Dynamic ticks make system jerking

["Uwe Kleine-König" <ukleinek@informatik.uni-freiburg.de>]

Hello,

I implemented GENERIC_TIME and GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS for
arch-arm/mach-ns9xxx (patches available at

	http://www.modarm9.com/git?p=people/ukleinek/linux-2.6.git;a=shortlog;h=clock

or

	git://www.modarm9.com/gitsrc/pub/people/ukleinek/linux-2.6.git

in the clock branch

). 

If I enable NO_HZ, the system jerks (I hope this is an understandable
term ...).   E.g. 

	# time find /sys
	...
	real    1m 19.52s
	user    0m 0.18s
	sys     0m 0.15s

on a freshly booted machine.  The output comes in several hunks with
pausing between them.  With no_hz=off, I get approx. the same.

If I have NO_HZ disabled however, I get

	# time find /sys
	...
	real    0m 1.53s
	user    0m 0.15s
	sys     0m 0.18s

Another thing is, if I press Enter once, the next prompt appears in a
reasonable time.  If I press twice in a row the 2nd prompt needs
perceptible longer.

Does someone have a hint for me how to debug (or even solve) this problem?

First I wondered why set_next_event is called twice between two timer
interrupts most of the time.  I found out that the timer is programed
for the next tick in any case and if nothing needs the next tick, the
interval is enlarged.  I didn't spend time yet to check if it is
easier/faster to only program the timer once.

Best regards
Uwe

Some addional data:

- ns9xxx_cpuclock() returns 176947200 = 0xa8c0000 for that machine.

- SYS_TR is a read-only register indicating the current timer value.

- SYS_TRC is the start value (and the reload value for auto-reloading
  timers)

- My console is an 8250 clone.

- /proc/timer_list 
	Timer List Version: v0.3
	HRTIMER_MAX_CLOCK_BASES: 2
	now at 15091350847 nsecs

	cpu: 0
	 clock 0:
	  .index:      0
	  .resolution: 1 nsecs
	  .get_time:   ktime_get_real
	  .offset:     0 nsecs
	active timers:
	 clock 1:
	  .index:      1
	  .resolution: 1 nsecs
	  .get_time:   ktime_get
	  .offset:     0 nsecs
	active timers:
	 #0: <c02e5ea0>, tick_sched_timer, S:01
	 # expires at 15100000000 nsecs [in 8649153 nsecs]
	  .expires_next   : 15100000000 nsecs
	  .hres_active    : 1
	  .nr_events      : 424
	  .nohz_mode      : 2
	  .idle_tick      : 14320000000 nsecs
	  .tick_stopped   : 0
	  .idle_jiffies   : 4294938728
	  .idle_calls     : 104
	  .idle_sleeps    : 88
	  .idle_entrytime : 15052376577 nsecs
	  .idle_sleeptime : 10627230732 nsecs
	  .last_jiffies   : 4294938801
	  .next_jiffies   : 4294938802
	  .idle_expires   : 15060000000 nsecs
	jiffies: 4294938805


	Tick Device: mode:     1
	Clock Event Device: ns9xxx-timer2
	 max_delta_ns:   2147483647
	 min_delta_ns:   1000
	 mult:           185542
	 shift:          20
	 mode:           3
	 next_event:     15100000000 nsecs
	 set_next_event: ns9xxx_clockevent_setnextevent
	 set_mode:       ns9xxx_clockevent_setmode
	 event_handler:  hrtimer_interrupt

-- 
Uwe Kleine-König

http://www.google.com/search?q=e+%5E+%28i+pi%29