rcu: Precompute RCU_FAST_NO_HZ timer offsets
When a CPU is entering dyntick-idle mode, tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick() calls rcu_needs_cpu() see if RCU needs that CPU, and, if not, computes the next wakeup time based on the timer wheels. Only later, when actually entering the idle loop, rcu_prepare_for_idle() will be invoked. In some cases, rcu_prepare_for_idle() will post timers to wake the CPU back up. But all for naught: The next wakeup time for the CPU has already been computed, and posting a timer afterwards does not force that wakeup time to be recomputed. This means that rcu_prepare_for_idle()'s have no effect. This is not a problem on a busy system because something else will wake up the CPU soon enough. However, on lightly loaded systems, the CPU might stay asleep for a considerable length of time. If that CPU has a callback that the rest of the system is waiting on, the system might run very slowly or (in theory) even hang. This commit avoids this problem by having rcu_needs_cpu() give tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick() an estimate of when RCU will need the CPU to wake back up, which tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick() takes into account when programming the CPU's wakeup time. An alternative approach is for rcu_prepare_for_idle() to use hrtimers instead of normal timers, but timers are much more efficient than are hrtimers for frequently and repeatedly posting and cancelling a given timer, which is exactly what RCU_FAST_NO_HZ does. Reported-by: Pascal Chapperon <pascal.chapperon@wanadoo.fr> Reported-by: Heiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@de.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paul.mckenney@linaro.org> Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Tested-by: Heiko Carstens <heiko.carstens@de.ibm.com> Tested-by: Pascal Chapperon <pascal.chapperon@wanadoo.fr>
Showing
Please register or sign in to comment