Currently, it is not possible to view assignment tree in a different way than debug output, and there are no possibilities to change the settings during runtime. This patchset adds the ability for socket communication, creating an interface for users to change some settings during runtime (sleep interval, CPU and IRQ banning). Strings needed for retrieving data and setting changes are described in the first patch's commit message. The main purpose of this patchset is to create a simple user interface (using curses library). The user interface is added into configuration script and makefile and builds as a `irqbalance-ui` command. It uses aforementioned socket interface to communicate with irqbalance and allows user to view assignment tree, sleep interval, CPUs and IRQs that irqbalance is working with, and to setup irqbalance's settings (which was yet possible only with restarting). The user interface makes it possible for users to check how the IRQs are balanced in given moment (refresh interval of assignment tree is set to 5s) and to easily change irqbalance's settings in case the requirements change later. The socket interface iteslf can also be used for scripting (eg automatic banning depending on load), which can be useful for system administrators for various optimizations. Current plans for future development include unicode / ASCII signs in tree based on locale settings, lspci and /proc/interrupts integration for IRQ source information (eg device or kernel driver names) and displaying generic load of CPUs. Ideas for other enhancements are welcome. The patches are also available as `ui_v2` branch at GitHub: https://github.com/veruu/irqbalance/tree/ui_v2 ** Changes since v1 ** 1) Addressing Neil's comments: > I like the idea of what you are adding, but some initial comments: > > 1) Setting a fixed socket address limits people to a single irqbalance instance. > I know of a few cases in which multiple irqbalances may be run on different cpu > sets, and this would be in conflict with a single socket address. Suggest that > you use abstract namespace mode of AF_LOCAL using the irqbalance pid and a > standard string to create a unique path for each instance. > Fixed. I think having a unique path with regular UNIX sockets (based on PID as you said) should be enough, but I did implement abstract sockets as you suggested because of their advantages. Thanks for the idea! > 2) Security is an issue here. You've not restricted socket access at all, > meaning any user on the system can modify irqbalance behavior. Suggest that you > use SCM_CREDENTIALS socket option to limit access to root. AFAIK (and based on my testing), this is not an issue with normal UNIX sockets because non-root users don't have priviledges to connect to socket created by root. This doesn't work with abstract sockets and additional Security can never hurt, so a check for valid root credentials is done before accepting requests. 2) Document socket API in man page Veronika Kabatova (5): Add ability for socket communication Add helper functions for user interface Add user interface functionality Add main user interface files Add user interface to configuration and build, document socket API in man page Makefile.am | 8 +- configure.ac | 4 +- cputree.c | 9 +- irqbalance.1 | 29 +++ irqbalance.c | 286 +++++++++++++++++---- irqbalance.h | 4 + ui/helpers.c | 169 +++++++++++++ ui/helpers.h | 31 +++ ui/irqbalance-ui.c | 400 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ui/irqbalance-ui.h | 86 +++++++ ui/ui.c | 729 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ui/ui.h | 53 ++++ 12 files changed, 1748 insertions(+), 60 deletions(-) create mode 100644 ui/helpers.c create mode 100644 ui/helpers.h create mode 100644 ui/irqbalance-ui.c create mode 100644 ui/irqbalance-ui.h create mode 100644 ui/ui.c create mode 100644 ui/ui.h -- 2.7.4
