Merge branch 'core-rcu-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip

Pull RCU changes from Ingo Molnar:
 "The main changes in this cycle were:

   - changes permitting use of call_rcu() and friends very early in
     boot, for example, before rcu_init() is invoked.

   - add in-kernel API to enable and disable expediting of normal RCU
     grace periods.

   - improve RCU's handling of (hotplug-) outgoing CPUs.

   - NO_HZ_FULL_SYSIDLE fixes.

   - tiny-RCU updates to make it more tiny.

   - documentation updates.

   - miscellaneous fixes"

* 'core-rcu-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (58 commits)
  cpu: Provide smpboot_thread_init() on !CONFIG_SMP kernels as well
  cpu: Defer smpboot kthread unparking until CPU known to scheduler
  rcu: Associate quiescent-state reports with grace period
  rcu: Yet another fix for preemption and CPU hotplug
  rcu: Add diagnostics to grace-period cleanup
  rcutorture: Default to grace-period-initialization delays
  rcu: Handle outgoing CPUs on exit from idle loop
  cpu: Make CPU-offline idle-loop transition point more precise
  rcu: Eliminate ->onoff_mutex from rcu_node structure
  rcu: Process offlining and onlining only at grace-period start
  rcu: Move rcu_report_unblock_qs_rnp() to common code
  rcu: Rework preemptible expedited bitmask handling
  rcu: Remove event tracing from rcu_cpu_notify(), used by offline CPUs
  rcutorture: Enable slow grace-period initializations
  rcu: Provide diagnostic option to slow down grace-period initialization
  rcu: Detect stalls caused by failure to propagate up rcu_node tree
  rcu: Eliminate empty HOTPLUG_CPU ifdef
  rcu: Simplify sync_rcu_preempt_exp_init()
  rcu: Put all orphan-callback-related code under same comment
  rcu: Consolidate offline-CPU callback initialization
  ...

1 files changed, 21 insertions, 13 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt b/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
index f3cd299fcc41..f4cbfe0ba108 100644
--- a/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
+++ b/Documentation/kernel-per-CPU-kthreads.txt
@@ -190,20 +190,24 @@ To reduce its OS jitter, do any of the following:
 		on each CPU, including cs_dbs_timer() and od_dbs_timer().
 		WARNING:  Please check your CPU specifications to
 		make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
-	d.	It is not possible to entirely get rid of OS jitter
-		from vmstat_update() on CONFIG_SMP=y systems, but you
-		can decrease its frequency by writing a large value
-		to /proc/sys/vm/stat_interval.	The default value is
-		HZ, for an interval of one second.  Of course, larger
-		values will make your virtual-memory statistics update
-		more slowly.  Of course, you can also run your workload
-		at a real-time priority, thus preempting vmstat_update(),
+	d.	As of v3.18, Christoph Lameter's on-demand vmstat workers
+		commit prevents OS jitter due to vmstat_update() on
+		CONFIG_SMP=y systems.  Before v3.18, is not possible
+		to entirely get rid of the OS jitter, but you can
+		decrease its frequency by writing a large value to
+		/proc/sys/vm/stat_interval.  The default value is HZ,
+		for an interval of one second.	Of course, larger values
+		will make your virtual-memory statistics update more
+		slowly.  Of course, you can also run your workload at
+		a real-time priority, thus preempting vmstat_update(),
 		but if your workload is CPU-bound, this is a bad idea.
 		However, there is an RFC patch from Christoph Lameter
 		(based on an earlier one from Gilad Ben-Yossef) that
 		reduces or even eliminates vmstat overhead for some
 		workloads at https://lkml.org/lkml/2013/9/4/379.
-	e.	If running on high-end powerpc servers, build with
+	e.	Boot with "elevator=noop" to avoid workqueue use by
+		the block layer.
+	f.	If running on high-end powerpc servers, build with
 		CONFIG_PPC_RTAS_DAEMON=n.  This prevents the RTAS
 		daemon from running on each CPU every second or so.
 		(This will require editing Kconfig files and will defeat
@@ -211,12 +215,12 @@ To reduce its OS jitter, do any of the following:
 		due to the rtas_event_scan() function.
 		WARNING:  Please check your CPU specifications to
 		make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
-	f.	If running on Cell Processor, build your kernel with
+	g.	If running on Cell Processor, build your kernel with
 		CBE_CPUFREQ_SPU_GOVERNOR=n to avoid OS jitter from
 		spu_gov_work().
 		WARNING:  Please check your CPU specifications to
 		make sure that this is safe on your particular system.
-	g.	If running on PowerMAC, build your kernel with
+	h.	If running on PowerMAC, build your kernel with
 		CONFIG_PMAC_RACKMETER=n to disable the CPU-meter,
 		avoiding OS jitter from rackmeter_do_timer().
 
@@ -258,8 +262,12 @@ Purpose: Detect software lockups on each CPU.
 To reduce its OS jitter, do at least one of the following:
 1.	Build with CONFIG_LOCKUP_DETECTOR=n, which will prevent these
 	kthreads from being created in the first place.
-2.	Echo a zero to /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog to disable the
+2.	Boot with "nosoftlockup=0", which will also prevent these kthreads
+	from being created.  Other related watchdog and softlockup boot
+	parameters may be found in Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt
+	and Documentation/watchdog/watchdog-parameters.txt.
+3.	Echo a zero to /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog to disable the
 	watchdog timer.
-3.	Echo a large number of /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog_thresh in
+4.	Echo a large number of /proc/sys/kernel/watchdog_thresh in
 	order to reduce the frequency of OS jitter due to the watchdog
 	timer down to a level that is acceptable for your workload.