linuxx86-64apic

Failed to read APIC timer registers


I am writing a Linux kernel module to read dump local APIC timer registers.
I am using Ubuntu 16.04 desktop on X86_64 platform.
X2APIC is disabled, and nohz=off in grub.cfg.

I am using following codes to read APIC timer registers.

#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/time.h>
#include <asm/string.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/hrtimer.h>
#include <linux/ktime.h>
#include <asm/apic.h>

void read_apic_timer(void)
{
    printk("APIC_TDCR = 0x%x\n", apic_read(APIC_TDCR));
    printk("APIC_TMICT = 0x%x\n", apic_read(APIC_TMICT));
    printk("APIC_TMCCT = 0x%x\n", apic_read(APIC_TMCCT));
}

static int __init timer_init(void)
{
    read_apic_timer();
    return 0;
}

static void __exit timer_exit(void)
{
    printk("module uninstalling\n");
}

module_init(timer_init);
module_exit(timer_exit);
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");

And I got these,

[ 5619.047497] APIC_TDCR = 0x0
[ 5619.047498] APIC_TMICT = 0x0
[ 5619.047499] APIC_TMCCT = 0x0

To my surprise, initial counter and current counter are all 0, is it correct?

Or did I miss something or make something wrong?


Solution

  • I think I get the answer. It is because the CPU supports TSC deadline feature/mode for LAPIC timer. In this mode, APIC_TDCR/TMICT/TMCCT are not being used. That is it.