[v8 PATCH 2/8]: cpuidle: implement a list based approach to register a set of idle routines.

[Peter Zijlstra]

On Thu, 2009-10-08 at 15:20 +0530, Arun R Bharadwaj wrote:
> * Arun R Bharadwaj <arun at linux.vnet.ibm.com> [2009-10-08 15:18:28]:
> 
> Implement a list based registering mechanism for architectures which
> have multiple sets of idle routines which are to be registered.
> 
> Currently, in x86 it is done by merely setting pm_idle = idle_routine
> and managing this pm_idle pointer is messy.
> 
> To give an example of how this mechanism works:
> In x86, initially, idle routine is selected from the set of poll/mwait/
> c1e/default idle loops. So the selected idle loop is registered in cpuidle
> as one idle state cpuidle devices. Once ACPI comes up, it registers
> another set of idle states on top of this state. Again, suppose a module
> registers another set of idle loops, it is added to this list.
> 
> This provides a clean way of registering and unregistering idle state
> routines.

So cpuidle didn't already have a list of idle functions it takes an
appropriate one from?

Then what does this governor do?

Also, does this imply the governor doesn't consider these idle routines?