cpu_switch man page on MirBSD

Man page or keyword search:  
man Server   6113 pages
apropos Keyword Search (all sections)
Output format
MirBSD logo
[printable version]

CTXSW(9)		      BSD Kernel Manual			      CTXSW(9)

NAME
     mi_switch, cpu_switch - switch to another process context

SYNOPSIS
     #include <sys/param.h>
     #include <sys/proc.h>

     void
     mi_switch(void);

     void
     cpu_switch(void);

DESCRIPTION
     The mi_switch() function implements the machine-independent prelude to a
     process context switch. It is called from only a few distinguished places
     in the kernel code as a result of the principle of non-preemptable kernel
     mode execution. The three major uses of mi_switch() can be enumerated as
     follows:

	   1.	From within sleep(9) and tsleep(9) when the current process
		voluntarily relinquishes the CPU to wait for some resource to
		become available.

	   2.	After handling a trap (e.g., a system call or device
		interrupt) when the kernel prepares a return to user-mode exe-
		cution. This case is typically handled by machine-dependent
		trap-handling code after detection of a change in the signal
		disposition of the current process, or when a higher priority
		process might be available to run. The latter event is commun-
		icated by the machine-independent scheduling routines by cal-
		ling the machine-dependent need_resched(void).

	   3.	In the signal handling code (see issignal(9)) if a signal is
		delivered that causes a process to stop.

     mi_switch() records the amount of time the current process has been run-
     ning in the process structure and checks this value against the CPU time
     limits allocated to the process (see getrlimit(2)). Exceeding the soft
     limit results in a SIGXCPU signal to be posted to the process, while
     exceeding the hard limit will cause a SIGKILL. For a process which accu-
     mulated longer than 10 minutes of CPU time, its nice level is raised to
     4. After these administrative tasks are done, mi_switch() hands over con-
     trol to the machine dependent routine cpu_switch(void), which will per-
     form the actual process context switch.

     cpu_switch() will make a choice amongst the processes which are ready to
     run from a priority queue data-structure. The priority queue consists of
     an array qs[NQS] of queue header structures each of which identifies a
     list of runnable processes of equal priority (see <sys/proc.h>). A single
     word whichqs containing a bit mask identifying non-empty queues assists
     in selecting a process quickly. cpu_switch() must remove the first pro-
     cess from the list on the queue with the highest priority (lower indices
     in qs indicate higher priority), and assign the address of its process
     structure to the global variable curproc. If no processes are available
     on the run queues, cpu_switch() shall go into an "idle" loop. The idle
     loop must allow interrupts to be taken that will eventually cause
     processes to appear again on the run queues. The variable curproc should
     be NULL while cpu_switch() waits for this to happen.

     Note that mi_switch() and thus cpu_switch() should be called at
     splhigh(9).

SEE ALSO
     spl(9), tsleep(9), wakeup(9)

MirOS BSD #10-current	      November 24, 1996				     1
[top]

List of man pages available for MirBSD

Copyright (c) for man pages and the logo by the respective OS vendor.

For those who want to learn more, the polarhome community provides shell access and support.

[legal] [privacy] [GNU] [policy] [cookies] [netiquette] [sponsors] [FAQ]
Tweet
Polarhome, production since 1999.
Member of Polarhome portal.
Based on Fawad Halim's script.
....................................................................
Vote for polarhome
Free Shell Accounts :: the biggest list on the net