From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1759817Ab0I0QcO (ORCPT ); Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:32:14 -0400 Received: from mail-qy0-f181.google.com ([209.85.216.181]:42176 "EHLO mail-qy0-f181.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1759795Ab0I0QcM (ORCPT ); Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:32:12 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:references:mime-version :content-type:content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent; b=uuumlgXD8LbNKX9A/3VAM4aAsBIsakJ5acm1jGzLuzA7mrhj3vqozBY3noDL/Dnni7 wuovbxbgCQ/MSn3mAzwMEivnZv2DehzO2Lwqg8irZjvWc6CnI3yObNotaLSuZkO3zOKM 1UacfSmmuZISuUyaLbUf18b5lxpacECViBTHc= Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:32:08 -0400 From: tmhikaru@gmail.com To: Greg KH , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Linux 2.6.35.6 Message-ID: <20100927163208.GA4892@roll> References: <20100927003608.GA20395@kroah.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="17pEHd4RhPHOinZp" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20100927003608.GA20395@kroah.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org --17pEHd4RhPHOinZp Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline I'm not exactly sure what's going on here and I'd like some help figuring out what is. For some inexplicable reason, ever since I started using the 2.6.35.x series with the 2.6.35.3 release, my loadaverages tend to bounce anywhere from as low to .2 to 1.5 - constantly, while the machine seems idle. Consistently, there are no programs in D state in ps aux output, no cpu hogging programs running in top, nothing I can see that should explain the bizzarely high load average. *Something* is wrong beyond the mere loadaverage numbers going crazy however, since timed runs of kernel compiles done with my distro's kernel and 2.6.35.5 show that while there is no *apparent* use of cpu or disk showing in vmstat while the machine is idle, the compiles on the newer kernel are taking approximately twice as long as before. Now, while I could try to figure out what patch started the problem, I think it would be a better idea for me to make sure I'm looking for the actual problem in the right place. Therefore, I know that cpu use, disk I/O, and the kernel can drive the load average up. Of these things, cpu use and disk I/O are trackable in top/ps output (eg, a process in D state is waiting on the disk to do something and can't sleep.) but I don't know if there's any easy way to determine if the kernel itself is doing something that's driving up the load average. It's perplexing me that I can see the loadaverage constantly bouncing about but can't seem to find any reason why it is doing so. If you have any tips or recommendations on what I should use to investigate this further, please let me know. Once I have ensured to my own satisfaction that I'm not doing something bizzare that's screwing up my machine, I'll make a detailed bug report and start on figuring out how to use git bisect. Tim McGrath --17pEHd4RhPHOinZp Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) iQEVAwUBTKDHCJEncCrqzVruAQLy5wgAmttVucMOOOd0+rsy/DZhORfgwyTN9ru7 b0XXddjJz1ebziEgmTt19V6a0esAdX3zOFESqXygiMu+ceIlayzgEbohq7EKTKKU GsJ/30W5zN+N/7taRPbg1bii4PqUYu2hNOqWp6YN4IAUj82VRHMP6IQmYnuk6i0V 5G6AebYowtR27UjVr9bSTMLjaOi3l8ud1Zzdi9PVf6zjnHGd/X4jY7lvg11SVP9J HN0kvpqXLuJfdXrsX0B0i3DRJiCkWwID3sK0iAmDu1tdPoaaResVtwxgT12uovjk CIxKZGU0/bQzlukgc/ix6iEQyXtdvzkzPYcbwAkNVQucERhQmt5K6A== =+8VD -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --17pEHd4RhPHOinZp--