Merge branch 'mt/parallel-checkout-part-2'

The checkout machinery has been taught to perform the actual
write-out of the files in parallel when able.

* mt/parallel-checkout-part-2:
  parallel-checkout: add design documentation
  parallel-checkout: support progress displaying
  parallel-checkout: add configuration options
  parallel-checkout: make it truly parallel
  unpack-trees: add basic support for parallel checkout

.gitignore

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 /git-check-mailmap
 /git-check-ref-format
 /git-checkout
+/git-checkout--worker
 /git-checkout-index
 /git-cherry
 /git-cherry-pick

Documentation/Makefile

@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ TECH_DOCS += technical/multi-pack-index
 TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-format
 TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-heuristics
 TECH_DOCS += technical/pack-protocol
+TECH_DOCS += technical/parallel-checkout
 TECH_DOCS += technical/partial-clone
 TECH_DOCS += technical/protocol-capabilities
 TECH_DOCS += technical/protocol-common

Documentation/config/checkout.txt

@@ -21,3 +21,24 @@ checkout.guess::
 	Provides the default value for the `--guess` or `--no-guess`
 	option in `git checkout` and `git switch`. See
 	linkgit:git-switch[1] and linkgit:git-checkout[1].
+
+checkout.workers::
+	The number of parallel workers to use when updating the working tree.
+	The default is one, i.e. sequential execution. If set to a value less
+	than one, Git will use as many workers as the number of logical cores
+	available. This setting and `checkout.thresholdForParallelism` affect
+	all commands that perform checkout. E.g. checkout, clone, reset,
+	sparse-checkout, etc.
++
+Note: parallel checkout usually delivers better performance for repositories
+located on SSDs or over NFS. For repositories on spinning disks and/or machines
+with a small number of cores, the default sequential checkout often performs
+better. The size and compression level of a repository might also influence how
+well the parallel version performs.
+
+checkout.thresholdForParallelism::
+	When running parallel checkout with a small number of files, the cost
+	of subprocess spawning and inter-process communication might outweigh
+	the parallelization gains. This setting allows to define the minimum
+	number of files for which parallel checkout should be attempted. The
+	default is 100.

