Peter is concerned about the extra scan of CLOCK_REALTIME_COS in the
timer interrupt. Yes, I did not think about it, because the solution
was so elegant. I didn't like the extra list in timerfd when it was
proposed some time ago, but with a rcu based list the list walk it's
less horrible than the original global lock, which was held over the
list iteration.
Requested-by: NPeter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Signed-off-by: NThomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Reviewed-by: NPeter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>

Some applications must be aware of clock realtime being set
backward. A simple example is a clock applet which arms a timer for
the next minute display. If clock realtime is set backward then the
applet displays a stale time for the amount of time which the clock
was set backwards. Due to that applications poll the time because we
don't have an interface.

Extend the timerfd interface by adding a flag which puts the timer
onto a different internal realtime clock. All timers on this clock are
expired whenever the clock was set.

The timerfd core records the monotonic offset when the timer is
created. When the timer is armed, then the current offset is compared
to the previous recorded offset. When it has changed, then
timerfd_settime returns -ECANCELED. When a timer is read the offset is
compared and if it changed -ECANCELED returned to user space. Periodic
timers are not rearmed in the cancelation case.
Signed-off-by: NThomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Acked-by: NJohn Stultz <johnstul@us.ibm.com>
Cc: Chris Friesen <chris.friesen@genband.com>
Tested-by: NKay Sievers <kay.sievers@vrfy.org>
Cc: "Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill@shutemov.name>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Davide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Reviewed-by: NAlexander Shishkin <virtuoso@slind.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/%3Calpine.LFD.2.02.1104271359580.3323%40ionos%3ESigned-off-by: NThomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>

As requested by Michael, add a missing check for valid flags in
timerfd_settime(), and make it return EINVAL in case some extra bits are
set.

Michael said:
If this is to be any use to userland apps that want to check flag
support (perhaps it is too late already), then the sooner we get it
into the kernel the better: 2.6.29 would be good; earlier stables as
well would be even better.

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: remove unused TFD_FLAGS_SET]
Acked-by: NMichael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: <stable@kernel.org>		[2.6.27.x, 2.6.28.x]
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This patch adds support for the TFD_NONBLOCK flag to timerfd_create.  The
additional changes needed are minimal.

The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and
x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>

#ifndef __NR_timerfd_create
# ifdef __x86_64__
#  define __NR_timerfd_create 283
# elif defined __i386__
#  define __NR_timerfd_create 322
# else
#  error "need __NR_timerfd_create"
# endif
#endif

#define TFD_NONBLOCK O_NONBLOCK

int
main (void)
{
  int fd = syscall (__NR_timerfd_create, CLOCK_REALTIME, 0);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(0) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  int fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL);
  if (fl == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if (fl & O_NONBLOCK)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(0) set non-blocking mode");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  fd = syscall (__NR_timerfd_create, CLOCK_REALTIME, TFD_NONBLOCK);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(TFD_NONBLOCK) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  fl = fcntl (fd, F_GETFL);
  if (fl == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if ((fl & O_NONBLOCK) == 0)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(TFD_NONBLOCK) set non-blocking mode");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  puts ("OK");

  return 0;
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

The timerfd_create syscall already has a flags parameter.  It just is
unused so far.  This patch changes this by introducing the TFD_CLOEXEC
flag to set the close-on-exec flag for the returned file descriptor.

A new name TFD_CLOEXEC is introduced which in this implementation must
have the same value as O_CLOEXEC.

The following test must be adjusted for architectures other than x86 and
x86-64 and in case the syscall numbers changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>

#ifndef __NR_timerfd_create
# ifdef __x86_64__
#  define __NR_timerfd_create 283
# elif defined __i386__
#  define __NR_timerfd_create 322
# else
#  error "need __NR_timerfd_create"
# endif
#endif

#define TFD_CLOEXEC O_CLOEXEC

int
main (void)
{
  int fd = syscall (__NR_timerfd_create, CLOCK_REALTIME, 0);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(0) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  int coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD);
  if (coe == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if (coe & FD_CLOEXEC)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(0) set close-on-exec flag");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  fd = syscall (__NR_timerfd_create, CLOCK_REALTIME, TFD_CLOEXEC);
  if (fd == -1)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(TFD_CLOEXEC) failed");
      return 1;
    }
  coe = fcntl (fd, F_GETFD);
  if (coe == -1)
    {
      puts ("fcntl failed");
      return 1;
    }
  if ((coe & FD_CLOEXEC) == 0)
    {
      puts ("timerfd_create(TFD_CLOEXEC) set close-on-exec flag");
      return 1;
    }
  close (fd);

  puts ("OK");

  return 0;
}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Signed-off-by: NUlrich Drepper <drepper@redhat.com>
Acked-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>

This patch introduces a new system call for timers events delivered though
file descriptors.  This allows timer event to be used with standard POSIX
poll(2), select(2) and read(2).  As a consequence of supporting the Linux
f_op->poll subsystem, they can be used with epoll(2) too.

The system call is defined as:

int timerfd(int ufd, int clockid, int flags, const struct itimerspec *utmr);

The "ufd" parameter allows for re-use (re-programming) of an existing timerfd
w/out going through the close/open cycle (same as signalfd).  If "ufd" is -1,
s new file descriptor will be created, otherwise the existing "ufd" will be
re-programmed.

The "clockid" parameter is either CLOCK_MONOTONIC or CLOCK_REALTIME.  The time
specified in the "utmr->it_value" parameter is the expiry time for the timer.

If the TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME flag is set in "flags", this is an absolute time,
otherwise it's a relative time.

If the time specified in the "utmr->it_interval" is not zero (.tv_sec == 0,
tv_nsec == 0), this is the period at which the following ticks should be
generated.

The "utmr->it_interval" should be set to zero if only one tick is requested.
Setting the "utmr->it_value" to zero will disable the timer, or will create a
timerfd without the timer enabled.

The function returns the new (or same, in case "ufd" is a valid timerfd
descriptor) file, or -1 in case of error.

As stated before, the timerfd file descriptor supports poll(2), select(2) and
epoll(2).  When a timer event happened on the timerfd, a POLLIN mask will be
returned.

The read(2) call can be used, and it will return a u32 variable holding the
number of "ticks" that happened on the interface since the last call to
read(2).  The read(2) call supportes the O_NONBLOCK flag too, and EAGAIN will
be returned if no ticks happened.

A quick test program, shows timerfd working correctly on my amd64 box:

http://www.xmailserver.org/timerfd-test.c

[akpm@linux-foundation.org: add sys_timerfd to sys_ni.c]
Signed-off-by: NDavide Libenzi <davidel@xmailserver.org>
Signed-off-by: NAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: NLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>