.\" $NetBSD: hardclock.9,v 1.3 2010/03/25 15:17:38 jruoho Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 2001 The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" This code is derived from software contributed to The NetBSD Foundation .\" by Thomas Klausner. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE NETBSD FOUNDATION, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS .\" ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED .\" TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR .\" PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FOUNDATION OR CONTRIBUTORS .\" BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR .\" CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF .\" SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS .\" INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN .\" CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) .\" ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE .\" POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .Dd February 27, 2023 .Dt HARDCLOCK 9 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm hardclock .Nd real-time timer .Sh SYNOPSIS .Ft void .Fn hardclock "int cnt" "int usermode" .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Fn hardclock function is called periodically based on pending work. The rate ranges from .Va hz times per second on a very busy system, to twice a second on an idle system. The .Fa cnt argument reports an estimate of the number of ticks since the last call. Over long timescales, the average sum of .Fa cnt over one second is .Va hz . See .Xr hz 9 for important details over shorter time scales. The .Fa usermode argument is non-zero when .Fn hardclock is called from an context that interrupted usermode execution. .Pp .Fn hardclock may perform different tasks such as: .Bl -bullet -offset indent .It Run the current process's virtual and profile time (decrease the corresponding timers, if they are activated, and generate .Li SIGVTALRM or .Li SIGPROF , respectively). .It Increment the time-of-day, taking care of any .Xr ntpd 8 or .Xr adjtime 2 induced changes and leap seconds, as well as any necessary compensations to keep in sync with PPS signals or external clocks, if supported by the kernel. .It Schedule softclock interrupts .Po .Xr swi 9 .Pc processing. .It Collect .Xr hwpmc 4 statistics. .It Do device polling, when enabled .Po see .Xr polling 4 .Pc . .It Implement software .Xr watchdog 9 processing. .It Enqueue .Xr epoch 9 processing. .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr adjtime 2 , .Xr ntp_adjtime 2 , .Xr signal 3 , .Xr hwpmc 4 , .Xr polling 4 , .Xr ntpd 8 , .Xr epoch 9 , .Xr eventtimers 9 , .Xr hz 9 , .Xr swi 9 , .Xr watchdog 9