BENCHMARKS.md

@@ -528,11 +528,11 @@ What this shows:
     (about 880 MB/s) while h5py processes reach 4424 MB/s. Hyperslab
     reads, which bypass the `File`'s chunk cache, keep scaling, so the
     cache (one mutex and one 16 MiB budget per `File`, thrashed by 64 MiB
-    datasets) is the suspect. **Fixed after these measurements
+    datasets) is the suspect. The cause of the `--decode-threads 1`
-    (2026-09-26); the table above predates the fix and has not been
+    ceiling was not the cache: every full read queued its chunks for the
-    re-measured.** The cause was not the cache: with `--decode-threads 1`
+    pool's single rayon worker. That case was fixed after these
-    every full read queued its chunks for the pool's single rayon worker;
+    measurements (2026-09-26, not yet re-measured here). With the default
-    see `docs/known-issues.md`.
+    pool the gap to h5py processes remains (see `docs/known-issues.md`).
   - *Contiguous reads are slow*: 2.5 GB/s for a single-threaded full read
     against h5py's 9.8 GB/s (0.25x), and 0.12x for 256 x 256 hyperslabs.
     Threads close the gap (about 1.0x h5py at 16), but single-thread

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
   (`clawhdf5_format::parallel_read::pool_can_parallelise`). The `File`'s
   chunk cache, the suspect in `docs/known-issues.md`, was not the cause:
   reads of datasets larger than its budget already skipped inserting, and
-  its lookups cost a few percent at 16 threads.
+  its lookups cost a few percent at 16 threads. Throughput with the default
+  pool is unchanged, and still short of an h5py process pool.
 
 ### Plugin filters (2026-09-26)
 - **LZF, bitshuffle, bzip2 and Blosc read and write, in pure Rust.** Files

docs/known-issues.md

@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ deleting it.
 
 ## Concurrent and contiguous read performance (measured 2026-09-26)
 
-**Status:** first bullet fixed (2026-09-26), second open. Measured on
+**Status:** open; one cause of the first bullet fixed (2026-09-26). Measured on
 tank with `concurrent_read` against h5py 3.16 / HDF5 2.0 (`BENCHMARKS.md`,
 "Concurrent reads"):
-- **Fixed 2026-09-26.** Full reads of chunked datasets from several threads
+- **Partly fixed 2026-09-26.** Full reads of chunked datasets from several threads
   through one `File` stop scaling at about 4 threads (880 MB/s on deflate
   data vs 4424 MB/s for 16 h5py processes). Hyperslab reads, which skip the
   chunk cache, scale to 1244 MB/s, so the `File`'s shared chunk cache is the
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ tank with `concurrent_read` against h5py 3.16 / HDF5 2.0 (`BENCHMARKS.md`,
   worker (per-thread CPU time: one thread did all the decoding, the 16
   readers almost none). Hyperslab reads touch one chunk each and never used
   the pool. Reads now decode on the calling thread when the pool has one
-  thread (`tests/single_thread_decode_pool.rs`). Datasets larger than the
+  thread (`tests/single_thread_decode_pool.rs`). **Still open:** this
+  fixes only a one-thread pool. With the default pool, 16 reader threads
+  ran at about 2900 MB/s before and after the change, still short of 16
+  h5py processes (4424 MB/s); with a small pool (2-4 threads) readers
+  outside it still wait on its workers. Datasets larger than the
   cache's budget were already read without inserting into it, and skipping
   its lookups entirely gained only a few percent at 16 threads. Remaining
   per-read overhead, not yet addressed: each full `read_f32` of a chunked