Linux Very Close To Enabling Real-Time "PREEMPT_RT" Support

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux Very Close To Enabling Real-Time "PREEMPT_RT" Support

We're very close to the finish line for the mainline Linux kernel being able to enable real-time "PREEMPT_RT" kernel support...

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-PREEMPT_RT-Close-Patches

[fitzie]

Lennart Poettering salivating at adding a new kernel requirement to his projects..

[MastaG]

This!
+ Winesync and I'm happy!

[vandelay]

+ Winesync and I'm happy!

Same here, hoping NTSYNC gets in for the LTS otherwise that's one more year before it makes to my chromebook plus (unless google backports it which is probably unlikely).

[InvalidHandle]

This is pretty huge, and I'm very much looking forward to the small, subtle, impossible to quantify UI responsiveness improvements this will inevitably bring down the road over the next few years.

PREEMPT_RT could be enabled on X86

I'm 99% sure this also implies x86-64, but does anyone know for sure?

[NathanG]

Be good to get it done and dusted for the LTS.

[MastaG]

Same here, hoping NTSYNC gets in for the LTS otherwise that's one more year before it makes to my chromebook plus (unless google backports it which is probably unlikely).

Do you think Google would enable it in ChromeOS?
Because there are features in the kernel such as namespaces and binfmt_misc that would greatly benefit FEX and box64, but they're always disabled in Android builds.

[ahrs]

Do you think Google would enable it in ChromeOS?
Because there are features in the kernel such as namespaces and binfmt_misc that would greatly benefit FEX and box64, but they're always disabled in Android builds.

I think they disable them on purpose because of the attack surface and the fact that they don't need them. They have containers but they don't use the host namespaces, they all run in Crostini VMs.

[vandelay]

Do you think Google would enable it in ChromeOS?

I think there's a pretty good chance with the push for gaming chromebooks, chromebook plus, and Valve partnering with Google to improve steam on chromebooks https://store.steampowered.com/news/...19763053339626

FYI that new steam on chromeos installer is different from just installing the regular steam deb package in the Linux development environment, and is installed somewhere outside of it, so it can have different restrictions, and actually runs pretty well.

[blackshard]

This is pretty huge, and I'm very much looking forward to the small, subtle, impossible to quantify UI responsiveness improvements this will inevitably bring down the road over the next few years.



I'm 99% sure this also implies x86-64, but does anyone know for sure?

Mmmh, you don't really want a realtime kernel for some desktop responsivity. That is urban legend and is a mistake about the purpose of a realtime kernel, which is provide a deterministic and time-reliable execution slot for tasks that require such feature. You would use a realtime kernel to execute then software of EPS or ABS in a car, which should react very promptly to sensor readings, rather than a desktop, where you probably just waste resources in form of context switches.