2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Rumi Szabolcs]

Hello!

I've got a Linux system running the 2.4.26 kernel which was about
to pass the 500 day mark these days and now suddenly what I see is
that the uptime counter has reset:

$ uname -a && w && cat /proc/uptime && last -1 reboot
Linux quasar 2.4.26 #3 SMP Tue Sep 7 09:22:08 CEST 2004 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
 09:38:08 up 1 day, 12:49,  5 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
USER     TTY        LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
rumi     pty/s0    08:53    0.00s  0.04s  0.02s screen -r
rumi     ttyp1     10Sep04 31:58   9:12   9:12  epic
rumi     ttyp3     Tue12   44:33m  0.01s  0.01s -/bin/bash
rumi     ttyp2     13Feb05  8days  0.11s  0.11s -/bin/bash
rumi     ttypc     11Dec05  0.00s  0.12s  0.11s -/bin/bash
132596.51 39801752.60
reboot   system boot  2.4.26           Tue Sep  7 18:47         (498+15:50)

>From the above it can be seen that the system is running continuously
and wasn't rebooted 36 hours ago as the uptime counter would suggest.

Is this a known bug?

Regards,

Sab

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Nick]

On 1/19/06, Rumi Szabolcs <rumi_ml@rtfm.hu> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> I've got a Linux system running the 2.4.26 kernel which was about
> to pass the 500 day mark these days and now suddenly what I see is
> that the uptime counter has reset:
>
> $ uname -a && w && cat /proc/uptime && last -1 reboot
> Linux quasar 2.4.26 #3 SMP Tue Sep 7 09:22:08 CEST 2004 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
>  09:38:08 up 1 day, 12:49,  5 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
> USER     TTY        LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
> rumi     pty/s0    08:53    0.00s  0.04s  0.02s screen -r
> rumi     ttyp1     10Sep04 31:58   9:12   9:12  epic
> rumi     ttyp3     Tue12   44:33m  0.01s  0.01s -/bin/bash
> rumi     ttyp2     13Feb05  8days  0.11s  0.11s -/bin/bash
> rumi     ttypc     11Dec05  0.00s  0.12s  0.11s -/bin/bash
> 132596.51 39801752.60
> reboot   system boot  2.4.26           Tue Sep  7 18:47         (498+15:50)
>
> From the above it can be seen that the system is running continuously
> and wasn't rebooted 36 hours ago as the uptime counter would suggest.
>
> Is this a known bug?


It's not a bug - it is a feature.  uptime rolls over after 497 days.

[sic]
It computes the result of the "uptime" based on the internal "jiffies"
counter, which counts the time since boot, in units of 10
milliseconds.
This is typecast as an "unsigned long" - on the Intel boxes, that's an
unsigned 32-bit number.
Well, it turns out that in a 32-bit number, you can store 497.1 days
before the number wraps.


You can use:
last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel

to get true uptime in this instance.

Nick

--
http://sourceforge.net/projects/quake2plus/

"Person who say it cannot be done should not interrupt person doing it."
-Chinese Proverb

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Willy Tarreau]

On Thu, Jan 19, 2006 at 09:29:51AM +0000, Nick wrote:
> On 1/19/06, Rumi Szabolcs <rumi_ml@rtfm.hu> wrote:
> > Hello!
> >
> > I've got a Linux system running the 2.4.26 kernel which was about
> > to pass the 500 day mark these days and now suddenly what I see is
> > that the uptime counter has reset:
> >
> > $ uname -a && w && cat /proc/uptime && last -1 reboot
> > Linux quasar 2.4.26 #3 SMP Tue Sep 7 09:22:08 CEST 2004 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
> >  09:38:08 up 1 day, 12:49,  5 users,  load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
> > USER     TTY        LOGIN@   IDLE   JCPU   PCPU WHAT
> > rumi     pty/s0    08:53    0.00s  0.04s  0.02s screen -r
> > rumi     ttyp1     10Sep04 31:58   9:12   9:12  epic
> > rumi     ttyp3     Tue12   44:33m  0.01s  0.01s -/bin/bash
> > rumi     ttyp2     13Feb05  8days  0.11s  0.11s -/bin/bash
> > rumi     ttypc     11Dec05  0.00s  0.12s  0.11s -/bin/bash
> > 132596.51 39801752.60
> > reboot   system boot  2.4.26           Tue Sep  7 18:47         (498+15:50)
> >
> > From the above it can be seen that the system is running continuously
> > and wasn't rebooted 36 hours ago as the uptime counter would suggest.
> >
> > Is this a known bug?
> 
> 
> It's not a bug - it is a feature.  uptime rolls over after 497 days.
> 
> [sic]
> It computes the result of the "uptime" based on the internal "jiffies"
> counter, which counts the time since boot, in units of 10
> milliseconds.
> This is typecast as an "unsigned long" - on the Intel boxes, that's an
> unsigned 32-bit number.
> Well, it turns out that in a 32-bit number, you can store 497.1 days
> before the number wraps.
> 
> 
> You can use:
> last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel
> 
> to get true uptime in this instance.
> 
> Nick

I would add that if you need to get valid outputs after such an uptime,
you can apply the vhz-j64 patch available at Robert Love's (RML) on
kernel.org.

