Linux Preemptible Kernel

With the usual behavior, kernel routines can unpredictably supersede and block user-space real-time policy threads which can cause severe latency on waking up those threads, enough time for the audio buffer to run dry dozens of times and more.

When building a kernel, this behaviour can be minimised (without patching) by setting the configuration option Processor Type and Features -> Preemption Model to Preemptible Kernel (Low Latency Desktop). This allows much of the kernel to be preemtible, except critical sections of kernel code.