Documentation/technical/parallel-checkout.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+Parallel Checkout Design Notes
+==============================
+
+The "Parallel Checkout" feature attempts to use multiple processes to
+parallelize the work of uncompressing the blobs, applying in-core
+filters, and writing the resulting contents to the working tree during a
+checkout operation. It can be used by all checkout-related commands,
+such as `clone`, `checkout`, `reset`, `sparse-checkout`, and others.
+
+These commands share the following basic structure:
+
+* Step 1: Read the current index file into memory.
+
+* Step 2: Modify the in-memory index based upon the command, and
+  temporarily mark all cache entries that need to be updated.
+
+* Step 3: Populate the working tree to match the new candidate index.
+  This includes iterating over all of the to-be-updated cache entries
+  and delete, create, or overwrite the associated files in the working
+  tree.
+
+* Step 4: Write the new index to disk.
+
+Step 3 is the focus of the "parallel checkout" effort described here.
+
+Sequential Implementation
+-------------------------
+
+For the purposes of discussion here, the current sequential
+implementation of Step 3 is divided in 3 parts, each one implemented in
+its own function:
+
+* Step 3a: `unpack-trees.c:check_updates()` contains a series of
+  sequential loops iterating over the `cache_entry`'s array. The main
+  loop in this function calls the Step 3b function for each of the
+  to-be-updated entries.
+
+* Step 3b: `entry.c:checkout_entry()` examines the existing working tree
+  for file conflicts, collisions, and unsaved changes. It removes files
+  and creates leading directories as necessary. It calls the Step 3c
+  function for each entry to be written.
+
+* Step 3c: `entry.c:write_entry()` loads the blob into memory, smudges
+  it if necessary, creates the file in the working tree, writes the
+  smudged contents, calls `fstat()` or `lstat()`, and updates the
+  associated `cache_entry` struct with the stat information gathered.
+
+It wouldn't be safe to perform Step 3b in parallel, as there could be
+race conditions between file creations and removals. Instead, the
+parallel checkout framework lets the sequential code handle Step 3b,
+and uses parallel workers to replace the sequential
+`entry.c:write_entry()` calls from Step 3c.
+
+Rejected Multi-Threaded Solution
+--------------------------------
+
+The most "straightforward" implementation would be to spread the set of
+to-be-updated cache entries across multiple threads. But due to the
+thread-unsafe functions in the ODB code, we would have to use locks to
+coordinate the parallel operation. An early prototype of this solution
+showed that the multi-threaded checkout would bring performance
+improvements over the sequential code, but there was still too much lock
+contention. A `perf` profiling indicated that around 20% of the runtime
+during a local Linux clone (on an SSD) was spent in locking functions.
+For this reason this approach was rejected in favor of using multiple
+child processes, which led to a better performance.
+
+Multi-Process Solution
+----------------------
+
+Parallel checkout alters the aforementioned Step 3 to use multiple
+`checkout--worker` background processes to distribute the work. The
+long-running worker processes are controlled by the foreground Git
+command using the existing run-command API.
+
+Overview
+~~~~~~~~
+
+Step 3b is only slightly altered; for each entry to be checked out, the
+main process performs the following steps:
+
+* M1: Check whether there is any untracked or unclean file in the
+  working tree which would be overwritten by this entry, and decide
+  whether to proceed (removing the file(s)) or not.
+
+* M2: Create the leading directories.
+
+* M3: Load the conversion attributes for the entry's path.
+
+* M4: Check, based on the entry's type and conversion attributes,
+  whether the entry is eligible for parallel checkout (more on this
+  later). If it is eligible, enqueue the entry and the loaded
+  attributes to later write the entry in parallel. If not, write the
+  entry right away, using the default sequential code.
+
+Note: we save the conversion attributes associated with each entry
+because the workers don't have access to the main process' index state,
+so they can't load the attributes by themselves (and the attributes are
+needed to properly smudge the entry). Additionally, this has a positive
+impact on performance as (1) we don't need to load the attributes twice
+and (2) the attributes machinery is optimized to handle paths in
+sequential order.
+
+After all entries have passed through the above steps, the main process
+checks if the number of enqueued entries is sufficient to spread among
+the workers. If not, it just writes them sequentially. Otherwise, it
+spawns the workers and distributes the queued entries uniformly in
+continuous chunks. This aims to minimize the chances of two workers
+writing to the same directory simultaneously, which could increase lock
+contention in the kernel.
+
+Then, for each assigned item, each worker:
+
+* W1: Checks if there is any non-directory file in the leading part of
+  the entry's path or if there already exists a file at the entry' path.
+  If so, mark the entry with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED` and skip it (more on
+  this later).
+
+* W2: Creates the file (with O_CREAT and O_EXCL).
+
+* W3: Loads the blob into memory (inflating and delta reconstructing
+  it).
+
+* W4: Applies any required in-process filter, like end-of-line
+  conversion and re-encoding.
+
+* W5: Writes the result to the file descriptor opened at W2.
+
+* W6: Calls `fstat()` or lstat()` on the just-written path, and sends
+  the result back to the main process, together with the end status of
+  the operation and the item's identification number.
+
+Note that, when possible, steps W3 to W5 are delegated to the streaming
+machinery, removing the need to keep the entire blob in memory.
+
+If the worker fails to read the blob or to write it to the working tree,
+it removes the created file to avoid leaving empty files behind. This is
+the *only* time a worker is allowed to remove a file.
+
+As mentioned earlier, it is the responsibility of the main process to
+remove any file that blocks the checkout operation (or abort if the
+removal(s) would cause data loss and the user didn't ask to `--force`).
+This is crucial to avoid race conditions and also to properly detect
+path collisions at Step W1.
+
+After the workers finish writing the items and sending back the required
+information, the main process handles the results in two steps:
+
+- First, it updates the in-memory index with the `lstat()` information
+  sent by the workers. (This must be done first as this information
+  might me required in the following step.)
+
+- Then it writes the items which collided on disk (i.e. items marked
+  with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED`). More on this below.
+
+Path Collisions
+---------------
+
+Path collisions happen when two different paths correspond to the same
+entry in the file system. E.g. the paths 'a' and 'A' would collide in a
+case-insensitive file system.
+
+The sequential checkout deals with collisions in the same way that it
+deals with files that were already present in the working tree before
+checkout. Basically, it checks if the path that it wants to write
+already exists on disk, makes sure the existing file doesn't have
+unsaved data, and then overwrites it. (To be more pedantic: it deletes
+the existing file and creates the new one.) So, if there are multiple
+colliding files to be checked out, the sequential code will write each
+one of them but only the last will actually survive on disk.
+
+Parallel checkout aims to reproduce the same behavior. However, we
+cannot let the workers racily write to the same file on disk. Instead,
+the workers detect when the entry that they want to check out would
+collide with an existing file, and mark it with `PC_ITEM_COLLIDED`.
+Later, the main process can sequentially feed these entries back to
+`checkout_entry()` without the risk of race conditions. On clone, this
+also has the effect of marking the colliding entries to later emit a
+warning for the user, like the classic sequential checkout does.
+
+The workers are able to detect both collisions among the entries being
+concurrently written and collisions between a parallel-eligible entry
+and an ineligible entry. The general idea for collision detection is
+quite straightforward: for each parallel-eligible entry, the main
+process must remove all files that prevent this entry from being written
+(before enqueueing it). This includes any non-directory file in the
+leading path of the entry. Later, when a worker gets assigned the entry,
+it looks again for the non-directories files and for an already existing
+file at the entry's path. If any of these checks finds something, the
+worker knows that there was a path collision.
+
+Because parallel checkout can distinguish path collisions from the case
+where the file was already present in the working tree before checkout,
+we could alternatively choose to skip the checkout of colliding entries.
+However, each entry that doesn't get written would have NULL `lstat()`
+fields on the index. This could cause performance penalties for
+subsequent commands that need to refresh the index, as they would have
+to go to the file system to see if the entry is dirty. Thus, if we have
+N entries in a colliding group and we decide to write and `lstat()` only
+one of them, every subsequent `git-status` will have to read, convert,
+and hash the written file N - 1 times. By checking out all colliding
+entries (like the sequential code does), we only pay the overhead once,
+during checkout.
+
+Eligible Entries for Parallel Checkout
+--------------------------------------
+
+As previously mentioned, not all entries passed to `checkout_entry()`
+will be considered eligible for parallel checkout. More specifically, we
+exclude:
+
+- Symbolic links; to avoid race conditions that, in combination with
+  path collisions, could cause workers to write files at the wrong
+  place. For example, if we were to concurrently check out a symlink
+  'a' -> 'b' and a regular file 'A/f' in a case-insensitive file system,
+  we could potentially end up writing the file 'A/f' at 'a/f', due to a
+  race condition.
+
+- Regular files that require external filters (either "one shot" filters
+  or long-running process filters). These filters are black-boxes to Git
+  and may have their own internal locking or non-concurrent assumptions.
+  So it might not be safe to run multiple instances in parallel.
++
+Besides, long-running filters may use the delayed checkout feature to
+postpone the return of some filtered blobs. The delayed checkout queue
+and the parallel checkout queue are not compatible and should remain
+separate.
++
+Note: regular files that only require internal filters, like end-of-line
+conversion and re-encoding, are eligible for parallel checkout.
+
+Ineligible entries are checked out by the classic sequential codepath
+*before* spawning workers.
+
+Note: submodules's files are also eligible for parallel checkout (as
+long as they don't fall into any of the excluding categories mentioned
+above). But since each submodule is checked out in its own child
+process, we don't mix the superproject's and the submodules' files in
+the same parallel checkout process or queue.
+
+The API
+-------
+
+The parallel checkout API was designed with the goal of minimizing
+changes to the current users of the checkout machinery. This means that
+they don't have to call a different function for sequential or parallel
+checkout. As already mentioned, `checkout_entry()` will automatically
+insert the given entry in the parallel checkout queue when this feature
+is enabled and the entry is eligible; otherwise, it will just write the
+entry right away, using the sequential code. In general, callers of the
+parallel checkout API should look similar to this:
+
+----------------------------------------------
+int pc_workers, pc_threshold, err = 0;
+struct checkout state;
+
+get_parallel_checkout_configs(&pc_workers, &pc_threshold);
+
+/*
+ * This check is not strictly required, but it
+ * should save some time in sequential mode.
+ */
+if (pc_workers > 1)
+	init_parallel_checkout();
+
+for (each cache_entry ce to-be-updated)
+	err |= checkout_entry(ce, &state, NULL, NULL);
+
+err |= run_parallel_checkout(&state, pc_workers, pc_threshold, NULL, NULL);
+----------------------------------------------

