Re: finding out the value of HZ from userspace

[Tim Bird <tim.bird@am.sony.com>]

Peter Williams wrote:
>> It's not possible to change USER_HZ.  There are too many programs with
>> the number hard-coded into the binary.
> 
> This is an argument that the tail should be allowed to wag the dog and 
> is not really valid :-)

It is an interesting, but untenable, position that the applications
are the tail and the OS is the dog.  The OS exists to serve the applications.
The applications, are, after all what a user actually DOES with their computer.

It is possible that the current applications which use hardcoded USER_HZ are
not important enough, or are easy enough to fix, that the cost in incompatibility
is offset by the benefit of providing different behaviour for future applications.

But breaking them for no good reason, and particularly while there is a
migration path possible over time which does not break compatibility, seems like
a bad idea.

=============================
Tim Bird
Architecture Group Co-Chair
CE Linux Forum
Senior Staff Engineer
Sony Electronics
E-mail: Tim.Bird@am.sony.com
=============================