a5d42e58d7f8ce1e985cf7422145619122ca5d25
braney
  Sat Sep 19 18:16:16 2026 -0700
mallocTopPadTester: check the heap step setting still reaches the library

cfgSetMallocTopPad() asks glibc to grow the heap in steps of mallocTopPad bytes
instead of its 128 kB default, which saves a heavy hgTracks render more than a
hundred thousand system calls that draw nothing.

The failure to catch is backsliding: the mallopt call is dropped in a later
edit, or the setting is renamed, or it stops being read before the first
allocation.  Every page still draws correctly and the only symptom is that
renders are slower than they used to be, which nobody attributes to this.

So the test measures the step, not the clock.  A timing test here would be red
on a busy hgwdev, green on an idle one, and deleted within a month.  sbrk(0)
says where the heap ends and the distance it jumps when malloc extends it is
what M_TOP_PAD sets, so the answer is the same on a loaded machine as an idle
one.  It is read in buckets, since glibc may round and may change what it
rounds to; what must not change is the order of magnitude between a configured
step and the default.  Allocations stay under the mmap threshold, or the break
never moves and the test measures nothing while appearing to pass.

Two runs, with the setting and without, because the answer is the difference
between them: a single run would pass on a library whose own default happened
to be large.

Watched to fail and then pass: leaving the knob read but never applied gives
the default step under both confs, which is the one line the diff shows.
Recorded as sandbox-ab in utils/testRegistry.

