Widen CompiledMetric tag-cache key from 32 to 57 bits - #425
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The tag-combination cache keys precompiled datagrams by a 32-bit rotate-left-5 + XOR hash of the tag values. Collisions are detected by comparing full tag values, but never resolved: the losing tag combination is never cached, so every emit of it for the rest of the process lifetime allocates a fresh PrecompiledDatagram (the allocation CompiledMetric exists to avoid) and increments statsd_instrument.compiled_metric.hash_collision_detected. Once a colliding pair lands among hot tag combinations, the counter fires continuously until the process restarts, and because String#hash is seeded per process, which pair collides differs per process, making the signal intermittent and fleet-wide. At 32 bits this is inevitable at real volumes. A process that has cached D distinct tag combinations sees expected collisions of roughly D^2 / 2^33; with the cache holding up to 5000 entries and hot metrics seeing far more distinct combinations looked up against it, a busy fleet produces a steady stream of collision events every day. ## Fix Widen the key to 57 bits at zero cost. The only operation that can escape Fixnum range is the intermediate (__cache_key__ << 5), and 57-bit keys keep it within 2**62 - 1 on 64-bit CRuby: k <= 2**57 - 1 k << 5 <= 2**62 - 32 (k << 5) | (k >> 52) <= 2**62 - 1 String#hash exposes ~60 bits of SipHash entropy, so the extra 25 bits are real. Expected collisions per process drop by 2^25 (~33 million-fold), turning a daily occurrence into a never-in-practice one, with the same op count and no new allocations on either the hit or miss path. The collision detection branch stays as a correctness guard. This touches the same lines as Shopify#413 but is orthogonal: that changes the mixing function for speed, this widens the key space. Either can land first; the conflict is trivial to resolve. Assisted-By: devx/07082c33-4cad-46be-b311-20f734743ed7
Assisted-By: devx/07082c33-4cad-46be-b311-20f734743ed7
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The newly added tests can hang or fail across the repository’s supported Ruby engines (CI includes JRuby/TruffleRuby) due to unbounded collision-search logic and non-portable GC allocation stats usage.
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Pull request overview
This PR widens CompiledMetric’s tag-combination cache key from a 32-bit masked rotate-left+XOR hash to a 57-bit masked variant to drastically reduce practical collision rates while keeping integer operations within the immediate/small-integer range on 64-bit CRuby.
Changes:
- Expand the cache-key mask to 57 bits and adjust rotation to match the wider key space.
- Add tests intended to validate wider-than-32-bit behavior and guard against allocation regressions in cache-key computation.
- Bump library version to
3.11.2and document the change in the changelog.
File summaries
| File | Description |
|---|---|
lib/statsd/instrument/compiled_metric.rb |
Widens tag-cache key mask to 57 bits and updates the rotation shift accordingly. |
test/compiled_metric_test.rb |
Updates collision test mask and adds new tests for 57-bit key behavior and allocation characteristics. |
lib/statsd/instrument/version.rb |
Bumps gem version to 3.11.2. |
CHANGELOG.md |
Adds a 3.11.2 entry documenting the widened cache key. |
Review details
Suppressed comments (1)
test/compiled_metric_test.rb:333
- This collision-search loop is unbounded and currently uses
i.hash, which can make the test extremely slow or non-terminating on some Rubies. UseString#hash(seeded per process) and add a max-iteration guard so the test fails fast instead of hanging CI.
until pair
key = i.hash & 0xFFFFFFFF
other = seen[key]
if other && other != i && (other.hash & 0x01FFFFFFFFFFFFFF) != (i.hash & 0x01FFFFFFFFFFFFFF)
pair = [other, i]
- Files reviewed: 4/4 changed files
- Comments generated: 2
- Review effort level: Lite
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| metric = Class.new(StatsD::Instrument::CompiledMetric::Counter) do | ||
| define( | ||
| name: "foo.bar", | ||
| tags: { shop_id: Integer }, |
Situation
CompiledMetrickeys its tag-combination cache by a 32-bit rotate-left-5 + XOR hash of the tag values. Collisions are detected by comparing full tag values but never resolved: the losing tag combination is never cached, so every emit of it for the rest of the process lifetime allocates a freshPrecompiledDatagram(the allocationCompiledMetricexists to avoid) and incrementsstatsd_instrument.compiled_metric.hash_collision_detected. Once a colliding pair lands among hot tag combinations, the counter fires continuously until the process restarts. BecauseString#hashis seeded per process, which pair collides differs per process, so the signal shows up as intermittent, fleet-wide noise.At 32 bits this is inevitable at real volumes. A process that has cached D distinct tag combinations sees expected collisions of roughly D² / 2³³, and every new distinct combination looked up against a full 5000-entry cache collides with probability ~1.2e-6. A busy fleet produces a steady stream of collision events every day.
Execution
Widen the key to 57 bits at zero cost. The only operation that can escape Fixnum range is the intermediate
(__cache_key__ << 5), and 57-bit keys keep it within2**62 - 1on 64-bit CRuby:String#hashexposes ~60 bits of SipHash entropy, so the extra 25 bits are real. Expected collisions per process drop by 2^25 (~33 million-fold), turning a daily occurrence into a never-in-practice one, with the same op count and no new allocations on either the hit or miss path. The collision-detection branch stays as a correctness guard. The new test derives a low-32-bit-colliding pair at runtime (hash seeds are process-local) and asserts both combinations cache independently with no collision metric.This touches the same lines as #413 but is orthogonal: that changes the mixing function for speed, this widens the key space. Either can land first; the conflict is trivial to resolve.