After re-reading Ben's replies and following the link to the discussion in the Squeak VM list I think I've finally understood this correctly.
I've updated the text based on Ben's input to: -- This VM uses a separate heartbeat thread to update its internal clock and handle events. For best operation, this thread should run at a higher priority, however the VM was unable to change the priority. The effect is that heavily loaded systems may experience some latency issues. If this occurs, please create the configuration file in /etc/security/limits.d/ as shown below: cat <<END | sudo tee /etc/security/limits.d/VMNAME.conf * hard rtprio 2 * soft rtprio 2 END and report to the appropriate mailing list for your smalltalk dialect whether this improves behaviour. You will need to log out and log back in for the limits to take effect. For more information please see https://github.com/OpenSmalltalk/opensmalltalk-vm/releases/tag/r3732#linux -- I'm seeing the message printed out three times, which is a little strange, but haven't looked in to it. There are two issues in fogbugz: For the VM: https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/19890/Linux-Heartbeat-VM-text-and-instructions For the build scripts: https://pharo.fogbugz.com/f/cases/19891/Suggested-improvement-for-linux-CONFIG-file Given how close the 6.0 release date is and even though there is a bug in the instructions for enabling elevated thread privilege, I've marked this for Pharo 7.0. Of course, if Eliot or someone else decides to put it in 6.0, that's fine by me. As before, if there aren't any conflicting comments I'll submit the pull requests in a couple of days. Thanks again for all your assistance, Alistair
