Comet GL‑RM1 gl‑pion high CPU

I’m using a GL.iNet Comet (GL‑RM1) running firmware V1.8.0 release3 in an intranet‑only environment with no internet access. In this configuration, the gl‑pion service consistently consumes a large amount of CPU. After tracing the behavior, it appears gl‑pion enters a continuous busy‑loop when the device cannot reach the cloud.

Environment

  • GL.iNet Comet (GL‑RM1)
  • Firmware: V1.8.0 release3
  • Device is intentionally offline (LAN‑only)
  • Cloud access not required

Observed behavior

When the device has no internet access, gl‑pion uses 10–35% CPU continuously.

Example from top:

982 root 20 0 589.1m 11.6m 33.3 1.6 111:05.59 S - gl-pion

strace evidence

strace shows gl‑pion repeatedly cycling through a futex/epoll loop with no sleep or backoff:

futex(0x9c6004, FUTEX_WAIT_PRIVATE, 0, NULL) = 0 futex(0x9c6004, FUTEX_WAIT_PRIVATE, 0, NULL) = -1 EAGAIN epoll_pwait(4, \[\], 128, 0, NULL, 0) = 0 write(5, "\\1\\0\\0\\0\\0\\0\\0\\0", 8)

This pattern repeats many times per second.

Impact

  • Sustained 10–35% CPU usage
  • Unnecessary load on the system in intranet only deployments

All other services (kvmd, ustreamer, janus, nginx, etc.) behave normally.

Workaround

Stopping gl‑pion eliminates the high CPU usage:

/etc/init.d/S99gl-pion stop

After stopping gl‑pion, CPU usage returns to normal and the system runs as expected in a LAN‑only environment.

Request

Is this is a known issue with gl‑pion on V1.8.0 release3 when the device has no internet access?

pion.strace.zip (23.5 KB)
system_logs_19700101_000110.zip (190.5 KB)

I can provide additional logs or testing if needed.

It is used to provide the WebTC FEC mode, and it also does not require access to the cloud.