From owner-freebsd-stable  Sat Mar 10  5:39:44 2001
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From: Mike Harding <mvh@ix.netcom.com>
To: bde@zeta.org.au
Cc: stable@FreeBSD.org, mi@aldan.algebra.com
In-reply-to: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0103102356340.13280-100000@besplex.bde.org>
	(message from Bruce Evans on Sat, 10 Mar 2001 23:58:51 +1100 (EST))
Subject: Re: load stays at 1 on an idle machine
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Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 05:27:22 -0800 (PST)
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I have seen this behavior a number of times over the years, but never
tracked it down.  I even looked at the kernel code which computed the
load to see if I could identify anything obvious.

I have noticed that when this happes, the load is basically a
completely stable value of 1.0 or very close to it, almost like it is
in a locally stable state.  Didn't look for zombies though - I use
junkbuster and it always keeps a few zombies around because the main
spawn loop is screwy.  (grrr).

- Mike Harding

   Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 23:58:51 +1100 (EST)
   From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au>
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   Cc: Mikhail Teterin <mi@aldan.algebra.com>
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   On Fri, 9 Mar 2001, Will Andrews wrote:

   > On Fri, Mar 09, 2001 at 10:39:53AM -0500, Mikhail Teterin wrote:
   > > I was running a single instance of SETI@Home, when I observed the load
   > > of 2. I stopped seti and the load went down to one. It stays there for
   > > about 20 hours already. The machine is idle:

   > top(1) doesn't show all stats relevant to the load average.  Check
   > vmstat/systat/iostat/netstat/etc.

   Perhaps it is the entropy harvester reaping itself ;-).

   > Besides, the load average is a
   > worthless metric if you ask me.

   Erm, it is a fundamental part of the scheduler.  The scheduler is b0rked,
   but not that part of it.

   Bruce


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