sched_clock: Add local_clock() API and improve documentation

For people who otherwise get to write: cpu_clock(smp_processor_id()),
there is now: local_clock().

Also, as per suggestion from Andrew, provide some documentation on
the various clock interfaces, and minimize the unsigned long long vs
u64 mess.

Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Jens Axboe <jaxboe@fusionio.com>
LKML-Reference: <1275052414.1645.52.camel@laptop>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>

1 files changed, 85 insertions, 10 deletions

diff --git a/kernel/sched_clock.c b/kernel/sched_clock.c
index 906a0f7..52f1a14 100644
--- a/kernel/sched_clock.c
+++ b/kernel/sched_clock.c
@@ -10,19 +10,55 @@
  *   Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
  *   Guillaume Chazarain <guichaz@gmail.com>
  *
- * Create a semi stable clock from a mixture of other events, including:
- *  - gtod
+ *
+ * What:
+ *
+ * cpu_clock(i) provides a fast (execution time) high resolution
+ * clock with bounded drift between CPUs. The value of cpu_clock(i)
+ * is monotonic for constant i. The timestamp returned is in nanoseconds.
+ *
+ * ######################### BIG FAT WARNING ##########################
+ * # when comparing cpu_clock(i) to cpu_clock(j) for i != j, time can #
+ * # go backwards !!                                                  #
+ * ####################################################################
+ *
+ * There is no strict promise about the base, although it tends to start
+ * at 0 on boot (but people really shouldn't rely on that).
+ *
+ * cpu_clock(i)       -- can be used from any context, including NMI.
+ * sched_clock_cpu(i) -- must be used with local IRQs disabled (implied by NMI)
+ * local_clock()      -- is cpu_clock() on the current cpu.
+ *
+ * How:
+ *
+ * The implementation either uses sched_clock() when
+ * !CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK, which means in that case the
+ * sched_clock() is assumed to provide these properties (mostly it means
+ * the architecture provides a globally synchronized highres time source).
+ *
+ * Otherwise it tries to create a semi stable clock from a mixture of other
+ * clocks, including:
+ *
+ *  - GTOD (clock monotomic)
  *  - sched_clock()
  *  - explicit idle events
  *
- * We use gtod as base and the unstable clock deltas. The deltas are filtered,
- * making it monotonic and keeping it within an expected window.
+ * We use GTOD as base and use sched_clock() deltas to improve resolution. The
+ * deltas are filtered to provide monotonicity and keeping it within an
+ * expected window.
  *
  * Furthermore, explicit sleep and wakeup hooks allow us to account for time
  * that is otherwise invisible (TSC gets stopped).
  *
- * The clock: sched_clock_cpu() is monotonic per cpu, and should be somewhat
- * consistent between cpus (never more than 2 jiffies difference).
+ *
+ * Notes:
+ *
+ * The !IRQ-safetly of sched_clock() and sched_clock_cpu() comes from things
+ * like cpufreq interrupts that can change the base clock (TSC) multiplier
+ * and cause funny jumps in time -- although the filtering provided by
+ * sched_clock_cpu() should mitigate serious artifacts we cannot rely on it
+ * in general since for !CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK we fully rely on
+ * sched_clock().
  */
 #include <linux/spinlock.h>
 #include <linux/hardirq.h>
@@ -170,6 +206,11 @@ again:
 	return val;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Similar to cpu_clock(), but requires local IRQs to be disabled.
+ *
+ * See cpu_clock().
+ */
 u64 sched_clock_cpu(int cpu)
 {
 	struct sched_clock_data *scd;
@@ -237,9 +278,19 @@ void sched_clock_idle_wakeup_event(u64 delta_ns)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sched_clock_idle_wakeup_event);
 
-unsigned long long cpu_clock(int cpu)
+/*
+ * As outlined at the top, provides a fast, high resolution, nanosecond
+ * time source that is monotonic per cpu argument and has bounded drift
+ * between cpus.
+ *
+ * ######################### BIG FAT WARNING ##########################
+ * # when comparing cpu_clock(i) to cpu_clock(j) for i != j, time can #
+ * # go backwards !!                                                  #
+ * ####################################################################
+ */
+u64 cpu_clock(int cpu)
 {
-	unsigned long long clock;
+	u64 clock;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
 	local_irq_save(flags);
@@ -249,6 +300,25 @@ unsigned long long cpu_clock(int cpu)
 	return clock;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Similar to cpu_clock() for the current cpu. Time will only be observed
+ * to be monotonic if care is taken to only compare timestampt taken on the
+ * same CPU.
+ *
+ * See cpu_clock().
+ */
+u64 local_clock(void)
+{
+	u64 clock;
+	unsigned long flags;
+
+	local_irq_save(flags);
+	clock = sched_clock_cpu(smp_processor_id());
+	local_irq_restore(flags);
+
+	return clock;
+}
+
 #else /* CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK */
 
 void sched_clock_init(void)
@@ -264,12 +334,17 @@ u64 sched_clock_cpu(int cpu)
 	return sched_clock();
 }
 
-
-unsigned long long cpu_clock(int cpu)
+u64 cpu_clock(int cpu)
 {
 	return sched_clock_cpu(cpu);
 }
 
+u64 local_clock(void)
+{
+	return sched_clock_cpu(0);
+}
+
 #endif /* CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK */
 
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(cpu_clock);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(local_clock);