Makefile

@@ -948,6 +948,7 @@ LIB_OBJS += pack-revindex.o
 LIB_OBJS += pack-write.o
 LIB_OBJS += packfile.o
 LIB_OBJS += pager.o
+LIB_OBJS += parallel-checkout.o
 LIB_OBJS += parse-options-cb.o
 LIB_OBJS += parse-options.o
 LIB_OBJS += patch-delta.o
@@ -1064,6 +1065,7 @@ BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/check-attr.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/check-ignore.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/check-mailmap.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/check-ref-format.o
+BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/checkout--worker.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/checkout-index.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/checkout.o
 BUILTIN_OBJS += builtin/clean.o

builtin.h

@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ int cmd_bugreport(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_bundle(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_cat_file(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_checkout(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
+int cmd_checkout__worker(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_checkout_index(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_check_attr(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);
 int cmd_check_ignore(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix);

builtin/checkout--worker.c

@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+#include "builtin.h"
+#include "config.h"
+#include "entry.h"
+#include "parallel-checkout.h"
+#include "parse-options.h"
+#include "pkt-line.h"
+
+static void packet_to_pc_item(const char *buffer, int len,
+			      struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item)
+{
+	const struct pc_item_fixed_portion *fixed_portion;
+	const char *variant;
+	char *encoding;
+
+	if (len < sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion))
+		BUG("checkout worker received too short item (got %dB, exp %dB)",
+		    len, (int)sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion));
+
+	fixed_portion = (struct pc_item_fixed_portion *)buffer;
+
+	if (len - sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion) !=
+		fixed_portion->name_len + fixed_portion->working_tree_encoding_len)
+		BUG("checkout worker received corrupted item");
+
+	variant = buffer + sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion);
+
+	/*
+	 * Note: the main process uses zero length to communicate that the
+	 * encoding is NULL. There is no use case that requires sending an
+	 * actual empty string, since convert_attrs() never sets
+	 * ca.working_tree_enconding to "".
+	 */
+	if (fixed_portion->working_tree_encoding_len) {
+		encoding = xmemdupz(variant,
+				    fixed_portion->working_tree_encoding_len);
+		variant += fixed_portion->working_tree_encoding_len;
+	} else {
+		encoding = NULL;
+	}
+
+	memset(pc_item, 0, sizeof(*pc_item));
+	pc_item->ce = make_empty_transient_cache_entry(fixed_portion->name_len);
+	pc_item->ce->ce_namelen = fixed_portion->name_len;
+	pc_item->ce->ce_mode = fixed_portion->ce_mode;
+	memcpy(pc_item->ce->name, variant, pc_item->ce->ce_namelen);
+	oidcpy(&pc_item->ce->oid, &fixed_portion->oid);
+
+	pc_item->id = fixed_portion->id;
+	pc_item->ca.crlf_action = fixed_portion->crlf_action;
+	pc_item->ca.ident = fixed_portion->ident;
+	pc_item->ca.working_tree_encoding = encoding;
+}
+
+static void report_result(struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item)
+{
+	struct pc_item_result res;
+	size_t size;
+
+	res.id = pc_item->id;
+	res.status = pc_item->status;
+
+	if (pc_item->status == PC_ITEM_WRITTEN) {
+		res.st = pc_item->st;
+		size = sizeof(res);
+	} else {
+		size = PC_ITEM_RESULT_BASE_SIZE;
+	}
+
+	packet_write(1, (const char *)&res, size);
+}
+
+/* Free the worker-side malloced data, but not pc_item itself. */
+static void release_pc_item_data(struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item)
+{
+	free((char *)pc_item->ca.working_tree_encoding);
+	discard_cache_entry(pc_item->ce);
+}
+
+static void worker_loop(struct checkout *state)
+{
+	struct parallel_checkout_item *items = NULL;
+	size_t i, nr = 0, alloc = 0;
+
+	while (1) {
+		int len = packet_read(0, NULL, NULL, packet_buffer,
+				      sizeof(packet_buffer), 0);
+
+		if (len < 0)
+			BUG("packet_read() returned negative value");
+		else if (!len)
+			break;
+
+		ALLOC_GROW(items, nr + 1, alloc);
+		packet_to_pc_item(packet_buffer, len, &items[nr++]);
+	}
+
+	for (i = 0; i < nr; i++) {
+		struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item = &items[i];
+		write_pc_item(pc_item, state);
+		report_result(pc_item);
+		release_pc_item_data(pc_item);
+	}
+
+	packet_flush(1);
+
+	free(items);
+}
+
+static const char * const checkout_worker_usage[] = {
+	N_("git checkout--worker [<options>]"),
+	NULL
+};
+
+int cmd_checkout__worker(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
+{
+	struct checkout state = CHECKOUT_INIT;
+	struct option checkout_worker_options[] = {
+		OPT_STRING(0, "prefix", &state.base_dir, N_("string"),
+			N_("when creating files, prepend <string>")),
+		OPT_END()
+	};
+
+	if (argc == 2 && !strcmp(argv[1], "-h"))
+		usage_with_options(checkout_worker_usage,
+				   checkout_worker_options);
+
+	git_config(git_default_config, NULL);
+	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, checkout_worker_options,
+			     checkout_worker_usage, 0);
+	if (argc > 0)
+		usage_with_options(checkout_worker_usage, checkout_worker_options);
+
+	if (state.base_dir)
+		state.base_dir_len = strlen(state.base_dir);
+
+	/*
+	 * Setting this on a worker won't actually update the index. We just
+	 * need to tell the checkout machinery to lstat() the written entries,
+	 * so that we can send this data back to the main process.
+	 */
+	state.refresh_cache = 1;
+
+	worker_loop(&state);
+	return 0;
+}

