add timerfd support to the core for now you must enable it in switch.conf.xml with the param enable-softtimer-timerfd=true later if it proves to work well we can make it on by default, please test if you have a new kernel that supports this option kernel >= 2.6.25 and libc >= 2.8

configure.in

@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ AC_PROG_GCC_TRADITIONAL
 AC_FUNC_MALLOC
 AC_TYPE_SIGNAL
 AC_FUNC_STRFTIME
-AC_CHECK_FUNCS([gethostname vasprintf mmap mlock mlockall usleep getifaddrs])
+AC_CHECK_FUNCS([gethostname vasprintf mmap mlock mlockall usleep getifaddrs timerfd_create])
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([sched_setscheduler setpriority setrlimit setgroups initgroups])
 AC_CHECK_FUNCS([wcsncmp setgroups asprintf setenv pselect gettimeofday localtime_r gmtime_r strcasecmp stricmp _stricmp])
 

src/include/switch_core.h

@@ -2050,6 +2050,7 @@ SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_load_network_lists(switch_bool_t reload);
 SWITCH_DECLARE(switch_bool_t) switch_check_network_list_ip_token(const char *ip_str, const char *list_name, const char **token);
 #define switch_check_network_list_ip(_ip_str, _list_name) switch_check_network_list_ip_token(_ip_str, _list_name, NULL)
 SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_monotonic(switch_bool_t enable);
+SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_timerfd(switch_bool_t enable);
 SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_nanosleep(switch_bool_t enable);
 SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_matrix(switch_bool_t enable);
 SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_cond_yield(switch_bool_t enable);

src/switch_core.c

@@ -1635,6 +1635,8 @@ static void switch_load_core_config(const char *file)
 					}
 				} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "enable-monotonic-timing")) {
 					switch_time_set_monotonic(switch_true(var));
+				} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "enable-softtimer-timerfd")) {
+					switch_time_set_timerfd(switch_true(var));
 				} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "enable-clock-nanosleep")) {
 					switch_time_set_nanosleep(switch_true(var));
 				} else if (!strcasecmp(var, "enable-cond-yield")) {

src/switch_time.c

@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@
 #include <switch.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include "private/switch_core_pvt.h"
+#ifdef HAVE_TIMERFD_CREATE
+#include <sys/timerfd.h>
+#endif
 
 //#if defined(DARWIN)
 #define DISABLE_1MS_COND
@@ -58,6 +61,13 @@ static int MONO = 1;
 static int MONO = 0;
 #endif
 
+#if defined(HAVE_TIMERFD_CREATE)
+// We'll default this to 1 after we have had some positive feedback that it works well
+static int TFD = 0;
+#else
+static int TFD = 0;
+#endif
+
 static int NANO = 0;
 
 static int OFFSET = 0;
@@ -72,18 +82,10 @@ static DWORD win32_last_get_time_tick = 0;
 CRITICAL_SECTION  timer_section;
 #endif
 
-#define ONEMS
-#ifdef ONEMS
 static int STEP_MS = 1;
 static int STEP_MIC = 1000;
 static uint32_t TICK_PER_SEC = 1000;
 static int MS_PER_TICK = 10;
-#else
-static int STEP_MS = 10;
-static int STEP_MIC = 10000;
-static uint32_t TICK_PER_SEC = 1000;
-static int MS_PER_TICK = 10;
-#endif
 
 static switch_memory_pool_t *module_pool = NULL;
 
@@ -310,8 +312,23 @@ SWITCH_DECLARE(time_t) switch_epoch_time_now(time_t *t)
 
 SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_monotonic(switch_bool_t enable)
 {
+#if defined(HAVE_CLOCK_GETTIME) && defined(CLOCK_MONOTONIC)
 	MONO = enable ? 1 : 0;
 	switch_time_sync();
+#else
+	MONO = 0;
+#endif
+}
+
+
+SWITCH_DECLARE(void) switch_time_set_timerfd(switch_bool_t enable)
+{
+#if defined(HAVE_TIMERFD_CREATE)
+	TFD = enable ? 1 : 0;
+	switch_time_sync();
+#else
+	TFD = 0;
+#endif
 }
 
 
@@ -487,9 +504,6 @@ static switch_status_t timer_init(switch_timer_t *timer)
 
 		if (timer->interval > 0 && timer->interval < MS_PER_TICK) {
 			MS_PER_TICK = timer->interval;
-			STEP_MS = 1;
-			STEP_MIC = 1000;
-			TICK_PER_SEC = 10000;
 			switch_time_sync();
 		}
 
@@ -662,6 +676,29 @@ SWITCH_MODULE_RUNTIME_FUNCTION(softtimer_runtime)
 	switch_time_t ts = 0, last = 0;
 	int fwd_errs = 0, rev_errs = 0;
 	int profile_tick = 0;
+	int tfd = -1;
+
+#ifdef HAVE_TIMERFD_CREATE
+	struct itimerspec spec = { { 0 } };
+
+	if (MONO && TFD) {
+		tfd = timerfd_create(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, 0);
+
+		if (tfd > -1) {
+			spec.it_interval.tv_sec = 0;
+			spec.it_interval.tv_nsec = 1000000;
+			spec.it_value.tv_sec = spec.it_interval.tv_sec;
+			spec.it_value.tv_nsec = spec.it_interval.tv_nsec;
+		
+			if (timerfd_settime(tfd, TFD_TIMER_ABSTIME, &spec, NULL)) {
+				close(tfd);
+				tfd = -1;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+#else
+	tfd = -1;
+#endif
 
 	runtime.profile_timer = switch_new_profile_timer();
 	switch_get_system_idle_time(runtime.profile_timer, &runtime.profile_time);
@@ -740,7 +777,13 @@ SWITCH_MODULE_RUNTIME_FUNCTION(softtimer_runtime)
 			if (globals.timer_count >= runtime.tipping_point) {
 				os_yield();
 			} else {
-				do_sleep(1000);
+				if (tfd > -1 && globals.RUNNING == 1) {
+					uint64_t exp;
+					int r;
+					r = read(tfd, &exp, sizeof(exp));
+				} else {
+					do_sleep(1000);
+				}
 			}
 
 			last = ts;
@@ -838,6 +881,11 @@ SWITCH_MODULE_RUNTIME_FUNCTION(softtimer_runtime)
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (tfd > -1) {
+		close(tfd);
+		tfd = -1;
+	}
+
 
 	switch_mutex_lock(globals.mutex);
 	globals.RUNNING = 0;