The following commit has been merged into the timers/core branch of tip: Commit-ID: 01679b5db7172b898be325ff272e10aebd412911 Gitweb: https://git.kernel.org/tip/01679b5db7172b898be325ff272e10aebd412911 Author: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> AuthorDate: Tue, 25 Apr 2023 20:49:11 +02:00 Committer: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> CommitterDate: Sun, 18 Jun 2023 22:41:50 +02:00 posix-timers: Document sys_clock_getres() correctly The decades old comment about Posix clock resolution is confusing at best. Remove it and add a proper explanation to sys_clock_getres(). Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Reviewed-by: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@xxxxxxxxxx> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230425183313.356427330@xxxxxxxxxxxxx --- kernel/time/posix-timers.c | 81 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 73 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c index 6ac6933..1acdd04 100644 --- a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c +++ b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c @@ -67,14 +67,6 @@ static const struct k_clock clock_realtime, clock_monotonic; * to implement others. This structure defines the various * clocks. * - * RESOLUTION: Clock resolution is used to round up timer and interval - * times, NOT to report clock times, which are reported with as - * much resolution as the system can muster. In some cases this - * resolution may depend on the underlying clock hardware and - * may not be quantifiable until run time, and only then is the - * necessary code is written. The standard says we should say - * something about this issue in the documentation... - * * FUNCTIONS: The CLOCKs structure defines possible functions to * handle various clock functions. * @@ -1198,6 +1190,79 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(clock_adjtime, const clockid_t, which_clock, return err; } +/** + * sys_clock_getres - Get the resolution of a clock + * @which_clock: The clock to get the resolution for + * @tp: Pointer to a a user space timespec64 for storage + * + * POSIX defines: + * + * "The clock_getres() function shall return the resolution of any + * clock. Clock resolutions are implementation-defined and cannot be set by + * a process. If the argument res is not NULL, the resolution of the + * specified clock shall be stored in the location pointed to by res. If + * res is NULL, the clock resolution is not returned. If the time argument + * of clock_settime() is not a multiple of res, then the value is truncated + * to a multiple of res." + * + * Due to the various hardware constraints the real resolution can vary + * wildly and even change during runtime when the underlying devices are + * replaced. The kernel also can use hardware devices with different + * resolutions for reading the time and for arming timers. + * + * The kernel therefore deviates from the POSIX spec in various aspects: + * + * 1) The resolution returned to user space + * + * For CLOCK_REALTIME, CLOCK_MONOTONIC, CLOCK_BOOTTIME, CLOCK_TAI, + * CLOCK_REALTIME_ALARM, CLOCK_BOOTTIME_ALAREM and CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW + * the kernel differentiates only two cases: + * + * I) Low resolution mode: + * + * When high resolution timers are disabled at compile or runtime + * the resolution returned is nanoseconds per tick, which represents + * the precision at which timers expire. + * + * II) High resolution mode: + * + * When high resolution timers are enabled the resolution returned + * is always one nanosecond independent of the actual resolution of + * the underlying hardware devices. + * + * For CLOCK_*_ALARM the actual resolution depends on system + * state. When system is running the resolution is the same as the + * resolution of the other clocks. During suspend the actual + * resolution is the resolution of the underlying RTC device which + * might be way less precise than the clockevent device used during + * running state. + * + * For CLOCK_REALTIME_COARSE and CLOCK_MONOTONIC_COARSE the resolution + * returned is always nanoseconds per tick. + * + * For CLOCK_PROCESS_CPUTIME and CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME the resolution + * returned is always one nanosecond under the assumption that the + * underlying scheduler clock has a better resolution than nanoseconds + * per tick. + * + * For dynamic POSIX clocks (PTP devices) the resolution returned is + * always one nanosecond. + * + * 2) Affect on sys_clock_settime() + * + * The kernel does not truncate the time which is handed in to + * sys_clock_settime(). The kernel internal timekeeping is always using + * nanoseconds precision independent of the clocksource device which is + * used to read the time from. The resolution of that device only + * affects the presicion of the time returned by sys_clock_gettime(). + * + * Returns: + * 0 Success. @tp contains the resolution + * -EINVAL @which_clock is not a valid clock ID + * -EFAULT Copying the resolution to @tp faulted + * -ENODEV Dynamic POSIX clock is not backed by a device + * -EOPNOTSUPP Dynamic POSIX clock does not support getres() + */ SYSCALL_DEFINE2(clock_getres, const clockid_t, which_clock, struct __kernel_timespec __user *, tp) {