Re: [URGENT rfc patch 0/3] tsc clocksource bug fix

From: Thomas Gleixner
Date: Fri Jul 05 2013 - 11:24:15 EST


On Fri, 5 Jul 2013, Peter Zijlstra wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 05, 2013 at 04:23:33PM +0200, Frederic Weisbecker wrote:
> > Nope, I haven't touched that. I prefer not to fiddle with unstable
> > clocksource for now :)
> >
> > As for unstable TSCs, if sched_clock_tick() needs to be fed, we simply
> > don't stop the tick.
>
> Not entirely the same thing; I thought the clocksource watchdog was ran
> even when we have a 'stable' TSC, just to make sure it stays stable.
> There's known cases where the BIOS f*cks us over and wrecks TSC sync.

See arch/x86/kernel/tsc.c

We disable the watchdog for the TSC when tsc_clocksource_reliable is
set.

tsc_clocksource_reliable is set when:

- you add tsc=reliable to the kernel command line

- boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_TSC_RELIABLE)

X86_FEATURE_TSC_RELIABLE is a software flag, set by vmware and
moorsetown. So all other machines keep the watchdog enabled.

- On Geode LX (OLPC)

Thanks,

tglx
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