entry.c

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "progress.h"
 #include "fsmonitor.h"
 #include "entry.h"
+#include "parallel-checkout.h"
 
 static void create_directories(const char *path, int path_len,
 			       const struct checkout *state)
@@ -428,8 +429,17 @@ static void mark_colliding_entries(const struct checkout *state,
 	for (i = 0; i < state->istate->cache_nr; i++) {
 		struct cache_entry *dup = state->istate->cache[i];
 
-		if (dup == ce)
-			break;
+		if (dup == ce) {
+			/*
+			 * Parallel checkout doesn't create the files in index
+			 * order. So the other side of the collision may appear
+			 * after the given cache_entry in the array.
+			 */
+			if (parallel_checkout_status() == PC_RUNNING)
+				continue;
+			else
+				break;
+		}
 
 		if (dup->ce_flags & (CE_MATCHED | CE_VALID | CE_SKIP_WORKTREE))
 			continue;
@@ -538,6 +548,9 @@ int checkout_entry_ca(struct cache_entry *ce, struct conv_attrs *ca,
 		ca = &ca_buf;
 	}
 
+	if (!enqueue_checkout(ce, ca))
+		return 0;
+
 	return write_entry(ce, path.buf, ca, state, 0);
 }
 

git.c

@@ -490,6 +490,8 @@ static struct cmd_struct commands[] = {
 	{ "check-mailmap", cmd_check_mailmap, RUN_SETUP },
 	{ "check-ref-format", cmd_check_ref_format, NO_PARSEOPT  },
 	{ "checkout", cmd_checkout, RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE },
+	{ "checkout--worker", cmd_checkout__worker,
+		RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE | SUPPORT_SUPER_PREFIX },
 	{ "checkout-index", cmd_checkout_index,
 		RUN_SETUP | NEED_WORK_TREE},
 	{ "cherry", cmd_cherry, RUN_SETUP },

