[PATCH v2 0/1] block/blk-mq: fix RT kernel regression with dedicated quiesce_sync_lock

From: Ionut Nechita (Wind River)

Date: Tue Feb 10 2026 - 15:51:45 EST


Hi Jens,

This is v2 of the fix for the RT kernel performance regression caused by
commit 679b1874eba7 ("block: fix ordering between checking
QUEUE_FLAG_QUIESCED request adding").

Changes since v1 (RESEND, Jan 9):
- Rebased on top of axboe/for-7.0/block
- No code changes

The problem: on PREEMPT_RT kernels, the spinlock_t queue_lock added in
blk_mq_run_hw_queue() converts to a sleeping rt_mutex, causing all IRQ
threads (one per MSI-X vector) to serialize. On megaraid_sas with 8
MSI-X vectors, throughput drops from 640 MB/s to 153 MB/s.

The fix introduces a dedicated raw_spinlock_t quiesce_sync_lock that
does not convert to rt_mutex on RT kernels. The critical section is
provably short (only flag and counter checks), making raw_spinlock safe.

In past used memory barriers but was rejected due to barrier pairing
complexity across multiple call sites (as noted by Muchun Song).

Ionut Nechita (1):
block/blk-mq: fix RT kernel regression with dedicated
quiesce_sync_lock

block/blk-core.c | 1 +
block/blk-mq.c | 27 ++++++++++++++++-----------
include/linux/blkdev.h | 6 ++++++
3 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

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2.52.0