DEV: Implement a faster Discourse.cache

This is a bottom up rewrite of Discourse cache to support faster performance
and a limited surface area.

ActiveSupport::Cache::Store accepts many options we do not use, this partial
implementation only picks the bits out that we do use and want to support.

Additionally params are named which avoids typos such as "expires_at" vs "expires_in"

This also moves a few spots in Discourse to use Discourse.cache over setex
Performance of setex and Discourse.cache.write is similar.

app/controllers/email_controller.rb

@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ class EmailController < ApplicationController
     else
 
       key = "unsub_#{SecureRandom.hex}"
-      $redis.setex key, 1.hour, user.email
+      Discourse.cache.write key, user.email, expires_in: 1.hour
 
       url = path("/email/unsubscribed?key=#{key}")
       if topic
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ class EmailController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def unsubscribed
-    @email = $redis.get(params[:key])
+    @email = Discourse.cache.read(params[:key])
     @topic_id = params[:topic_id]
     user = User.find_by_email(@email)
     raise Discourse::NotFound unless user

app/models/discourse_single_sign_on.rb

@@ -27,21 +27,21 @@ class DiscourseSingleSignOn < SingleSignOn
 
   def register_nonce(return_path)
     if nonce
-      $redis.setex(nonce_key, SingleSignOn.nonce_expiry_time, return_path)
+      Discourse.cache.write(nonce_key, return_path, expires_in: SingleSignOn.nonce_expiry_time)
     end
   end
 
   def nonce_valid?
-    nonce && $redis.get(nonce_key).present?
+    nonce && Discourse.cache.read(nonce_key).present?
   end
 
   def return_path
-    $redis.get(nonce_key) || "/"
+    Discourse.cache.read(nonce_key) || "/"
   end
 
   def expire_nonce!
     if nonce
-      $redis.del nonce_key
+      Discourse.cache.delete nonce_key
     end
   end
 

app/models/report.rb

@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ class Report
   end
 
   def self.cache(report, duration)
-    Discourse.cache.write(cache_key(report), report.as_json, force: true, expires_in: duration)
+    Discourse.cache.write(cache_key(report), report.as_json, expires_in: duration)
   end
 
   def self.find(type, opts = nil)

lib/cache.rb

@@ -1,8 +1,20 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
-# Discourse specific cache, enforces 1 day expiry
+# Discourse specific cache, enforces 1 day expiry by default
 
-class Cache < ActiveSupport::Cache::Store
+# This is a bottom up implementation of ActiveSupport::Cache::Store
+# this allows us to cleanly implement without using cache entries and version
+# support which we do not use, in tern this makes the cache as fast as simply
+# using `$redis.setex` with a more convenient API
+#
+# It only implements a subset of ActiveSupport::Cache::Store as we make no use
+# of large parts of the interface.
+#
+# An additional advantage of this class is that all methods have named params
+# Rails tends to use options hash for lots of stuff due to legacy reasons
+# this makes it harder to reason about the API
+
+class Cache
 
   # nothing is cached for longer than 1 day EVER
   # there is no reason to have data older than this clogging redis
@@ -10,9 +22,14 @@ class Cache < ActiveSupport::Cache::Store
   # pointless data
   MAX_CACHE_AGE = 1.day unless defined? MAX_CACHE_AGE
 
-  def initialize(opts = {})
-    @namespace = opts[:namespace] || "_CACHE_"
-    super(opts)
+  # we don't need this feature, 1 day expiry is enough
+  # it makes lookups a tad cheaper
+  def self.supports_cache_versioning?
+    false
+  end
+
+  def initialize(namespace: "_CACHE")
+    @namespace = namespace
   end
 
   def redis
@@ -33,30 +50,82 @@ class Cache < ActiveSupport::Cache::Store
     end
   end
 
-  def normalize_key(key, opts = nil)
+  def normalize_key(key)
     "#{@namespace}:#{key}"
   end
 
+  def exist?(name)
+    key = normalize_key(name)
+    redis.exists(key)
+  end
+
+  # this removes a bunch of stuff we do not need like instrumentation and versioning
+  def read(name)
+    key = normalize_key(name)
+    read_entry(key)
+  end
+
+  def write(name, value, expires_in: nil)
+    write_entry(normalize_key(name), value, expires_in: nil)
+  end
+
+  def delete(name)
+    redis.del(normalize_key(name))
+  end
+
+  def fetch(name, expires_in: nil, force: nil, &blk)
+    if block_given?
+      key = normalize_key(name)
+      raw = nil
+
+      if !force
+        raw = redis.get(key)
+      end
+
+      if raw
+        begin
+          Marshal.load(raw)
+        rescue => e
+          log_first_exception(e)
+        end
+      else
+        val = blk.call
+        write_entry(key, val, expires_in: expires_in)
+        val
+      end
+    elsif force
+      raise ArgumentError, "Missing block: Calling `Cache#fetch` with `force: true` requires a block."
+    else
+      read(name)
+    end
+  end
+
   protected
 
