In sched_ext API, a repeatedly reported pain point is the overuse of the
verb "dispatch" and confusion around "consume":
- ops.dispatch()
- scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]()
- scx_bpf_consume()
- scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]_from_dsq*()
This overloading of the term is historical. Originally, there were only
built-in DSQs and moving a task into a DSQ always dispatched it for
execution. Using the verb "dispatch" for the kfuncs to move tasks into these
DSQs made sense.
Later, user DSQs were added and scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]() updated to be
able to insert tasks into any DSQ. The only allowed DSQ to DSQ transfer was
from a non-local DSQ to a local DSQ and this operation was named "consume".
This was already confusing as a task could be dispatched to a user DSQ from
ops.enqueue() and then the DSQ would have to be consumed in ops.dispatch().
Later addition of scx_bpf_dispatch_from_dsq*() made the confusion even worse
as "dispatch" in this context meant moving a task to an arbitrary DSQ from a
user DSQ.
Clean up the API with the following renames:
1. scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]() -> scx_bpf_dsq_insert[_vtime]()
2. scx_bpf_consume() -> scx_bpf_dsq_move_to_local()
3. scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]_from_dsq*() -> scx_bpf_dsq_move[_vtime]*()
This patch performs the second rename. Compatibility is maintained by:
- The previous kfunc names are still provided by the kernel so that old
binaries can run. Kernel generates a warning when the old names are used.
- compat.bpf.h provides wrappers for the new names which automatically fall
back to the old names when running on older kernels. They also trigger
build error if old names are used for new builds.
The compat features will be dropped after v6.15.
v2: Comment and documentation updates.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>
Acked-by: Changwoo Min <changwoo@igalia.com>
Acked-by: Johannes Bechberger <me@mostlynerdless.de>
Acked-by: Giovanni Gherdovich <ggherdovich@suse.com>
Cc: Dan Schatzberg <dschatzberg@meta.com>
Cc: Ming Yang <yougmark94@gmail.com>
In sched_ext API, a repeatedly reported pain point is the overuse of the
verb "dispatch" and confusion around "consume":
- ops.dispatch()
- scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]()
- scx_bpf_consume()
- scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]_from_dsq*()
This overloading of the term is historical. Originally, there were only
built-in DSQs and moving a task into a DSQ always dispatched it for
execution. Using the verb "dispatch" for the kfuncs to move tasks into these
DSQs made sense.
Later, user DSQs were added and scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]() updated to be
able to insert tasks into any DSQ. The only allowed DSQ to DSQ transfer was
from a non-local DSQ to a local DSQ and this operation was named "consume".
This was already confusing as a task could be dispatched to a user DSQ from
ops.enqueue() and then the DSQ would have to be consumed in ops.dispatch().
Later addition of scx_bpf_dispatch_from_dsq*() made the confusion even worse
as "dispatch" in this context meant moving a task to an arbitrary DSQ from a
user DSQ.
Clean up the API with the following renames:
1. scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]() -> scx_bpf_dsq_insert[_vtime]()
2. scx_bpf_consume() -> scx_bpf_dsq_move_to_local()
3. scx_bpf_dispatch[_vtime]_from_dsq*() -> scx_bpf_dsq_move[_vtime]*()
This patch performs the first set of renames. Compatibility is maintained
by:
- The previous kfunc names are still provided by the kernel so that old
binaries can run. Kernel generates a warning when the old names are used.
- compat.bpf.h provides wrappers for the new names which automatically fall
back to the old names when running on older kernels. They also trigger
build error if old names are used for new builds.
The compat features will be dropped after v6.15.
v2: Documentation updates.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@nvidia.com>
Acked-by: Changwoo Min <changwoo@igalia.com>
Acked-by: Johannes Bechberger <me@mostlynerdless.de>
Acked-by: Giovanni Gherdovich <ggherdovich@suse.com>
Cc: Dan Schatzberg <dschatzberg@meta.com>
Cc: Ming Yang <yougmark94@gmail.com>
ARRAY_ELEM_PTR() is an access macro used to help the BPF verifier not
confused by offseted memory acceeses by yiedling a valid pointer or NULL in
a way that's clear to the verifier. As such, the canonical usage involves
checking NULL return from the macro. Note that in many cases, the NULL
condition can never happen - they're there just to hint the verifier.
