Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S271279AbTGQASy (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2003 20:18:54 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S271283AbTGQASy (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2003 20:18:54 -0400 Received: from c210-49-248-224.thoms1.vic.optusnet.com.au ([210.49.248.224]:19345 "EHLO mail.kolivas.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S271279AbTGQASs (ORCPT ); Wed, 16 Jul 2003 20:18:48 -0400 Message-ID: <1058402012.3f15eedcc06f2@kolivas.org> Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 10:33:32 +1000 From: Con Kolivas To: Davide Libenzi Cc: linux kernel mailing list , Andrew Morton , Felipe Alfaro Solana , Zwane Mwaikambo Subject: Re: [PATCH] O6int for interactivity References: <200307170030.25934.kernel@kolivas.org> In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.1 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 3746 Lines: 95 Quoting Davide Libenzi : > On Thu, 17 Jul 2003, Con Kolivas wrote: > > > O*int patches trying to improve the interactivity of the 2.5/6 scheduler > for > > desktops. It appears possible to do this without moving to nanosecond > > resolution. > > > > This one makes a massive difference... Please test this to death. > > > > Changes: > > The big change is in the way sleep_avg is incremented. Any amount of sleep > > will now raise you by at least one priority with each wakeup. This causes > > massive differences to startup time, extremely rapid conversion to > interactive > > state, and recovery from non-interactive state rapidly as well (prevents X > > stalling after thrashing around under high loads for many seconds). > > > > The sleep buffer was dropped to just 10ms. This has the effect of causing > mild > > round robinning of very interactive tasks if they run for more than 10ms. > The > > requeuing was changed from (unlikely()) to an ordinary if.. branch as this > > will be hit much more now. > > Con, I'll make a few notes on the code and a final comment. > > > > > -#define MAX_BONUS ((MAX_USER_PRIO - MAX_RT_PRIO) * PRIO_BONUS_RATIO / > 100) > > +#define MAX_BONUS (40 * PRIO_BONUS_RATIO / 100) > > Why did you bolt in the 40 value ? It really comes from (MAX_USER_PRIO - > MAX_RT_PRIO) > and you will have another place to change if the number of slots will > change. If you want to clarify better, stick a comment. Granted. Will revert. If you don't understand it you shouldn't be fiddling with it I agree. > > > > > + p->sleep_avg = (p->sleep_avg * MAX_BONUS / runtime + 1) * runtime / > MAX_BONUS; > > I don't have the full code so I cannot see what "runtime" is, but if > "runtime" is the time the task ran, this is : > > p->sleep_avg ~= p->sleep_avg + runtime / MAX_BONUS; > > (in any case a non-decreasing function of "runtime" ) > Are you sure you want to reward tasks that actually ran more ? That was the bug. Runtime was supposed to be limited to MAX_SLEEP_AVG. Fix will be posted very soon. > > > Con, you cannot follow the XMMS thingy otherwise you'll end up bolting in > the XMMS sleep->burn pattern and you'll probably break the make-j+RealPlay > for example. MultiMedia players are really tricky since they require strict > timings and forces you to create a special super-interactive treatment > inside the code. Interactivity in my box running moderate high loads is > very good for my desktop use. Maybe audio will skip here (didn't try) but > I believe that following the fix-XMMS thingy is really bad. I believe we > should try to make the desktop to feel interactive with human tollerances > and not with strict timings like MM apps. If the audio skips when dragging > like crazy a X window using the filled mode on a slow CPU, we shouldn't be > much worried about it for example. If audio skip when hitting the refresh > button of Mozilla, then yes it should be fixed. And the more you add super > interactive patterns, the more the scheduler will be exploitable. I > recommend you after doing changes to get this : > > http://www.xmailserver.org/linux-patches/irman2.c > > and run it with different -n (number of tasks) and -b (CPU burn ms time). > At the same time try to build a kernel for example. Then you will realize > that interactivity is not the bigger problem that the scheduler has right > now. Please don't assume I'm writing an xmms scheduler. I've done a lot more testing than xmms. Con - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/