Getting more precise timing on Linux

[edwardalee]

This is not a high priority, but Linux offers the ability for a thread to sleep until an absolute time via the clock_nanosleep() system call. With the TIMER_ABSTIME flag, an absolutely timed sleep is possible. This is rather like the PRET "deadline" instruction and could lead to significantly more precise timing on Linux.

[Soroosh129]

I want to point out that this is currently implemented in the platform-abstraction branch here.

[edwardalee]

Ah, I had forgotten about the platform-abstraction branch! That implementation, doesn't quite do what I had in mind. The goal is explained nicely in this blog by Björn Brandenburg. I think we would need to abstract the wait at a somewhat higher level.

[lhstrh]

Duplicate of #220?