parallel-checkout.c

@@ -0,0 +1,655 @@
+#include "cache.h"
+#include "config.h"
+#include "entry.h"
+#include "parallel-checkout.h"
+#include "pkt-line.h"
+#include "progress.h"
+#include "run-command.h"
+#include "sigchain.h"
+#include "streaming.h"
+#include "thread-utils.h"
+
+struct pc_worker {
+	struct child_process cp;
+	size_t next_item_to_complete, nr_items_to_complete;
+};
+
+struct parallel_checkout {
+	enum pc_status status;
+	struct parallel_checkout_item *items; /* The parallel checkout queue. */
+	size_t nr, alloc;
+	struct progress *progress;
+	unsigned int *progress_cnt;
+};
+
+static struct parallel_checkout parallel_checkout;
+
+enum pc_status parallel_checkout_status(void)
+{
+	return parallel_checkout.status;
+}
+
+static const int DEFAULT_THRESHOLD_FOR_PARALLELISM = 100;
+static const int DEFAULT_NUM_WORKERS = 1;
+
+void get_parallel_checkout_configs(int *num_workers, int *threshold)
+{
+	if (git_config_get_int("checkout.workers", num_workers))
+		*num_workers = DEFAULT_NUM_WORKERS;
+	else if (*num_workers < 1)
+		*num_workers = online_cpus();
+
+	if (git_config_get_int("checkout.thresholdForParallelism", threshold))
+		*threshold = DEFAULT_THRESHOLD_FOR_PARALLELISM;
+}
+
+void init_parallel_checkout(void)
+{
+	if (parallel_checkout.status != PC_UNINITIALIZED)
+		BUG("parallel checkout already initialized");
+
+	parallel_checkout.status = PC_ACCEPTING_ENTRIES;
+}
+
+static void finish_parallel_checkout(void)
+{
+	if (parallel_checkout.status == PC_UNINITIALIZED)
+		BUG("cannot finish parallel checkout: not initialized yet");
+
+	free(parallel_checkout.items);
+	memset(&parallel_checkout, 0, sizeof(parallel_checkout));
+}
+
+static int is_eligible_for_parallel_checkout(const struct cache_entry *ce,
+					     const struct conv_attrs *ca)
+{
+	enum conv_attrs_classification c;
+	size_t packed_item_size;
+
+	/*
+	 * Symlinks cannot be checked out in parallel as, in case of path
+	 * collision, they could racily replace leading directories of other
+	 * entries being checked out. Submodules are checked out in child
+	 * processes, which have their own parallel checkout queues.
+	 */
+	if (!S_ISREG(ce->ce_mode))
+		return 0;
+
+	packed_item_size = sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion) + ce->ce_namelen +
+		(ca->working_tree_encoding ? strlen(ca->working_tree_encoding) : 0);
+
+	/*
+	 * The amount of data we send to the workers per checkout item is
+	 * typically small (75~300B). So unless we find an insanely huge path
+	 * of 64KB, we should never reach the 65KB limit of one pkt-line. If
+	 * that does happen, we let the sequential code handle the item.
+	 */
+	if (packed_item_size > LARGE_PACKET_DATA_MAX)
+		return 0;
+
+	c = classify_conv_attrs(ca);
+	switch (c) {
+	case CA_CLASS_INCORE:
+		return 1;
+
+	case CA_CLASS_INCORE_FILTER:
+		/*
+		 * It would be safe to allow concurrent instances of
+		 * single-file smudge filters, like rot13, but we should not
+		 * assume that all filters are parallel-process safe. So we
+		 * don't allow this.
+		 */
+		return 0;
+
+	case CA_CLASS_INCORE_PROCESS:
+		/*
+		 * The parallel queue and the delayed queue are not compatible,
+		 * so they must be kept completely separated. And we can't tell
+		 * if a long-running process will delay its response without
+		 * actually asking it to perform the filtering. Therefore, this
+		 * type of filter is not allowed in parallel checkout.
+		 *
+		 * Furthermore, there should only be one instance of the
+		 * long-running process filter as we don't know how it is
+		 * managing its own concurrency. So, spreading the entries that
+		 * requisite such a filter among the parallel workers would
+		 * require a lot more inter-process communication. We would
+		 * probably have to designate a single process to interact with
+		 * the filter and send all the necessary data to it, for each
+		 * entry.
+		 */
+		return 0;
+
+	case CA_CLASS_STREAMABLE:
+		return 1;
+
+	default:
+		BUG("unsupported conv_attrs classification '%d'", c);
+	}
+}
+
+int enqueue_checkout(struct cache_entry *ce, struct conv_attrs *ca)
+{
+	struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item;
+
+	if (parallel_checkout.status != PC_ACCEPTING_ENTRIES ||
+	    !is_eligible_for_parallel_checkout(ce, ca))
+		return -1;
+
+	ALLOC_GROW(parallel_checkout.items, parallel_checkout.nr + 1,
+		   parallel_checkout.alloc);
+
+	pc_item = &parallel_checkout.items[parallel_checkout.nr];
+	pc_item->ce = ce;
+	memcpy(&pc_item->ca, ca, sizeof(pc_item->ca));
+	pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_PENDING;
+	pc_item->id = parallel_checkout.nr;
+	parallel_checkout.nr++;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+size_t pc_queue_size(void)
+{
+	return parallel_checkout.nr;
+}
+
+static void advance_progress_meter(void)
+{
+	if (parallel_checkout.progress) {
+		(*parallel_checkout.progress_cnt)++;
+		display_progress(parallel_checkout.progress,
+				 *parallel_checkout.progress_cnt);
+	}
+}
+
+static int handle_results(struct checkout *state)
+{
+	int ret = 0;
+	size_t i;
+	int have_pending = 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * We first update the successfully written entries with the collected
+	 * stat() data, so that they can be found by mark_colliding_entries(),
+	 * in the next loop, when necessary.
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < parallel_checkout.nr; i++) {
+		struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item = &parallel_checkout.items[i];
+		if (pc_item->status == PC_ITEM_WRITTEN)
+			update_ce_after_write(state, pc_item->ce, &pc_item->st);
+	}
+
+	for (i = 0; i < parallel_checkout.nr; i++) {
+		struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item = &parallel_checkout.items[i];
+
+		switch(pc_item->status) {
+		case PC_ITEM_WRITTEN:
+			/* Already handled */
+			break;
+		case PC_ITEM_COLLIDED:
+			/*
+			 * The entry could not be checked out due to a path
+			 * collision with another entry. Since there can only
+			 * be one entry of each colliding group on the disk, we
+			 * could skip trying to check out this one and move on.
+			 * However, this would leave the unwritten entries with
+			 * null stat() fields on the index, which could
+			 * potentially slow down subsequent operations that
+			 * require refreshing it: git would not be able to
+			 * trust st_size and would have to go to the filesystem
+			 * to see if the contents match (see ie_modified()).
+			 *
+			 * Instead, let's pay the overhead only once, now, and
+			 * call checkout_entry_ca() again for this file, to
+			 * have its stat() data stored in the index. This also
+			 * has the benefit of adding this entry and its
