On ARM, we do not have a component-local hardware time-source. The ARM
performance counter has no reliable frequency as the ARM idle command
halts the counter. Thus, we do not do local time interpolation on ARM.
Except we're on the HW kernel. In this case we can read out the kernel
time instead.
Ref #2435
This patch allows core's 'Signal_transmitter' implementation to sidestep
the 'Env::Pd' interface and thereby adhere to a stricter layering within
core. The 'Signal_transmitter' now uses - on kernels that depend on it -
a dedicated (and fairly freestanding) RPC proxy mechanism for signal
deliver, instead of channeling signals through the 'Pd_session::submit'
RPC function.
Previously, the Genode::Timer::curr_time always used the
Timer_session::elapsed_ms RPC as back end. Now, Genode::Timer reads
this remote time only in a periodic fashion independently from the calls
to Genode::Timer::curr_time. If now one calls Genode::Timer::curr_time,
the function takes the last read remote time value and adapts it using
the timestamp difference since the remote-time read. The conversion
factor from timestamps to time is estimated on every remote-time read
using the last read remote-time value and the timestamp difference since
the last remote time read.
This commit also re-works the timeout test. The test now has two stages.
In the first stage, it tests fast polling of the
Genode::Timer::curr_time. This stage checks the error between locally
interpolated and timer-driver time as well as wether the locally
interpolated time is monotone and sufficiently homogeneous. In the
second stage several periodic and one-shot timeouts are scheduled at
once. This stage checks if the timeouts trigger sufficiently precise.
This commit adds the new Kernel::time syscall to base-hw. The syscall is
solely used by the Genode::Timer on base-hw as substitute for the
timestamp. This is because on ARM, the timestamp function uses the ARM
performance counter that stops counting when the WFI (wait for
interrupt) instruction is active. This instruction, however is used by
the base-hw idle contexts that get active when no user thread needs to
be scheduled. Thus, the ARM performance counter is not a good choice for
time interpolation and we use the kernel internal time instead.
With this commit, the timeout library becomes a basic library. That means
that it is linked against the LDSO which then provides it to the program it
serves. Furthermore, you can't use the timeout library anymore without the
LDSO because through the kernel-dependent LDSO make-files we can achieve a
kernel-dependent timeout implementation.
This commit introduces a structured Duration type that shall successively
replace the use of Microseconds, Milliseconds, and integer types for duration
values.
Open issues:
* The timeout test fails on Raspberry PI because of precision errors in the
first stage. However, this does not render the framework unusable in general
on the RPI but merely is an issue when speaking of microseconds precision.
* If we run on ARM with another Kernel than HW the timestamp speed may
continuously vary from almost 0 up to CPU speed. The Timer, however,
only uses interpolation if the timestamp speed remained stable (12.5%
tolerance) for at least 3 observation periods. Currently, one period is
100ms, so its 300ms. As long as this is not the case,
Timer_session::elapsed_ms is called instead.
Anyway, it might happen that the CPU load was stable for some time so
interpolation becomes active and now the timestamp speed drops. In the
worst case, we would now have 100ms of slowed down time. The bad thing
about it would be, that this also affects the timeout of the period.
Thus, it might "freeze" the local time for more than 100ms.
On the other hand, if the timestamp speed suddenly raises after some
stable time, interpolated time can get too fast. This would shorten the
period but nonetheless may result in drifting away into the far future.
Now we would have the problem that we can't deliver the real time
anymore until it has caught up because the output of Timer::curr_time
shall be monotone. So, effectively local time might "freeze" again for
more than 100ms.
It would be a solution to not use the Trace::timestamp on ARM w/o HW but
a function whose return value causes the Timer to never use
interpolation because of its stability policy.
Fixes#2400
This patch removes possible ambiguities with respect to the naming of
kernel-dependent binaries and libraries. It also removes the use of
kernel-specific global side effects from the build system. The reach of
kernel-specific peculiarities has thereby become limited to the actual
users of the respective 'syscall-<kernel>' libraries.
Kernel-specific build artifacts are no longer generated at magic places
within the build directory (like okl4's includes, or the L4 build
directories of L4/Fiasco and Fiasco.OC, or the build directories of
various kernels). Instead, such artifacts have been largely moved to the
libcache. E.g., the former '<build-dir>/l4/' build directory for the L4
build system resides at '<build-dir>/var/libcache/syscall-foc/build/'.
This way, the location is unique to the kernel. Note that various tools
are still generated somewhat arbitrarily under '<build-dir>/tool/' as
there is no proper formalism for building host tools yet.
As the result of this work, it has become possible to use a joint Genode
build directory that is usable with all kernels of a given hardware
platform. E.g., on x86_32, one can now seamlessly switch between linux,
nova, sel4, okl4, fiasco, foc, and pistachio without rebuilding any
components except for core, the kernel, the dynamic linker, and the timer
driver. At the current stage, such a build directory must still be
created manually. A change of the 'create_builddir' tool will follow to
make this feature easily available.
This patch also simplifies various 'run/boot_dir' plugins by removing
the option for an externally hosted kernel. This option remained unused
for many years now.
Issue #2190
