Tickless kernel

[Martin Decky]

The kernels of many operating systems have already switched or are planning to switch to tickless operation (i.e. avoiding strictly periodic timer interrupts and scheduling timers on-demand).

The benefits are lower overhead, better power-saving possibilities (even without any specific power management features) and a more natural design of the timers without a fixed timer period. The most significant drawback is naturally more complex timer bookkeeping, but as empirical evidence shows it is manageable.