> On Thu, 12 Mar 2009, jmc wrote: >> >> i believe that Theo and many of the devs have said many times that the >> load average means nothing. here's a reference to one such thread: >> >> http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/openbsd-misc/2008/11/8/4041294
2009/3/13 David Vasek <[email protected]>: > > Perhaps the man page of w(1) should be changed. Currently it states: > > The load average numbers give the number of jobs in the run > queue averaged over 1, 5 and 15 minutes. > > which is rather inaccurate or wrong. I suggest the patch below. Please > correct my English if necessary. > > Regards, > David > > Index: src/usr.bin/w/w.1 > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/w/w.1,v > retrieving revision 1.18 > diff -u -p -r1.18 w.1 > --- src/usr.bin/w/w.1 31 May 2007 19:20:19 -0000 1.18 > +++ src/usr.bin/w/w.1 13 Mar 2009 13:10:56 -0000 > @@ -50,7 +50,8 @@ The first line displays the current time > been running, the number of users logged into the system, and the load > averages. > The load average numbers give the number of jobs in the run queue averaged > -over 1, 5 and 15 minutes. > +over past 1, 5 and 15 minutes. Because of the sampling method and > +algorithms used to obtain these numbers, they are often inaccurate. > .Pp At the peril of being justifiably told that I don't really know what I'm talking about here: I have a hunch that that last sentence may prevent that diff from being accepted. The way I understand things, the numbers are not "inaccurate" just different from what Linux users might expect them to be. But who ever said that Linux was the measure of all things? Again, I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but that's my understanding of the matter. If it's incorrect, then sorry for the noise. regards, --ropers
