Re: [PATCH] cpuidle: Add "cpuidle.use_deepest" to bypass governor and allow HW to go deep

From: Thomas Ilsche
Date: Thu Nov 16 2017 - 11:32:58 EST


On 2017-11-09 08:38, Len Brown wrote:
From: Len Brown <len.brown@xxxxxxxxx>

While there are several mechanisms (cmdline, sysfs, PM_QOS) to limit
cpuidle to shallow idle states, there is no simple mechanism
to give the hardware permission to enter the deeptest state permitted by PM_QOS.

Here we create the "cpuidle.use_deepest" modparam to provide this capability.

"cpuidle.use_deepest=Y" can be set at boot-time, and
/sys/module/cpuidle/use_deepest can be modified (with Y/N) at run-time.

This is a good option to have and can conveniently prevent idle power consumption
issues. But that wouldn't be a reasonable default, would it?
I still think there is an inherent need for a heuristic and a corresponding
mitigation to avoid staying in a sleep state too long.

Best,
Thomas