2010-07-27 22:39:33

by Patrick Pannuto

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH 0/4 -tip] delay documentation and checkpatch additions

This patchset depends on:
commit 22b8f15c2f7130bb0386f548428df2ffd4e81903
Author: Patrick Pannuto <[email protected]>
Date: Mon Jul 19 15:09:26 2010 -0700

timer: Added usleep[_range] timer

on tip/master


The series first introduces some documentation explaining the various
linux delay mechanisms, and then adds some checkpatch rules to help
pick the most appropriate timer.


2010-07-27 22:39:34

by Patrick Pannuto

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH 3/4] Checkpatch: prefer usleep_range over usleep

In (almost) every case, usleep_range is better than
usleep, as the precise (ish) wakeup - more accurately
the extra interrupt - from usleep is unnecessary.

usleep_range gives a much better chance of coalescing
processor wakeups.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Pannuto <[email protected]>
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 5 +++++
1 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index e3625ac..0650ab9 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -2578,6 +2578,11 @@ sub process {
}
}

+# prefer usleep_range over usleep
+ if ($line =~ /\busleep\s*\(.+\);/) {
+ WARN("usleep_range is preferred over usleep; see Documentation/timers/delays.txt\n" . $line);
+ }
+
# warn about #ifdefs in C files
# if ($line =~ /^.\s*\#\s*if(|n)def/ && ($realfile =~ /\.c$/)) {
# print "#ifdef in C files should be avoided\n";
--
1.7.2

2010-07-27 22:39:36

by Patrick Pannuto

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH 4/4] Checkpatch: warn about unexpectedly long msleep's

As explained in Documentation/timers/delays.txt, msleep's
of < 20ms may sleep for as long as 20ms. Caller's of
msleep(1) or msleep(2), etc are likely not to expect this
quirky behavior - warn them.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Pannuto <[email protected]>
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 7 +++++++
1 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 0650ab9..bbc2e76 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -2583,6 +2583,13 @@ sub process {
WARN("usleep_range is preferred over usleep; see Documentation/timers/delays.txt\n" . $line);
}

+# warn about unexpectedly long msleep's
+ if ($line =~ /\bmsleep\s*\((\d+)\);/) {
+ if ($1 < 20) {
+ WARN("msleep < 20ms can sleep for up to 20ms; see Documentation/timers/delays.txt\n" . $line);
+ }
+ }
+
# warn about #ifdefs in C files
# if ($line =~ /^.\s*\#\s*if(|n)def/ && ($realfile =~ /\.c$/)) {
# print "#ifdef in C files should be avoided\n";
--
1.7.2

2010-07-27 22:39:29

by Patrick Pannuto

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH 2/4] Checkpatch: prefer usleep_range over udelay

When possible, sleeping is (usually) better than delaying,
however, don't bother callers of udelay < 10us, as those
cases are not with the switch to usleep_range

Signed-off-by: Patrick Pannuto <[email protected]>
---
scripts/checkpatch.pl | 8 ++++++++
1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index bd88f11..e3625ac 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -2570,6 +2570,14 @@ sub process {
}
}

+# prefer usleep_range over udelay
+ if ($line =~ /\budelay\s*\((.+)\);/) {
+ # ignore udelay's < 10, however
+ if (! (($1 =~ /(\d+)/) && ($1 < 10)) ) {
+ WARN("usleep_range is preferred over udelay; see Documentation/timers/delays.txt\n" . $line);
+ }
+ }
+
# warn about #ifdefs in C files
# if ($line =~ /^.\s*\#\s*if(|n)def/ && ($realfile =~ /\.c$/)) {
# print "#ifdef in C files should be avoided\n";
--
1.7.2

2010-07-27 22:39:31

by Patrick Pannuto

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: [PATCH 1/4] Documentation: Add timers/delays.txt

This file seeks to explain the nuances in various delays;
many driver writers are not necessarily familiar with the
various kernel timers, their shortfalls, and quirks. When
faced with

ndelay, udelay, mdelay, usleep, usleep_range, msleep, and
msleep_interrubtible

the question "How do I just wait 1 ms for my hardware to
latch?" has the non-intuitive "best" answer:
usleep_range(1000,2000)

This patch is followed by a series of checkpatch additions
that seek to help kernel hackers pick the best delay.

