[PATCH 1/2][RFC] time: Fix timekeeping_freqadjust()'s incorrect use of abs() instead of abs64()

From: John Stultz
Date: Wed Sep 09 2015 - 02:04:29 EST


The internal clocksteering done for fine-grained error correction
uses a logarithmic approximation, so any time adjtimex() adjusts
the clock steering, timekeeping_freqadjust() quickly approximates
the correct clock frequency over a series of ticks.

Unfortunately, the logic in timekeeping_freqadjust(), introduced
in commit dc491596f639 ("timekeeping: Rework frequency adjustments
to work better w/ nohz"), used the abs() function with a s64 error
value to calculate the size of the approximated adjustment to be
made.

Per include/linux/kernel.h: "abs() should not be used for 64-bit
types (s64, u64, long long) - use abs64()".

Thus on 32-bit platforms, this resulted in the clocksteering to
take a quite dampended random walk trying to converge on the
proper frequency, which caused the adjustments to be made much
slower then intended (most easily observed when large adjustments
are made).

This patch fixes the issue by using abs64() instead.

Cc: Nuno GonÃalves <nunojpg@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Miroslav Lichvar <mlichvar@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Prarit Bhargava <prarit@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Richard Cochran <richardcochran@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> # v3.17+
Reported-by: Nuno GonÃalves <nunojpg@xxxxxxxxx>
Tested-by: Nuno Goncalves <nunojpg@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: John Stultz <john.stultz@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/time/timekeeping.c | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/time/timekeeping.c b/kernel/time/timekeeping.c
index f6ee2e6..3739ac6 100644
--- a/kernel/time/timekeeping.c
+++ b/kernel/time/timekeeping.c
@@ -1614,7 +1614,7 @@ static __always_inline void timekeeping_freqadjust(struct timekeeper *tk,
negative = (tick_error < 0);

/* Sort out the magnitude of the correction */
- tick_error = abs(tick_error);
+ tick_error = abs64(tick_error);
for (adj = 0; tick_error > interval; adj++)
tick_error >>= 1;

--
1.9.1

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