cycle_interval is an integer number of counter cycles per NTP interval,
so the real time it represents differs from the nominal
NTP_INTERVAL_LENGTH by up to half a counter period. For coarse
clocksources this is significant: the 3.579545 MHz ACPI PM timer at
HZ=1000 rounds 3579.545 cycles up to 3580, making each tick 1.000127 ms
(+127 PPM).
Commit a386b5af8e ("time: Compensate for rounding on odd-frequency
clocksources") introduced xtime_remainder to compensate for exactly
this, citing the same 127 PPM ACPI PM example. The compensation is
correct and necessary, but it was applied inside the timekeeping
accumulation in timekeeping.c: subtracted in the mult computation in
timekeeping_adjust() and folded into the ntp_error update in
logarithmic_accumulation(). That keeps the base rate correct and leaves
NTP its full symmetric +/-MAXFREQ range rather than +373/-627 PPM, but
the NTP code in ntp.c never sees it: tick_length is computed without the
correction, so ntp.c's notion of how long a tick is disagrees with the
rate timekeeping actually produces.
Make the offset an explicit part of the NTP tick_length instead. Add
ntp_data::cs_tick_adj, a fixed per-second addend that
ntp_update_frequency() includes alongside ntp_tick_adj and time_freq.
tk_setup_internals() computes it from the difference between the real
cycle_interval duration and the nominal interval, stores it in the
timekeeper, and hands it to NTP through a new argument to ntp_clear() --
which already recomputes the frequency and is invoked after every
clocksource (re)configuration. timekeeping_init() now uses TK_UPDATE_ALL
for this; clearing NTP there is otherwise redundant since ntp_init() has
just initialised it.
ntp.c now computes the true tick rate, giving a single source of truth.
Like ntp_tick_adj, cs_tick_adj stays internal to the kernel: userspace
still sees the nominal 1.000000 ms tick via adjtimex and is unaware of
the addends. timekeeping_adjust() and logarithmic_accumulation() use
ntp_tick / xtime_interval directly, and xtime_remainder is removed.
The base-rate arithmetic is unchanged: ntp_tick becomes
xtime_interval << ntp_error_shift, so the mult division yields the same
base mult and the ntp_error accumulation still nets to zero per tick.
Beyond the cleanup of treating all the tick_length contributions
(nominal interval, ntp_tick_adj, cs_tick_adj, time_freq) consistently
as addends in one place, it also prepares for feed-forward discipline:
a future timekeeping_set_reference() will set tick_length to track an
absolute external reference such as a vmclock, and that path needs
ntp.c to own a tick_length that already reflects the clocksource
quantisation, with no hidden correction applied elsewhere.
Signed-off-by: David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>
Assisted-by: Kiro:claude-opus-4.8
Acked-by: John Stultz <jstultz@google.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260621220051.1030462-4-dwmw2@infradead.org
869a55e662