How to set default nice level for an application

[Doug]

On 11/24/2010 03:43 AM, Mark wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 10:54 PM, Basil Chupin<blchupin at iinet.net.au>  wrote:
>> OK, first time I am hearing about 'nice'.
>>
>> What's the advantage of running something like TB ( or anything else for
>> that matter) with a different 'nice level'?
>>
> Nice is the kernel's way of prioritizing processes for scheduling.
> The higher the nice number, the more the process is deemed to be
> "nice" to other processes, thereby lowering their priority.  Most
> normal processes run at nice level 0, and this is adjusted up or down
> automatically by the kernel as it cycles through the scheduling.  The
> more a process needs i/o, the less nice it gets, and the more CPU the
> process uses, the nicer it gets.  Certain system processes run at
> lower and lower niceness levels (higher and higher priority) depending
> on their needs.
>
> I'd bet there's a good write-up on this somewhere on the web, but
> that's the basic idea.
>
Perhaps the above explanation is perfectly clear to some, but maybe it
might make sense to simplify:  If you set the "nice" level to -20, that 
process
will have absolute priority.  Conversely, if you set it to (+) 20, that 
process
will have the lowest priority, thus being "nice" to everything else and
letting everything else have first shot at the cpu.

--doug

-- 
Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley