linux-kernel - [PATCH v2 0/2] timers/nohz: Optimize /proc/stat idle/iowait fluctuation

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Message-Id: <20251210083135.3993562-1-jackzxcui1989@163.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2025 16:31:33 +0800
From: Xin Zhao <jackzxcui1989@....com>
To: anna-maria@...utronix.de,
	frederic@...nel.org,
	mingo@...nel.org,
	tglx@...utronix.de,
	kuba@...nel.org
Cc: jackzxcui1989@....com,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v2 0/2] timers/nohz: Optimize /proc/stat idle/iowait fluctuation

The idle and iowait statistics in /proc/stat are obtained through
get_idle_time() and get_iowait_time(). Assuming CONFIG_NO_HZ_COMMON is
enabled, when CPU is online, the idle and iowait values use the
idle_sleeptime and iowait_sleeptime statistics from tick_cpu_sched, but
use CPUTIME_IDLE and CPUTIME_IOWAIT items from kernel_cpustat when CPU
is offline. Although /proc/stat do not print statistics of offline CPU,
it still print aggregated statistics of all possible CPUs.

ick_cpu_sched and kernel_cpustat are maintained by different logic,
leading to a significant gap. The first line of the data below shows the
/proc/stat output when only one CPU remains after CPU offline, the second
line shows the /proc/stat output after all CPUs are brought back online:

cpu  2408558 2 916619 4275883 5403 123758 64685 0 0 0
cpu  2408588 2 916693 4200737 4184 123762 64686 0 0 0

Obviously, other values do not experience significant fluctuations, while
idle/iowait statistics show a substantial decrease, which make system CPU
monitoring troublesome.

get_cpu_idle_time_us() calculates the latest cpu idle time based on
idle_entrytime and current time. When CPU is idle when offline, the value
return by get_cpu_idle_time_us() will continue to increase, which is
unexpected. get_cpu_iowait_time_us() has the similar calculation logic.
When CPU is in the iowait state when offline, the value return by
get_cpu_iowait_time_us() will continue to increase.

Introduce get_cpu_idle_time_us_offline() as the _offline variants of
get_cpu_idle_time_us(). get_cpu_idle_time_us_offline() just return the
same value of idle_sleeptime without any calculation. In this way,
/proc/stat logic can use it to get a correct CPU idle time, which remains
unchanged during CPU offline period. Also, the aggregated statistics of
all possible CPUs printed by /proc/stat will not experience significant
fluctuation when CPU hotplug.
So as the newly added get_cpu_iowait_time_us_offline().

In addition, revise a comment about broken iowait counter update race
related to the topic.

Xin Zhao (2):
  timers/nohz: Revise a comment about broken iowait counter update race
  timers/nohz: Avoid /proc/stat idle/iowait fluctuation when cpu hotplug

 fs/proc/stat.c           |  4 +++
 include/linux/tick.h     |  4 +++
 kernel/time/tick-sched.c | 58 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 3 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

-- 
2.34.1