Integrate the code of the Alarm framework directly into the Timeout
framework. The former Alarm-framework methods are all private to the
corresponding classes of the Timeout framework and get prefixed with
'_alarm__'. The latter avoids name clashes and makes it easier to
simplify the code later.
Issue #2704
Ensure that the timer does not handle timeouts again within 1000
microseconds after the last handling of timeouts. This makes denial of
service attacks harder. This commit does not limit the rate of timeout
signals handled inside the timer but it causes the timer to do it less
often. If a client continuously installs a very small timeout at the
timer it still causes a signal to be submitted to the timer each time
and some extra CPU time to be spent in the internal handling method. But
only every 1000 microseconds this internal handling causes user timeouts
to trigger.
If we would want to limit also the call of the internal handling method
to ensure that CPU time is spent beside the RPCs only every 1000
microseconds, things would get more complex. For instance, on NOVA
Time_source::schedule_timeout(0) must be called each time a new timeout
gets installed and becomes head of the scheduling queue. We cannot
simply overwrite the already running timeout with the new one.
Ref #2490
We update the alarm-scheduler time with results of
Timer::Connection::curr_time when we schedule new timeouts but when
handling the signal from the Timer server we updated the alarm-scheduler
time with the result of Timer::Connection::elapsed_us. Mixing times
like this could cause a non-monotone time value in the alarm scheduler.
The alarm scheduler then thought that the time value wrapped and
triggered all timeouts immediately. The problem was fixed by always
using Timer::Connection::curr_time as time source.
Ref #2490
If we add an absolute timeout to the back-end alarm-scheduler we must first
call 'handle' at the scheduler to update its internal time value.
Otherwise, it might happen that we add a timeout who's deadline is so big that
it normally belongs to the next time-counter period but the scheduler thinks
that it belongs to the current period as its time is older than the one used
to calculate the deadline.
Ref #2490
Previously, the Genode::Timer::curr_time always used the
Timer_session::elapsed_ms RPC as back end. Now, Genode::Timer reads
this remote time only in a periodic fashion independently from the calls
to Genode::Timer::curr_time. If now one calls Genode::Timer::curr_time,
the function takes the last read remote time value and adapts it using
the timestamp difference since the remote-time read. The conversion
factor from timestamps to time is estimated on every remote-time read
using the last read remote-time value and the timestamp difference since
the last remote time read.
This commit also re-works the timeout test. The test now has two stages.
In the first stage, it tests fast polling of the
Genode::Timer::curr_time. This stage checks the error between locally
interpolated and timer-driver time as well as wether the locally
interpolated time is monotone and sufficiently homogeneous. In the
second stage several periodic and one-shot timeouts are scheduled at
once. This stage checks if the timeouts trigger sufficiently precise.
This commit adds the new Kernel::time syscall to base-hw. The syscall is
solely used by the Genode::Timer on base-hw as substitute for the
timestamp. This is because on ARM, the timestamp function uses the ARM
performance counter that stops counting when the WFI (wait for
interrupt) instruction is active. This instruction, however is used by
the base-hw idle contexts that get active when no user thread needs to
be scheduled. Thus, the ARM performance counter is not a good choice for
time interpolation and we use the kernel internal time instead.
With this commit, the timeout library becomes a basic library. That means
that it is linked against the LDSO which then provides it to the program it
serves. Furthermore, you can't use the timeout library anymore without the
LDSO because through the kernel-dependent LDSO make-files we can achieve a
kernel-dependent timeout implementation.
This commit introduces a structured Duration type that shall successively
replace the use of Microseconds, Milliseconds, and integer types for duration
values.
Open issues:
* The timeout test fails on Raspberry PI because of precision errors in the
first stage. However, this does not render the framework unusable in general
on the RPI but merely is an issue when speaking of microseconds precision.
* If we run on ARM with another Kernel than HW the timestamp speed may
continuously vary from almost 0 up to CPU speed. The Timer, however,
only uses interpolation if the timestamp speed remained stable (12.5%
tolerance) for at least 3 observation periods. Currently, one period is
100ms, so its 300ms. As long as this is not the case,
Timer_session::elapsed_ms is called instead.
Anyway, it might happen that the CPU load was stable for some time so
interpolation becomes active and now the timestamp speed drops. In the
worst case, we would now have 100ms of slowed down time. The bad thing
about it would be, that this also affects the timeout of the period.
Thus, it might "freeze" the local time for more than 100ms.
On the other hand, if the timestamp speed suddenly raises after some
stable time, interpolated time can get too fast. This would shorten the
period but nonetheless may result in drifting away into the far future.
Now we would have the problem that we can't deliver the real time
anymore until it has caught up because the output of Timer::curr_time
shall be monotone. So, effectively local time might "freeze" again for
more than 100ms.
It would be a solution to not use the Trace::timestamp on ARM w/o HW but
a function whose return value causes the Timer to never use
interpolation because of its stability policy.
Fixes#2400
