Re: Fwd: [GIT PULL] timer changes for v3.10

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Wed May 08 2013 - 02:44:31 EST



* Pavel Machek <pavel@xxxxxx> wrote:

> > Sorry. You seem to not like the merged change, but I guess I'm not
> > quite sure what exactly your objection is here.
>
> I'm not exactly sure what my objections are.
>
> TSC was not designed for long-term precise timekeeping. [...]

The TSC is just a 64-bit counter that can be read very cheaply.

If the TSC is _implemented_ precisely in hardware and is kept in sync over
CPUs then it's obviously fit for long-term precise timekeeping from that
point on.

> [...] I guess it may work ok for short naps, [...]

Historically the TSC was not very precise nor kept in sync, but see the
measurements from Feng Tang, it's very precise now on good hardware - and
it's also a very cheap to read clocksource.

> [...] but some people suspend their machines for longer than that. Plus
> I wonder how it will interfere with /etc/adjtime.

If it's precise then why should it interfere?

The history of the TSC being problematic can be ignored the moment CPU
makers fix it completely - and apparently that is happening...

Thanks,

Ingo
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