Commits
Len Brown committed abe48b10824
x86, intel, power: Initialize MSR_IA32_ENERGY_PERF_BIAS Since 2.6.36 (23016bf0d25), Linux prints the existence of "epb" in /proc/cpuinfo, Since 2.6.38 (d5532ee7b40), the x86_energy_perf_policy(8) utility has been available in-tree to update MSR_IA32_ENERGY_PERF_BIAS. However, the typical BIOS fails to initialize the MSR, presumably because this is handled by high-volume shrink-wrap operating systems... Linux distros, on the other hand, do not yet invoke x86_energy_perf_policy(8). As a result, WSM-EP, SNB, and later hardware from Intel will run in its default hardware power-on state (performance), which assumes that users care for performance at all costs and not for energy efficiency. While that is fine for performance benchmarks, the hardware's intended default operating point is "normal" mode... Initialize the MSR to the "normal" by default during kernel boot. x86_energy_perf_policy(8) is available to change the default after boot, should the user have a different preference. Signed-off-by: Len Brown <len.brown@intel.com> Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.LFD.2.02.1107140051020.18606@x980 Acked-by: Rafael J. Wysocki <rjw@sisk.pl> Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@linux.intel.com> Cc: <stable@kernel.org>