[Click] temporary stops with NotifierQueue and ToDevice

[Øivind Kure]

Hi,
I run click  1.5 in a measurement configuration in user space. Copies of packets are captured with FromDevice, queued, shaped with RatedUnqueued, processed through some of my own elements, handed over to the ArpQuerier, then queued and sent to ToDevice  bounded to the second interface. If I use NotifierQueue the setup works fine if the traffic level is around 1.6 Mbit/sec. However, if the traffic level is lowered to the 200 Kbit/sec range, the ToDevice element repeats a roughly 20 second on and 20 second off period. The queue element before the ToDevice fills up and drops packets. If I change the queuing element to SimpleQueue, the problem disappears. 
The actual problem is therefore solved, but I would have liked to know why there is a problem with NotifierQueue. The underlying assumption is that I have missed something  important.
Regards
Øivind Kure