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author | J. Bruce Fields <bfields@citi.umich.edu> | 2008-02-07 00:13:37 -0800 |
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committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@woody.linux-foundation.org> | 2008-02-07 08:42:17 -0800 |
commit | 9b8eae7248dad42091204f83ed3448e661456af1 (patch) | |
tree | 1e300d41f8aaa9c258c179024ba63799a79f5a6f /Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt | |
parent | d3cf91d0e201962a6367191e5926f5b0920b0339 (diff) | |
download | linux-stable-9b8eae7248dad42091204f83ed3448e661456af1.tar.gz linux-stable-9b8eae7248dad42091204f83ed3448e661456af1.tar.bz2 linux-stable-9b8eae7248dad42091204f83ed3448e661456af1.zip |
Documentation: create new scheduler/ subdirectory
The top-level Documentation/ directory is unmanageably large, so we
should take any obvious opportunities to move stuff into subdirectories.
These sched-*.txt files seem an obvious easy case.
Signed-off-by: J. Bruce Fields <bfields@citi.umich.edu>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Acked-by: Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt | 89 |
1 files changed, 89 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..941615a9769b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-arch.txt @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ + CPU Scheduler implementation hints for architecture specific code + + Nick Piggin, 2005 + +Context switch +============== +1. Runqueue locking +By default, the switch_to arch function is called with the runqueue +locked. This is usually not a problem unless switch_to may need to +take the runqueue lock. This is usually due to a wake up operation in +the context switch. See include/asm-ia64/system.h for an example. + +To request the scheduler call switch_to with the runqueue unlocked, +you must `#define __ARCH_WANT_UNLOCKED_CTXSW` in a header file +(typically the one where switch_to is defined). + +Unlocked context switches introduce only a very minor performance +penalty to the core scheduler implementation in the CONFIG_SMP case. + +2. Interrupt status +By default, the switch_to arch function is called with interrupts +disabled. Interrupts may be enabled over the call if it is likely to +introduce a significant interrupt latency by adding the line +`#define __ARCH_WANT_INTERRUPTS_ON_CTXSW` in the same place as for +unlocked context switches. This define also implies +`__ARCH_WANT_UNLOCKED_CTXSW`. See include/asm-arm/system.h for an +example. + + +CPU idle +======== +Your cpu_idle routines need to obey the following rules: + +1. Preempt should now disabled over idle routines. Should only + be enabled to call schedule() then disabled again. + +2. need_resched/TIF_NEED_RESCHED is only ever set, and will never + be cleared until the running task has called schedule(). Idle + threads need only ever query need_resched, and may never set or + clear it. + +3. When cpu_idle finds (need_resched() == 'true'), it should call + schedule(). It should not call schedule() otherwise. + +4. The only time interrupts need to be disabled when checking + need_resched is if we are about to sleep the processor until + the next interrupt (this doesn't provide any protection of + need_resched, it prevents losing an interrupt). + + 4a. Common problem with this type of sleep appears to be: + local_irq_disable(); + if (!need_resched()) { + local_irq_enable(); + *** resched interrupt arrives here *** + __asm__("sleep until next interrupt"); + } + +5. TIF_POLLING_NRFLAG can be set by idle routines that do not + need an interrupt to wake them up when need_resched goes high. + In other words, they must be periodically polling need_resched, + although it may be reasonable to do some background work or enter + a low CPU priority. + + 5a. If TIF_POLLING_NRFLAG is set, and we do decide to enter + an interrupt sleep, it needs to be cleared then a memory + barrier issued (followed by a test of need_resched with + interrupts disabled, as explained in 3). + +arch/i386/kernel/process.c has examples of both polling and +sleeping idle functions. + + +Possible arch/ problems +======================= + +Possible arch problems I found (and either tried to fix or didn't): + +h8300 - Is such sleeping racy vs interrupts? (See #4a). + The H8/300 manual I found indicates yes, however disabling IRQs + over the sleep mean only NMIs can wake it up, so can't fix easily + without doing spin waiting. + +ia64 - is safe_halt call racy vs interrupts? (does it sleep?) (See #4a) + +sh64 - Is sleeping racy vs interrupts? (See #4a) + +sparc - IRQs on at this point(?), change local_irq_save to _disable. + - TODO: needs secondary CPUs to disable preempt (See #1) + |