Send discontiguous memory to a buffer in OpenCL - opencl

Suppose I have an array A[200][200].
If I want to send A[0:100][0:200] to GPU buffer,
I just call
clEnqueueWriteBuffer(queue, buffer, CL_TRUE, 0, 100 * 200 * sizeof(float), A, 0, NULL, NULL);
But if I want to send A[0:200][0:100] to GPU buffer, I cannot call the above function because A[0:200][0:100] is discontiguous.
Is there any wise way to send the above data?

You could use clEnqueueWriteBufferRect.
cl_int clEnqueueWriteBufferRect(
cl_command_queue command_queue,
cl_mem buffer,
cl_bool blocking_write,
const size_t buffer_origin[3],
const size_t host_origin[3],
const size_t region[3],
size_t buffer_row_pitch,
size_t buffer_slice_pitch,
size_t host_row_pitch,
size_t host_slice_pitch,
void *ptr,
cl_uint num_events_in_wait_list,
const cl_event *event_wait_list,
cl_event *event
)
In your case, the most relevant parameters are the host_origin, region and host_row_pitch.
host_row_pitch: the byte size of each row in memory.
The array float A[200][200] describes a row major 2D array with a row pitch of 200 * sizeof(float).
host_origin: where the host data you wish to send to the device starts. assuming ND array. your origin is simply size_t[3] {0,0,0}
host_region: the ND region you wish to copy from the array.
your region is size_t[3] {100,200,1}.
I would advise you to read the documentation very carefully. It is easy to make small mistakes.
Also note, that it might be more efficient to first arrange the host data to a continuous array prior to sending it. clEnqueueWriteBuffer will probably initiate a DMA transfer which will be more efficient for large continuous blocks of memory.

Related

Copying global on-device pointer address back and forth between device and host

I created a buffer on the OpenCL device (a GPU), and from the host I need to know the global on-device pointer address so that I can put that on-device address in another buffer so that the kernel can then read from that buffer that contains the address of the first buffer so that then it can access the contents of that buffer.
If that's confusing here's what I'm trying to do: I create a generic floats-containing buffer representing a 2D image, then from the host I create a todo list of all the things my kernel needs to draw, which lines, which circles, which images... So from that list the kernel has to know where to find that image, but the reference to that image cannot be passed as a kernel argument, because that kernel might draw no image, or a thousand different images, all depending on what the list says, so it has to be referenced in that buffer that serves as a todo list for my kernel.
The awkward way I've done it so far:
To do so I tried making a function that calls a kernel after the creation of the image buffer that gets the buffer and returns the global on-device address as a ulong in another buffer, then the host stores that value in a 64-bit integer, like this:
uint64_t get_clmem_device_address(clctx_t *clctx, cl_mem buf)
{
const char kernel_source[] =
"kernel void get_global_ptr_address(global void *ptr, global ulong *devaddr) \n"
"{ \n"
" *devaddr = (ulong) ptr; \n"
"} \n";
int32_t i;
cl_int ret;
static int init=1;
static cl_program program;
static cl_kernel kernel;
size_t global_work_size[1];
static cl_mem ret_buffer;
uint64_t devaddr;
if (init)
{
init=0;
ret = build_cl_program(clctx, &program, kernel_source);
ret = create_cl_kernel(clctx, program, &kernel, "get_global_ptr_address");
ret_buffer = clCreateBuffer(clctx->context, CL_MEM_WRITE_ONLY, 1*sizeof(uint64_t), NULL, &ret);
}
if (kernel==NULL)
return ;
// Run the kernel
ret = clSetKernelArg(kernel, 0, sizeof(cl_mem), &buf);
ret = clSetKernelArg(kernel, 1, sizeof(cl_mem), &ret_buffer);
global_work_size[0] = 1;
ret = clEnqueueNDRangeKernel(clctx->command_queue, kernel, 1, NULL, global_work_size, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL); // enqueue the kernel
ret = clEnqueueReadBuffer(clctx->command_queue, ret_buffer, CL_FALSE, 0, 1*sizeof(uint64_t), &devaddr, 0, NULL, NULL); // copy the value
ret = clFlush(clctx->command_queue);
clFinish(clctx->command_queue);
return devaddr;
}
Apparently this works (it does return a number, although it's hard to know if it's correct), but then I put this devaddr (a 64-bit integer on the host) in the todo list buffer that the kernel uses to know what to do, and then if necessary (according to the list) the kernel calls the function below, le here being a pointer to the relevant entry in the todo list, and the 64-bit address being the first element:
float4 blit_sprite(global uint *le, float4 pv)
{
const int2 p = (int2) (get_global_id(0), get_global_id(1));
ulong devaddr;
global float4 *im;
int2 im_dim;
devaddr = ((global ulong *) le)[0]; // global address for the start of the image as a ulong
im_dim.x = le[2];
im_dim.y = le[3];
im = (global float4 *) devaddr; // ulong is turned into a proper global pointer
if (p.x < im_dim.x)
if (p.y < im_dim.y)
pv += im[p.y * im_dim.x + p.x]; // this gives me a CL_OUT_OF_RESOURCES error, even when changing it to im[0]
return pv;
}
but big surprise this doesn't work, it gives me a CL_OUT_OF_RESOURCES error, which I assume means my im pointer isn't valid. Actually it works, it didn't work when I used two different contexts. But it's still pretty unwieldy.
Is there a less weird way to do what I want to do?
OpenCL standard doesn't guarantee that memory objects will not be physically reallocated between kernel calls. So, original Device-side address is valid only within single kernel NDRange. That's one of the reasons why OpenCL memory objects are represented on Host side as transparent structure pointers.
Though, you can save offset to memory object's first byte in 1st kernel and pass it to 2nd kernel. Every time you launch your kernel, you will obtain actual Device-side address within your kernel & increment it by saved shift value. That would be perfectly "legal".

