* Quan Xu <quan.xu0@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> On 2017/11/13 23:08, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> > * Quan Xu <quan.xu04@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Quan Xu <quan.xu0@xxxxxxxxx>
> > >
> > > To reduce the cost of poll, we introduce three sysctl to control the
> > > poll time when running as a virtual machine with paravirt.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Yang Zhang <yang.zhang.wz@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > Signed-off-by: Quan Xu <quan.xu0@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > ---
> > > Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > > arch/x86/kernel/paravirt.c | 4 ++++
> > > include/linux/kernel.h | 6 ++++++
> > > kernel/sysctl.c | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > > 4 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
> > >
> > > diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
> > > index 694968c..30c25fb 100644
> > > --- a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
> > > +++ b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
> > > @@ -714,6 +714,41 @@ kernel tries to allocate a number starting from this one.
> > > ==============================================================
> > > +paravirt_poll_grow: (X86 only)
> > > +
> > > +Multiplied value to increase the poll time. This is expected to take
> > > +effect only when running as a virtual machine with CONFIG_PARAVIRT
> > > +enabled. This can't bring any benifit on bare mental even with
> > > +CONFIG_PARAVIRT enabled.
> > > +
> > > +By default this value is 2. Possible values to set are in range {2..16}.
> > > +
> > > +==============================================================
> > > +
> > > +paravirt_poll_shrink: (X86 only)
> > > +
> > > +Divided value to reduce the poll time. This is expected to take effect
> > > +only when running as a virtual machine with CONFIG_PARAVIRT enabled.
> > > +This can't bring any benifit on bare mental even with CONFIG_PARAVIRT
> > > +enabled.
> > > +
> > > +By default this value is 2. Possible values to set are in range {2..16}.
> > > +
> > > +==============================================================
> > > +
> > > +paravirt_poll_threshold_ns: (X86 only)
> > > +
> > > +Controls the maximum poll time before entering real idle path. This is
> > > +expected to take effect only when running as a virtual machine with
> > > +CONFIG_PARAVIRT enabled. This can't bring any benifit on bare mental
> > > +even with CONFIG_PARAVIRT enabled.
> > > +
> > > +By default, this value is 0 means not to poll. Possible values to set
> > > +are in range {0..500000}. Change the value to non-zero if running
> > > +latency-bound workloads in a virtual machine.
> > I absolutely hate it how this hybrid idle loop polling mechanism is not
> > self-tuning!
>
> Ingo, actually it is self-tuning..
Then why the hell does it touch the syscall ABI?
> could I only leave paravirt_poll_threshold_ns parameter (the maximum poll time),
> which is as similar as "adaptive halt-polling" Wanpeng mentioned.. then user can
> turn it off, or find an appropriate threshold for some odd scenario..
That way lies utter madness. Maybe add it as a debugfs knob, but exposing it to
userspace: NAK.
Thanks,
Ingo
