Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 29 Jun 2004 14:44:33 +1000 | From | Nick Piggin <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] Staircase scheduler v7.4 |
| |
Peter Williams wrote: > Nick Piggin wrote: > >> Felipe Alfaro Solana wrote: >> >>> I have tested 2.6.7-bk10 plus from_2.6.7_to_staircase_7.7 patch and, >>> while it's definitively better than previous versions, it still feels a >>> little jerky when moving windows in X11 wrt to -mm3. Renicing makes it a >>> little bit smoother, but not as much as -mm3 without renicing. >>> >> >> You know, if renicing X makes it smoother, then that is a good thing >> IMO. X needs large amounts of CPU and low latency in order to get >> good interactivity, which is something the scheduler shouldn't give >> to a process unless it is told to. > > > I agree. Although the X servers CPU usage is usually relatively low > (less than 5%) it does have periods when it can get quite high (greater > than 80%) for reasonably long periods. This makes it difficult to come > up with a set of rules for CPU allocation that makes sure the X server > gets what it needs (when it needs it) without running the risk of giving > other tasks with similar load patterns unnecessary and unintentional > preferential treatment. >
Well exactly. This is what the standard scheduler tries to do, and it does have weird starvation and priority problems that pop up.
> However, I think that there is still a need for automatic boosts for > some tasks. For instance, programs such as xmms and other media > streamers are ones whose performance could worsen as a result of the X > server being reniced unless it is treated specially and the boost they > are given needs to be enough to put them before the X server in priority > order. But renicing X would enable a tightening of the rules that > govern the automatic dispensing of preferential treatment to tasks that > are perceived to be interactive which should be good for overall system > performance.
I agree renicing X is helpful. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |