Re: [PATCH 04/15] powerpc/time: Prepare to stop elapsing in dynticks-idle

Shrikanth Hegde
2026-02-25T10:35:23Z

Hi Christophe.

On 2/25/26 3:15 PM, Christophe Leroy (CS GROUP) wrote:
> Hi Hegde,
>
> Le 25/02/2026 à 08:46, Shrikanth Hegde a écrit :
>> Hi Christophe,
>>
>> On 2/24/26 9:11 PM, Christophe Leroy (CS GROUP) wrote:
>>> Hi Hegde,
>>>
>>> Le 19/02/2026 à 19:30, Shrikanth Hegde a écrit :
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2/6/26 7:52 PM, Frederic Weisbecker wrote:
>>>>> Currently the tick subsystem stores the idle cputime accounting in
>>>>> private fields, allowing cohabitation with architecture idle vtime
>>>>> accounting. The former is fetched on online CPUs, the latter on
>>>>> offline
>>>>> CPUs.
>>>>>
>>>>> For consolidation purpose, architecture vtime accounting will continue
>>>>> to account the cputime but will make a break when the idle tick is
>>>>> stopped. The dyntick cputime accounting will then be relayed by the
>>>>> tick
>>>>> subsystem so that the idle cputime is still seen advancing coherently
>>>>> even when the tick isn't there to flush the idle vtime.
>>>>>
>>>>> Prepare for that and introduce three new APIs which will be used in
>>>>> subsequent patches:
>>>>>
>>>>> _ vtime_dynticks_start() is deemed to be called when idle enters in
>>>>>    dyntick mode. The idle cputime that elapsed so far is accumulated.
>>>>>
>>>>> - vtime_dynticks_stop() is deemed to be called when idle exits from
>>>>>    dyntick mode. The vtime entry clocks are fast-forward to current
>>>>> time
>>>>>    so that idle accounting restarts elapsing from now.
>>>>>
>>>>> - vtime_reset() is deemed to be called from dynticks idle IRQ entry to
>>>>>    fast-forward the clock to current time so that the IRQ time is
>>>>> still
>>>>>    accounted by vtime while nohz cputime is paused.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also accumulated vtime won't be flushed from dyntick-idle ticks to
>>>>> avoid
>>>>> accounting twice the idle cputime, along with nohz accounting.
>>>>>
>>>>> Signed-off-by: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@kernel.org>
>>>>
>>>> Reviewed-by: Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@linux.ibm.com>
>>>>
>>>>> ---
>>>>>   arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>>>> + ++++
>>>>>   include/linux/vtime.h      |  6 ++++++
>>>>>   2 files changed, 47 insertions(+)
>>>>>
>>>>> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
>>>>> index 4bbeb8644d3d..18506740f4a4 100644
>>>>> --- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
>>>>> +++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
>>>>> @@ -376,6 +376,47 @@ void vtime_task_switch(struct task_struct *prev)
>>>>>           acct->starttime = acct0->starttime;
>>>>>       }
>>>>>   }
>>>>> +
>>>>> +#ifdef CONFIG_NO_HZ_COMMON
>>>>> +/**
>>>>> + * vtime_reset - Fast forward vtime entry clocks
>>>>> + *
>>>>> + * Called from dynticks idle IRQ entry to fast-forward the clocks
>>>>> to current time
>>>>> + * so that the IRQ time is still accounted by vtime while nohz
>>>>> cputime is paused.
>>>>> + */
>>>>> +void vtime_reset(void)
>>>>> +{
>>>>> +    struct cpu_accounting_data *acct = get_accounting(current);
>>>>> +
>>>>> +    acct->starttime = mftb();
>>>>
>>>> I figured out why those huge values happen.
>>>>
>>>> This happens because mftb is from when the system is booted.
>>>> I was doing kexec to start the new kernel and mftb wasn't getting
>>>> reset.
>>>>
>>>> I thought about this. This is concern for pseries too, where LPAR's
>>>> restart but system won't restart and mftb will continue to run
>>>> instead of
>>>> reset.
>>>>
>>>> I think we should be using sched_clock instead of mftb here.
>>>> Though we need it a few more places and some cosmetic changes around
>>>> it.
>>>>
>>>> Note: Some values being huge exists without series for few CPUs,
>>>> with series it
>>>> shows up in most of the CPUs.
>>>>
>>>> So I am planning send out fix below fix separately keeping your
>>>> series as dependency.
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>>   arch/powerpc/include/asm/accounting.h |  4 ++--
>>>>   arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h    | 14 +++++++-------
>>>>   arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c            | 22 +++++++++++-----------
>>>>   3 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/accounting.h b/arch/powerpc/
>>>> include/asm/accounting.h
>>>> index 6d79c31700e2..50f120646e6d 100644
>>>> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/accounting.h
>>>> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/accounting.h
>>>> @@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ struct cpu_accounting_data {
>>>>       unsigned long steal_time;
>>>>       unsigned long idle_time;
>>>>       /* Internal counters */
>>>> -    unsigned long starttime;    /* TB value snapshot */
>>>> -    unsigned long starttime_user;    /* TB value on exit to
>>>> usermode */
>>>> +    unsigned long starttime;    /* Time value snapshot */
>>>> +    unsigned long starttime_user;    /* Time value on exit to
>>>> usermode */
>>>>   #ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_SCALED_CPUTIME
>>>>       unsigned long startspurr;    /* SPURR value snapshot */
>>>>       unsigned long utime_sspurr;    /* ->user_time when -
>>>> >startspurr set */
>>>> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h b/arch/powerpc/
>>>> include/ asm/cputime.h
>>>> index aff858ca99c0..eb6b629b113f 100644
>>>> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h
>>>> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h
>>>> @@ -20,9 +20,9 @@
>>>>   #include <asm/time.h>
>>>>   #include <asm/param.h>
>>>>   #include <asm/firmware.h>
>>>> +#include <linux/sched/clock.h>
>>>>
>>>>   #ifdef __KERNEL__
>>>> -#define cputime_to_nsecs(cputime) tb_to_ns(cputime)
>>>>
>>>>   /*
>>>>    * PPC64 uses PACA which is task independent for storing
>>>> accounting data while
>>>> @@ -44,20 +44,20 @@
>>>>    */
>>>>   static notrace inline void account_cpu_user_entry(void)
>>>>   {
>>>> -    unsigned long tb = mftb();
>>>> +    unsigned long now = sched_clock();
>>>
>>> Now way !
>>>
>>> By doing that you'll kill performance for no reason. All we need when
>>> accounting time spent in kernel or in user is the difference between
>>> time at entry and time at exit, no mater what the time was at boot time.
>>>
>>
>> No. With this patch there will not be any performance difference.
>> All it does is, instead of using mftb uses sched_clock at those places.
>>
>>
>> In arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c we have sched_clock().
>> notrace unsigned long long sched_clock(void)
>> {
>>          return mulhdu(get_tb() - boot_tb, tb_to_ns_scale) <<
>> tb_to_ns_shift;
>> }
>>
>> It does the same mftb call, and accounts only the time after boot,
>> which is
>> what /proc/stat should do as well.
>>
>> "
>> the amount of time, measured in units of USER_HZ
>> (1/100ths of a second on most architectures
>>
>> user   (1) Time spent in user mode.
>>
>> idle   (4) Time spent in the idle task.  This value
>>         should be USER_HZ times the second entry in
>>         the /proc/uptime pseudo-file.
>> "
>> /proc/uptime is based on sched_clock, so i infer /proc/stat also
>> should show
>> values w.r.t to boot of the OS.
>>
>>
>>> Also sched_clock() returns nanoseconds which implies calculation from
>>> timebase. This is pointless CPU consumption. The current
>>> implementation calculates nanoseconds at task switch when calling
>>> vtime_flush().Your change will now do it at every kernel entry and
>>> kernel exit by calling sched_clock().
>>
>> This change doesn't add any additional paths. Even without patches,
>> mftb would have
>> been called in every kernel entry/exit.  See mftb usage
>> account_cpu_user_exit/enter
>>
>> Now instead of mftb sched_clock is used, that's all. No additional
>> entry/exit points.
>> And previously when accounting we would have done cputime_to_nsecs,
>> now that conversion
>> is done automatically in sched_clock. So overall computation-wise it
>> should be same.
>>
>> What i am missing to see it here?
>
> Ok, lets try to explain in more details:
>
> While a process is running, it will enter and leave the kernel multiple
> times, without task switch. For instance for system calls or for
> interrupts.
>
> At every kernel entry and exit, account_cpu_user_entry() and
> account_cpu_user_exit() are called. That's a very hot path.
>
> I have added the following functions to see what the code looks like:
>
> +
> +void my_account_cpu_user_entry(void);
> +void my_account_cpu_user_entry(void)
> +{
> +       account_cpu_user_entry();
> +}
> +
> +void my_account_cpu_user_exit(void);
> +void my_account_cpu_user_exit(void)
> +{
> +       account_cpu_user_exit();
> +}
>
> What we have today is very optimised:
>
> 00000148 <my_account_cpu_user_entry>:
>  148:    7d 0c 42 e6     mftb    r8
>  14c:    80 e2 00 08     lwz     r7,8(r2)
>  150:    81 22 00 28     lwz     r9,40(r2)
>  154:    91 02 00 24     stw     r8,36(r2)
>  158:    7d 29 38 50     subf    r9,r9,r7
>  15c:    7d 29 42 14     add     r9,r9,r8
>  160:    91 22 00 08     stw     r9,8(r2)
>  164:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>
> 00000168 <my_account_cpu_user_exit>:
>  168:    7d 0c 42 e6     mftb    r8
>  16c:    80 e2 00 0c     lwz     r7,12(r2)
