From da9c44d28dc5e247867e5a998d1a3c3e31e37698 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "J. Nick Koston" <nick@home-assistant.io>
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:21:15 -1000
Subject: [PATCH] [esp8266] Bound the critical section in millis() accumulator
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Split the μs→ms conversion into two paths to keep the interrupt-
disabled critical section bounded:

- Common path (delta < 10 ms): while loop runs at most 10 iterations
  (~100 ns). This covers the normal hot-path case where millis() is
  called thousands of times per second.

- Rare path (delta >= 10 ms): constant-time multiply-by-reciprocal
  via /1000 (compiled to __umulsidi3, ~2.5 μs). Only fires after a
  long block (WiFi scan, boot, component stall), where the extra
  latency is negligible relative to the block that caused it.

Addresses the concern that a multi-second WiFi scan block could cause
the unbounded while loop to hold interrupts for tens of microseconds.
---
 esphome/components/esp8266/core.cpp | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/esphome/components/esp8266/core.cpp b/esphome/components/esp8266/core.cpp
index 02aea6f2e8d..f7106e077e5 100644
--- a/esphome/components/esp8266/core.cpp
+++ b/esphome/components/esp8266/core.cpp
@@ -33,8 +33,10 @@ void HOT yield() { ::yield(); }
 // This function is also installed as __wrap_millis (via -Wl,--wrap=millis) so
 // that Arduino library code and ISR handlers (e.g. Wiegand, ZyAura) calling
 // ::millis() directly also get the fast version. Interrupts are briefly disabled
-// (~10 instructions, ~125 ns at 80 MHz) to protect the static state from
-// concurrent ISR access.
+// to protect the static state from concurrent ISR access. The critical section
+// is bounded: the common path (delta < 10 ms) runs at most 10 subtract-and-
+// compare iterations (~100 ns). Large gaps (WiFi scan, boot) fall back to a
+// constant-time multiply-by-reciprocal (~2.5 μs, rare).
 uint32_t IRAM_ATTR HOT millis() {
   // Struct packs the three statics so the compiler loads one base address
   // instead of three separate literal pool entries (saves ~8 bytes IRAM).
@@ -48,9 +50,22 @@ uint32_t IRAM_ATTR HOT millis() {
   uint32_t delta = now_us - state.last_us;
   state.last_us = now_us;
   state.remainder += delta;
-  while (state.remainder >= 1000) {
-    state.cache++;
-    state.remainder -= 1000;
+  if (state.remainder >= 10000) {
+    // Rare path: large gap (>10 ms — WiFi scan, boot, long block).
+    // Use constant-time multiply-by-reciprocal (compiled to __umulsidi3,
+    // ~2.5 μs) to keep the critical section bounded. Only fires when the
+    // caller was already blocked for >10 ms, so the extra latency is
+    // negligible relative to the block that caused it.
+    uint32_t ms = state.remainder / 1000;
+    state.cache += ms;
+    state.remainder -= ms * 1000;
+  } else {
+    // Common path: small gap (<10 ms). Loop runs at most 10 times
+    // (~100 ns), well within the WiFi stack's ~10 μs interrupt budget.
+    while (state.remainder >= 1000) {
+      state.cache++;
+      state.remainder -= 1000;
+    }
   }
   uint32_t result = state.cache;
   xt_wsr_ps(ps);