ROOT CAUSE of the 8-12% slot drops (uniform dec=1/0/1/0: locked, no wake
seen, dirty, no render): AOSP Looper::pollInner (system/core/libutils/
Looper.cpp) drains the wake fd in the SAME epoll batch (up to 16 fds) as
any ready input fd, and pollOnce returns the input's ident — the POLL_WAKE
result is a local that gets dropped. ALooper_wake's byte is consumed
WITHOUT PollEvent::Wake ever reaching Slint, unrecoverable. With motion
events arriving 1-4 ms after the edge (always for a real 120-240 Hz
finger; ~1 in 5 frames for 20 Hz adb input) the wake is lost and the
locked decision (saw_wake && slot-guard) drops the dirty frame for that
slot.
Fix (vendor backend): a dedicated eventfd registered with the MAIN looper
under ALOOPER_POLL_CALLBACK. The Looper invokes the C trampoline INSIDE
pollInner (before pollOnce returns, regardless of which ident is handed
back), so delivery can never be swallowed by a co-batched input response.
- frame_callback: note the edge, write the eventfd, then ALooper_wake
(secondary). The fd is leaked: it belongs to the main looper for the
process lifetime.
- trampoline: DRAINS the eventfd (level-triggered — without the drain the
counter stays >0, the fd stays readable and the loop busy-spins on
POLL_CALLBACK at ~10 kHz: 1812 spin iterations measured) and publishes
the edge into delivered_edge.
- main loop: saw_wake |= (delivered_edge newer than last seen).
- DIRTY BACKSTOP: the 6 ms poll cap was never a backstop — timeout
iterations have saw_wake=false so the locked decision never rendered
(the 20-40 ms silences). Now: dirty && last render >= 2 slots old
renders regardless of wake state.
Measured on the phone (Pixel 9 Pro, 120 Hz, sltest, identical capture):
buildC (before): 127 drops + 12 stalls in 1142 frames
buildE (after): 8 drops + 0 stalls in 1266 frames
Phase (p10-p90): 0.72-1.00 ms in all windows. Remaining 8/1266 (0.63%)
are slip-and-recover pairs where the UI thread is DESCHEDULED 6-8 ms
while sleeping in epoll (wakes arrive on time, cb-lat 0.5 ms) — EAS
scheduling variance, no app-side contention in sltest.
Referee fixes found while judging this data (tools/jank_eval.py):
- NEAREST-OBSERVED-EDGE slot grid: the 120 Hz panel clock phase-slips
after idle blanking (re-locks at arbitrary phase), invalidating any
grid anchored at ftns[0]. An entire drag window read late=230/
dropped=24 while per-cycle tracing showed presents at edge+2.0 ms.
slot_of_ftn assigns each present to the nearest observed hardware
edge in a time-continuous slot domain (slip-immune: a constant delta
shifts all slots, differences preserved; stall-accurate: ftn times
are CLOCK_MONOTONIC).
- tools/jank_capture.py: capture is INVALID unless the screen is Awake
AND the keyguard is down (a run on a sleeping phone silently injects
no input: 49 IT lines, 1 present).
vsync.rs:
- set_state(animating, dirty) replaces set_animating. The Choreographer
callback chain re-posts while animating||dirty: gating on animating
alone let the chain die during flings (pointer inactivity >200ms) —
with EW disabled the loop then froze (measured: 30 frames in 4s,
then silence). The dirty mirror is pushed every main-loop iteration
(<=8ms stale); the 6ms poll backstop bounds chain-break damage.
- EW_ON now gates the WAKE itself: the early waker raced the
Choreographer (fires at edge+0.52ms measured) and its independent
phase caused the -4..+4ms render-phase wander. Choreographer is the
single wake source.
- MISS lines carry forensics: sw/sn (wake slot vs last rendered slot),
eage (ms since last observed vsync edge), lastage (ms since last
render) — distinguishes chain-stall / loop-stuck / guard-reject /
no-wake-iteration without a second run.
stg.rs:
- ctxsw_sample() reads /proc/self/task/<pid>/stat for voluntary/involuntary
context switches, CONDITIONAL on iteration >5ms (per-iteration procfs
reads were a measured confounder: 20-50us each, pushed phase across
the slot boundary, 10x worse drops). vsw/nvol on the IT line.
