Measuring time in the Kernel : HZ_jiffies

1. Timer interrupts

The Linux Kernel uses timer interrupts(定时器中断) to track the passage of time.

Timer interruptsare periodically generated by timer hardware.

--- like the swinging of a pendulum(钟摆) in a clock, timer interrupts are repetitious(重复的) events with a consistent frequency.

--- unlike a pendulum, the frequency of the interrupts can be programmed.

The kernel tracks time by counting timer interrupts.

2. HZ --- constant representing the number of timer interrupts per second.

Timer interrupt frequency is programmed by the linux kernel at boot time, using a parameter calledHZ.

the value of HZ is parameter which can be configured when you build your kernel.

It's defined in <asm/param.h>

#ifdef __KERNEL__
# define HZ		CONFIG_HZ	/* Internal kernel timer frequency */
# define USER_HZ	100		/* User interfaces are in "ticks" */
# define CLOCKS_PER_SEC	(USER_HZ)	/* like times() */
#else
# define HZ		100
#endif

3. The jiffy(时间段)

a jiffy is the amount of time which elapses between timer interrupts.

Most folks use the term jiffy to mean a short period of time, but in Linux, a jiffy is mathematically described as: 1 jiffy = 1/HZ second.

3.1 jiffies and jiffies_64

to track time, the kernel maintains a counter which counts the number of jiffies that has elapsed since the system started.

each time the kernel sees a timer interrupt, it increments this counter.

--- when the counter hits it's maximum value, it simply wraps back around to zero.

the value of this counter is accessible to drivers via 2 variables:

--- the full 64-bits are available using jiffies_64.

--- low 32-bits are available using jiffies.

4. using jiffies:

get_jiffies_64(); --- provides atomic access to jiffies_64 on all architectures.

4.1 summary of API to compare jiffies values:

time_after(a, b); --- true if time a is after time b.

time_after_eq(a, b); --- true if time a is the same, or after time b.

time_before_eq(a, b );  --- true if time a is the same, or before time b.

time_before(a, b); --- true if time a is before time b.

time_in_range(a, b, c);  --- return true if time a is between the range defined by time b and time c.

compare a value(32-bit only) of jiffies to the current time counter value.

time_is_after_jiffies(a);  --- true is time a is after to the current counter value.

time_is_after_eq_jiffies(a); --- true is time a is the same, or after to the current counter value.

time_is_before_eq_jiffies(a); --- true is time a is the same, or before to the current counter value.

time_is_before_jiffies(a);  --- true is time a is before to the current counter value.

for jiffies64 :

time_after64(a, b); --- true if time a is after time b.

time_after_eq64(a, b); --- true if time a is the same, or after time b.

time_before_eq64(a, b );  --- true if time a is the same, or before time b.

time_before64(a, b); --- true if time a is before time b.

4.2 Summary of API relating to converting jiffies values:

jiffies_to_msecs(a);   --- convert between jiffies to milliseconds. 

msecs_to_jiffies(a);

jiffies_to_usecs(a);  --- convert between jiffies to microseconds.

usecs_to_jiffies(a);

convert between jiffies and struct timespec, commonly used in linux user-space:

struct timespec {
	__kernel_time_t	tv_sec;			/* seconds */
	long		tv_nsec;		/* nanoseconds */
};

jiffies_to_timespec(a, tb); --- convert time a to struct timespec, storing result at tb. tb is a timespec struct.

timespec_to_jiffies(ta); --- convert timespec ta to jiffies. return jiffies. ta is a times

convert between jiffies and struct timeval. (oder but still commonly used in linux user-space):

struct timeval {
	__kernel_time_t		tv_sec;		/* seconds */
	__kernel_suseconds_t	tv_usec;	/* microseconds */
};

jiffies_to_timeval(a, tb);  //convert time a to struct timeval tb. storing result at tb.

timeval_to_jiffies(a); //convert struct timeval a to jiffies.