Re: [RFC PATCH v1 00/11] Create fast idle path for short idle periods

Thomas Gleixner
2017-07-18T07:24:42Z

On Mon, 17 Jul 2017, Andi Kleen wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 08:43:53AM +0200, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> > On Mon, 17 Jul 2017, Andi Kleen wrote:
> >
> > > > We need a tradeoff here IMHO. I'll check Daniel's work to understand how/if
> > > > it's better than menu governor.
> > >
> > > I still would like to see how the fast path without the C1 heuristic works.
> > >
> > > Fast pathing is a different concept from a better predictor. IMHO we need
> > > both, but the first is likely lower hanging fruit.
> >
> > Hacking something on the side is always the lower hanging fruit as it
> > avoids solving the hard problems. As Peter said already, that's not going
> > to happen unless there is a real technical reason why the general path
> > cannot be fixed. So far there is no proof for that.
>
> You didn't look at Aubrey's data?

I did, but that data is no proof that it is unfixable. It's just data
describing the current situation, not more not less.

> There are some unavoidable slow operations in the current path -- e.g.

That's the whole point: current path, IOW current implementation.

This implementation is not set in stone and we rather fix it than just
creating a side channel and leave everything else as is.

Thanks,

tglx