- precpu: CPU time inside Queue::present on the PRES line (pre_us >>
precpu = blocked on binder/fence/SF; pre_us ~= precpu = CPU-bound).
wgpu_30_surface.rs: EW_ON moved here (vkprobe) so vsync.rs can gate the
wake without a new crate dependency.
lib.rs: poll backstop uses the dirty state; 6ms cap during active phases.
tools/jank_eval.py: strict PASS/FAIL jank evaluator (the referee).
- slot grid from VSYNC ftn edges (hardware truth); anchor fallback only
- PASS iff per active window: no dropped slot, no same-slot double, no
present past the SF latch, no >20ms present gap, phase spread <=0.5ms
- self-test: 7 synthetic log files through the same main() path, all
classified correctly; validated on the emulator (60 Hz emu display
detected, active windows found)
- re-judges slt4 honestly: my 'clean' drag-1 window is FAIL (30.6ms +
21ms stalls, 20 past-latch presents, 1.1ms spread) — the user saw it
lib.rs/stg.rs: slot-based wake guard replaces the interval freshness
guard (0.2ms false-reject margin). A wake renders iff its edge-grid slot
is strictly after the last rendered slot; a gap of >=2 slots emits
MISS {mon, slots, nowake} — the missing evidence for stall slots
(wakes lost vs loop blocked vs guard).
sltest: log drain batch-flush (64 lines) — per-line FUSE flush stalled
the drain thread for minutes (file frozen, process alive).
gallery: MISS lines added to the perf-log allowlist.
The 'callback arrives 3-6 ms late' model that invalidated render-ahead in
earlier sessions was a mislabeled STG field: the Choreographer callback
actually fires at edge+0.5 ms (measured from the VSYNC ftn/mon pair). With
the wake ON the edge, the held frame presented at render START lands at
edge+~1.5 ms (constant phase, 4 ms of deadline margin), and render spikes
(5-10 ms, the measured cause of the residual 1% drops + 1.5 ms phase
spread) only stretch the PREPARE phase of the frame held for the NEXT
slot — spikes stop delaying visible frames.
- lib.rs: RENDER_AHEAD_ACTIVE = locked again (was false)
- lib.rs/stg.rs: IT lines gain rcpu (CPU us inside do_render) — spike
classifier: rcpu≈render ⇒ Skia/driver CPU work; rcpu≪render ⇒ blocked
on GPU/driver
- hypotheses-120hz.md: model correction + sltest baseline + results
Emulator behavior verified: scroll, settle (transition flush), mid-drag
pause/resume (no black window), no AlreadyAcquired panics, held-frame
presents at 0.6-2.1 ms. Phone cadence measurement pending (phone out for
user use ~2h).
Measurements only, no behavior change:
- vsync.rs: EW lines (every early-waker landing, EW_ON flag, off by default)
- lib.rs/stg.rs: IT lines gain dec (locked/saw_wake/pr_before/do_render) and
pcpu (CPU us inside poll_events — 2% = asleep in epoll, rules out CPU
spin/deschedule as the wake latency)
Findings (docs/BUGS/hypotheses-120hz.md, sltest baseline):
- Choreographer callback fires at edge+0.52ms (p90 0.65) — the 'late
Choreographer' model from earlier sessions was a mislabeled STG field
(poll block time, not callback latency). The pipeline actually works at
median: present at edge+~4ms, inside the 5.5ms deadline.
- sltest zero-jank definition measured: 98.8% of frames land in the next
display slot; residual = 0.5-0.7% drops + 0.7-0.9% doubles + 1.4ms
phase spread (p10-p90) = the visible micro-judder.
- Residual cost is VARIANCE, not median: per-frame render 3.5ms median
(SKD 1.07 + CLR 0.8 + PRE 1.0 + SKF/ORD 0.65) with spikes to 10.7ms
(SKD max 5.2, CLR max 3.2, PRE max 2.5). Spikes push presents past the
deadline (drops) and shake the phase (judder).
Next: classify spikes (CPU work vs GPU/driver block) via render-window
CPU splits, then kill the top source.
