Detailing The Idle Loop Ordering Problem & The Power Improvement In Linux 4.17

Of the many great features/changes for Linux 4.17, one of the most exciting to us is the idle power efficiency and performance-per-Watt improvements on some systems thanks to a rework to the kernel's idle loop handling. Rafael Wysocki and Thomas Ilsche as two of the developers working on this big code change presented on their work today for this CPU idle loop ordering problem and its resolution.

Taking place yesterday through tomorrow is the second annual OSPM Summit in Pisa, Italy. The OSPM summit is about power management and scheduling within the Linux kernel. Today is when Wysocki and Ilsche took the stage to talk about this CPU idle code situation.

Fortunately, the OSPM event is being streamed on YouTube for those wishing to learn more about this work from the comfort of your own home or office.

I will have up some more Linux 4.17 kernel power consumption tests in the coming days further looking at this corrected behavior.