>  170:    81 22 00 24     lwz     r9,36(r2)
>  174:    91 02 00 28     stw     r8,40(r2)
>  178:    7d 29 38 50     subf    r9,r9,r7
>  17c:    7d 29 42 14     add     r9,r9,r8
>  180:    91 22 00 0c     stw     r9,12(r2)
>  184:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>
>
>
> With your change we now get a call to sched_clock() instead of a simple
> mftb,
>
> 00000154 <my_account_cpu_user_entry>:
>  154:    94 21 ff f0     stwu    r1,-16(r1)
>  158:    7c 08 02 a6     mflr    r0
>  15c:    90 01 00 14     stw     r0,20(r1)
>  160:    48 00 00 01     bl      160 <my_account_cpu_user_entry+0xc>
>             160: R_PPC_REL24    sched_clock
>  164:    81 02 00 08     lwz     r8,8(r2)
>  168:    81 22 00 28     lwz     r9,40(r2)
>  16c:    90 82 00 24     stw     r4,36(r2)
>  170:    7d 29 40 50     subf    r9,r9,r8
>  174:    7d 29 22 14     add     r9,r9,r4
>  178:    91 22 00 08     stw     r9,8(r2)
>  17c:    80 01 00 14     lwz     r0,20(r1)
>  180:    38 21 00 10     addi    r1,r1,16
>  184:    7c 08 03 a6     mtlr    r0
>  188:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>
> 0000018c <my_account_cpu_user_exit>:
>  18c:    94 21 ff f0     stwu    r1,-16(r1)
>  190:    7c 08 02 a6     mflr    r0
>  194:    90 01 00 14     stw     r0,20(r1)
>  198:    48 00 00 01     bl      198 <my_account_cpu_user_exit+0xc>
>             198: R_PPC_REL24    sched_clock
>  19c:    81 02 00 0c     lwz     r8,12(r2)
>  1a0:    81 22 00 24     lwz     r9,36(r2)
>  1a4:    90 82 00 28     stw     r4,40(r2)
>  1a8:    7d 29 40 50     subf    r9,r9,r8
>  1ac:    7d 29 22 14     add     r9,r9,r4
>  1b0:    91 22 00 0c     stw     r9,12(r2)
>  1b4:    80 01 00 14     lwz     r0,20(r1)
>  1b8:    38 21 00 10     addi    r1,r1,16
>  1bc:    7c 08 03 a6     mtlr    r0
>  1c0:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>
> And sched_clock() is heavy, first it has the sequence mftbu/mftb/mftbu,
> and then it does awful lot of calculations including many multiply:
>
> 000004d8 <sched_clock>:
>  4d8:    7d 2d 42 e6     mftbu   r9
>  4dc:    7d 0c 42 e6     mftb    r8
>  4e0:    7d 4d 42 e6     mftbu   r10
>  4e4:    7c 09 50 40     cmplw   r9,r10
>  4e8:    40 82 ff f0     bne     4d8 <sched_clock>
>  4ec:    3d 40 00 00     lis     r10,0
>             4ee: R_PPC_ADDR16_HA    .data..ro_after_init
>  4f0:    38 ca 00 00     addi    r6,r10,0
>             4f2: R_PPC_ADDR16_LO    .data..ro_after_init
>  4f4:    3c e0 00 00     lis     r7,0
>             4f6: R_PPC_ADDR16_HA    .data..read_mostly
>  4f8:    38 87 00 00     addi    r4,r7,0
>             4fa: R_PPC_ADDR16_LO    .data..read_mostly
>  4fc:    80 66 00 04     lwz     r3,4(r6)
>  500:    80 e7 00 00     lwz     r7,0(r7)
>             502: R_PPC_ADDR16_LO    .data..read_mostly
>  504:    80 c4 00 04     lwz     r6,4(r4)
>  508:    81 4a 00 00     lwz     r10,0(r10)
>             50a: R_PPC_ADDR16_LO    .data..ro_after_init
>  50c:    7c 63 40 10     subfc   r3,r3,r8
>  510:    7d 0a 49 10     subfe   r8,r10,r9
>  514:    7d 27 19 d6     mullw   r9,r7,r3
>  518:    7d 43 30 16     mulhwu  r10,r3,r6
>  51c:    7c 08 31 d6     mullw   r0,r8,r6
>  520:    7d 4a 48 14     addc    r10,r10,r9
>  524:    7c 67 18 16     mulhwu  r3,r7,r3
>  528:    39 20 00 00     li      r9,0
>  52c:    7c c8 30 16     mulhwu  r6,r8,r6
>  530:    7c a9 49 14     adde    r5,r9,r9
>  534:    7d 67 41 d6     mullw   r11,r7,r8
>  538:    7d 4a 00 14     addc    r10,r10,r0
>  53c:    7c a5 01 94     addze   r5,r5
>  540:    7c 63 30 14     addc    r3,r3,r6
>  544:    7d 29 49 14     adde    r9,r9,r9
>  548:    80 84 00 08     lwz     r4,8(r4)
>  54c:    7c 63 58 14     addc    r3,r3,r11
>  550:    7c e7 40 16     mulhwu  r7,r7,r8
>  554:    7d 29 01 94     addze   r9,r9
>  558:    7c 63 28 14     addc    r3,r3,r5
>  55c:    7d 29 39 14     adde    r9,r9,r7
>  560:    35 44 ff e0     addic.  r10,r4,-32
>  564:    41 80 00 10     blt     574 <sched_clock+0x9c>
>  568:    7c 63 50 30     slw     r3,r3,r10
>  56c:    38 80 00 00     li      r4,0
>  570:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>  574:    21 04 00 1f     subfic  r8,r4,31
>  578:    54 6a f8 7e     srwi    r10,r3,1
>  57c:    7d 29 20 30     slw     r9,r9,r4
>  580:    7d 4a 44 30     srw     r10,r10,r8
>  584:    7c 64 20 30     slw     r4,r3,r4
>  588:    7d 43 4b 78     or      r3,r10,r9
>  58c:    4e 80 00 20     blr
>
> I think the difference is obvious, no need of benchmarking. We shall
> refrain from calling sched_clock() at every kernel entry/exit.
> Converting from timebase to nanoseconds only need to be done in
> vtime_flush() called by vtime_task_switch() during task switch.
>
> Hope it is more explicit now.
>