-  def read_entry(key, options)
-    if data = redis.get(key)
-      data = Marshal.load(data)
-      ActiveSupport::Cache::Entry.new data
+  def log_first_exception(e)
+    if !defined? @logged_a_warning
+      @logged_a_warning = true
+      Discourse.warn_exception(e, "Corrupt cache... skipping entry for key #{key}")
     end
-  rescue
-    # corrupt cache, fail silently for now, remove rescue later
   end
 
-  def write_entry(key, entry, options)
-    dumped = Marshal.dump(entry.value)
-    expiry = options[:expires_in] || MAX_CACHE_AGE
+  def read_entry(key)
+    if data = redis.get(key)
+      Marshal.load(data)
+    end
+  rescue => e
+    # corrupt cache, this can happen if Marshal version
+    # changes. Log it once so we can tell it is happening.
+    # should not happen under any normal circumstances, but we
+    # do not want to flood logs
+    log_first_exception(e)
+  end
+
+  def write_entry(key, value, expires_in: nil)
+    dumped = Marshal.dump(value)
+    expiry = expires_in || MAX_CACHE_AGE
     redis.setex(key, expiry, dumped)
     true
   end
 
-  def delete_entry(key, options)
-    redis.del key
-  end
-
 end

lib/discourse_tagging.rb

@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ module DiscourseTagging
   end
 
   def self.staff_tag_names
-    tag_names = Discourse.cache.read(TAGS_STAFF_CACHE_KEY, tag_names)
+    tag_names = Discourse.cache.read(TAGS_STAFF_CACHE_KEY)
 
     if !tag_names
       tag_names = Tag.joins(tag_groups: :tag_group_permissions)

script/benchmarks/cache/bench.rb

@@ -79,3 +79,17 @@ end
 # redis get string marshal:    12789.2 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
 # Rails read cache string:    10486.4 i/s - 1.25x  slower
 # Discourse read cache string:    10457.1 i/s - 1.26x  slower
+#
+# After Cache re-write
+#
+# Comparison:
+#   redis setex string:    13390.9 i/s
+# redis setex marshal string:    13202.0 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
+# Discourse cache string:    12406.5 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
+#   Rails cache string:    12289.2 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
+#
+# Comparison:
+#     redis get string:    13589.6 i/s
+# redis get string marshal:    13118.3 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
+# Rails read cache string:    12482.2 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error
+# Discourse read cache string:    12296.8 i/s - same-ish: difference falls within error

spec/components/cache_spec.rb

@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ describe Cache do
     Cache.new
   end
 
+  it "supports exist?" do
+    cache.write("testing", 1.1)
+    expect(cache.exist?("testing")).to eq(true)
+    expect(cache.exist?(SecureRandom.hex)).to eq(false)
+  end
+
   it "supports float" do
     cache.write("float", 1.1)
     expect(cache.read("float")).to eq(1.1)
@@ -36,10 +42,14 @@ describe Cache do
   end
 
   it "can delete correctly" do
+    cache.delete("key")
+
     cache.fetch("key", expires_in: 1.minute) do
       "test"
     end
 
+    expect(cache.fetch("key")).to eq("test")
+
     cache.delete("key")
     expect(cache.fetch("key")).to eq(nil)
   end
@@ -69,6 +79,7 @@ describe Cache do
     r = cache.fetch "key" do
       "bob"
     end
+
     expect(r).to eq("bob")
   end
 

spec/components/redis_store_spec.rb

@@ -44,6 +44,9 @@ describe "Redis Store" do
   end
 
   it "can be cleared without clearing our cache" do
+    cache.clear
+    store.clear
+
     store.fetch "key" do
       "key in store"
     end
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ describe "Redis Store" do
     end
 
     store.clear
+
     expect(store.read("key")).to eq(nil)
     expect(cache.fetch("key")).to eq("key in cache")
 

spec/requests/email_controller_spec.rb

@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ RSpec.describe EmailController do
     describe 'when topic is public' do
       it 'should return the right response' do
         key = SecureRandom.hex
-        $redis.set(key, user.email)
+        Discourse.cache.write(key, user.email)
         get '/email/unsubscribed', params: { key: key, topic_id: topic.id }
         expect(response.status).to eq(200)
         expect(response.body).to include(topic.title)
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ RSpec.describe EmailController do
     describe 'when topic is private' do
       it 'should return the right response' do
         key = SecureRandom.hex
-        $redis.set(key, user.email)
+        Discourse.cache.write(key, user.email)
         get '/email/unsubscribed', params: { key: key, topic_id: private_topic.id }
         expect(response.status).to eq(200)
         expect(response.body).to_not include(private_topic.title)