xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/cpufreq.4 (revision ebccf1e3a6b11b97cbf5f813dd76636e892a9035)
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25.\" $FreeBSD$
26.\"
27.Dd April 10, 2005
28.Dt CPUFREQ 4
29.Os
30.Sh NAME
31.Nm cpufreq
32.Nd CPU frequency control framework
33.Sh SYNOPSIS
34.Cd "device cpufreq"
35.Pp
36.In sys/cpu.h
37.Ft int
38.Fn cpufreq_levels "device_t dev" "struct cf_level *levels" "int *count"
39.Ft int
40.Fn cpufreq_set "device_t dev" "const struct cf_level *level" "int priority"
41.Ft int
42.Fn cpufreq_get "device_t dev" "struct cf_level *level"
43.Ft int
44.Fo cpufreq_drv_settings
45.Fa "device_t dev"
46.Fa "struct cf_setting *sets"
47.Fa "int *count"
48.Fc
49.Ft int
50.Fn cpufreq_drv_type "device_t dev" "int *type"
51.Ft int
52.Fn cpufreq_drv_set "device_t dev" "const struct cf_setting *set"
53.Ft int
54.Fn cpufreq_drv_get "device_t dev" "struct cf_setting *set"
55.Sh DESCRIPTION
56The
57.Nm
58driver provides a unified kernel and user interface to CPU frequency
59control drivers.
60It combines multiple drivers offering different settings into a single
61interface of all possible levels.
62Users can access this interface directly via
63.Xr sysctl 8
64or by indicating to
65.Pa power_profile
66that it should switch settings when the AC line state changes via
67.Xr rc.conf 5 .
68.Sh SYSCTLS
69These settings may be overridden by kernel drivers requesting alternate
70settings.
71If this occurs, the original values will be restored once the condition
72has passed (e.g., the system has cooled sufficiently).
73If a sysctl cannot be set due to an override condition, it will return
74.Er EPERM .
75.Bl -tag -width indent
76.It Va dev.cpu.%d.freq
77Current active CPU frequency in MHz.
78.It Va dev.cpu.%d.freq_levels
79Currently available levels for the CPU (frequency/power usage).
80Values are in units of MHz and milliwatts.
81.It Va dev.DEVICE.%d.freq_settings
82Currently available settings for the driver (frequency/power usage).
83Values are in units of MHz and milliwatts.
84This is helpful for understanding which settings are offered by which
85driver for debugging purposes.
86.It Va debug.cpufreq.lowest
87Lowest CPU frequency in MHz to offer to users.
88This setting is also accessible via a tunable with the same name.
89This can be used to disable very low levels that may be unusable on
90some systems.
91.It Va debug.cpufreq.verbose
92Print verbose messages.
93This setting is also accessible via a tunable with the same name.
94.El
95.Sh SUPPORTED DRIVERS
96The following device drivers offer absolute frequency control via the
97.Nm
98interface.
99Usually, only one of these can be active at a time.
100.Pp
101.Bl -tag -compact -width ".Pa acpi_perf"
102.It Pa acpi_perf
103ACPI CPU performance states
104.It Pa est
105Intel Enhanced SpeedStep
106.It Pa ichss
107Intel SpeedStep for ICH
108.It Pa powernow
109AMD PowerNow! for K7 and K8
110.El
111.Pp
112The following device drivers offer relative frequency control and
113have an additive effect:
114.Pp
115.Bl -tag -compact -width ".Pa acpi_throttle"
116.It Pa acpi_throttle
117ACPI CPU throttling
118.It Pa p4tcc
119Pentium 4 Thermal Control Circuitry
120.El
121.Sh KERNEL INTERFACE
122Kernel components can query and set CPU frequencies through the
123.Nm
124kernel interface.
125This involves obtaining a
126.Nm
127device, calling
128.Fn cpufreq_levels
129to get the currently available frequency levels,
130checking the current level with
131.Fn cpufreq_get ,
132and setting a new one from the list with
133.Fn cpufreq_set .
134Each level may actually reference more than one
135.Nm
136driver but kernel components do not need to be aware of this.
137The
138.Va total_set
139element of
140.Vt "struct cf_level"
141provides a summary of the frequency and power for this level.
142Unknown or irrelevant values are set to
143.Dv CPUFREQ_VAL_UNKNOWN .
144.Pp
145The
146.Fn cpufreq_levels
147method takes a
148.Nm
149device and an empty array of
150.Fa levels .