The Choreographer vsync callback reaches the UI thread only 2.5-6 ms
AFTER the vsync edge (measured on the phone). With a 2.5-5 ms Skia
render plus present, that left no phase margin inside the 8.3 ms slot:
51% of frames landed one slot late (judder) and ~4% two slots late
(hitches), on every build tested so far.
Attempted fixes, all measured and retired (see commit history):
- render-ahead hold (present previous frame at next render start):
the held present lands after the NEXT wake's 3.2-6 ms Choreographer
latency -> 52% one-slot late.
- present-at-end + present GATE (sleep on the UI thread to quantize
the present to the vsync grid): the gate sleep (2.5-4 ms) added to
the slot budget (wake 5.3 + core 3 + gate 3 + present 1 = 12.3 ms >
8.3 ms) -> cadence collapsed to 60 Hz.
Working fix (this commit):
- vsync.rs: an 'early waker' thread learns the vsync grid from the
callback's frame_time_nanos (vkprobe::note_vsync_edge) and wakes the
main looper ~0.8 ms BEFORE each edge while animating. Render start
moves from edge+2.5..6 to edge-0.8..+0.5, so the present lands at a
natural ~edge+3..5 ms phase with no UI-thread sleep.
- lib.rs: a render freshness guard (min gap = period - 1.5 ms) makes
the FIRST wake of each slot (early or the late Choreographer
fallback) render and rejects the second (double render = 60 Hz
collapse). Threshold sits between late-after-early (5.8 ms, reject)
and early-after-late (7.5 ms, accept).
- lib.rs: locked renders no longer consume pending_redraw (it carried
the motion invalidations; consuming it starved the follow-up
unlocked iteration -> 60 Hz collapse).
- stg.rs: IT lines now log the render decision (locked/saw_wake/
pr_before/do_render); vkprobe logs gate sleep (GATE_US, now 0).
Measured (phone, 8580-file grid, slow 4 s drags):
in-burst cadence: 8.29-8.44 ms median, p90 8.6-10.2 ms
(was 8.36 median / 10.2 p90 with 3.7-20% two-slot gaps)
in-burst >16.7 ms gaps: 0-2 per burst (was 3-13)
present-to-present: 27% exact one slot, 33% one-slot-late steady
state (imvisible), 3% f-jumps (Skia core 2.5-5 ms variance).
Residual judder lever: Skia core cost variance (next step).
Test hygiene reminders (HANDOFF 8.10): verify ResumedActivity, keep
the task clean (sz=1), record the perf-log byte offset before each
run (the file accumulates across process launches).
Three root causes, all fixed and verified on the Pixel 9 Pro:
1. Present phase (backend + renderer): VSYNC_LOCKED_RENDER defers the
render to the vsync wake; RENDER_AHEAD presents the previous frame at
the start of render() (phase = wake + ~1.1 ms) and holds the new
frame one slot. Crash fix: a held wgpu frame must be PRESENTED, never
merely dropped, before the next acquire (AlreadyAcquired panic at
launch otherwise); discard_pending_frame presents too.
2. Full-res prefetch churn (src/lib.rs): the 8-slot full cache cycled
through a ~20-cell viewport forever (137 decodes/20 s) and each
eviction free()'d a 50 MB Vec on the UI thread (20-52 ms CPU spikes,
~7/s = the residual SLOWEV NonMain jank). Fix: 60 s tombstone
cooldown on evicted paths (idle prefetch skips, urgent tap bypasses)
+ off-thread reaper for the freed blobs (insert: 21 ms -> 4 us).
3. (earlier) Skia final flush + Mailbox present mode (vendor, M3).
Instrumentation (all behind --features perf): OTHR/INVK/INVK_TAG/FLCK
lines for cross-thread closure timing and push-site tagging.
Warm measured swipe, 8580-file grid: cadence median 8.33 ms (exact
120 Hz), p99 15.5 ms, 5/552 gaps >16.7 ms (0.9%, max 28.3 ms, zero
>33 ms); PRES phase median ~994 us, zero late frames. Docs updated
(docs/BUGS/scroll-jank-120hz.md, full scorecard + line reference).
Also: vendored i-slint-core + wgpu-hal (vkshim interposition patch),
vkshim profiling tooling, backend made a non-optional dep, debuggable
flag for simpleperf (REMOVE before shipping).
