$ uptime
 11:12:26 up  3:44,  4 users,  load average: 0.38, 0.31, 0.19

上面的输出，load average后面分别是1分钟、5分钟、15分钟的负载情况。数据是每隔5秒钟检查一次活跃的进程数，然后根据这个数值算出来的。如果这个数除以CPU的数目，结果高于5的时候就表明系统在超负荷运转了。其算法(摘自Linux 2.4的内核代码)如下：

文件: include/linux/sched.h:

#define FSHIFT 11 /* nr of bits of precision */
#define FIXED_1 (1<<FSHIFT) /* 1.0 as fixed-point */
#define LOAD_FREQ (5*HZ) /* 5 sec intervals */
#define EXP_1 1884 /* 1/exp(5sec/1min) as fixed-point, 2048/pow(exp(1), 5.0/60) */
#define EXP_5 2014 /* 1/exp(5sec/5min), 2048/pow(exp(1), 5.0/300) */
#define EXP_15 2037 /* 1/exp(5sec/15min), 2048/pow(exp(1), 5.0/900) */

#define CALC_LOAD(load,exp,n) \
load *= exp; \
load += n*(FIXED_1-exp); \
load >>= FSHIFT;

/**********************************************************/

文件: kernel/timer.c:
unsigned long avenrun[3];

static inline void calc_load(unsigned long ticks)
{
unsigned long active_tasks; /* fixed-point */
static int count = LOAD_FREQ;

count -= ticks;
if (count < 0) {
count += LOAD_FREQ;
active_tasks = count_active_tasks();
CALC_LOAD(avenrun[0], EXP_1, active_tasks);
CALC_LOAD(avenrun[1], EXP_5, active_tasks);
CALC_LOAD(avenrun[2], EXP_15, active_tasks);
}
}

/**********************************************************/

文件: fs/proc/proc_misc.c:

#define LOAD_INT(x) ((x) >> FSHIFT)
#define LOAD_FRAC(x) LOAD_INT(((x) & (FIXED_1-1)) * 100)

static int loadavg_read_proc(char *page, char **start, off_t off,
int count, int *eof, void *data)
{
int a, b, c;
int len;

a = avenrun[0] + (FIXED_1/200);
b = avenrun[1] + (FIXED_1/200);
c = avenrun[2] + (FIXED_1/200);
len = sprintf(page,"%d.%02d %d.%02d %d.%02d %ld/%d %d\n",
LOAD_INT(a), LOAD_FRAC(a),
LOAD_INT(b), LOAD_FRAC(b),
LOAD_INT(c), LOAD_FRAC(c),
nr_running(), nr_threads, last_pid);
return proc_calc_metrics(page, start, off, count, eof, len);