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diff --git a/Documentation/timers/delay_sleep_functions.rst b/Documentation/timers/delay_sleep_functions.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..49d603a3f113 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/timers/delay_sleep_functions.rst @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Delay and sleep mechanisms +========================== + +This document seeks to answer the common question: "What is the +RightWay (TM) to insert a delay?" + +This question is most often faced by driver writers who have to +deal with hardware delays and who may not be the most intimately +familiar with the inner workings of the Linux Kernel. + +The following table gives a rough overview about the existing function +'families' and their limitations. This overview table does not replace the +reading of the function description before usage! + +.. list-table:: + :widths: 20 20 20 20 20 + :header-rows: 2 + + * - + - `*delay()` + - `usleep_range*()` + - `*sleep()` + - `fsleep()` + * - + - busy-wait loop + - hrtimers based + - timer list timers based + - combines the others + * - Usage in atomic Context + - yes + - no + - no + - no + * - precise on "short intervals" + - yes + - yes + - depends + - yes + * - precise on "long intervals" + - Do not use! + - yes + - max 12.5% slack + - yes + * - interruptible variant + - no + - yes + - yes + - no + +A generic advice for non atomic contexts could be: + +#. Use `fsleep()` whenever unsure (as it combines all the advantages of the + others) +#. Use `*sleep()` whenever possible +#. Use `usleep_range*()` whenever accuracy of `*sleep()` is not sufficient +#. Use `*delay()` for very, very short delays + +Find some more detailed information about the function 'families' in the next +sections. + +`*delay()` family of functions +------------------------------ + +These functions use the jiffy estimation of clock speed and will busy wait for +enough loop cycles to achieve the desired delay. udelay() is the basic +implementation and ndelay() as well as mdelay() are variants. + +These functions are mainly used to add a delay in atomic context. Please make +sure to ask yourself before adding a delay in atomic context: Is this really +required? + +.. kernel-doc:: include/asm-generic/delay.h + :identifiers: udelay ndelay + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/delay.h + :identifiers: mdelay + + +`usleep_range*()` and `*sleep()` family of functions +---------------------------------------------------- + +These functions use hrtimers or timer list timers to provide the requested +sleeping duration. In order to decide which function is the right one to use, +take some basic information into account: + +#. hrtimers are more expensive as they are using an rb-tree (instead of hashing) +#. hrtimers are more expensive when the requested sleeping duration is the first + timer which means real hardware has to be programmed +#. timer list timers always provide some sort of slack as they are jiffy based + +The generic advice is repeated here: + +#. Use `fsleep()` whenever unsure (as it combines all the advantages of the + others) +#. Use `*sleep()` whenever possible +#. Use `usleep_range*()` whenever accuracy of `*sleep()` is not sufficient + +First check fsleep() function description and to learn more about accuracy, +please check msleep() function description. + + +`usleep_range*()` +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/delay.h + :identifiers: usleep_range usleep_range_idle + +.. kernel-doc:: kernel/time/sleep_timeout.c + :identifiers: usleep_range_state + + +`*sleep()` +~~~~~~~~~~ + +.. kernel-doc:: kernel/time/sleep_timeout.c + :identifiers: msleep msleep_interruptible + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/delay.h + :identifiers: ssleep fsleep |