+			 * colliding pair to the collision report message.
+			 * Additionally, this overwriting behavior is consistent
+			 * with what the sequential checkout does, so it doesn't
+			 * add any extra overhead.
+			 */
+			ret |= checkout_entry_ca(pc_item->ce, &pc_item->ca,
+						 state, NULL, NULL);
+			advance_progress_meter();
+			break;
+		case PC_ITEM_PENDING:
+			have_pending = 1;
+			/* fall through */
+		case PC_ITEM_FAILED:
+			ret = -1;
+			break;
+		default:
+			BUG("unknown checkout item status in parallel checkout");
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (have_pending)
+		error("parallel checkout finished with pending entries");
+
+	return ret;
+}
+
+static int reset_fd(int fd, const char *path)
+{
+	if (lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET) != 0)
+		return error_errno("failed to rewind descriptor of '%s'", path);
+	if (ftruncate(fd, 0))
+		return error_errno("failed to truncate file '%s'", path);
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int write_pc_item_to_fd(struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item, int fd,
+			       const char *path)
+{
+	int ret;
+	struct stream_filter *filter;
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	char *blob;
+	unsigned long size;
+	ssize_t wrote;
+
+	/* Sanity check */
+	assert(is_eligible_for_parallel_checkout(pc_item->ce, &pc_item->ca));
+
+	filter = get_stream_filter_ca(&pc_item->ca, &pc_item->ce->oid);
+	if (filter) {
+		if (stream_blob_to_fd(fd, &pc_item->ce->oid, filter, 1)) {
+			/* On error, reset fd to try writing without streaming */
+			if (reset_fd(fd, path))
+				return -1;
+		} else {
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
+
+	blob = read_blob_entry(pc_item->ce, &size);
+	if (!blob)
+		return error("cannot read object %s '%s'",
+			     oid_to_hex(&pc_item->ce->oid), pc_item->ce->name);
+
+	/*
+	 * checkout metadata is used to give context for external process
+	 * filters. Files requiring such filters are not eligible for parallel
+	 * checkout, so pass NULL. Note: if that changes, the metadata must also
+	 * be passed from the main process to the workers.
+	 */
+	ret = convert_to_working_tree_ca(&pc_item->ca, pc_item->ce->name,
+					 blob, size, &buf, NULL);
+
+	if (ret) {
+		size_t newsize;
+		free(blob);
+		blob = strbuf_detach(&buf, &newsize);
+		size = newsize;
+	}
+
+	wrote = write_in_full(fd, blob, size);
+	free(blob);
+	if (wrote < 0)
+		return error("unable to write file '%s'", path);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int close_and_clear(int *fd)
+{
+	int ret = 0;
+
+	if (*fd >= 0) {
+		ret = close(*fd);
+		*fd = -1;
+	}
+
+	return ret;
+}
+
+void write_pc_item(struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item,
+		   struct checkout *state)
+{
+	unsigned int mode = (pc_item->ce->ce_mode & 0100) ? 0777 : 0666;
+	int fd = -1, fstat_done = 0;
+	struct strbuf path = STRBUF_INIT;
+	const char *dir_sep;
+
+	strbuf_add(&path, state->base_dir, state->base_dir_len);
+	strbuf_add(&path, pc_item->ce->name, pc_item->ce->ce_namelen);
+
+	dir_sep = find_last_dir_sep(path.buf);
+
+	/*
+	 * The leading dirs should have been already created by now. But, in
+	 * case of path collisions, one of the dirs could have been replaced by
+	 * a symlink (checked out after we enqueued this entry for parallel
+	 * checkout). Thus, we must check the leading dirs again.
+	 */
+	if (dir_sep && !has_dirs_only_path(path.buf, dir_sep - path.buf,
+					   state->base_dir_len)) {
+		pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_COLLIDED;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	fd = open(path.buf, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_EXCL, mode);
+
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		if (errno == EEXIST || errno == EISDIR) {
+			/*
+			 * Errors which probably represent a path collision.
+			 * Suppress the error message and mark the item to be
+			 * retried later, sequentially. ENOTDIR and ENOENT are
+			 * also interesting, but the above has_dirs_only_path()
+			 * call should have already caught these cases.
+			 */
+			pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_COLLIDED;
+		} else {
+			error_errno("failed to open file '%s'", path.buf);
+			pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_FAILED;
+		}
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if (write_pc_item_to_fd(pc_item, fd, path.buf)) {
+		/* Error was already reported. */
+		pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_FAILED;
+		close_and_clear(&fd);
+		unlink(path.buf);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	fstat_done = fstat_checkout_output(fd, state, &pc_item->st);
+
+	if (close_and_clear(&fd)) {
+		error_errno("unable to close file '%s'", path.buf);
+		pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_FAILED;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if (state->refresh_cache && !fstat_done && lstat(path.buf, &pc_item->st) < 0) {
+		error_errno("unable to stat just-written file '%s'",  path.buf);
+		pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_FAILED;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	pc_item->status = PC_ITEM_WRITTEN;
+
+out:
+	strbuf_release(&path);
+}
+
+static void send_one_item(int fd, struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item)
+{
+	size_t len_data;
+	char *data, *variant;
+	struct pc_item_fixed_portion *fixed_portion;
+	const char *working_tree_encoding = pc_item->ca.working_tree_encoding;
+	size_t name_len = pc_item->ce->ce_namelen;
+	size_t working_tree_encoding_len = working_tree_encoding ?
+					   strlen(working_tree_encoding) : 0;
+
+	/*
+	 * Any changes in the calculation of the message size must also be made
+	 * in is_eligible_for_parallel_checkout().
+	 */
+	len_data = sizeof(struct pc_item_fixed_portion) + name_len +
+		   working_tree_encoding_len;
+
+	data = xcalloc(1, len_data);
+
+	fixed_portion = (struct pc_item_fixed_portion *)data;
+	fixed_portion->id = pc_item->id;
+	fixed_portion->ce_mode = pc_item->ce->ce_mode;
+	fixed_portion->crlf_action = pc_item->ca.crlf_action;
+	fixed_portion->ident = pc_item->ca.ident;
+	fixed_portion->name_len = name_len;
+	fixed_portion->working_tree_encoding_len = working_tree_encoding_len;
+	/*
+	 * We use hashcpy() instead of oidcpy() because the hash[] positions
+	 * after `the_hash_algo->rawsz` might not be initialized. And Valgrind
+	 * would complain about passing uninitialized bytes to a syscall
+	 * (write(2)). There is no real harm in this case, but the warning could
+	 * hinder the detection of actual errors.
+	 */
+	hashcpy(fixed_portion->oid.hash, pc_item->ce->oid.hash);
