Got rid of a malloc/free per line of input.

This patch alone improved throughput ~20% (52MB/s -> 63MB/s)

pixelnuke/net.c

@@ -35,41 +35,74 @@ typedef struct NetClient {
 #define NET_CSTATE_OPEN 0
 #define NET_CSTATE_CLOSING 1
 
+static inline int min(int a, int b) {
+	return a < b ? a : b;
+}
+
 // global state
 static struct event_base *base;
+static char * line_buffer;
 
 // User defined callbacks
 static net_on_connect netcb_on_connect = NULL;
 static net_on_read netcb_on_read = NULL;
 static net_on_close netcb_on_close = NULL;
 
-
-
 // libevent callbacks
 
+
+// Like evbuffer_readln, but read into an existing string instead of allocating a new one.
+// Return 1 if a line ending was found and the line was read completely.
+// Return 2 if a line ending was found but the line was read only partially (longer than maxread-1).
+// Return 0 if no line ending not found within the buffer.
+int net_evbuffer_readln(struct evbuffer *buffer, char *line, size_t maxread, size_t * read_out, enum evbuffer_eol_style eol_style) {
+	struct evbuffer_ptr it;
+	size_t read_len=0, eol_len=0;
+
+	it = evbuffer_search_eol(buffer, NULL, &eol_len, eol_style);
+	if (it.pos < 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	read_len = min(maxread-1, it.pos);
+
+	if(read_out)
+		*read_out = read_len;
+
+	evbuffer_remove(buffer, line, read_len);
+	line[read_len] = '\0';
+
+	// Eat EOL if we have read all bytes before it
+	if(read_len == it.pos) {
+		evbuffer_drain(buffer, eol_len);
+		return 1;
+	} else {
+		return 2;
+	}
+}
+
 static void netev_on_read(struct bufferevent *bev, void *ctx) {
 	struct evbuffer *input;
-	char *line;
-	size_t n;
 	NetClient *client = ctx;
+	int r = 0;
 
 	input = bufferevent_get_input(bev);
 
 	// Change while->if for less throughput but more fair pixel distribution across client connections.
-	while ((line = evbuffer_readln(input, &n, EVBUFFER_EOL_LF))) {
+	while ((r = net_evbuffer_readln(input, line_buffer, NET_MAX_LINE, NULL, EVBUFFER_EOL_LF)) == 1) {
-		(*netcb_on_read)(client, line);
+		(*netcb_on_read)(client, line_buffer);
-		free(line);
 	}
 
-	if (evbuffer_get_length(input) >= NET_MAX_LINE) {
+	if (r == 2) {
 		net_err(client, "Line to long");
 	}
 }
 
+
 static void netev_on_write(struct bufferevent *bev, void *arg) {
 	NetClient *client = arg;
 
-	if (client->state == NET_CSTATE_CLOSING && evbuffer_get_length(bufferevent_get_output(bev)) == 0) {
+	if (client->state == NET_CSTATE_CLOSING
+			&& evbuffer_get_length(bufferevent_get_output(bev)) == 0) {
 
 		if (netcb_on_close)
 			(*netcb_on_close)(client, 0);
@@ -114,10 +147,12 @@ static void on_accept(evutil_socket_t listener, short event, void *arg) {
 		}
 
 		client->sock_fd = fd;
-		client->buf_ev = bufferevent_socket_new(base, fd, BEV_OPT_CLOSE_ON_FREE);
+		client->buf_ev = bufferevent_socket_new(base, fd,
+				BEV_OPT_CLOSE_ON_FREE);
 
 		evutil_make_socket_nonblocking(fd);
-		bufferevent_setcb(client->buf_ev, netev_on_read, netev_on_write, netev_on_error, client);
+		bufferevent_setcb(client->buf_ev, netev_on_read, netev_on_write,
+				netev_on_error, client);
 		bufferevent_setwatermark(client->buf_ev, EV_READ, 0, NET_MAX_BUFFER);
 
 		if (netcb_on_connect)
@@ -128,14 +163,16 @@ static void on_accept(evutil_socket_t listener, short event, void *arg) {
 	}
 }
 
-
 // Public functions
 
-void net_start(int port, net_on_connect on_connect, net_on_read on_read, net_on_close on_close) {
+void net_start(int port, net_on_connect on_connect, net_on_read on_read,
+		net_on_close on_close) {
 	evutil_socket_t listener;
 	struct sockaddr_in sin;
 	struct event *listener_event;
 
+	line_buffer = malloc(sizeof(char)*NET_MAX_LINE);
+
 	evthread_use_pthreads();
 
 	//setvbuf(stdout, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
@@ -165,17 +202,20 @@ void net_start(int port, net_on_connect on_connect, net_on_read on_read, net_on_
 		err(1, "listen failed");
 	}
 
-	listener_event = event_new(base, listener, EV_READ | EV_PERSIST, on_accept, (void*) base);
+	listener_event = event_new(base, listener, EV_READ | EV_PERSIST, on_accept,
+			(void*) base);
 	event_add(listener_event, NULL);
 
 	event_base_dispatch(base);
 }
 
-
 void net_stop() {
 	event_base_loopbreak(base);
+	if(line_buffer) {
+		free(line_buffer);
+		line_buffer = NULL;
+	}
 }
-
 
 void net_send(NetClient *client, const char * msg) {
 	struct evbuffer *output = bufferevent_get_output(client->buf_ev);