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Seiji Nishikawa dae5c02920 sched/rt,dl: Skip migrate-disabled tasks when picking a push candidate
A migrate_disable()'d RT task cannot be moved to another CPU, but the
scheduler still keeps such a task on that CPU's pushable list
(rq->rt.pushable_tasks) and still marks the runqueue RT-overloaded
(rq->rt.overloaded = 1). So the RT balancer keeps treating this CPU as
having a task to move away, and keeps trying to move the task, but the
push can never succeed. When the head is pinned, push_rt_task() does not
give up either. It falls back to pushing rq->curr instead, using the
per-CPU stopper, as added by commit a7c81556ec ("sched: Fix
migrate_disable() vs rt/dl balancing").

The CPU spends tens of milliseconds in this retry loop. The core is
isolated for real-time work, but during the loop nearly half of its time
is consumed by pushes that cannot succeed.

An ftrace capture of the affected CPU, with sched_switch enabled and
commit 94894c9c47 ("sched/rt: Skip currently executing CPU in
rto_next_cpu()") applied, shows where the CPU time went. Two SCHED_FIFO
tasks at equal priority shared the CPU, taskA migrate_disable()'d and
queued, taskB as rq->curr. In one 89 ms window, taskB got only 52 ms of
CPU. The other 37 ms went to the stopper thread.

The scheduler kept trying to push taskA, the pinned head of the pushable
list, fell back to pushing taskB instead, and woke the stopper 5204
times. Every one of those pushes failed and no task was moved. taskA
stayed runnable and queued the whole time, and never ran.

Pushing taskB fails on a re-check. find_lock_lowest_rq() drops the rq
lock to take the target rq lock, then checks again with
"task != pick_next_pushable_task(rq)".

The task being pushed is taskB, but the pick returns taskA, the head of
the pushable list. taskB is rq->curr, and set_next_task_rt() removes the
running task from that list, so taskB can never be the head. The check
expects a candidate taken from the pushable list, but the fallback
pushes rq->curr, which is never on that list. So the check fails every
time.

   .--> push-IPI arrives
   |          |
   |          v
   |     pushable head = taskA   ->  pinned, cannot be pushed
   |          |
   |          v
   |     so push taskB instead   ->  wake migration/N, a stop-class
   |          |                      thread, so it preempts taskB
   |          v
   |     re-check compares taskB against the pushable head,
   |     which is still taskA                        ->  give up
   |          |
   |          v
   |     nothing moved, taskA still queued, rq still overloaded
   |          |
   '----------'
         repeats every ~17 us, 5204 times, for 89 ms

   The loop cannot stop itself. Every round leaves the runqueue
   exactly as it was, so the next push-IPI does the same thing. In
   the capture it ended only when taskB went to sleep on its own.
   taskA was then picked locally and left the pushable list.

   CPU time per task in the window, from sched_switch:

     taskB         51.95 ms   real work
     migration/N   37.18 ms   nothing moved
     taskA          0.00 ms   queued the whole time, never picked
     idle           0.01 ms

   Counts over the same window:

      7667  push-IPIs handled on this CPU
     17481  pick_next_pushable_task() returned taskA, still pinned
      5204  find_lock_lowest_rq() gave up on the re-check
         1  push that actually completed
         0  migrations of taskA

   The CPU times and the window length come from the standard
   sched_switch tracepoint. The counts needed tracepoints added inside
   the RT balancer for this investigation.

The self-IPI path is closed by the rto_next_cpu() fix above, and that
part works. But the runqueue is still marked overloaded, because the
pinned task is still advertised as pushable. Other CPUs now send the
push-IPIs during their own RT balancing, and the same loop runs again.
Closing the self-IPI path did not stop a pinned task from triggering
push balancing.

A pinned task should never have been returned as a push candidate in the
first place. A migrate_disable()'d task cannot be migrated, so it
belongs in the same skip that was added for on_cpu tasks by
commit e0ca8991b2 ("sched: Make class_schedulers avoid pushing
current, and get rid of proxy_tag_curr()"). Add is_migration_disabled()
to the skip condition in pick_next_pushable_task() and
pick_next_pushable_dl_task().

With the skip in place, if the pinned task is the only extra runnable
task the helpers return NULL, push_rt_task() and push_dl_task() give up
early, and no stopper is woken. The pinned task then runs locally once
curr yields. If a task that really can be migrated is queued behind the
pinned head, it is now picked and pushed for real.

This makes the fallback that pushes rq->curr unreachable when the
pushable head is migrate-disabled. Nothing is lost, because that path
was always stopped by the re-check described above. In the capture it
ran 5204 times and moved nothing.

Fixes: a7c81556ec ("sched: Fix migrate_disable() vs rt/dl balancing")
Signed-off-by: Seiji Nishikawa <snishika@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260830073746.2189355-1-snishika@redhat.com
History 2026-09-02 09:17:49 +02:00
arch - Fix UM build regression caused by the removal of the UM 2026-08-30 10:19:11 -07:00
block for-7.3/block-20260819 2026-08-20 13:55:16 -07:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto This push fixes a memory allocation overrun in crypto acomp. 2026-08-28 09:28:40 -07:00
Documentation Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
drivers i2c-fixes for v7.3-rc1 2026-08-30 10:53:24 -07:00
fs tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
include - Revert a commit to spinlock cleanup guards that got caught up 2026-08-30 09:57:35 -07:00
init Bootconfig updates for v7.3: 2026-08-25 08:59:09 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.3-20260828 2026-08-28 16:51:14 -07:00
ipc mm.git review status for master..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-08-23 08:07:11 -07:00
kernel sched/rt,dl: Skip migrate-disabled tasks when picking a push candidate 2026-09-02 09:17:49 +02:00
lib mm.git review status for linus..mm-stable 2026-08-27 09:17:06 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm mm.git review status for linus..mm-stable 2026-08-27 09:17:06 -07:00
net A wide variety of mostly CephFS fixes and cleanups, split between 2026-08-28 11:51:05 -07:00
rust Rust fixes for v7.3 2026-08-30 09:47:39 -07:00
samples tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
scripts Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
security Hi, 2026-08-28 09:36:27 -07:00
sound sound fixes for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-28 10:01:02 -07:00
tools Rust fixes for v7.3 2026-08-30 09:47:39 -07:00
usr usr: Correct a spelling by changing a letter 2026-08-05 14:51:58 +02:00
virt Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
.clang-format drm/bridge: rename drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain_scoped() to drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain() 2026-07-14 17:55:51 +02:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig scripts: add Linux .cocciconfig for coccinelle 2016-07-22 12:13:39 +02:00
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add Nathan Chancellor 2026-08-03 21:10:12 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore SPDX patches for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-22 12:06:22 -07:00
.mailmap CREDITS/mailmap: add some info about Darrick J. Wong 2026-08-30 10:29:08 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING COPYING: state that all contributions really are covered by this file 2020-02-10 13:32:20 -08:00
CREDITS CREDITS/mailmap: add some info about Darrick J. Wong 2026-08-30 10:29:08 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS SCSI updates for 7.3 2026-08-29 11:55:36 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.3-rc1 2026-08-30 13:34:40 -07:00
README README: remove out of place emdashes 2026-07-15 10:51:29 -06:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer: Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher: Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert: Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer: Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator: Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer: Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor: Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer: Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant: LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst