[Tfug] Re-nice

[Brian Murphy]

As I think you have figured out, it comes down to personal preference.

You can think of all of the processes standing in a line.  All but one
can step back leaving the important one standing out.  Or just the
important one can take a step forward to stand out.

My opinion:

If the user has root:
   (And if they have to ask the question)

   They should just pick the one they want and reduce the nice value.
(thus, giving it higher priority)  Just be careful if you give it a
lower nice than the kernel threads.  Things might get *interesting*.

If the user does not have root:

   They have no choice, they can not set a negative nice value.  Thus,
they must make the less important processes stand back so the one they
are interested in can get scheduled at a higher priority.

Brian


Quoting Bexley Hall <bexley401 at yahoo.com>:
> Hi,
>
> Inevitably, any multitasking OS runs out of resources
> at some point (at least if the process list is not static).
> Time or space.  The latter is probably a "harder" limit
> but the former is usually more *visible*.
>
> Speaking just about timing...
>
> How do you address the issue of not having enough
> "real time" for your application (I hesitate to use
> that term as it has special connotations -- especially
> if it was hyphenated)?
>
> [let's pretend you're in a single user environment for
> the time being; with or without root privileges if you
> want to think in UN*X terms]
>
> For example, if you are running N processes and one of them
> isn't running as quickly as you would like (I am deliberately
> avoiding the obvious examples of multimedia applications!),
> how do you adjust the workload so that this application
> is getting more/enough of the processor to meet *your*
> (arbitrary) requirements?
>
> For the most part, my approach is just to KILL off those
> processes that I think don't need to be running at the
> current time.  I can always restart them at a later
> time when the "prefered application" has accomplished whatever
> I need it to accomplish.
>
> A less harsh approach is to renice the "other" processes
> to effectively reduce their demands on the system (kill -9
> is so much easier!  :> ).
>
> Still another approach is to address the "prefered application"
> itself and *elevate* it's priority so that it takes what it
> needs from the system.
>
> <frown>  Is my question too subtle?  I.e., is it easier for
> people to think of discarding things that they don't
> immediately need/want vs. highlighting *the* thing that they
> are most interested in?
>
> The latter approach seems to be easier to implement in an
> intuitive fashion (i.e., "notice" what you are interested
> in and let the system adjust priorities in favor of that
> "application" at the expense of all others).
>
> --don
>
>
>
>
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The opinions or statements expressed herein are my own and should not be
taken as a position, opinion, or endorsement of the University of
Arizona.