[PATCH v3] eal: fail initialization if TSC frequency is zero

Stephen Hemminger stephen at networkplumber.org
Tue Sep 29 16:13:37 CEST 2026


Many parts of DPDK will fail with divide by zero and
other errors if the initialization logic ever TSC hz was ever
determined to be zero. This might happen on a broken get_tsc_freq_arch()
or bad emulation in QEMU.

If TSC hz is zero, log the error and propagate back to
fail rte_eal_init().

This fix doesn't need to go to stable since it is a purely
theoretical problem; we aren't getting divide by zero reports
from users.

Also, clarify that DPDK TSC is stable and the same for all lcore's.
The comment in rte_cycles.h implied that it could be different per lcore.

Fixes: 040cf8a41187 ("eal: deduplicate timer functions")

Signed-off-by: Stephen Hemminger <stephen at networkplumber.org>
Acked-by: Bruce Richardson <bruce.richardson at intel.com>
---
v3 - rename set_tsc_freq to init_tsc_freq

 lib/eal/common/eal_common_timer.c    | 19 +++++++++++++++----
 lib/eal/common/eal_private.h         |  2 +-
 lib/eal/freebsd/eal_timer.c          |  3 +--
 lib/eal/include/generic/rte_cycles.h |  2 +-
 lib/eal/linux/eal_timer.c            |  3 +--
 lib/eal/windows/eal_timer.c          |  3 +--
 6 files changed, 20 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_common_timer.c b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
index bbf8b8b11b..67ede70c62 100644
--- a/lib/eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
+++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_common_timer.c
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ estimate_tsc_freq(void)
 	return RTE_ALIGN_MUL_NEAR(rte_rdtsc() - start, CYC_PER_10MHZ);
 }
 
-void
-set_tsc_freq(void)
+int
+init_tsc_freq(void)
 {
 	struct rte_mem_config *mcfg = rte_eal_get_configuration()->mem_config;
 	uint64_t freq;
@@ -65,18 +65,29 @@ set_tsc_freq(void)
 		 * systems where arch-specific frequency detection is not
 		 * available.
 		 */
+		if (mcfg->tsc_hz == 0) {
+			EAL_LOG(ERR, "Primary process TSC frequency is zero");
+			return -1;
+		}
+
 		eal_tsc_resolution_hz = mcfg->tsc_hz;
-		return;
+		return 0;
 	}
 
 	freq = get_tsc_freq_arch();
 	freq = get_tsc_freq(freq);
-	if (!freq)
+	if (freq == 0) {
 		freq = estimate_tsc_freq();
+		if (freq == 0) {
+			EAL_LOG(ERR, "TSC frequency is too slow");
+			return -1;
+		}
+	}
 
 	EAL_LOG(DEBUG, "TSC frequency is ~%" PRIu64 " KHz", freq / 1000);
 	eal_tsc_resolution_hz = freq;
 	mcfg->tsc_hz = freq;
+	return 0;
 }
 
 RTE_EXPORT_SYMBOL(rte_delay_us_callback_register)
diff --git a/lib/eal/common/eal_private.h b/lib/eal/common/eal_private.h
index 6340bab8be..7da3783c9e 100644
--- a/lib/eal/common/eal_private.h
+++ b/lib/eal/common/eal_private.h
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ int eal_cpu_detected(unsigned lcore_id);
  *
  * This function is private to the EAL.
  */
-void set_tsc_freq(void);
+int init_tsc_freq(void);
 
 /**
  * Get precise TSC frequency from system
diff --git a/lib/eal/freebsd/eal_timer.c b/lib/eal/freebsd/eal_timer.c
index d21ffa2694..b966c30258 100644
--- a/lib/eal/freebsd/eal_timer.c
+++ b/lib/eal/freebsd/eal_timer.c
@@ -65,6 +65,5 @@ get_tsc_freq(uint64_t arch_hz)
 int
 rte_eal_timer_init(void)
 {
-	set_tsc_freq();
-	return 0;
+	return init_tsc_freq();
 }
diff --git a/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_cycles.h b/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_cycles.h
index 7cfd51f0eb..f8e1cde332 100644
--- a/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_cycles.h
+++ b/lib/eal/include/generic/rte_cycles.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ extern enum timer_source eal_timer_source;
  * Get the measured frequency of the RDTSC counter
  *
  * @return
- *   The TSC frequency for this lcore
+ *   The TSC frequency for all lcores, always non-zero
  */
 uint64_t
 rte_get_tsc_hz(void);
diff --git a/lib/eal/linux/eal_timer.c b/lib/eal/linux/eal_timer.c
index 39f975b6b9..c425ea4ed8 100644
--- a/lib/eal/linux/eal_timer.c
+++ b/lib/eal/linux/eal_timer.c
@@ -99,6 +99,5 @@ rte_eal_timer_init(void)
 
 	eal_timer_source = EAL_TIMER_TSC;
 
-	set_tsc_freq();
-	return 0;
+	return init_tsc_freq();
 }
diff --git a/lib/eal/windows/eal_timer.c b/lib/eal/windows/eal_timer.c
index 33cbac6a03..1e381ad673 100644
--- a/lib/eal/windows/eal_timer.c
+++ b/lib/eal/windows/eal_timer.c
@@ -94,6 +94,5 @@ get_tsc_freq(uint64_t arch_hz)
 int
 rte_eal_timer_init(void)
 {
-	set_tsc_freq();
-	return 0;
+	return init_tsc_freq();
 }
-- 
2.53.0



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