On Mon, Feb 24, 2020 at 09:10:18PM +0100, Maciej S. Szmigiero wrote: > (CC'ing also Marcelo as the cpuidle-haltpoll driver author and the KVM ML). Hi Maciej, > On 21.02.2020 18:43, Maciej S. Szmigiero wrote: > > From: "Maciej S. Szmigiero" <maciej.szmigiero@xxxxxxxxxx> > > > > Before commit 1328edca4a14 ("cpuidle-haltpoll: Enable kvm guest polling > > when dedicated physical CPUs are available") the cpuidle-haltpoll driver > > could also be used in scenarios when the host does not advertise the > > KVM_HINTS_REALTIME hint. > > > > While the behavior introduced by the aforementioned commit makes sense as > > the default It makes sense for the pCPU overcommitted case only. > > there are cases where the old behavior is desired, for example, > > when other kernel changes triggered by presence by this hint are unwanted, > > for some workloads where the latency benefit from polling overweights the > > loss from idle CPU capacity that otherwise would be available, or just when > > running under older Qemu versions that lack this hint. > > > > Let's provide a typical "force" module parameter that allows restoring the > > old behavior. > > > > Signed-off-by: Maciej S. Szmigiero <maciej.szmigiero@xxxxxxxxxx> I would rather: 1) Switch back to the default non-overcommitted case. or even better (but requires more investment) 2) Make on the flight dynamic configuration (after all pCPU overcommitment=true/false is a property that changes during the day, depending on system load). But its up to Paolo to decide, really. > > --- > > drivers/cpuidle/cpuidle-haltpoll.c | 12 +++++++++++- > > 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) > > > > diff --git a/drivers/cpuidle/cpuidle-haltpoll.c b/drivers/cpuidle/cpuidle-haltpoll.c > > index b0ce9bc78113..07e5b36076bb 100644 > > --- a/drivers/cpuidle/cpuidle-haltpoll.c > > +++ b/drivers/cpuidle/cpuidle-haltpoll.c > > @@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ > > #include <linux/kvm_para.h> > > #include <linux/cpuidle_haltpoll.h> > > > > +static bool force __read_mostly; > > +module_param(force, bool, 0444); > > +MODULE_PARM_DESC(force, > > + "Load even if the host does not provide the REALTIME hint"); > > + > > static struct cpuidle_device __percpu *haltpoll_cpuidle_devices; > > static enum cpuhp_state haltpoll_hp_state; > > > > @@ -90,6 +95,11 @@ static void haltpoll_uninit(void) > > haltpoll_cpuidle_devices = NULL; > > } > > > > +static bool haltpool_want(void) > > +{ > > + return kvm_para_has_hint(KVM_HINTS_REALTIME) || force; > > +} > > + > > static int __init haltpoll_init(void) > > { > > int ret; > > @@ -102,7 +112,7 @@ static int __init haltpoll_init(void) > > cpuidle_poll_state_init(drv); > > > > if (!kvm_para_available() || > > - !kvm_para_has_hint(KVM_HINTS_REALTIME)) > > + !haltpool_want()) > > return -ENODEV; > > > > ret = cpuidle_register_driver(drv); > >