In a bpf_loop in scx_central.bpf.c::central_dispatch(), the NULL check was
incorrect in that there was another dereference of the pointer in addition
to the NULL checked access. This worked as the pointer can never be NULL and
the verifier could tell it would never be NULL in this case.
However, this still looks wrong and trips smatch:
./tools/sched_ext/scx_central.bpf.c:205 ____central_dispatch()
error: we previously assumed 'gimme' could be null (see line 201)
./tools/sched_ext/scx_central.bpf.c
195
196 if (!scx_bpf_dispatch_nr_slots())
197 break;
198
199 /* central's gimme is never set */
200 gimme = ARRAY_ELEM_PTR(cpu_gimme_task, cpu, nr_cpu_ids);
201 if (gimme && !*gimme)
^^^^^
If gimme is NULL
202 continue;
203
204 if (dispatch_to_cpu(cpu))
--> 205 *gimme = false;
Fix the NULL check so that there are no derefs if NULL. This doesn't change
actual behavior.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reported-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@linaro.org>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/<955e1c3c-ace2-4a1d-b246-15b8196038a3@stanley.mountain>
Allow BPF schedulers to indicate tickless operation by setting p->scx.slice
to SCX_SLICE_INF. A CPU whose current task has infinte slice goes into
tickless operation.
scx_central is updated to use tickless operations for all tasks and
instead use a BPF timer to expire slices. This also uses the SCX_ENQ_PREEMPT
and task state tracking added by the previous patches.
Currently, there is no way to pin the timer on the central CPU, so it may
end up on one of the worker CPUs; however, outside of that, the worker CPUs
can go tickless both while running sched_ext tasks and idling.
With schbench running, scx_central shows:
root@test ~# grep ^LOC /proc/interrupts; sleep 10; grep ^LOC /proc/interrupts
LOC: 142024 656 664 449 Local timer interrupts
LOC: 161663 663 665 449 Local timer interrupts
Without it:
root@test ~ [SIGINT]# grep ^LOC /proc/interrupts; sleep 10; grep ^LOC /proc/interrupts
LOC: 188778 3142 3793 3993 Local timer interrupts
LOC: 198993 5314 6323 6438 Local timer interrupts
While scx_central itself is too barebone to be useful as a
production scheduler, a more featureful central scheduler can be built using
the same approach. Google's experience shows that such an approach can have
significant benefits for certain applications such as VM hosting.
v4: Allow operation even if BPF_F_TIMER_CPU_PIN is not available.
v3: Pin the central scheduler's timer on the central_cpu using
BPF_F_TIMER_CPU_PIN.
v2: Convert to BPF inline iterators.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: David Vernet <dvernet@meta.com>
Acked-by: Josh Don <joshdon@google.com>
Acked-by: Hao Luo <haoluo@google.com>
Acked-by: Barret Rhoden <brho@google.com>
This patch adds a new example scheduler, scx_central, which demonstrates
central scheduling where one CPU is responsible for making all scheduling
decisions in the system using scx_bpf_kick_cpu(). The central CPU makes
scheduling decisions for all CPUs in the system, queues tasks on the
appropriate local dsq's and preempts the worker CPUs. The worker CPUs in
turn preempt the central CPU when it needs tasks to run.
Currently, every CPU depends on its own tick to expire the current task. A
follow-up patch implementing tickless support for sched_ext will allow the
worker CPUs to go full tickless so that they can run completely undisturbed.
v3: - Kumar fixed a bug where the dispatch path could overflow the dispatch
buffer if too many are dispatched to the fallback DSQ.
- Use the new SCX_KICK_IDLE to wake up non-central CPUs.
- Dropped '-p' option.
v2: - Use RESIZABLE_ARRAY() instead of fixed MAX_CPUS and use SCX_BUG[_ON]()
to simplify error handling.
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: David Vernet <dvernet@meta.com>
Acked-by: Josh Don <joshdon@google.com>
Acked-by: Hao Luo <haoluo@google.com>
Acked-by: Barret Rhoden <brho@google.com>
Cc: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>
Cc: Julia Lawall <julia.lawall@inria.fr>