refs #38225, refs #38391

diff --git src/utils/testRegistry/registry.tsv src/utils/testRegistry/registry.tsv
index 89163a4aac3..9ad333d6854 100644
--- src/utils/testRegistry/registry.tsv
+++ src/utils/testRegistry/registry.tsv
@@ -1,89 +1,89 @@
 # registry.tsv - which unit test defends which Redmine ticket.  refs #38391
 #
 # A bug ticket has no way to say whether a test now defends its fix, and a test has no way
 # to say which bug it came from.  This table answers both, and says which tickets are still
 # waiting for a test.  It is hand written: nothing generates it, so adding the row is part
 # of writing the test.
 #
 # Unit tests only.  The browser-page regression tests are the docent suite, refs #38252,
 # where the script is already named for its ticket.  A ticket whose fix only changes what a
 # page says is that suite's job and is not in here at all.
 #
 # Seven tab separated columns, sorted by ticket then by test:
 #
 #   ticket    the Redmine number, digits only
 #   release   the version the fix ships in, digits only, from the ticket's Target version.
 #             The table starts at v504.  A fix on master with no target version yet takes
 #             "-" until the ticket says.
 #   test      the file to open, as a path from kent/src, or "-" for a ticket that needs a
 #             test and does not have one.  A suite whose cases are make targets adds
 #             ::target, e.g. tests/makefile::relPath
 #   docent    the browser test that watches the same ticket, from the docent suite in
 #             hg/utils/docent/tests/regress, or "-" when there is none.  Not a second copy
 #             of that suite: it is here so "nothing is watching this ticket at all" is a
 #             question the tool can answer, which is the question worth acting on.  A
 #             docent script does not make a unit test unnecessary where the why is
 #             invisible; rm38309 cannot see a read past the end of an array, it asserts
 #             something next to it.
 #   why       why this ticket needs a unit test rather than a browser test:
 #                 invisible  the fix changes nothing on screen.  No browser test can see
 #                            it, so a unit test is the only test there can be.
 #                 perf       the fix is about speed or memory.  The test has to catch
 #                            backsliding, so it measures work done -- queries, passes,
 #                            allocations, bytes -- and never wall-clock seconds.
 #                 library    the fix is in library code that a browser reaches only
 #                            through a page, where much else can go wrong first.
 #   evidence  what has been seen, weakest first: unrecorded, assertion-only, sandbox-ab,
 #             release-ab, caught-regression.  "-" on a row with no test.  The vocabulary is
 #             proof.js's from the docent suite, minus the two levels that need a browser,
 #             so the two tables can be read on one scale.  Every row starts at unrecorded
 #             and earns its way up by measurement, not by argument.
 #   note      what the test holds down.  On a row with no test, what it would have to hold
 #             down, which is the first thing the person who writes it needs.
 #
 # One ticket can have several rows and one test can defend several tickets; both happen
 # here already.  A ticket cannot be both covered and waiting.
 #
 # `testRegistry check` reads every row and fails when one has rotted, so a test cannot be
 # renamed or deleted without coming here.
 #
 #ticket	release	test	docent	why	evidence	note
 10138	504	-	rm10138.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: the session data directory hash went from 8 to 10 hex characters
 20824	504	hg/utils/netToBigNet/tests/makefile::simpleTest	-	library	unrecorded	a net converted to bigNet and back, byte compared
 27988	504	-	-	invisible	-	needs one: a server that is not the node hg.conf names has to recognise itself
 36212	504	-	rm36212.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: an explicit itemRgb on has to beat the presence of a color setting
 37263	504	lib/tests/pathSimplifyTest.c	-	library	unrecorded	dot-dot collapsing, checked against the right answer rather than against the old one
 37969	504	-	rm37969.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: a quickLifted container must not hide the tracks inside it
 37984	504	lib/tests/hmacTest.c	-	library	sandbox-ab	the pending social identity is signed with hmacMd5, not a plain md5 of salt plus fields
 38086	504	-	-	invisible	-	needs one: a stale cart visibility variable must not hide a new BLAT result track
 38126	504	lib/tests/htmlSanitizeTest.c	rm38126.docent.yaml	library	unrecorded	the allowlist that hub and custom track description HTML is filtered through
 38184	504	-	rm38184.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: db= resolving to the assembly already loaded must keep the session position
 38185	504	hg/hgSession/tests/backupParseTest.c	rm38185.docent.yaml	invisible	unrecorded	an empty pair in a session backup must not eat the variable in front of it
 38185	504	lib/tests/cgiParseTest.c	rm38185.docent.yaml	invisible	unrecorded	an empty CGI pair must not abort the request
 38198	504	-	rm38198.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: a second lift has to update a track already in the hub
-38225	504	-	-	perf	-	needs one: the malloc step size now comes from hg.conf; the test has to read the knob back and see it applied
+38225	504	hg/lib/tests/mallocTopPadTester.c	-	perf	sandbox-ab	the hg.conf step size reaches the C library: the heap grows in one 16 MB jump, not the default one
 38233	504	-	-	perf	-	needs one: RefSeq status is asked once per track, not once per gene; the test has to count the queries, not the seconds
 38236	504	-	rm38236.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: a quickLift chain with no aligned block in the window must not crash
 38248	504	-	rm38248.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: a deprecated versioned NP_ accession has to resolve to RefSeq Historical
 38249	504	hg/lib/tests/quickLiftTester.c	rm38249.docent.yaml	library	unrecorded	the target strand of a reverse complemented protein, found in the #38349 review
 38253	504	-	-	perf	-	needs one: item coverage is built from feature runs, not one counter per base; the test has to go red if a per-base pass comes back
 38254	504	-	-	invisible	-	needs one: a composite subtrack's visibility has to settle before the parallel loaders start
 38256	504	hg/utils/hubCheck/tests/makefile::relPath	-	library	unrecorded	a local hub given by a relative path: bigDataUrl resolved once, not twice
 38260	504	hg/utils/hubCheck/tests/makefile::missingFile	-	library	unrecorded	hubCheck must say something about a bigDataUrl it cannot open
 38268	504	-	rm38268.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: the tightened dataVersion path check
 38272	504	-	rm38272.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: a GenArk quickLift source assembly must not be looked for in MySQL
 38273	504	-	-	perf	-	needs one: a collection's hub file is copied when it is written, not on every session load; the test has to count the copies
 38283	504	-	rm38283.docent.yaml	library	-	needs one: description page variables substituted once, and in the container
 38285	504	hg/lib/tests/input/hgvs/validTerms.txt	rm38285.docent.yaml	library	unrecorded	bare codon numbers and ranges, with expected/hgvs/validTerms.txt beside it
 38302	504	-	rm38302.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: an activation token that is missing, empty or older than seven days is invalid
 38303	504	hg/lib/tests/trashDirTester.c	rm38303.docent.yaml	invisible	sandbox-ab	a session file path spelled through a symlinked config directory, which broke 583 saved sessions
 38309	504	-	rm38309.docent.yaml	invisible	-	needs one: exonFrames must not be read past the end on a transcript's last exon
 38313	504	-	-	library	-	needs one: a user's own __ sessions must not be hidden from My Sessions
 38317	504	-	-	invisible	-	needs one: doKnownGene must not read an uninitialised stack refLink
 38318	504	hg/lib/tests/sessionDataTester.c	-	invisible	unrecorded	the returned path must be freeable through kent's own handler stack
 38320	504	lib/tests/faSpeedReadTest.c	-	invisible	unrecorded	the buffer grower and its caller must agree on the size
 38323	504	-	-	library	-	needs one: an api key made on one geo mirror has to work on all of them
 38328	504	-	-	invisible	-	needs one: the liftOver accession list passed as an slName list
 38335	504	lib/tests/cgiParseTest.c	rm38335.docent.yaml	invisible	unrecorded	a pair with no =value must not lose the variable
 38340	504	hg/hgSession/tests/backupParseTest.c	-	invisible	unrecorded	the same pair, read back out of a session backup
 38340	504	lib/tests/cgiCookieTest.c	-	invisible	unrecorded	the same pair in a cookie header