- src/viewer.rs: full-size decode (turbojpeg DCT shrink, 2x-screen cap
bounded by GPU max texture, EXIF orientation applied) + transform
model (fit/clamp/zoom_at) + single-finger pan & double-tap state
machine. 18 unit tests.
- Pinch: Slint 1.18's ScaleRotateGestureHandler. Key finding: the CORE
(TouchState in internal/core/input.rs), not the backend, synthesizes
PinchGesture from raw two-finger touches on every backend including
Android — the second finger never reaches a TouchArea, so manual
two-finger math is dead code (the earlier draft was removed).
- main.slint: Viewer overlay (image + status + close button + full-
surface TouchArea + ScaleRotateGestureHandler). The close button must
be declared AFTER the full-surface TouchArea: 1.18 TouchArea grabs
every press (GrabMouse) and aborts the front-to-back sibling
traversal.
- lib.rs: open/close/pinch/pointer wiring; Android back key (via the
vendor CloseRequested patch) closes the viewer first.
- vendor: androidwindowadapter back-key -> CloseRequested patch
(Slint 1.18 has no back-key close handling).
- gputex.rs: max_texture_size() for the decode cap.
- HANDOFF: M4 done; new gotchas 6.14-16; emulator two-finger sendevent
(MT-B) injection recipe.
Verified on emulator (pad_avd): real two-finger pinch zoom, double-tap
zoom/reset, pan, button + back close, grid scroll unaffected. Phone
(Pixel 9 Pro, release aarch64): grid, viewer open, 4080x3072 decode,
double-tap, back. Pinch not injectable on the user build (SELinux
blocks /dev/input writes) — covered by unit tests + emulator.
Residual scroll jank at 120 Hz (suspected Slint event-loop bug) needs
per-frame + per-stage timing the logcat ring buffer can't hold. New
cargo feature `perf` (default OFF — all sites are cfg-gated, zero
overhead when off):
- FR: per-frame app-side render cost + frame gap, from the rendering
notifier (BeforeRendering/AfterRendering).
- STG: event-loop stage costs (wake/timers/events/poll/lastrender) from
timestamps instrumented into the pinned vendor copy of
i-slint-backend-android-activity (stg.rs; Cargo.toml now depends on
it directly + optional under `perf`).
- DECODE: per-thumbnail-job cost on the workers.
- All lines mirrored to /sdcard/Download/.gallery_perf.log (logcat
rotates too fast at ~120 lines/s).
Format + reading guide: docs/BUGS/scroll-jank-120hz.md.
The 19-26 ms mid-scroll stalls (Mali-only, fixed content offsets) were
the Skia renderer's final synchronous GrDirectContext::flush() blocking
the UI thread on Mali driver back-pressure — proven by per-stage
timestamps in the vendored renderer (stall frames: flush 19-24 ms,
walk 1-3 ms, 1 binding re-eval, image imports 0.1 ms each).
- vendor/i-slint-renderer-skia (pinned 1.18.1, [patch.crates-io]):
remove that one flush. Redundant on the wgpu backend: the surface
already calls flush_and_submit before queue.present, same Vulkan
queue, in-order. Phone: 0 stalls across 4 runs (max 3.6-7.4 ms vs
the 8.3 ms budget), display verified clean.
- docs/BUGS/slint-skia-final-flush-jank.md: full evidence, prior art
(slint-ui/slint#12030 closest), open question for a future
upstream filing (not filed yet).
- Profiling also retired the O(n)-walk theory: Slint 1.18 prunes the
item walk to ~133-152 items; the windowed Flickable built on that
theory was already reverted (ListView is smooth with the fix).
- Strip all jank-hunt instrumentation: FR/SCR/TICK/APLYD/STG logging,
stg markers, .gallery_* file knobs, jsamp thread sampler,
DbgScroll programmatic scroll, nblog perf-file mirroring.
Also fixes the 'launches into unstoppable fast scroll' bug: a
leftover .gallery_cmd was re-read on every launch (file never
deleted) and overrode user swipes — the hook is gone.
- Keep: nblog (logd backpressure is real), zero-dimension decode
guards, keep-alive (default-off).
- HANDOFF: replace stale windowed-Flickable section with the actual
root cause/fix; 15 unit tests pass.
Verified on phone (aarch64, 8580 photos) and emulator (x86_64).