Regards,
Willy

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Nick Warne]

On Thursday 19 January 2006 20:18, Willy Tarreau wrote:

> > You can use:
> > last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel
> >
> > to get true uptime in this instance.
> >
> > Nick
>
> I would add that if you need to get valid outputs after such an uptime,
> you can apply the vhz-j64 patch available at Robert Love's (RML) on
> kernel.org.

:-(  Then you would have to start all over again and wait 497.1 days to see if 
it works... :-0

Seriously, is this patch to be added to 2.4.x tree at all in the future?

Nick
-- 
"Person who say it cannot be done should not interrupt person doing it."
-Chinese Proverb

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Willy Tarreau]

On Thu, Jan 19, 2006 at 08:22:42PM +0000, Nick Warne wrote:
> On Thursday 19 January 2006 20:18, Willy Tarreau wrote:
> 
> > > You can use:
> > > last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel
> > >
> > > to get true uptime in this instance.
> > >
> > > Nick
> >
> > I would add that if you need to get valid outputs after such an uptime,
> > you can apply the vhz-j64 patch available at Robert Love's (RML) on
> > kernel.org.
> 
> :-(  Then you would have to start all over again and wait 497.1 days to see if 
> it works... :-0

No, you can apply the debugjiffies patch which basically sets your time
to -5 min at boot to test the wrapping. Anyway, believe me, it works, I
successfully wrapped twice on 2.4.18 a long time ago, and it was not
that clean by this time.

> Seriously, is this patch to be added to 2.4.x tree at all in the future?

No, because it uses dirty (but very clever) tricks to avoid locking around
the jiffies manipulations, and 2.4 is in critical fixes-only mode right now.

> Nick

Regards,
Willy

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Jan Engelhardt]

>> > You can use:
>> > last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel
>> >
>> > to get true uptime in this instance.

Or use some dedicated programs, IIRC there is a "uprecords" program
(http://podgorny.cz/moin/Uptimed). Does require no reboot and should 
work right away.


Jan Engelhardt
-- 

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Bill Davidsen]

Jan Engelhardt wrote:
>>>>You can use:
>>>>last -xf /var/run/utmp runlevel
>>>>
>>>>to get true uptime in this instance.
> 
> 
> Or use some dedicated programs, IIRC there is a "uprecords" program
> (http://podgorny.cz/moin/Uptimed). Does require no reboot and should 
> work right away.

I never understood uptime anyway, the boot time, to the second, is 
available in /proc/stat (btime), and it isn't that hard to turn it into 
whatever format you find human readable. I have a perl script which 
presents uptime as fractional days, days, hours, min, sec, and/or boot 
time. Took me about two minutes to write.

-- 
    -bill davidsen (davidsen@tmr.com)
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
  last possible moment - but no longer"  -me

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Jan Engelhardt]

>> Or use some dedicated programs, IIRC there is a "uprecords" program
>> (http://podgorny.cz/moin/Uptimed). Does require no reboot and should work
>> right away.
>
> I never understood uptime anyway, the boot time, to the second, is available in
> /proc/stat (btime), and it isn't that hard to turn it into whatever format you
> find human readable. I have a perl script which presents uptime as fractional
> days, days, hours, min, sec, and/or boot time. Took me about two minutes to
> write.

uptime or uptimed/uprecords? (That's two different things.)
The "uptime" commands is the same as "w | head -n1" (which reads 
/proc/uptime) and therefore suffers from jiffies wrap.



Jan Engelhardt
-- 

Re: 2.4.x kernel uptime counter problem

[Bill Davidsen]

Jan Engelhardt wrote:

>>>Or use some dedicated programs, IIRC there is a "uprecords" program
>>>(http://podgorny.cz/moin/Uptimed). Does require no reboot and should work
>>>right away.
>>>      
>>>
>>I never understood uptime anyway, the boot time, to the second, is available in
>>/proc/stat (btime), and it isn't that hard to turn it into whatever format you
>>find human readable. I have a perl script which presents uptime as fractional
>>days, days, hours, min, sec, and/or boot time. Took me about two minutes to
>>write.
>>    
>>
>
>uptime or uptimed/uprecords? (That's two different things.)
>The "uptime" commands is the same as "w | head -n1" (which reads 
>/proc/uptime) and therefore suffers from jiffies wrap.
>

I understand why it has this limitation, the question is why it was 
written to have it, when correct function is easily possible. I 
understand extra effort to get it right, but not to get it wrong...

-- 
bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
  CTO TMR Associates, Inc
  Doing interesting things with small computers since 1979