+
+	variant = data + sizeof(*fixed_portion);
+	if (working_tree_encoding_len) {
+		memcpy(variant, working_tree_encoding, working_tree_encoding_len);
+		variant += working_tree_encoding_len;
+	}
+	memcpy(variant, pc_item->ce->name, name_len);
+
+	packet_write(fd, data, len_data);
+
+	free(data);
+}
+
+static void send_batch(int fd, size_t start, size_t nr)
+{
+	size_t i;
+	sigchain_push(SIGPIPE, SIG_IGN);
+	for (i = 0; i < nr; i++)
+		send_one_item(fd, &parallel_checkout.items[start + i]);
+	packet_flush(fd);
+	sigchain_pop(SIGPIPE);
+}
+
+static struct pc_worker *setup_workers(struct checkout *state, int num_workers)
+{
+	struct pc_worker *workers;
+	int i, workers_with_one_extra_item;
+	size_t base_batch_size, batch_beginning = 0;
+
+	ALLOC_ARRAY(workers, num_workers);
+
+	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
+		struct child_process *cp = &workers[i].cp;
+
+		child_process_init(cp);
+		cp->git_cmd = 1;
+		cp->in = -1;
+		cp->out = -1;
+		cp->clean_on_exit = 1;
+		strvec_push(&cp->args, "checkout--worker");
+		if (state->base_dir_len)
+			strvec_pushf(&cp->args, "--prefix=%s", state->base_dir);
+		if (start_command(cp))
+			die("failed to spawn checkout worker");
+	}
+
+	base_batch_size = parallel_checkout.nr / num_workers;
+	workers_with_one_extra_item = parallel_checkout.nr % num_workers;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
+		struct pc_worker *worker = &workers[i];
+		size_t batch_size = base_batch_size;
+
+		/* distribute the extra work evenly */
+		if (i < workers_with_one_extra_item)
+			batch_size++;
+
+		send_batch(worker->cp.in, batch_beginning, batch_size);
+		worker->next_item_to_complete = batch_beginning;
+		worker->nr_items_to_complete = batch_size;
+
+		batch_beginning += batch_size;
+	}
+
+	return workers;
+}
+
+static void finish_workers(struct pc_worker *workers, int num_workers)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	/*
+	 * Close pipes before calling finish_command() to let the workers
+	 * exit asynchronously and avoid spending extra time on wait().
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
+		struct child_process *cp = &workers[i].cp;
+		if (cp->in >= 0)
+			close(cp->in);
+		if (cp->out >= 0)
+			close(cp->out);
+	}
+
+	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
+		int rc = finish_command(&workers[i].cp);
+		if (rc > 128) {
+			/*
+			 * For a normal non-zero exit, the worker should have
+			 * already printed something useful to stderr. But a
+			 * death by signal should be mentioned to the user.
+			 */
+			error("checkout worker %d died of signal %d", i, rc - 128);
+		}
+	}
+
+	free(workers);
+}
+
+static inline void assert_pc_item_result_size(int got, int exp)
+{
+	if (got != exp)
+		BUG("wrong result size from checkout worker (got %dB, exp %dB)",
+		    got, exp);
+}
+
+static void parse_and_save_result(const char *buffer, int len,
+				  struct pc_worker *worker)
+{
+	struct pc_item_result *res;
+	struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item;
+	struct stat *st = NULL;
+
+	if (len < PC_ITEM_RESULT_BASE_SIZE)
+		BUG("too short result from checkout worker (got %dB, exp >=%dB)",
+		    len, (int)PC_ITEM_RESULT_BASE_SIZE);
+
+	res = (struct pc_item_result *)buffer;
+
+	/*
+	 * Worker should send either the full result struct on success, or
+	 * just the base (i.e. no stat data), otherwise.
+	 */
+	if (res->status == PC_ITEM_WRITTEN) {
+		assert_pc_item_result_size(len, (int)sizeof(struct pc_item_result));
+		st = &res->st;
+	} else {
+		assert_pc_item_result_size(len, (int)PC_ITEM_RESULT_BASE_SIZE);
+	}
+
+	if (!worker->nr_items_to_complete)
+		BUG("received result from supposedly finished checkout worker");
+	if (res->id != worker->next_item_to_complete)
+		BUG("unexpected item id from checkout worker (got %"PRIuMAX", exp %"PRIuMAX")",
+		    (uintmax_t)res->id, (uintmax_t)worker->next_item_to_complete);
+
+	worker->next_item_to_complete++;
+	worker->nr_items_to_complete--;
+
+	pc_item = &parallel_checkout.items[res->id];
+	pc_item->status = res->status;
+	if (st)
+		pc_item->st = *st;
+
+	if (res->status != PC_ITEM_COLLIDED)
+		advance_progress_meter();
+}
+
+static void gather_results_from_workers(struct pc_worker *workers,
+					int num_workers)
+{
+	int i, active_workers = num_workers;
+	struct pollfd *pfds;
+
+	CALLOC_ARRAY(pfds, num_workers);
+	for (i = 0; i < num_workers; i++) {
+		pfds[i].fd = workers[i].cp.out;
+		pfds[i].events = POLLIN;
+	}
+
+	while (active_workers) {
+		int nr = poll(pfds, num_workers, -1);
+
+		if (nr < 0) {
+			if (errno == EINTR)
+				continue;
+			die_errno("failed to poll checkout workers");
+		}
+
+		for (i = 0; i < num_workers && nr > 0; i++) {
+			struct pc_worker *worker = &workers[i];
+			struct pollfd *pfd = &pfds[i];
+
+			if (!pfd->revents)
+				continue;
+
+			if (pfd->revents & POLLIN) {
+				int len = packet_read(pfd->fd, NULL, NULL,
+						      packet_buffer,
+						      sizeof(packet_buffer), 0);
+
+				if (len < 0) {
+					BUG("packet_read() returned negative value");
+				} else if (!len) {
+					pfd->fd = -1;
+					active_workers--;
+				} else {
+					parse_and_save_result(packet_buffer,
+							      len, worker);
+				}
+			} else if (pfd->revents & POLLHUP) {
+				pfd->fd = -1;
+				active_workers--;
+			} else if (pfd->revents & (POLLNVAL | POLLERR)) {
+				die("error polling from checkout worker");
+			}
+
+			nr--;
+		}
+	}
+
+	free(pfds);
+}
+
+static void write_items_sequentially(struct checkout *state)
+{
+	size_t i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < parallel_checkout.nr; i++) {
+		struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item = &parallel_checkout.items[i];
+		write_pc_item(pc_item, state);
+		if (pc_item->status != PC_ITEM_COLLIDED)
+			advance_progress_meter();
+	}
+}
+
+int run_parallel_checkout(struct checkout *state, int num_workers, int threshold,
+			  struct progress *progress, unsigned int *progress_cnt)
+{
+	int ret;
+
+	if (parallel_checkout.status != PC_ACCEPTING_ENTRIES)
+		BUG("cannot run parallel checkout: uninitialized or already running");
+
+	parallel_checkout.status = PC_RUNNING;
+	parallel_checkout.progress = progress;
+	parallel_checkout.progress_cnt = progress_cnt;
+
+	if (parallel_checkout.nr < num_workers)
+		num_workers = parallel_checkout.nr;
+
+	if (num_workers <= 1 || parallel_checkout.nr < threshold) {
+		write_items_sequentially(state);
+	} else {
+		struct pc_worker *workers = setup_workers(state, num_workers);
+		gather_results_from_workers(workers, num_workers);
+		finish_workers(workers, num_workers);
+	}
+
+	ret = handle_results(state);
+
+	finish_parallel_checkout();
+	return ret;
+}

