae0e4483ac570c --- /dev/null +++ b/paddle/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,141 @@ +In my mind, the memory package works like the following: + +## Design + +### 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); +``` + +### The API + +In `paddle/memory/memory.h` we have: + +```cpp +template void* Alloc(Place, size_t); +template void Free(Place, void*); +} +``` + +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)(GPUPlace p, size_t size) { + return GetGPUBuddyAllocator(p.id)->Alloc(size); +} +``` + +### The 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; + Blobk* left, right; + }; + ... +}; +``` + +#### System Allocators + +The `GPUAllocator` and `CPUAllocator` are calls *system allocators*. They hold information about the device, including the amount of memory has been allocated. So that we can call + +- `GPUAllocator::Used` and +- `CPUAllocator::Used` + +to get the amount of memory that has been allocated so far. + + +## Why Such a Design + +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)`.