One Of Clear Linux's Kernel Patches To Help With Boot Time Proposed For Upstreaming

Besides Clear Linux delivering often leading x86_64 Linux performance at run-time, when it comes to boot performance it has also been at the forefront -- in some configurations, can boot in 300 ms. Intel has invested significantly in ensuring Clear Linux boots as fast as possible for when running in the cloud or on containers in order to respond to increased demand as quickly as possible as well as for use-cases like Clear Linux within automobiles where they need to get automobile cameras active within two seconds of power on. One of their many kernel patches could be on its way to the mainline kernel.

Independent developer Paul Menzel has volleyed one of the patches carried by Clear's kernel onto the mailing list to see its reception for possible inclusion upstream. That patch by Intel's Arjan van de Ven is about initializing the ATA subsystem before graphics. Arjan explained in the four year old patch, "ATA init is the long pole in the boot process, and its asynchronous. Move the graphics init after it, so that ATA and graphics initialize in parallel."

The patch is just maneuvering the ATA code in the Makefile so it's quite a straight-forward change. We'll see if it gets pulled upstream. This can help with boot time thanks to ATA and graphics initialization being done in parallel but is just one of many kernel patches carried by Clear Linux. Those wanting to dig through Clear's other Linux kernel patches can find them on GitHub.