The ~200 Line Linux Kernel Patch That Does Wonders

[raj7095]

cool, my memory usage has reduced so much with kztmem. overall kernel + userspace memory usage reduced from 55 % to 30, according to perlmon.

[kernelOfTruth]

Hi towo2099,
Thanks for that. I'm downloading it now...Will be trying it out. By the way, would I need to recompile the kernel and configure the kernel with any specific settings? Is kernel pre-emption set to ON, timer frequency set 1000Hz and the lot done by default?
I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro.
Looking forward to experiencing the "smoothness" boost with this patch!

you need the CONFIG_SCHED_AUTOGROUP=y

set:

CONFIG_CGROUPS=y
# CONFIG_CGROUP_DEBUG is not set
# CONFIG_CGROUP_NS is not set
CONFIG_CGROUP_FREEZER=y
# CONFIG_CGROUP_DEVICE is not set
CONFIG_CGROUP_CPUACCT=y
CONFIG_CGROUP_SCHED=y
CONFIG_FAIR_GROUP_SCHED=y
CONFIG_RT_GROUP_SCHED=y
# CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP is not set
CONFIG_SCHED_AUTOGROUP=y
# CONFIG_CGROUP_BFQIO is not set
# CONFIG_NET_CLS_CGROUP is not set

[kernelOfTruth]

cool, my memory usage has reduced so much with kztmem. overall kernel + userspace memory usage reduced from 55 % to 30, according to perlmon.

if you're having lots of ext4-partitions

it really should help A LOT, yes

but make sure you're using SLUB this should even make it better:

I've included "Shrinking the size of ext4_inode_info" patch - by Theodore Ts'o

so it consumes even less memory


there are surely even more patches involved in that but I currently don't remember which of them


anyways:

v14 of that patch(set)

is out !

[kernelOfTruth]

kerneloftruth, i got an interesting investigation. if you compile kernel 2.6.36 with ck patches, instead of the zen for bfs, you will get the exact same amount of interactivity in both 2.6.36 and 2.6.37 versions. so, that means the problem isn't in bfs, but apparently some sorta change in zen kernel. ok, so i tried zen kernel with the second patch (most of the patches in the first one are already there) with cfs autogroup and all those cgroup option, and i am pretty impressed with the performance increase. i can again compile with 4 jobs and still play video games and watch hd videos on youtube at the same time.

well, I've observed kernel development for some years now and I believe there are "good" and some "bad" kernel releases when you focus solely on performance and interactivity in the desktop sector,

2.6.36 sort of was pretty stable for me but not very fast

2.6.37 is a whole different picture - you can tweak the heck out of it also lots of upcoming patches work with it

2.6.38 and 2.6.39 surely will be significantly faster than (vanilla) 2.6.37

[raj7095]

if you're having lots of ext4-partitions

it really should help A LOT, yes

but make sure you're using SLUB this should even make it better:

I've included "Shrinking the size of ext4_inode_info" patch - by Theodore Ts'o

so it consumes even less memory


there are surely even more patches involved in that but I currently don't remember which of them


anyways:

v14 of that patch(set)

is out !

ah cmon, now i want to download the new version. anyways, you got any tips on how to improve intel graphics performance, kerneloftruth? interactivity is nice and everything. everything is smooth, except for games, their speed remains the same.

[kernelOfTruth]

ah cmon, now i want to download the new version. anyways, you got any tips on how to improve intel graphics performance, kerneloftruth? interactivity is nice and everything. everything is smooth, except for games, their speed remains the same.

I'm using xf86-video-ati with KMS so - I can't really say anything about intel

take a look at gentoo's and arch linux' wiki - they're always a good start

[roysamuel]

I downloaded the 2.6.38-rc3 kernel source and compiled it with CONFIG_SCHED_AUTOGROUP=y
Great to see switching between different applications have sped up a lot! yaay
Thanks to all you who helped.

[kernelOfTruth]

I downloaded the 2.6.38-rc3 kernel source and compiled it with CONFIG_SCHED_AUTOGROUP=y
Great to see switching between different applications have sped up a lot! yaay
Thanks to all you who helped.

watch out for rc-kernels before rc3 and rc6

there still might be potential bugs leading to data corruption (e.g. the case for <2.6.37-rc6)

have backups available - just in case ...

[roysamuel]

watch out for rc-kernels before rc3 and rc6

there still might be potential bugs leading to data corruption (e.g. the case for <2.6.37-rc6)

have backups available - just in case ...

Thanks for that bit of info. You are saying then that, rc3 and rc6 are relatively more stable than rc2, rc1 and rc5, rc4? I'm not sure if I got you correctly. By the way, when would the stable version of 2.6.38 be released?

[kernelOfTruth]

Thanks for that bit of info. You are saying then that, rc3 and rc6 are relatively more stable than rc2, rc1 and rc5, rc4? I'm not sure if I got you correctly. By the way, when would the stable version of 2.6.38 be released?

nope I'd only say that there are sort of 3 phases:

1) before rc3: high probability that you might get into data corruption (depending on the new features that got into the kernel release)

2) before rc3-rc6 should be better but still some issues possible

3) >rc6 everyone testing please


stable 2.6.38 ? probably in a month or 1.5 - but mostly "when it's done"