[PATCH] x86_64: Add idle notifiers

This adds a new notifier chain that is called with IDLE_START
when a CPU goes idle and IDLE_END when it goes out of idle.
The context can be idle thread or interrupt context.

Since we cannot rely on MONITOR/MWAIT existing the idle
end check currently has to be done in all interrupt
handlers.

They were originally inspired by the similar s390 implementation.

They have a variety of applications:
- They will be needed for CONFIG_NO_IDLE_HZ
- They can be used for oprofile to fix up the missing time
in idle when performance counters don't tick.
- They can be used for better C state management in ACPI
- They could be used for microstate accounting.

This is just infrastructure so far, no users.

Signed-off-by: Andi Kleen <ak@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
7 files changed