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switchtest

Name

switchtest - Xenomai context switch test

Synopsis

switchtest [options] threadspec threadspec...

Description

switchtest is part of Xenomai. It can be used to test thread context switches. switchtest creates threads of various types and attempts to switch context between these threads, printing the count of context switches every second. A suitable Xenomai enabled kernel with the respective module (xeno_posix) must be installed.

Documentation

switchtest - Xenomai context switch test

Options

Each threadspec specifies the characteristics of a thread to be created:

threadspec = (rtk|rtup|rtus|rtuo)(_fp|_ufpp|_ufps)*[0-9]*

Thread Specification Description
rtk Kernel-space real-time thread
rtup User-space real-time thread running in primary mode
rtus User-space real-time thread running in secondary mode
rtuo User-space real-time thread oscillating between modes
_fp Thread with XNFPU bit armed (valid for rtk only)
_ufpp Thread using FPU in primary mode (invalid for rtus)
_ufps Thread using FPU in secondary mode (invalid for rtk, rtup)
[0-9] CPU ID where the thread will run (0 if unspecified)

Passing no threadspec is equivalent to running:

switchtest rtkN rtkN rtk_fpN rtk_fpN rtk_fp_ufppN rtk_fp_ufppN rtupN rtupN rtup_ufppN rtup_ufppN rtusN rtusN rtus_ufpsN rtus_ufpsN rtuoN rtuoN rtuo_ufppN rtuo_ufppN rtuo_ufpsN rtuo_ufpsN rtuo_ufpp_ufpsN rtuo_ufpp_ufpsN

with N=1,...,nr_cpus, i.e. occurrences of all the arguments for each CPU

Passing only the --nofpu or -n argument is equivalent to running:

switchtest rtkN rtkN rtupN rtupN rtusN rtusN rtuoN rtuoN

similar to the above.

switchtest accepts the following options:

Option Description
--help, -h Print usage information and exit
--lines , -l Print headers every lines
--quiet, -q Prevent the program from printing context switch count every second
--timeout , -T Limit the test duration to seconds
--nofpu, -n Disable any use of FPU instructions

switchtest was written by Philippe Gerum and Gilles Chanteperdrix. This man page was written by Roland Stigge.

Map

Output Description
RTT Real-Time Tick, shows the time at which the measurement was taken.
RTH Real-Time Histogram, shows the distribution of latency values.
RTD Real-Time Data, shows the actual latency measurements.
RTS Real-Time Statistics, shows the overall statistics after the test is complete.


Output: switchtest -T 60