Go to file
Daniel van Vugt 45244852ac clutter/stage-cogl: Don't skip over the next frame
The `last_presentation_time` is usually a little in the past (although
sometimes in the future depending on the driver). When it's over 2ms
(`sync_delay`) in the past that would trigger the while loop to count up so
that the next `update_time` is in the future.

The problem with that is for common values of `last_presentation_time`
which are only a few milliseconds ago, incrementing `update_time` by
`refresh_interval` also means counting past the next physical frame that
we haven't rendered yet. And so mutter would skip that frame.

**Example**

Given:
```
  last_presentation_time = now - 3ms
  sync_delay = 2ms
  refresh_interval = 16ms
  next_presentation_time = last_presentation_time + refresh_interval
                         = now + 13ms

          -3ms now        +13ms           +29ms           +45ms
        ----|--+------------|---------------|---------------|----
            :               :
  last_presentation_time  next_presentation_time
```

Old algorithm:
```
  update_time = last_presentation_time + sync_delay
              = now - 1ms
  while (update_time < now)
        (now - 1ms   < now)
    update_time = now - 1ms + 16ms
  update_time = now + 15ms
  next_presentation_time = now + 13ms
  available_render_time = next_presentation_time - max(now, update_time)
                        = (now + 13ms) - (now + 15ms)
                        = -2ms  so the next frame will be skipped.

          -3ms now        +13ms           +29ms           +45ms
        ----|--+------------|-+-------------|---------------|----
            :               : :
            :               : update_time (too late)
            :               :
  last_presentation_time  next_presentation_time (a missed frame)

```

New algorithm:
```
  min_render_time_allowed = refresh_interval / 2
                          = 8ms
  max_render_time_allowed = refresh_interval - sync_delay
                          = 14ms
  target_presentation_time = last_presentation_time + refresh_interval
                           = now - 3ms + 16ms
                           = now + 13ms
  while (target_presentation_time - min_render_time_allowed < now)
        (now + 13ms - 8ms < now)
        (5ms < 0ms)
    # loop is never entered
  update_time = target_presentation_time - max_render_time_allowed
              = now + 13ms - 14ms
              = now - 1ms
  next_presentation_time = now + 13ms
  available_render_time = next_presentation_time - max(now, update_time)
                        = (now + 13ms) - now
                        = 13ms  which is plenty of render time.

          -3ms now        +13ms           +29ms           +45ms
        ----|-++------------|---------------|---------------|----
            : :             :
            : update_time   :
            :               :
  last_presentation_time  next_presentation_time
```

The reason nobody noticed these missed frames very often was because
mutter has some accidental workarounds built-in:

 * Prior to 3.32, the offending code was only reachable in Xorg sessions.
   It was never reached in Wayland sessions because it hadn't been
   implemented yet (till e9e4b2b72).

 * Even though Wayland support is now implemented the native backend
   provides a `last_presentation_time` much faster than Xorg sessions
   (being in the same process) and so is less likely to spuriously enter
   the while loop to miss a frame.

 * For Xorg sessions we are accidentally triple buffering (#334). This
   is a good way to avoid the missed frames, but is also an accident.

 * `sync_delay` is presently just high enough (2ms by coincidence is very
   close to common values of `now - last_presentation_time`) to push the
   `update_time` into the future in some cases, which avoids entering the
   while loop. This is why the same missed frames problem was also noticed
   when experimenting with `sync_delay = 0`.

v2: adjust variable names and code style.

Fixes: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=789186
       and most of https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/issues/571

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/merge_requests/520
2019-05-16 22:13:54 +00:00
.gitlab-ci ci: Update gsettings-desktop-schema URLs 2019-05-03 14:15:31 -03:00
clutter clutter/stage-cogl: Don't skip over the next frame 2019-05-16 22:13:54 +00:00
cogl Use free_full on GSList's instead of foreach + free 2019-05-15 14:49:56 -05:00
data backends/native: Add rt-scheduler experimental key to set RT scheduling 2019-05-10 21:47:53 +00:00
doc Remove obsolete .cvsignore files 2019-01-10 11:50:54 -02:00
po Updated Spanish translation 2019-05-16 12:42:33 +02:00
src meta: Remove meta_free_gslist_and_elements 2019-05-15 14:49:56 -05:00
tools tools: Remove obsolete ppa-magic.py 2018-11-30 11:12:12 +08:00
.gitignore project: Update gitignore 2019-01-10 11:50:54 -02:00
.gitlab-ci.yml gitlab-ci: Use MALLOC_CHECK_ and MALLOC_PERTURB_ env variables in tests 2019-05-16 21:30:36 +00:00
config.h.meson build: Make libcanberra no longer optional 2019-01-08 15:58:11 +01:00
COPYING Updated obsolete FSF postal address in COPYING 2014-01-12 08:44:30 +07:00
meson_options.txt meson: Add option flags to control test suites building 2019-05-02 19:56:23 +00:00
meson.build Bump version to 3.33.1 2019-05-14 18:14:48 +00:00
mutter.doap Replace Bugzilla by Gitlab URL in DOAP file 2018-12-15 23:50:01 +01:00
NEWS Bump version to 3.33.1 2019-05-14 18:14:48 +00:00
README.md README: Add contribution section 2019-02-14 15:38:46 +01:00

Mutter

Mutter is a Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.

When used as a Wayland display server, it runs on top of KMS and libinput. It implements the compositor side of the Wayland core protocol as well as various protocol extensions. It also has functionality related to running X11 applications using Xwayland.

When used on top of Xorg it acts as a X11 window manager and compositing manager.

It contains functionality related to, among other things, window management, window compositing, focus tracking, workspace management, keybindings and monitor configuration.

Internally it uses a fork of Cogl, a hardware acceleration abstraction library used to simplify usage of OpenGL pipelines, as well as a fork af Clutter, a scene graph and user interface toolkit.

Mutter is used by, for example, GNOME Shell, the GNOME core user interface, and by Gala, elementary OS's window manager. It can also be run standalone, using the command "mutter", but just running plain mutter is only intended for debugging purposes.

Contributing

To contribute, open merge requests at https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter.

The coding style used is primarily the GNU flavor of the GNOME coding style with some minor additions such as preferring stdint.h types over GLib fundamental types, and a soft 80 character line limit. However, in general, look at the file you're editing for inspiration.

Commit messages should follow the GNOME commit message guidelines. We require an URL to either an issue or a merge request in each commit.

License

Mutter is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later. See the COPYING file for detalis.