On Thu, 25 Jun 2015, Sudeep Holla wrote:
tick_broadcast_enter returns 0 when CPU can switch to broadcast
timer and non-zero otherwise. However when GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BROADCAST
and TICK_ONESHOT are disabled, tick_broadcast_oneshot_control returns 0
which indicates to the CPUIdle framework that the CPU can enter deeper
idle states even when the CPU local timer will be shutdown. If the
target state needs broadcast but not broadcast timer is available, then
the CPU can not resume back from that idle state.
This patch returns error when there's no broadcast timer support
available so that CPUIdle framework prevents the CPU from entering any
idle states losing the local timer.
That's wrong and breaks stuff which does not require the broadcast
nonsense.
If TICK_ONESHOT is disabled, then everything is in periodic mode and
tick_broadcast_enter() rightfully returns 0. Ditto for 'highres=off'
on the command line.
But there is a case which is not correctly handled right now. That's
what you are trying to solve in the wrong way.
If
GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BROADCAST=n
or
GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BROADCAST=y and no broadcast device is available,
AND cpu local tick device has the C3STOP flag set,
then we have no way to tell the idle code that going deep is not
allowed.
So we need to be smarter than blindly changing a return
value. Completely untested patch below.