Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758862Ab1FAWgH (ORCPT ); Wed, 1 Jun 2011 18:36:07 -0400 Received: from e31.co.us.ibm.com ([32.97.110.149]:36461 "EHLO e31.co.us.ibm.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1754500Ab1FAWgE (ORCPT ); Wed, 1 Jun 2011 18:36:04 -0400 Subject: Re: /proc/stat btime accuracy problem From: john stultz To: Bjorn Helgaas Cc: Thomas Gleixner , "linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org" In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:35:33 -0700 Message-ID: <1306967733.11492.11.camel@work-vm> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.32.2 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2368 Lines: 58 On Wed, 2011-06-01 at 14:50 -0600, Bjorn Helgaas wrote: > timekeeping_init() basically does the following: > > xtime = RTC > if (arch implements read_boot_clock()) > wall_to_monotonic = -read_boot_clock() > else > wall_to_monotonic = -xtime > > So wall_to_monotonic records some approximation of the system boot > time, which is then used to derive the "btime" reported in /proc/stat. > > The problem I'm seeing is that xtime is updated on timer ticks, so > uninterruptible code, like kernel serial printk, makes us miss ticks, > so xtime falls behind the RTC. Huh. So this sort of issue was common back when we had tick-based timekeeping (in combination with troubled hardware), but with the current clocksource based timekeeping, occasional lost ticks shouldn't really effect time. Can you explain a bit more about what kind of hardware this is happening on, and what clocksource is being used? > Then, when userland fixes xtime, in my > case with "hwclock --hctosys", the delta is applied to both xtime and > wall_to_monotonic. The result is that "btime" is no longer accurate. Yes. If time was actually lost (which I suspect is the actual problem), then adjustments to fix it do not propagate, and thus btime (which is approximately calculated as CLOCK_REALTIME - CLOCK_BOOTTIME) will be off. This is due to the fact that the adjustment changes CLOCK_REALTIME, but that CLOCK_BOOTTIME (or CLOCK_MONOTONIC) isn't being increased for the time lost. > Here's an example where I artificially exaggerated the problem by > adding 30 seconds of wait time with interrupts disabled. Assume the > RTC is perfectly correct at boot, and note that xtime has fallen > behind the RTC by 31 seconds by the time userland resets the clock: Yea, unless I'm somehow misunderstanding you, I don't think this is a btime accuracy issue, but instead a hardware problem. If interrupts are being disabled for longer then the clocksource hardware can handle, there will be problems. But let me know more about the clocksource being used and we'll see if we can solve what you're seeing. thanks -john -- 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/