Force inlining of the serializer helpers only in optimized builds (#6117)

The seven serializer helpers marked JSON_HEDLEY_ALWAYS_INLINE are inlined
at -O0 as well, and GCC and Clang give every inlined copy its own stack
slots there. That made the recursive frame of dump_container() 2304 bytes
with Clang 21 (2048 with GCC 16), against 480 bytes in 3.12.0, so dump()
of a value nested beyond the default recursion depth limit needed 288 KiB
of stack in an unoptimized build and crashed in a 128 KiB musl thread.

Define JSON_INTERNAL_SERIALIZER_INLINE as JSON_HEDLEY_ALWAYS_INLINE when
__OPTIMIZE__ (or _MSC_VER) is defined and as plain inline otherwise, and
use it for these helpers. The frame drops to 320 bytes and dump() needs
48 KiB at the default limit. The -O2 object code is unchanged with Clang 21
and GCC 16.

Update the stack tables in json_recursion_depth_limit.md and
untrusted_input.md: copying and conversion are now the most demanding
operations at -O0.

Fixes #6116.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann authored and GitHub committed 2026-11-13 17:54:11 +01:00
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@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ comparison of two [`json_view`](../basic_json_view/index.md) documents has a fix
and does not depend on it either.
The call stack that these operations need grows with the limit: roughly *a few kilobytes plus a cost per level times the
limit*, where the cost per level is up to about 2.3 KiB in an unoptimized and up to about 0.5 KiB in an optimized build
limit*, where the cost per level is up to about 1.8 KiB in an unoptimized and up to about 0.5 KiB in an optimized build
(see [Stack needed](#stack-needed)). The default of `128` levels is tuned for threads with ordinary stacks of a few
hundred kilobytes or more. Set a lower limit if your threads have small stacks (RTOS tasks, fibers, threads of the musl
C
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ When the macro is not defined, the library defines it to its default value.
the levels that are descended into are counted, so the count never exceeds the limit, not even when user code (a
copy constructor of a custom base class, say) copies a value while a copy is going on. A byte holds `255` at
most, and the limit stays below that, so that the count cannot wrap around. (More levels would hardly be
useful: `254` levels need up to 576 KiB of stack in an unoptimized build already, twice as much as the
useful: `254` levels need up to 448 KiB of stack in an unoptimized build already, twice as much as the
default.)
### Stack needed
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ Unoptimized (`-O0`):
| Operation | limit 16 | limit 32 | limit 64 | limit 128 | limit 254 |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| `dump()` and `dump(indent)`, `operator<<` | 48 / 32 | 80 / 64 | 144 / 128 | 288 / 256 | 576 / 512 |
| `dump()` and `dump(indent)`, `operator<<` | 16 / 16 | 16 / 16 | 32 / 32 | 48 / 48 | 96 / 96 |
| copy construction and assignment | 32 / 16 | 48 / 32 | 112 / 80 | 224 / 144 | 432 / 304 |
| `==` | 16 / 16 | 16 / 16 | 16 / 16 | 48 / 32 | 96 / 48 |
| `<=>` (C++20) | 16 / 16 | 16 / 16 | 32 / 32 | 64 / 64 | 144 / 128 |
@@ -123,23 +123,24 @@ The rule of thumb is
> stack needed ≈ a few KiB + cost per level × limit
with a cost per level of up to 2.3 KiB (`dump` at `-O0` with Clang; 2.1 KiB with GCC), 1.7 KiB for copying and merging
(1.3 KiB with GCC), and 0.1 to 0.5 KiB for most other operations at `-O0`; and 0.5 KiB or less at `-O2`. The numbers
come from the difference between the limits `128` and `254` in the tables, so they are rough: other compilers,
other targets (the frames of x86-64 code are about as large), other standard libraries, `JSON_DIAGNOSTICS`, and
sanitizers change them. Measure with your own tool chain (see the example below) rather than relying on the tables.
The stack that your own code and the operating system need comes on top of these numbers.
with a cost per level of up to 1.8 KiB (conversion to another `basic_json` type at `-O0` with Clang; 1.3 KiB with
GCC), 1.7 KiB for copying and merging (1.3 KiB with GCC), 0.4 KiB for `dump`, and 0.1 to 0.5 KiB for most other
operations at `-O0`; and 0.5 KiB or less at `-O2`. The numbers come from the difference between the limits `128` and
`254` in the tables, so they are rough: other compilers, other targets (the frames of x86-64 code are about as large),
other standard libraries, `JSON_DIAGNOSTICS`, and sanitizers change them. Measure with your own tool chain (see the
example below) rather than relying on the tables. The stack that your own code and the operating system need comes on
top of these numbers.
Which limit to choose, for the stack that you can spare for the library (the largest limit of those measured
for which the slowest operation needs at most that much):
| Stack for the library | optimized (`-O2`) | unoptimized (`-O0`) |
|---|---:|---:|
| 32 KiB | 64 | 0 |
| 64 KiB | 128 | 16 |
| 128 KiB (the default stack of threads on musl) | 254 | 32 |
| 256 KiB | 254 | 64 |
| 512 KiB | 254 | 128 |
| 32 KiB | 64 | 16 |
| 64 KiB | 128 | 32 |
| 128 KiB (the default stack of threads on musl) | 254 | 64 |
| 256 KiB | 254 | 128 |
| 512 KiB | 254 | 254 |
| 1 MiB or more | 254 | 254 |
### Speed
@@ -64,13 +64,13 @@ stack for the nesting.)
The call stack still needs room for the levels that are recursed into, and the default limit assumes a stack of ordinary
size. The stack that an operation needs is roughly proportional to the limit; with the default of 128 levels, the most
demanding operation (`dump` in an unoptimized build) needed up to 288 KiB, and an optimized build needed 48 KiB or less,
in measurements on macOS with arm64. The most demanding operation needed this much stack at the limits `0`, `32`,
`128`, and `254`:
demanding operations (copying a value and converting it to another `basic_json` type, in an unoptimized build) needed
up to 224 KiB, and an optimized build needed 48 KiB or less, in measurements on macOS with arm64. The most demanding
operation needed this much stack at the limits `0`, `32`, `128`, and `254`:
| Stack needed, in KiB | limit 0 | limit 32 | limit 128 (default) | limit 254 |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| unoptimized build (`-O0`) | 16 or less | 80 | 288 | 576 |
| unoptimized build (`-O0`) | 16 or less | 64 | 224 | 448 |
| optimized build (`-O2`) | 16 or less | 16 or less | 48 | 112 |
A thread with a smaller stack (a task of a real-time operating system, a fiber, or a thread of the musl C library, whose