I don't think this project falls under the new rules (self review's
don't require +1's, do they?) If they do, then please add my +1 to this
project.
-- Garrett
PS: A neat future project would be to move the data collection portions
of this into a separate library and provide a Gnome GUI interface.
Randy Fishel wrote:
> I am sponsoring the following PSARC case for Rafael Vanoni. This case
> will bring the current PowerTOP utility with additional work that has
> been done by the OpenSolaris Tesla project into Solaris. This is an
> observability tool with significant Solaris benefit and Linux roots.
> As we don't control the user interfaces and it consumes Solaris
> committed interfaces, we believe this qualifies as a self review. If
> someone believes it is not, then it can be turned into a regular
> fasttrack.
>
>
>
> 1. Introduction
>
> 1.1. Project/Component Working Name:
> PowerTOP for OpenSolaris
>
> 1.2. Name of Document Author/Supplier:
> rafael.vanoni at sun.com
>
> 1.3. Date of This Document:
> 09/01/08
>
> 1.4. Name of Major Document Customer(s)/Consumer(s):
> PSARC
>
> 1.5.4. Interest List:
> tesla-dev at opensolaris.org
>
> 2. Project Summary
>
> 2.1. Project Description:
>
> PowerTOP is an observability tool that shows how effectively
> the system is taking advantage of the CPU's power management
> features. By running the tool on an otherwise idle system, the
> user can see for how long the CPU is running at different power
> states. The utility analyzes system activity through DTrace and
> reports activity that is preventing the CPU from being power
> efficient.
>
> PowerTOP is an Intel utility initially developed for Linux that
> is being jointly ported by Sun and Intel through OpenSolaris,
> and has been released through OpenSolaris. The development team
> also aims at maintaining sync with the Linux version of the
> utility whenever possible by communicating with PowerTOP's
> Linux community and maintainers to discuss possible merges.
>
> 2.2. Risks and Assumptions:
>
> PowerTOP uses DTrace sdt probes that were putback into Solaris
> Nevada 82. Therefore, the user must be running snv82 or a
> later version of Solaris and have DTrace privileges.
>
> 3. Business Summary
>
> 3.1. Problem Area:
>
> It allows end users to improve their system towards power
> efficiency.
>
> 3.2. Market/Requester:
>
> Solaris users, developers, and system administrators interested
> in improving system power efficiency.
>
> 3.3. Business Justification:
>
> PowerTOP enables sysadmins, customers, developers, etc. to
> understand how the OS and applications impact power
> management. Considering the interest in improving Solaris'
> power efficiency, eco responsability, joint and open
> development through OpenSolaris, we believe this utility would
> be a positive addition to the sfw consolidation.
>
> 3.4. Competitive Analysis:
>
> PowerTOP for OpenSolaris was ported from the original Linux
> version. Linux has had this tool for some time.
>
> 3.5. Opportunity Window/Exposure:
>
> The tool has already seen a good deal of exposure through
> OpenSolaris.
>
> 3.6. How will you know when you are done?
>
> The tool has already reached version 1.1.
>
> 4. Technical Description:
>
> 4.1. Background/problem:
>
> Power efficiency has become a critical aspect of computer
> systems. Hardware manufacturers have responded to this
> necessity by offering CPUs (and other components) that can
> operate at different power consumption levels. Operating
> systems have followed by managing the hardware to achieve
> higher power efficiency, but have not exported the knowledge to
> allow system administrators and software developers to improve
> power efficiency at the application layer. The end user doesn't
> not know how the system is behaving in terms of PM.
>
> 4.2 Proposed Solution:
>
> PowerTOP is an open source project originally developped by
> Intel for Linux systems. It reports the behavior of the
> system's power management features (CPU frequency and energy
> state transitions) and an analysis of the system activity that
> is causing the CPU to go to higher power consumption states.
> Thus, the user can optimize its system towards power efficiency
> by interpreting the event report and acting in the appropriate
> manner.
>
> PowerTOP was ported to OpenSolaris through the Tesla project on
> opensolaris.org, and has had outside contributions (mainly from
> Intel) since the beggining. It contains GPLv2 source code with
> CDDL licensed makefiles.
>
> PowerTOP was redesigned as a DTrace consumer for power
> management related events, observing CPU state transitions and
> specific system activity through libdtrace(3) and a set of sdt
> probes. The utility executes three DTrace scripts on a pre
> defined interval, each script observes a specific aspect of
> power management: CPU idle state transitions, system events
> that can cause CPU wakeups and CPU frequency changes.
>
> The tool also consumes kstat data for laptop battery usage and
> to correlate the CPU frequency data gathered by DTrace with the
> system's current frequency. It provides a curses(3CURSES) based
> user interface, creating different subwindows to report the
> analysis of its DTrace scripts.
>
> 4.3. Bug/RFE Number(s):
>
> 6713863
>
> 4.4. Interfaces:
>
> (a) Exported Interfaces
> Pathnames are "Committed", User options are "Volatile".
>
> Interface Description
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> SFWpowertop package name
> /usr/bin/powertop symbolic link
> /usr/bin/amd64/powertop executable
> /usr/bin/i386/powertop executable
> /usr/bin/sparcv9/powertop executable
> /usr/share/man/man1/powertop.1m manpage (CR 6723453)
>
> User options:
> -d, --dump [count] Read wakeups count times
> and print list of top
> offenders
> -t, --time [interval] Default time to gather
> data in seconds [1-100s]
> -v, --verbose Verbose mode, reports
> kernel cyclic activity
> -h, --help Show this help message
>
>
> (b) Imported Interfaces
>
> Interface Classification ARC case
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> DTrace Commited PSARC/2001/466 DTrace
> libkstat Commited
> /etc/power.conf Commited PSARC/1992/202 Power
> Management
>
> (c) Release Binding
>
> Micro/Patch
>
> 4.6. Dependencies:
>
> DTrace probes introduced in snv82, kstat acpi_drv module (so it
> can report laptop battery status). Running the tool without the
> necessary DTrace probes causes the application to exit and
> output a DTrace message reporting the cause of the error.
>
> 5. Reference Documents:
>
> CR's 6713863, 6635705, 6643464 and man page.
>
> PSARC/2001/466 DTrace
> http://sac.sfbay/PSARC/2001/466/
>
> PSARC/2003/425 DTrace sdt Provider
> http://sac.sfbay/PSARC/2003/425/
>
> 6. Resources and Schedule:
>
> 6.1. Projected Availability:
>
> Currently available through OpenSolaris.
>
> 6.2. Product Approval Committee requested information:
>
> 6.4.1. Consolidation or Component Name:
>
> ON
>
> 6.3. ARC review type:
>
> Self Review
>
>