151The
152.Fa count
153value should be set to the number of levels available and after the
154function completes, will be set to the actual number of levels returned.
155If there are more levels than
156.Fa count
157will allow, it should return
158.Er E2BIG .
159.Pp
160The
161.Fn cpufreq_get
162method takes a pointer to space to store a
163.Fa level .
164After successful completion, the output will be the current active level
165and is equal to one of the levels returned by
166.Fn cpufreq_levels .
167.Pp
168The
169.Fn cpufreq_set
170method takes a pointer a
171.Fa level
172and attempts to activate it.
173The
174.Fa priority
175(i.e.,
176.Dv CPUFREQ_PRIO_KERN )
177tells
178.Nm
179whether to override previous settings while activating this level.
180If
181.Fa priority
182is higher than the current active level, that level will be saved and
183overridden with the new level.
184If a level is already saved, the new level is set without overwriting
185the older saved level.
186If
187.Fn cpufreq_set
188is called with a
189.Dv NULL
190.Fa level ,
191the saved level will be restored.
192If there is no saved level,
193.Fn cpufreq_set
194will return
195.Er ENXIO .
196If
197.Fa priority
198is lower than the current active level's priority, this method returns
199.Er EPERM .
200.Sh DRIVER INTERFACE
201Kernel drivers offering hardware-specific CPU frequency control export
202their individual settings through the
203.Nm
204driver interface.
205This involves implementing these methods:
206.Fn cpufreq_drv_settings ,
207.Fn cpufreq_drv_type ,
208.Fn cpufreq_drv_set ,
209and
210.Fn cpufreq_drv_get .
211Additionally, the driver must attach a device as a child of a CPU
212device so that these methods can be called by the
213.Nm
214framework.
215.Pp
216The
217.Fn cpufreq_drv_settings
218method returns an array of currently available settings, each of type
219.Vt "struct cf_setting" .
220The driver should set unknown or irrelevant values to
221.Dv CPUFREQ_VAL_UNKNOWN .
222All the following elements for each setting should be returned:
223.Bd -literal
224struct cf_setting {
225	int	freq;	/* CPU clock in Mhz or 100ths of a percent. */
226	int	volts;	/* Voltage in mV. */
227	int	power;	/* Power consumed in mW. */
228	int	lat;	/* Transition latency in us. */
229	device_t dev;	/* Driver providing this setting. */
230};
231.Ed
232.Pp
233On entry to this method,
234.Fa count
235contains the number of settings that can be returned.
236On successful completion, the driver sets it to the actual number of
237settings returned.
238If the driver offers more settings than
239.Fa count
240will allow, it should return
241.Er E2BIG .
242.Pp
243The
244.Fn cpufreq_drv_type
245method indicates the type of settings it offers, either
246.Dv CPUFREQ_TYPE_ABSOLUTE
247or
248.Dv CPUFREQ_TYPE_RELATIVE .
249Additionally, the driver may set the
250.Dv CPUFREQ_FLAG_INFO_ONLY
251flag if the settings it provides are information for other drivers only
252and cannot be passed to
253.Fn cpufreq_drv_set
254to activate them.
255.Pp
256The
257.Fn cpufreq_drv_set
258method takes a driver setting and makes it active.
259If the setting is invalid or not currently available, it should return
260.Er EINVAL .
261.Pp
262The
263.Fn cpufreq_drv_get
264method returns the currently-active driver setting.
265The
266.Vt "struct cf_setting"
267returned must be valid for passing to
268.Fn cpufreq_drv_set ,
269including all elements being filled out correctly.
270If the driver cannot infer the current setting
271(even by estimating it with
272.Fn cpu_est_clockrate )
273then it should set all elements to
274.Dv CPUFREQ_VAL_UNKNOWN .
275.Sh SEE ALSO
276.Xr acpi 4 ,
277.Xr sysctl 8
278.Sh AUTHORS
279.An Nate Lawson
280.An Bruno Ducrot
281contributed the
282.Pa powernow
283driver.
284.Sh BUGS
285The following drivers have not yet been converted to the
286.Nm
287interface:
288.Xr longrun 4 .
289.Pp
290Notification of CPU and bus frequency changes is not implemented yet.
291.Pp
292When multiple CPUs offer frequency control, they cannot be set to different
293levels and must all offer the same frequency settings.
294