From 26ab9ef9082892530be9272d64c998a17b757fdb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tam Nguyen Duc <1218621+tamnd@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:48:59 +0700
Subject: [PATCH] Cut the scan finer now the pool keeps its workers

---
 bench/budgets.toml        | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 crates/zu-exec/src/run.rs | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++-------
 2 files changed, 37 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bench/budgets.toml b/bench/budgets.toml
index 27df5381..8e32e9dc 100644
--- a/bench/budgets.toml
+++ b/bench/budgets.toml
@@ -705,6 +705,22 @@ vec_unpack_gvals_s = 0.9
 # worker times moved 2 percent the wrong way on both, which is a
 # single worker run not going near the pool at all. The same box
 # measured 3.6 to 3.7x when the note above was written.
+#
+# With the pool no longer losing a worker it was worth asking again how
+# finely the scan should be cut, since the note in make_morsels saying
+# sixteen morsels a worker gave nothing over eight was written while a
+# query asking for eight hands was running on seven. Thirty two a
+# worker, over eight paired alternating runs on the same box: the
+# expand query 1.03 ms to 0.93 at eight workers in seven of the eight
+# pairs, 5.4x to 5.9x, and the scan query 0.62 ms to 0.60. The single
+# worker times moved with them, the scan by five percent in eight of
+# eight, and one worker has no tail and nothing to contend over, so a
+# shorter morsel is buying cache as well as balance: it is a pass over
+# rows that are still warm when the next operator above the scan asks
+# for them. The groupby bench agreed at eight workers over three runs
+# apiece, 28.3 ms to 26.6 on the hundred thousand group shape, 8.4 to
+# 7.2 on the twelve group one and 32.5 to 27.9 on the string key, all
+# of them unmoved at one worker.
 exec_scale_8x = 2.0
 
 # The grouping sink at one worker, M rows/s (perf/05 section 4): ten
diff --git a/crates/zu-exec/src/run.rs b/crates/zu-exec/src/run.rs
index 5519544a..b7e9fa16 100644
--- a/crates/zu-exec/src/run.rs
+++ b/crates/zu-exec/src/run.rs
@@ -949,19 +949,33 @@ fn intersects(plan: &ExecPlan) -> bool {
     plan.ops.iter().any(|op| matches!(op, Op::Intersect { .. }))
 }
 
-/// Splits the scan into morsels: chunk-multiple sizes targeting eight
-/// morsels per worker, never crossing a storage group boundary so a
+/// Splits the scan into morsels: chunk-multiple sizes targeting thirty
+/// two morsels per worker, never crossing a storage group boundary so a
 /// morsel's CSR pins and zone reads stay within one group.
 ///
-/// Eight rather than four because the tail decides the query: on a
+/// Many rather than few because the tail decides the query: on a
 /// machine with slow and fast cores the slow worker picks up a last
 /// morsel nobody else can finish for it, so the whole query waits on
 /// one morsel's worth of rows. Halving the morsel halves that tail.
-/// Sixteen per worker gave nothing back over eight, so the claim
-/// traffic starts costing what the shorter tail saves somewhere in
-/// between.
+/// This used to be eight, on a measurement saying sixteen gave nothing
+/// back over it, but that was taken while the pool was still losing a
+/// worker to a lost wakeup, and a query running on seven hands when it
+/// asked for eight is not measuring how well eight of them balance.
+/// With the pool fixed, thirty two beat eight over eight paired runs on
+/// a quiet 32 core box: the expand query went 1.03 ms to 0.93 ms at
+/// eight workers in seven of the eight pairs, and 5.4x scaling to 5.9x.
+///
+/// The single worker figures moved with them, the scan by five percent
+/// over eight pairs of eight, and one worker has no tail and no claim to
+/// contend over. So this is not only balance. A morsel is a pass over
+/// its rows by every operator above the scan in turn, and a shorter one
+/// is a pass whose rows are still in cache when the next operator asks
+/// for them. Thirty two of them at ten million rows and eight workers is
+/// about forty thousand rows a morsel, which is where that starts to
+/// tell. The claim traffic that pays for it is one `fetch_add` a morsel
+/// against work that is tens of microseconds.
 fn make_morsels(rows: u64, workers: usize) -> Vec<(u64, u64)> {
-    split_morsels(rows, rows / (workers as u64 * 8))
+    split_morsels(rows, rows / (workers as u64 * 32))
 }
 
 /// The same tiling with the morsel size asked for rather than derived