Is it defined to write to the same buffer from different kernels?

I have OpenCL 1.1, one device, out of order execution command queue,
and want that multiple kernels output their results into one buffer to different, not overlapped, arbitrary, regions.
Is it possible?
cl::CommandQueue commandQueue(context, CL_QUEUE_OUT_OF_ORDER_EXEC_MODE_ENABLE);
cl::Buffer buf_as(context, CL_MEM_READ_ONLY | CL_MEM_COPY_HOST_PTR, data_size, &as[0]);
cl::Buffer buf_bs(context, CL_MEM_READ_ONLY | CL_MEM_COPY_HOST_PTR, data_size, &bs[0]);
cl::Buffer buf_rs(context, CL_MEM_WRITE_ONLY, data_size, NULL);
cl::Kernel kernel(program, "dist");
kernel.setArg(0, buf_as);
kernel.setArg(1, buf_bs);
int const N = 4;
int const d = data_size / N;
std::vector<cl::Event> events(N);
for(int i = 0; i != N; ++i) {
int const beg = d * i;
int const len = d;
kernel_leaf.setArg(2, beg);
kernel_leaf.setArg(3, len);
commandQueue.enqueueNDRangeKernel(kernel, NULL, cl::NDRange(block_size_x), cl::NDRange(block_size_x), NULL, &events[i]);
}
commandQueue.enqueueReadBuffer(buf_rs, CL_FALSE, 0, data_size, &rs[0], &events, NULL);
commandQueue.finish();
I wanted to give an official committee response to this. We realise the specification is ambiguous and have made modifications to rectify this.
This is not guaranteed under OpenCL 1.x or indeed 2.0 rules. cl_mem objects are only guaranteed to be consistent at synchronization points, even when processed only on a single device and even when used by OpenCL 2.0 kernels using memory_scope_device.
Multiple child kernels of an OpenCL 2.0 parent kernel can share the parent's cl_mem objects at device scope.
Coarse-grained SVM objects can be shared at device scope between multiple kernels, as long as the memory locations written to are not overlapping.
The writes should work fine if the global memory addresses are non-overlapping as you have described. Just make sure both kernels are finished before reading the results back to the host.
I don't think it is defined. Although you say you are writing to non-overlapping regions at the software level, it is not guaranteed that at the hardware level the accesses won't map onto same cache lines - in which case you'll have multiple modified versions flying around.

