feat: make "get providers" non-blocking when there are closer peers

Let's assume there's one (or zero) providers for a record and everyone
is looking for 10 providers.

- Before, peers would wait for all peers along the path to return this
  one provider. However, because there's only one provider, peers won't be
  able to short-circuit anyways.
- Now, peers will go to the end of the path before waiting.

This may make some queries slower, but it attempts to give "priority" to
peers that actually _need_ responses as opposed to peers that are
"optimistically" waiting for responses.

Author: Stebalien

handlers.go

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peer"
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peerstore"
+	kb "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-kbucket"
 	pstore "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-peerstore"
 
 	"github.com/gogo/protobuf/proto"
@@ -317,23 +318,46 @@ func (dht *IpfsDHT) handleGetProviders(ctx context.Context, p peer.ID, pmes *pb.
 
 	resp := pb.NewMessage(pmes.GetType(), pmes.GetKey(), pmes.GetClusterLevel())
 
+	// Find closer peers.
+	closer := dht.betterPeersToQuery(pmes, p, dht.bucketSize)
+	myBucket := true
+	if len(closer) > 0 {
+		// Fill out peer infos.
+		// TODO: pstore.PeerInfos should move to core (=> peerstore.AddrInfos).
+		infos := pstore.PeerInfos(dht.peerstore, closer)
+		resp.CloserPeers = pb.PeerInfosToPBPeers(dht.host.Network(), infos)
+
+		// If we have a full bucket of closer peers, check to see if _we're_ in the closest
+		// set.
+		if len(closer) >= dht.bucketSize {
+			// Check to see if _we're_ in the "close" bucket.
+			// If not, we _may_
+			peers := append(closer, dht.self)
+			peers = kb.SortClosestPeers(peers, kb.ConvertKey(string(pmes.GetKey())))
+			myBucket = peers[len(peers)-1] != dht.self
+		}
+	}
+
 	// setup providers
-	providers := dht.ProviderManager.GetProviders(ctx, key)
+	var providers []peer.ID
+	if myBucket {
+		// If we're in the closest set, block getting providers.
+		providers = dht.ProviderManager.GetProviders(ctx, key)
+	} else {
+		// Otherwise, don't block. The peer will find a closer peer.
+		var err error
+		providers, err = dht.ProviderManager.GetProvidersNonBlocking(ctx, key)
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.Debugw("dropping get providers requests", err)
+		}
+	}
 
 	if len(providers) > 0 {
 		// TODO: pstore.PeerInfos should move to core (=> peerstore.AddrInfos).
 		infos := pstore.PeerInfos(dht.peerstore, providers)
 		resp.ProviderPeers = pb.PeerInfosToPBPeers(dht.host.Network(), infos)
 	}
 
-	// Also send closer peers.
-	closer := dht.betterPeersToQuery(pmes, p, dht.bucketSize)
-	if closer != nil {
-		// TODO: pstore.PeerInfos should move to core (=> peerstore.AddrInfos).
-		infos := pstore.PeerInfos(dht.peerstore, closer)
-		resp.CloserPeers = pb.PeerInfosToPBPeers(dht.host.Network(), infos)
-	}
-
 	return resp, nil
 }
 

providers/providers_manager.go

@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ var lruCacheSize = 256
 var batchBufferSize = 256
 var log = logging.Logger("providers")
 var defaultProvideBufferSize = 256
+var defaultGetProvidersBufferSize = 16
+var defaultGetProvidersNonBlockingBufferSize = defaultGetProvidersBufferSize / 4
 
 // ProviderManager adds and pulls providers out of the datastore,
 // caching them in between
@@ -107,9 +109,7 @@ type getProv struct {
 func NewProviderManager(ctx context.Context, local peer.ID, dstore ds.Batching, opts ...Option) (*ProviderManager, error) {
 	pm := new(ProviderManager)
 	pm.nonBlocking = true
-	// buffer size of one to reduce context switching.
-	pm.getprovs = make(chan *getProv, 1)
-	// buffer so we can handle bursts.
+	pm.getprovs = make(chan *getProv, defaultGetProvidersBufferSize)
 	pm.newprovs = make(chan *addProv, defaultProvideBufferSize)
 	pm.dstore = autobatch.NewAutoBatching(dstore, batchBufferSize)
 	cache, err := lru.NewLRU(lruCacheSize, nil)
@@ -336,6 +336,38 @@ func (pm *ProviderManager) GetProviders(ctx context.Context, k []byte) []peer.ID
 	}
 }
 
+// GetProvidersNonBlocking returns the set of providers for the given key. If the "get providers"
+// queue is full, it returns immediately.
+//
+// This method _does not_ copy the set. Do not modify it.
+func (pm *ProviderManager) GetProvidersNonBlocking(ctx context.Context, k []byte) ([]peer.ID, error) {
+	// If we're "busy", don't even try. This is clearly racy, but it's mostly an "optimistic"
+	// check anyways and it should stabalize pretty quickly when we're under load.
+	//
+	// This helps leave some space for peers that actually need responses.
+	if len(pm.getprovs) > defaultGetProvidersNonBlockingBufferSize {
+		return nil, ErrWouldBlock
+	}
+
+	gp := &getProv{
+		key:  k,
+		resp: make(chan []peer.ID, 1), // buffered to prevent sender from blocking
+	}
+	select {
+	case pm.getprovs <- gp:
+	default:
+		return nil, ErrWouldBlock
+	}
+	select {
+	case <-pm.proc.Closing():
+		return nil, ErrClosing
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		return nil, ctx.Err()
+	case peers := <-gp.resp:
+		return peers, nil
+	}
+}
+
 func (pm *ProviderManager) getProvidersForKey(k []byte) ([]peer.ID, error) {
 	pset, err := pm.getProviderSetForKey(k)
 	if err != nil {