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idle

Intro

idle - the system call for resource de-allocation in kernel scheduling.

Description

The idle system call allows an application or processes to de-allocate CPU resources. The kernel scheduler can be instructed to keep the CPU available to process other threads without the application or process being interrupted. It is a blocking call and therefore can result in improved performance as it frees up resources to be used elsewhere. Using the idle system call may result in improved responsiveness, lower power consumption and better system utilization.

Arguments

No arguments are provided for this system call.

Hooks

idle

Type

Kprobe

Purpose

To detect when an application or process de-allocates CPU resources.

Example Use Case

Idle can be used for monitoring in a variety of different contexts. It can be used to detect and understand general resource allocation and de-allocation behavior, as well as to look out for applications or processes utilizing too much CPU resources. It might also be used to monitor programs for unexpected CPU utilization, or to detect when an application is stalled for some reason.

Issues

The idle system call may result in higher power consumption as it allows unneeded processes to keep running instead of being interrupted. This can be especially true when lower latency is needed, as the scheduler cannot pre-empt or adjust the process or application as it would with pre-emption.

  • wait: System call which allows a process to suspend execution until a certain condition is met.
  • setpriority: System call that allows a process to modify its scheduling priority.
  • sched_yield: System call to voluntarily relinquish the processor.

This document was automatically generated by OpenAI and needs review. It might not be accurate and might contain errors. The authors of Tracee recommend that the user reads the "events.go" source file to understand the events and their arguments better.