Re: [PATCH] cpufreq_(ondemand|conservative)

[Alexander Clouter]

Morning Venki,

On Jan 31, Pallipadi, Venkatesh wrote:
> 
> Hi Alex,
> 
> Sorry for the late reply. Neat work splitting up all these patches. 
> 
Not a problem

> I don't think this patch is required as you are initializing a static
> variable. They should be zero without initialization as well.
> 
I'll go ahead and fix the lot and then get back to you guys.  Might be a week 
though as I have just finished moving into my new flat but there are boxes 
everywhere and (<insert_sound_of_a_scream/>) no Internet access.

Cheers

Alex

> All patches except the above looks good and ready to go. Can you send
> them individually to cpufreq list, with Signed-off line.
> 
> Thanks,
> Venki 
>  
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Alexander Clouter [mailto:alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> >Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 7:00 AM
> >To: linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Pallipadi, Venkatesh
> >Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; cpufreq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Subject: [PATCH] cpufreq_(ondemand|conservative)
> >
> >Hi All,
> >
> >Well after Dominik reminded me about the updates to 
> >cpufreq_ondemand I had
> >made some time back and also my cpufreq governor called 
> >cpufreq_conservative,
> >I dug out my coffee and started fixing them up for another 
> >round of peer
> >review.  My governor is pretty much a minor rewrite of the 
> >cpufreq_ondemand
> >governor but instead gracefully increases and decreases the 
> >cpufreq which
> >should make it much more suitable for battery power environments.
> >
> >All the patches are for 2.6.11-rc1-mm1 but also apply cleanly to
> >2.6.11-rc1-mm2.  Unfortunately 2.6.11-rc1-mm2 oops'es in key_scancode
> >(drivers/char/keyboard.c) when I presses any keys on my text 
> >console (tty1)
> >after init has loaded so I am waiting till 2.6.11-rc2-mm1 
> >appears before I
> >file a bug report.
> >
> >The 'improvements' I have made to cpufreq_ondemand are:
> >
> >1) cpufreq_ondemand-2.6.11-rc1-mm1-01_ignore-nice.diff
> >	this adds a new parameter in /sys called
> >	/sys/.../cpufreq/ondemand/ignore_nice which by default 
> >is set to '0'.
> >	Any 'nice' tasks running will be considered as idle 
> >time unless you 
> >	set the value in ignore_nice to '1', then it will be simply 
> >	considered as a regular cpu time sucking program.
> >
> >	Last time I did this Venki mentioned some possible corner case 
> >	conditions[1] and so this time I make it recalculate 
> >the idle times 
> >	when the value of ignore_nice is flipped.  If I am 
> >right this should 
> >	fix any possible issues that would have arisen from this...?
> >
> >2) cpufreq_ondemand-2.6.11-rc1-mm1-02_check-rate-and-break-out.diff
> >	a very simple patch which prevents us from changing the 
> >cpufreq from 
> >	'x' to 'x' un-necessarily.  No-one could find any 
> >problems with this 
> >	so it has pretty much remained untouched.
> >
> >3) cpufreq_ondemand-2.6.11-rc1-mm1-03_sys_freq_step.diff
> >	this feature also adds a new parameter in /sys called
> >	/sys/.../cpufreq/ondemand/freq_step which by default is 
> >set to '5'.  
> >	You can change this to any value between '0' (why?) and 
> >'100' to 
> >	alter how much the cpu will change its frequency by on 
> >the way down.
> >
> >4) cpufreq_ondemand-2.6.11-rc1-mm1-04_ignore_steal.diff
> >	I noticed a new cpustat has appeared called 'steal'[2] 
> >which from 
> >	what I can tell should be treated like an iowait stat.  
> >'steal' only 
> >	seems supported by S/390 but I think it should be 
> >'considered'.  This 
> >	is a minor patch and if I have gotten confused then 
> >obviously it 
> >	should be removed (and from cpufreq_conservative)
> >
> >5) cpufreq_ondemand-2.6.11-rc1-mm1-05_safe_down_skip.diff
> >	although I have not noticed any problems without it 
> >being done a 
> >	little alarm bell fires off in my head about how 
> >down_skip really 
> >	should be initialised (what if the cpu-freq is not at a 
> >minimum when 
> >	we start off or ac power is unplugged and we get 
> >policy->min changing 
> >	to a lower value?).  Again a minor patch, if not worth 
> >it obviously 
> >	it can be removed and should also be from cpufreq_conservative
> >
> >Now cpufreq_conservative started off as a copy of 
> >cpufreq_ondemand with all
> >the above patches and then amended from there.  If you install 
> >the patches
> >you can see with a diff (attached for _show_ and not use) that 
> >there is not
> >much in the way of difference between them.  It works by me 
> >creating and
> >initialising an array to each cpu's policy->cur (this could 
> >should be nice in 
> >an SMP environment, bug reports would be appreciated) and then 
> >changing the 
> >contents by freq_step each time we need to increase or 
> >decrease the cpufreq.  
> >This results in a smoother transition on the way up and down.  
> >Also by the 
> >nature of this governor it polls 100 times fewer than cpufreq_ondemand.
> >
> >Let me know what you think, the patches work for me, the 
> >question is do they 
> >work for you :)
> >
> >Cheers all
> >
> >Alex
> >
> >[1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=110013659005496&w=2
> >[2] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=linux-kernel&m=109888788719020&w=2
> >
> >-- 
> > ________________________________________ 
> >/ A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin \
> >| of little minds.                       |
> >|                                        |
> >\ -- Ralph Waldo Emerson                 /
> > ---------------------------------------- 
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> >         \  (oo)\_______
> >            (__)\       )\/\
> >                ||----w |
> >                ||     ||
> >

-- 
 _____________________ 
< Nice guys get sick. >
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