On Thu, Jun 2, 2011 at 12:48 AM, Theo de Raadt <dera...@cvs.openbsd.org> wrote: >> > 100% right. The load average calculation has not changed in 25 years. >> > Anyone who says otherwise hasn't got a single fact on their side. >> > >> > What has changed, however, is that the kernel has more kernel threads >> > running (for instance, ps aguxk, and look at the first few which have >> > the 'K' flag set in the 'STAT' field. >> > >> > Some kernels have decided to not count those threads, others do count >> > them. Since these kernel threads make various decisions for when to >> > do their next tasks and how to context switch, the statistical >> > monitoring of the system which ends up creating load values can get >> > perturbed. >> > >> > That's what this comes down to. >> >> Which...... sounds exactly like a change in the load average >> calculation, due to kernel changes, that has occurred in the last 25 >> years. > > You clearly cannot read. > > The calculation has NOT CHANGED. The way that work is done in the > kernel has changed. > > You better get back to class; your potty break is over.
Then perhaps lean to write. If you're measuring a different phenomenon, one that has different units, then it's a distinctly different *calculation* becuase you're measuring a distinct collection of objects. One may as well add up a restaurant bill, leave out the tax and tip, and say "it's unchanged because I used the same plus signs". It's particularly confusing, as the original poster was confused, when trying to comparae "prices", in this case system loads.
