linux-kernel - Re: [RFC PATCH] arm64: defconfig: Disable fine-grained task level IRQ time accounting

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Date:   Thu, 06 Aug 2020 11:34:42 +0200
From:   Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
To:     peterz@...radead.org
Cc:     Valentin Schneider <valentin.schneider@....com>,
        Vladimir Oltean <olteanv@...il.com>,
        Kurt Kanzenbach <kurt.kanzenbach@...utronix.de>,
        Alison Wang <alison.wang@....com>, catalin.marinas@....com,
        will@...nel.org, paulmck@...nel.org, mw@...ihalf.com,
        leoyang.li@....com, vladimir.oltean@....com,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Anna-Maria Gleixner <anna-maria@...utronix.de>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH] arm64: defconfig: Disable fine-grained task level IRQ time accounting

peterz@...radead.org writes:
> On Mon, Aug 03, 2020 at 09:22:53PM +0200, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
>
>>    totaltime = irqtime + tasktime
>> 
>> Ignoring irqtime and pretending that totaltime is what the scheduler
>> can control and deal with is naive at best.
>
> Well no, that's what we call system overhead and is assumed to be
> included in the 'error margin'.
>
> The way things are set up is that we say that, by default, RT tasks can
> consume 95% of cputime and the remaining 5% is sufficient to keep the
> system alive.
>
> Those 5% include all system overhead, IRQs, RCU, !RT workqueues etc..
>
> Obviously IRQ_TIME accounting changes the balance a bit, but that's what
> it is. We can't really do anything better.
>
> Apparently this SoC has significant IRQ time for some reason. Also,
> relying on RT throttling for 'correct' behaviour is also wrong. What
> needs to be done is find who is using all this RT time and why, that
> isn't right.

It's a test case and we know already who is using the time. But that's
not the point.

A runaway RT task resulting in a RCU stall or whatever lockup of the
system is definitely not the right answer.

The throttler, as much as it's a horrible hack, is there to prevent this
and to give the admin a chance to pinpoint and kill that thing instead
of having to press the reset button and scratching head what might have
caused this.

Thanks,

        tglx