Got it. The main concern was around with additional computation that sched_clock,
not any additional paths per se.

yes, that would be possible,

How about we do below? This adds only one subtraction.
This achieves the same outcome.

---

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h
index aff858ca99c0..7afba0202568 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/cputime.h
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@
*/
static notrace inline void account_cpu_user_entry(void)
{
- unsigned long tb = mftb();
+ unsigned long tb = mftb() - get_boot_tb();
struct cpu_accounting_data *acct = raw_get_accounting(current);

acct->utime += (tb - acct->starttime_user);
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ static notrace inline void account_cpu_user_entry(void)

static notrace inline void account_cpu_user_exit(void)
{
- unsigned long tb = mftb();
+ unsigned long tb = mftb() - get_boot_tb();
struct cpu_accounting_data *acct = raw_get_accounting(current);

acct->stime += (tb - acct->starttime);
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
index 18506740f4a4..ff5524e6cdc7 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/time.c
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ static unsigned long vtime_delta(struct cpu_accounting_data *acct,

WARN_ON_ONCE(!irqs_disabled());

- now = mftb();
+ now = mftb() - get_boot_tb();
stime = now - acct->starttime;
acct->starttime = now;

@@ -388,7 +388,7 @@ void vtime_reset(void)
{
struct cpu_accounting_data *acct = get_accounting(current);

- acct->starttime = mftb();
+ acct->starttime = mftb() - get_boot_tb();
#ifdef CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_SCALED_CPUTIME
acct->startspurr = read_spurr(acct->starttime);
#endif