Base Address of Memory Object OpenCL

I want to traverse a tree at GPU with OpenCL, so i assemble the tree in a contiguous block at host and i change the addresses of all pointers so as to be consistent at device as follows:
TreeAddressDevice = (size_t)BaseAddressDevice + ((size_t)TreeAddressHost - (size_t)BaseAddressHost);
I want the base address of the memory buffer:
At host i allocate memory for the buffer, as follows:
cl_mem tree_d = clCreateBuffer(...);
The problem is that cl_mems are objects that track an internal representation of the data. Technically they're pointers to an object, but they are not pointers to the data. The only way to access a cl_mem from within a kernel is to pass it in as an argument via setKernelArgs.
Here http://www.proxya.net/browse.php?u=%3A%2F%2Fwww.khronos.org%2Fmessage_boards%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D37%26amp%3Bt%3D2900&b=28 i found the following solution, but it doesnot work:
__kernel void getPtr( __global void *ptr, __global void *out )
{
*out = ptr;
}
that can be invoked as follows
Code:
...
cl_mem auxBuf = clCreateBuffer( context, CL_MEM_READ_WRITE, sizeof(void*), NULL, NULL );
void *gpuPtr;
clSetKernelArg( getterKernel, 0, sizeof(cl_mem), &myBuf );
clSetKernelArg( getterKernel, 1, sizeof(cl_mem), &auxBuf );
clEnqueueTask( commandQueue, getterKernel, 0, NULL, NULL );
clEnqueueReadBuffer( commandQueue, auxBuf, CL_TRUE, 0, sizeof(void*), &gpuPtr, 0, NULL, NULL );
clReleaseMemObject(auxBuf);
...
Now "gpuPtr" should contain the address of the beginning of "myBuf" in GPU memory space.
The solution is obvious and i can't find it? How can I get back a pointer to device memory when creating buffers?
It's because in the OpenCL model, host memory and device memory are disjoint. A pointer in device memory will have no meaning on the host.
You can map a device buffer to host memory using clEnqueueMapBuffer. The mapping will synchronize device to host, and unmapping will synchronize back host to device.
Update. As you explain in the comments, you want to send a tree structure to the GPU. One solution would be to store all tree nodes inside an array, replacing pointers to nodes with indices in the array.
As Eric pointed out, there are two sets of memory to consider: host memory and device memory. Basically, OpenCL tries to hide the gritty details of this interaction by introducing the buffer object for us to interact with in our program on the host side. Now, as you noted, the problem with this methodology is that it hides away the details of our device when we want to do something trickier than the OpenCL developers intended or allowed in their scope. The solution here is to remember that OpenCL kernels use C99 and that the language allows us to access pointers without any issue. With this in mind, we can just demand the pointer be stored in an unsigned integer variable to be referenced later.
Your implementation was on the right track, but it needed a little bit more C syntax to finish up the transfer.
OpenCL Kernel:
// Kernel used to obtain pointer from target buffer
__kernel void mem_ptr(__global char * buffer, __global ulong * ptr)
{
ptr[0] = &buffer[0];
}
// Kernel to demonstrate how to use that pointer again after we extract it.
__kernel void use_ptr(__global ulong * ptr)
{
char * print_me = (char *)ptr[0];
/* Code that uses all of our hard work */
/* ... */
}
Host Program:
// Create the buffer that we want the device pointer from (target_buffer)
// and a place to store it (ptr_buffer).
cl_mem target_buffer = clCreateBuffer(context, CL_MEM_READ_WRITE,
MEM_SIZE * sizeof(char), NULL, &ret);
cl_mem ptr_buffer = clCreateBuffer(context, CL_MEM_READ_WRITE,
1 * sizeof(cl_ulong), NULL, &ret);
/* Setup the rest of our OpenCL program */
/* .... */
// Setup our kernel arguments from the host...
ret = clSetKernelArg(kernel_mem_ptr, 0, sizeof(cl_mem), (void *)&target_buffer);
ret = clSetKernelArg(kernel_mem_ptr, 1, sizeof(cl_mem), (void *)&ptr_buffer);
ret = clEnqueueTask(command_queue, kernel_mem_ptr, 0, NULL, NULL);
// Now it's just a matter of storing the pointer where we want to use it for later.
ret = clEnqueueCopyBuffer(command_queue, ptr_buffer, dst_buffer, 0, 1 * sizeof(cl_ulong),
sizeof(cl_ulong), 0, NULL, NULL);
ret = clEnqueueReadBuffer(command_queue, ptr_buffer, CL_TRUE, 0,
1 * sizeof(cl_ulong), buffer_ptrs, 0, NULL, NULL);
There you have it. Now, keep in mind that you don't have to use the char variables I used; it works for any type. However, I'd recommend using cl_ulong for the storing of pointers. This shouldn't matter for devices with less than 4GB of accessible memory. But for devices with a larger address space, you have to use cl_ulong. If you absolutely NEED to save space on your device but have a device whose memory > 4GB, then you might be able to create a struct that can store the lower 32 LSB of the address into a uint type, with the MSB's being stored in a small type.

