diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/RCU/torture.txt | 10 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/timers/NO_HZ.txt | 44 |
2 files changed, 44 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt b/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt index d8a502387397..dac02a6219b1 100644 --- a/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt +++ b/Documentation/RCU/torture.txt @@ -42,6 +42,16 @@ fqs_holdoff Holdoff time (in microseconds) between consecutive calls fqs_stutter Wait time (in seconds) between consecutive bursts of calls to force_quiescent_state(). +gp_normal Make the fake writers use normal synchronous grace-period + primitives. + +gp_exp Make the fake writers use expedited synchronous grace-period + primitives. If both gp_normal and gp_exp are set, or + if neither gp_normal nor gp_exp are set, then randomly + choose the primitive so that about 50% are normal and + 50% expedited. By default, neither are set, which + gives best overall test coverage. + irqreader Says to invoke RCU readers from irq level. This is currently done via timers. Defaults to "1" for variants of RCU that permit this. (Or, more accurately, variants of RCU that do diff --git a/Documentation/timers/NO_HZ.txt b/Documentation/timers/NO_HZ.txt index 88697584242b..cca122f25120 100644 --- a/Documentation/timers/NO_HZ.txt +++ b/Documentation/timers/NO_HZ.txt @@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ There are three main ways of managing scheduling-clock interrupts workloads, you will normally -not- want this option. These three cases are described in the following three sections, followed -by a third section on RCU-specific considerations and a fourth and final -section listing known issues. +by a third section on RCU-specific considerations, a fourth section +discussing testing, and a fifth and final section listing known issues. NEVER OMIT SCHEDULING-CLOCK TICKS @@ -121,14 +121,15 @@ boot parameter specifies the adaptive-ticks CPUs. For example, "nohz_full=1,6-8" says that CPUs 1, 6, 7, and 8 are to be adaptive-ticks CPUs. Note that you are prohibited from marking all of the CPUs as adaptive-tick CPUs: At least one non-adaptive-tick CPU must remain -online to handle timekeeping tasks in order to ensure that system calls -like gettimeofday() returns accurate values on adaptive-tick CPUs. -(This is not an issue for CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y because there are no -running user processes to observe slight drifts in clock rate.) -Therefore, the boot CPU is prohibited from entering adaptive-ticks -mode. Specifying a "nohz_full=" mask that includes the boot CPU will -result in a boot-time error message, and the boot CPU will be removed -from the mask. +online to handle timekeeping tasks in order to ensure that system +calls like gettimeofday() returns accurate values on adaptive-tick CPUs. +(This is not an issue for CONFIG_NO_HZ_IDLE=y because there are no running +user processes to observe slight drifts in clock rate.) Therefore, the +boot CPU is prohibited from entering adaptive-ticks mode. Specifying a +"nohz_full=" mask that includes the boot CPU will result in a boot-time +error message, and the boot CPU will be removed from the mask. Note that +this means that your system must have at least two CPUs in order for +CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL=y to do anything for you. Alternatively, the CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL_ALL=y Kconfig parameter specifies that all CPUs other than the boot CPU are adaptive-ticks CPUs. This @@ -232,6 +233,29 @@ scheduler will decide where to run them, which might or might not be where you want them to run. +TESTING + +So you enable all the OS-jitter features described in this document, +but do not see any change in your workload's behavior. Is this because +your workload isn't affected that much by OS jitter, or is it because +something else is in the way? This section helps answer this question +by providing a simple OS-jitter test suite, which is available on branch +master of the following git archive: + +git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/frederic/dynticks-testing.git + +Clone this archive and follow the instructions in the README file. +This test procedure will produce a trace that will allow you to evaluate +whether or not you have succeeded in removing OS jitter from your system. +If this trace shows that you have removed OS jitter as much as is +possible, then you can conclude that your workload is not all that +sensitive to OS jitter. + +Note: this test requires that your system have at least two CPUs. +We do not currently have a good way to remove OS jitter from single-CPU +systems. + + KNOWN ISSUES o Dyntick-idle slows transitions to and from idle slightly. |