From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 13 20:25:05 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 869A916A469 for ; Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:25:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kris@FreeBSD.org) Received: from weak.local (freefall.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::28]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 00FB313C478 for ; Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:25:04 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kris@FreeBSD.org) Message-ID: <478A739F.2030003@FreeBSD.org> Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 21:25:03 +0100 From: Kris Kennaway User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 (Macintosh/20071031) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: current@freebsd.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Subject: mpsafe psm driver needed X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 20:25:05 -0000 Hi guys, I've been looking at some mutex profiling traces from users of 6.x and 7.x who are reporting that their mouse pointer sometimes freezes when their system is busy. In most of the situations I have looked at this is because the psm driver is Giant-locked, and competes with other things like the syncer (in 6.x), or sysctl calls (I have a WIP for this that I need to revisit). This is a minor problem from a grand architectural point of view but an important one from a usability point of view. I believe these particular interactivity problems would be resolved if the psm driver no longer required Giant. Is anyone able to work on this? Kris