Memory object allocation in Opencl for dynamic array in structure

I have created following structure 'data' in C
typedef struct data
{
double *dattr;
int d_id;
int bestCent;
}Data;
The 'dattr' is an array in above structure which is kept dynamic.
Suppose I have to create 10 objects of above structure. i.e.
dataNode = (Data *)malloc (sizeof(Data) * 10);
and for every object of this structure I have to reallocate the memory in C for array 'dattr' using:
for(i=0; i<10; i++)
dataNode[i].dattr = (double *)malloc(sizeof(double) * 3);
What should do to implement the same in OpenCL? How to allocate the memory for array 'dattr' once I allocate the memory for structure objects?
Memory allocation in OpenCL devices (for example, a GPU) must be performed in the host thread using clCreateBuffer (or clCreateImage2D/3D if you wish to use texture memory). These functions allow you automatically copy host data (created with malloc for example) to the device, but I usually prefer to explicitly use clEnqueueWriteBuffer/clEnqueueMapBuffer (or clEnqueueWriteImage/clEnqueueMapImage if using texture memory), so that I can profile the data transfers. Here's an example:
#define DATA_SIZE 1000
typedef struct data {
cl_uint id;
cl_uint x;
cl_uint y;
} Data;
...
// Allocate data array in host
size_t dataSizeInBytes = DATA_SIZE * sizeof(Data);
DATA * dataArrayHost = (DATA *) malloc(dataSizeInBytes);
// Initialize data
...
// Create data array in device
cl_mem dataArrayDevice = clCreateBuffer(context, CL_MEM_READ_ONLY, dataSizeInBytes, NULL, &status );
// Copy data array to device
status = clEnqueueWriteBuffer(queue, dataArrayDevice, CL_TRUE, 0, dataSizeInBytes, &dataArrayHost, 0, NULL, NULL );
// Make sure to pass dataArrayDevice as kernel parameter
// Run kernel
...
What you need to consider is that you need to know the memory requirements of an OpenCL kernel before you execute it. As such memory allocation can be dynamic if performed before kernel execution (i.e. in host). Nothing stops you from calling the kernel several times, and in each of those times adjusting (allocating) the kernel memory requirements.
Having this into account, I advise you to rethink the way your approaching the problem. To begin, it is simpler (but not necessarily more efficient) to work with arrays of structures, than with structures of arrays (in which case, the arrays would have to have a fixed size anyway).
This is just to give you an idea of how OpenCL works. Take a look at Khronos OpenCL resource page, it has plenty of OpenCL tutorials and examples, and Khronos OpenCL page, which has the official OpenCL references, man pages and quick references cards.
As suggested by Faken if you are concern with dynamic memory allocation and you are eager to change the algorithm a little bit, here is some hint:
The following code dynamically allocates local memory space and passes it as the 8th argument to the OpenCL kernel:
int N; //Number_of_data_points, which will keep on changing as per your requirement
size_t localMemSize = ( N* sizeof(int));
...
// Dynamically allocate local memory (allocated per workgroup)
clSetKernelArg(kernel, 8, localMemSize, NULL);

clSetKernelArg arg_value other than memory object

In OpenCL, can I set kernel argument as following?
cl_uint a = 0;
kernel.setArg(0, sizeof(a), &a);
I want to read&write one value from/to a kernel function, not only write to.
Setting a kernel argument in this manner can only be used for inputs to the kernel. Any output you want to read (either in a subsequent kernel or from the host program) must be written to a buffer or an image. In your case, that means you need to create a single-element buffer and pass the buffer to the kernel.
One way to think about this is that when you call setArg with the parameter &a, the OpenCL kernel is using the value of a, not the location of a. If the kernel were to write to kernel argument zero, your host program would have no way of recovering the value that was written.
Your code creates an argument of type unsigned int, not pointer to unsigned int.
clSetKernelArg takes a pointer to the argument value, not the value itself.
If you want to pass a pointer argument, you will have to create a buffer with clCreateBuffer (even if it's just one value in there) and call clSetKernelArg with the resulting cl_mem.
The following code creates a buffer for 1 cl_uint in __global memory, and copies the value of my_value to it. After running the kernel, it copies the (possibly modified) value back to my_value.
cl_uint my_value = 0;
const unsigned int count = 1;
// Allocate buffer
cl_mem hDeviceMem = clCreateBuffer(hContext, CL_MEM_READ_WRITE | CL_MEM_COPY_HOST_PTR, count * sizeof(cl_uint), &my_value, &nError);
// Set pointer to buffer as argument
clSetKernelArg(hKernel, 0, sizeof(cl_mem), &hDeviceMem);
// Run kernel
clEnqueueNDRangeKernel(...);
// Copy values back
clEnqueueReadBuffer(hCmdQueue, hDeviceMem, CL_TRUE, 0, count * sizeof(cl_uint), &my_value, 0, NULL, NULL);
Your kernel should then look like this:
__kernel void myKernel(__global unsigned int* value)
{
// read/write to *value here
}
This should work the same as sending a 1-length vector as a param. You might have to use __global uint aParam in your kernel definition.

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