Signed-off-by: Patrick Pannuto <[email protected]>
---
Documentation/timers/delays.txt | 97 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 files changed, 97 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 Documentation/timers/delays.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/timers/delays.txt b/Documentation/timers/delays.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12fcb7e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/timers/delays.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+delays - Information on the various kernel delay / sleep mechanisms
+-------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+This document seeks to answer the common question: "What is the
+RightWay (TM) to insert a delay?"
+
+This question is most often faced by driver writers who have to
+deal with hardware delays and who may not be the most initimately
+familiar with the inner workings of the Linux Kernel.
+
+
+Inserting Delays
+----------------
+
+The first, and most important, question you need to ask is "Is my
+code in an atomic context?" This should be followed closely by "Does
+it really need to delay in atomic context?" If so...
+
+ATOMIC CONTEXT:
+ You must use the *delay family of functions. These
+ functions use the jiffie estimation of clock speed
+ and will busy wait for enough loop cycles to achieve
+ the desired delay:
+
+ ndelay(unsigned long nsecs)
+ udelay(unsigned long usecs)
+ mdelay(unsgined long msecs)
+
+ udelay is the generally preferred API; ndelay-level
+ precision may not actually exist on many non-PC devices.
+
+ mdelay is macro wrapper around udelay, to account for
+ possible overflow when passing large arguments to udelay.
+ In general, use of mdelay is discouraged.
+
+NON-ATOMIC CONTEXT:
+ You should use the *sleep[_range] family of functions.
+ There are a few more options here, while any of them may
+ work correctly, using the "right" sleep function will
+ help the scheduler, power management, and just make your
+ driver better :)
+
+ -- Backed by busy-wait loop:
+ udelay(unsigned long usecs)
+ -- Backed by hrtimers:
+ usleep(unsigned long usecs)
+ usleep_range(unsigned long min, unsigned long max)
+ -- Backed by jiffies / legacy_timers
+ msleep(unsigned long msecs)
+ msleep_interruptible(unsigned long msecs)
+
+ Unlike the *delay family, the underlying mechanism
+ driving each of these calls varies, thus there are
+ quirks you should be aware of.
+
+
+ SLEEPING FOR "A FEW" USECS ( < ~10us? ):
+ * Use udelay
+
+ - Why not usleep?
+ On slower systems, (embedded, OR perhaps a speed-
+ stepped PC!) the overhead of setting up the hrtimers
+ for usleep *may* not be worth it. Such an evaluation
+ will obviously depend on your specific situation, but
+ it is something to be aware of.
+
+ SLEEPING FOR ~USECS OR SMALL MSECS ( 10us - 20ms):
+ * Use usleep_range
+
+ - Why not msleep for (1ms - 20ms)?
+ Explained originally here:
+ http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/8/3/250
+ msleep(1~20) may not do what the caller intends, and
+ will often sleep longer (~20 ms actual sleep for any
+ value given in the 1~20ms range). In many cases this
+ is not the desired behavior.
+
+ - usleep vs usleep_range:
+ Since usleep is built on top of high-resolution timers,
+ you will trigger an interrupt almost *exactly* when your
+ sleep expires; normally, sleeps (by their nature) do not
+ need this kind of precision. The *much* friendlier
+ usleep_range allows the kernel to complete your sleep
+ any time in the given range, likely when some other
+ interrupt has already woken up the kernel for some other
+ reason.
+
+ SLEEPING FOR LARGER MSECS ( 10ms+ )
+ * Use msleep or possibly msleep_interruptible
+
+ - What's the difference?
+ msleep sets the current task to TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE
+ whereas msleep_interruptible sets the current task to
+ TASK_INTERRUBTIBLE before scheduling the sleep. In
+ short, the difference is whether the sleep can be ended
+ early by a signal. In general, just use msleep unless
+ you know you have a need for the interruptible varient.
--
1.7.2

2010-07-28 00:48:42

by Joe Perches

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/4] Checkpatch: prefer usleep_range over udelay

On Tue, 2010-07-27 at 15:39 -0700, Patrick Pannuto wrote:
> When possible, sleeping is (usually) better than delaying,
> however, don't bother callers of udelay < 10us, as those
> cases are not with the switch to usleep_range
> +# prefer usleep_range over udelay
> + if ($line =~ /\budelay\s*\((.+)\);/) {
> + # ignore udelay's < 10, however

This doesn't handle these cases:

udelay(MY_DEFINED_DELAY)
udelay( 100 )

Shouldn't this be:

if (($line =~ /\budelay\s*\(\s*(\w+)\s*\)/ {
WARN("usleep_range is preferred over udelay; see Documentation/timers/delays.txt\n" . $line);

Maybe these should be converted from WARN to CHK