Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262800AbUKXReV (ORCPT ); Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:34:21 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262767AbUKXRYt (ORCPT ); Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:24:49 -0500 Received: from viper.oldcity.dca.net ([216.158.38.4]:45712 "HELO viper.oldcity.dca.net") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S262780AbUKXRKI (ORCPT ); Wed, 24 Nov 2004 12:10:08 -0500 Subject: kernel builds starving evolution process - scheduler issue? (was Re: [patch] Real-Time Preemption, -RT-2.6.10-rc2-mm2-V0.7.30-9) From: Lee Revell To: Steven Rostedt Cc: Ingo Molnar , LKML , Rui Nuno Capela , Mark Johnson , "K.R. Foley" , Bill Huey , Adam Heath , Florian Schmidt , Thomas Gleixner , Michal Schmidt , Fernando Pablo Lopez-Lezcano , Karsten Wiese , Gunther Persoons , emann@mrv.com, Shane Shrybman , Amit Shah , Esben Nielsen In-Reply-To: <1101303204.32068.26.camel@localhost.localdomain> References: <20041111215122.GA5885@elte.hu> <20041116125402.GA9258@elte.hu> <20041116130946.GA11053@elte.hu> <20041116134027.GA13360@elte.hu> <20041117124234.GA25956@elte.hu> <20041118123521.GA29091@elte.hu> <20041118164612.GA17040@elte.hu> <20041122005411.GA19363@elte.hu> <20041123175823.GA8803@elte.hu> <1101257903.13780.15.camel@krustophenia.net> <20041124034520.GA12785@elte.hu> <1101303204.32068.26.camel@localhost.localdomain> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 10:23:25 -0500 Message-Id: <1101309805.1761.9.camel@krustophenia.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.0.2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2413 Lines: 52 On Wed, 2004-11-24 at 08:33 -0500, Steven Rostedt wrote: > On Wed, 2004-11-24 at 04:45 +0100, Ingo Molnar wrote: > > * Lee Revell wrote: > > > > > > > The symptom is that CPU bound tasks like kernel compiles will starve > > > I/O bound tasks like evolution for a _long_ time. If I have a kernel > > > build and external modules building at the same time and Evolution > > > goes to "Update message list...", it can sit and spin with a blank > > > message pane for a minute or two. If I suspend the builds, the > > > message list renders immediately. > > > > could you try the vanilla -rc2-mm2 kernel (with PREEMPT enabled), does > > it behave in such a way too? At first sight this could be a property of > > the upstream scheduler, but maybe it's special to PREEMPT_RT. > > > > Have you notice this behavior with other interactive (I/O) tasks, such > as bash. Evolution is quite a big utility, and might be doing something > in the background. If you see the same behavior with bash then there is > no doubt that the compile is slowing down an I/O intensive task. > No. Only evolution (2.0) exhibits the problem. But, it looks like evolution uses a comparable amount of CPU to a kernel build just updating the message list. All stracing it shows me is that it spends a hell of a lot of time polling(). I think this might be a bloat issue. > Another variable can be memory. Are you running this on something with > adequate memory, or is you harddrive churning like mad and you're > constantly thrashing the swap space? > No, I have plenty of RAM (512M). I am using a 600Mhz C3 so the system is probably CPU bound. But, it seems like evolution should make a little more progress. I often find myself having to background all build processes for a few seconds to let the message list render. Once the list renders, and I resume the builds, evolution is more or less usable. Running gtk-gnutella in the background will also make evolution horribly slow. Running the offending, CPU bound processes at a high nice value solves the problem. But now I am wasting half my fscking cycles "Updating message list...". Grr. Lee - 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/