parallel-checkout.h

@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+#ifndef PARALLEL_CHECKOUT_H
+#define PARALLEL_CHECKOUT_H
+
+#include "convert.h"
+
+struct cache_entry;
+struct checkout;
+struct progress;
+
+/****************************************************************
+ * Users of parallel checkout
+ ****************************************************************/
+
+enum pc_status {
+	PC_UNINITIALIZED = 0,
+	PC_ACCEPTING_ENTRIES,
+	PC_RUNNING,
+};
+
+enum pc_status parallel_checkout_status(void);
+void get_parallel_checkout_configs(int *num_workers, int *threshold);
+
+/*
+ * Put parallel checkout into the PC_ACCEPTING_ENTRIES state. Should be used
+ * only when in the PC_UNINITIALIZED state.
+ */
+void init_parallel_checkout(void);
+
+/*
+ * Return -1 if parallel checkout is currently not accepting entries or if the
+ * entry is not eligible for parallel checkout. Otherwise, enqueue the entry
+ * for later write and return 0.
+ */
+int enqueue_checkout(struct cache_entry *ce, struct conv_attrs *ca);
+size_t pc_queue_size(void);
+
+/*
+ * Write all the queued entries, returning 0 on success. If the number of
+ * entries is smaller than the specified threshold, the operation is performed
+ * sequentially.
+ */
+int run_parallel_checkout(struct checkout *state, int num_workers, int threshold,
+			  struct progress *progress, unsigned int *progress_cnt);
+
+/****************************************************************
+ * Interface with checkout--worker
+ ****************************************************************/
+
+enum pc_item_status {
+	PC_ITEM_PENDING = 0,
+	PC_ITEM_WRITTEN,
+	/*
+	 * The entry could not be written because there was another file
+	 * already present in its path or leading directories. Since
+	 * checkout_entry_ca() removes such files from the working tree before
+	 * enqueueing the entry for parallel checkout, it means that there was
+	 * a path collision among the entries being written.
+	 */
+	PC_ITEM_COLLIDED,
+	PC_ITEM_FAILED,
+};
+
+struct parallel_checkout_item {
+	/*
+	 * In main process ce points to a istate->cache[] entry. Thus, it's not
+	 * owned by us. In workers they own the memory, which *must be* released.
+	 */
+	struct cache_entry *ce;
+	struct conv_attrs ca;
+	size_t id; /* position in parallel_checkout.items[] of main process */
+
+	/* Output fields, sent from workers. */
+	enum pc_item_status status;
+	struct stat st;
+};
+
+/*
+ * The fixed-size portion of `struct parallel_checkout_item` that is sent to the
+ * workers. Following this will be 2 strings: ca.working_tree_encoding and
+ * ce.name; These are NOT null terminated, since we have the size in the fixed
+ * portion.
+ *
+ * Note that not all fields of conv_attrs and cache_entry are passed, only the
+ * ones that will be required by the workers to smudge and write the entry.
+ */
+struct pc_item_fixed_portion {
+	size_t id;
+	struct object_id oid;
+	unsigned int ce_mode;
+	enum convert_crlf_action crlf_action;
+	int ident;
+	size_t working_tree_encoding_len;
+	size_t name_len;
+};
+
+/*
+ * The fields of `struct parallel_checkout_item` that are returned by the
+ * workers. Note: `st` must be the last one, as it is omitted on error.
+ */
+struct pc_item_result {
+	size_t id;
+	enum pc_item_status status;
+	struct stat st;
+};
+
+#define PC_ITEM_RESULT_BASE_SIZE offsetof(struct pc_item_result, st)
+
+void write_pc_item(struct parallel_checkout_item *pc_item,
+		   struct checkout *state);
+
+#endif /* PARALLEL_CHECKOUT_H */

unpack-trees.c

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "promisor-remote.h"
 #include "entry.h"
+#include "parallel-checkout.h"
 
 /*
  * Error messages expected by scripts out of plumbing commands such as
@@ -398,7 +399,7 @@ static int check_updates(struct unpack_trees_options *o,
 	int errs = 0;
 	struct progress *progress;
 	struct checkout state = CHECKOUT_INIT;
-	int i;
+	int i, pc_workers, pc_threshold;
 
 	trace_performance_enter();
 	state.force = 1;
@@ -441,7 +442,6 @@ static int check_updates(struct unpack_trees_options *o,
 	if (should_update_submodules())
 		load_gitmodules_file(index, &state);
 
-	enable_delayed_checkout(&state);
 	if (has_promisor_remote()) {
 		/*
 		 * Prefetch the objects that are to be checked out in the loop
@@ -464,18 +464,31 @@ static int check_updates(struct unpack_trees_options *o,
 					   to_fetch.oid, to_fetch.nr);
 		oid_array_clear(&to_fetch);
 	}
+
+	get_parallel_checkout_configs(&pc_workers, &pc_threshold);
+
+	enable_delayed_checkout(&state);
+	if (pc_workers > 1)
+		init_parallel_checkout();
 	for (i = 0; i < index->cache_nr; i++) {
 		struct cache_entry *ce = index->cache[i];
 
 		if (ce->ce_flags & CE_UPDATE) {
+			size_t last_pc_queue_size = pc_queue_size();
+
 			if (ce->ce_flags & CE_WT_REMOVE)
 				BUG("both update and delete flags are set on %s",
 				    ce->name);
-			display_progress(progress, ++cnt);
 			ce->ce_flags &= ~CE_UPDATE;
 			errs |= checkout_entry(ce, &state, NULL, NULL);
+
+			if (last_pc_queue_size == pc_queue_size())
+				display_progress(progress, ++cnt);
 		}
 	}
+	if (pc_workers > 1)
+		errs |= run_parallel_checkout(&state, pc_workers, pc_threshold,
+					      progress, &cnt);
 	stop_progress(&progress);
 	errs |= finish_delayed_checkout(&state, NULL);
 	git_attr_set_direction(GIT_ATTR_CHECKIN);