Re: [PATCH v11 05/12] sched/core: Try to use a preferred CPU in is_cpu_allowed

From: Dietmar Eggemann

Date: Fri Aug 28 2026 - 03:52:03 EST


On 25.08.26 12:38, Shrikanth Hegde wrote:
> When possible, try to choose a preferred CPU.
>
> This is essential to maintain user affinities when preferred
> CPUs change. A task pinned on a non-preferred CPU should continue
> to run there, since this is a non-user triggered event.
>
> If a CPU is non-preferred and the task can run on other CPUs which are
> currently preferred, then choose a preferred CPU instead.
> This is decided by checking if cpus_ptr and cpu_preferred_mask
> intersect or not. If yes, then the task has other preferred CPUs.
>
> The push task mechanism uses a stopper thread which calls
> select_fallback_rq() and uses this mechanism to pick a preferred CPU.
>
> This takes care of the wakeup path for FAIR tasks too.
> is_cpu_allowed() is called to ensure wakeups happen on preferred CPUs.
> With that, additional checks in available_idle_cpu() are not necessary.
>
> Ignore the preferred CPU state if a task's affinity is changing and
> its new mask no longer includes the CPU it is currently running on.
> This ensures migration_cpu_stop() does not abort, preventing the task
> from being stranded outside its allowed affinity.
>
> Account for tasks with architecture-specific CPU masks
> (e.g., 32-bit tasks on arm64). For such tasks, explicitly check against
> the arch-allowed CPUs to determine if any of the preferred CPUs are
> actually valid.
>
> For the majority of cases, this would still keep select_fallback_rq()
> as O(N). cpumask_intersects(), which is O(N), is called only if
> !cpu_preferred. The task running there is expected to move out.
> Subsequently, it should run on a preferred CPU. This becomes O(N**2)
> only for tasks pinned solely to non-preferred CPUs. That is a rare case.
>
> Overhead is minimal when the CPU is preferred.
>
> Signed-off-by: Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> kernel/sched/core.c | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
> 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
> index a45f7c308329..f71317fe281d 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/core.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
> @@ -2494,6 +2494,35 @@ static inline bool rq_has_pinned_tasks(struct rq *rq)
> return rq->nr_pinned;
> }
>
> +static inline bool task_can_sched_on_preferred(int cpu, struct task_struct *p)
> +{
> + const struct cpumask *valid_mask;
> + int i;
> +
> + if (cpu_preferred(cpu))
> + return false;
> +
> + /* Only FAIR tasks honor preferred CPU state */
> + if (unlikely(p->sched_class != &fair_sched_class))
> + return false;
> +
> + /* Ignore preferred state if task affinity is changing */
> + if (unlikely(!cpumask_test_cpu(task_cpu(p), p->cpus_ptr)))
> + return false;
> +
> + valid_mask = task_cpu_possible_mask(p);
> + if (likely(valid_mask == cpu_possible_mask))
> + return cpumask_intersects(p->cpus_ptr, cpu_preferred_mask);
> +
> + /* Tasks with arch-specific CPU masks. e.g. 32-bit tasks on arm64. */
> + for_each_cpu_and(i, p->cpus_ptr, cpu_preferred_mask) {
> + if (cpumask_test_cpu(i, valid_mask))
> + return true;
> + }

Looking more into this, there might be a window in 64-32-bit execve()
for 32bit EL0 tasks on Arm64 (w/ allow_mismatched_32bit_el0 command line
option).

The time before arch_setup_new_exec() calls
force_compatible_cpus_allowed_ptr() to restrict CPU affinity for those
tasks.

Let me run more test on this ...

Why not simply:

- return cpumask_intersects(p->cpus_ptr, cpu_preferred_mask);
+ return cpumask_first_and_and(p->cpus_ptr, cpu_preferred_mask,
+ task_cpu_possible_mask(p)) < nr_cpu_ids;

IMHO, you want to know whether there is at least one CPU that belongs to
all three CPU masks?

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