Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:59:55 -0500 (EST) | From | Mikulas Patocka <> | Subject | Active waiting with yield() |
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Hi
Every time I write yield() somewhere into my code, there comes a comment "real-time people don't like yield()". Without any explanation why yield() is not suitable at that specific point, just that "people don't like it".
We all know that waiting with yield() is bad for general code that processes requests, because repeated scheduling wastes extra CPU time and the process waiting for some event with yield() is woken up late. In these normal cases, wait queues should be used.
However, there is code where in my opinion using yield() for waiting is appropriate, for example:
* driver unload --- check the count of outstanding requests and call yield() repeatedly until it goes to zero, then unload. * some rare race contition --- a workaround for a race that triggers once per hour for one user in several years doesn't really have to be fast.
A typical example where yield() can be used is a driver that counts a number of outstanding requests --- when the user tries to unload the driver, the driver will make sure that new requests won't come, repeatedly yield()s until the count of requests reaches zero and then destroys its data structures.
Here, yield() has some advantages over wait queues, because:
* reduced size of data structures (and reduced cache footprint for the hot path that actually processes requests) * slightly reduced code size even on the hot path (no need to wake up an empty queue) * less possibility for bugs coming from the fact that someone forgets to wake the queue up
The downside of yield is slower unloading of the driver by few tens of miliseconds, but the user doesn't really care about fractions of a second when unloading drivers.
--- but people complain even if I use yield() in these cases. None of those complains contains any valid technical argument --- just that "someone said that yield() is bad". Is there a real reason why yield() in these cases is bad? (for example that with some real-time patches, yield()ing high-priority thread would be spinning forever, killing the system?) Or should I use msleep(1) instead? Or should wait queues really be used even in those performance-insensitive cases?
Mikulas
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