Re: [PATCH] sched/psi: Streamline the flow in psi_group_change

From: Johannes Weiner

Date: Thu Nov 13 2025 - 10:22:28 EST


On Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 12:22:54PM +0000, Tvrtko Ursulin wrote:
> Given that psi_group_change() can be called rather frequently from the
> scheduler task switching code lets streamline it a bit to reduce the
> number of loops and conditionals on the typical invocation.
>
> First thing is that we replace the open coded mask walks with the standard
> for_each_set_bit(). This makes the source code a bit more readable and
> also enables usage of the efficient CPU specific zero bit skip
> instructions.
>
> In doing so we also remove the need to mask out the special TSK_ONCPU bit
> from the set and clear masks, since for_each_set_bit() now directly limits
> the array index to the safe range.
>
> As the last remaining step we can now easily move the new state mask
> computation to only run when required.
>
> End result is hopefully more readable code and a very small but measurable
> reduction in task switching CPU overhead.
>
> Signed-off-by: Tvrtko Ursulin <tvrtko.ursulin@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Johannes Weiner <hannes@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Peter Ziljstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> ---
> kernel/sched/psi.c | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++--------------------------
> 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/psi.c b/kernel/sched/psi.c
> index 59fdb7ebbf22..fe19aeef8dbd 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/psi.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/psi.c
> @@ -798,39 +798,26 @@ static void psi_group_change(struct psi_group *group, int cpu,
> u64 now, bool wake_clock)
> {
> struct psi_group_cpu *groupc;
> - unsigned int t, m;
> + unsigned long t, m;
> u32 state_mask;
>
> lockdep_assert_rq_held(cpu_rq(cpu));
> groupc = per_cpu_ptr(group->pcpu, cpu);
>
> /*
> - * Start with TSK_ONCPU, which doesn't have a corresponding
> - * task count - it's just a boolean flag directly encoded in
> - * the state mask. Clear, set, or carry the current state if
> - * no changes are requested.
> + * TSK_ONCPU does not have a corresponding task count - it's just a
> + * boolean flag directly encoded in the state mask. Clear, set, or carry
> + * the current state if no changes are requested.
> + *
> + * The rest of the state mask is calculated based on the task counts.
> + * Update those first, then construct the mask.
> */
> - if (unlikely(clear & TSK_ONCPU)) {
> - state_mask = 0;
> - clear &= ~TSK_ONCPU;
> - } else if (unlikely(set & TSK_ONCPU)) {
> - state_mask = PSI_ONCPU;
> - set &= ~TSK_ONCPU;
> - } else {
> - state_mask = groupc->state_mask & PSI_ONCPU;
> - }

This doesn't look right. Without PSI_ONCPU in state_mask, the results
of test_states() will be bogus, as well as the PSI_MEM_FULL special
case for an active reclaimer on the CPU.

> - /*
> - * The rest of the state mask is calculated based on the task
> - * counts. Update those first, then construct the mask.
> - */
> - for (t = 0, m = clear; m; m &= ~(1 << t), t++) {
> - if (!(m & (1 << t)))
> - continue;
> - if (groupc->tasks[t]) {
> + m = clear;
> + for_each_set_bit(t, &m, ARRAY_SIZE(groupc->tasks)) {

The current version relies on !!m and doesn't need the range checks
for_each_set_bit() introduces. This seems less efficient. Did you
compare the generated code?

> + if (likely(groupc->tasks[t])) {
> groupc->tasks[t]--;
> } else if (!psi_bug) {
> - printk_deferred(KERN_ERR "psi: task underflow! cpu=%d t=%d tasks=[%u %u %u %u] clear=%x set=%x\n",
> + printk_deferred(KERN_ERR "psi: task underflow! cpu=%d t=%lu tasks=[%u %u %u %u] clear=%x set=%x\n",
> cpu, t, groupc->tasks[0],
> groupc->tasks[1], groupc->tasks[2],
> groupc->tasks[3], clear, set);
> @@ -838,9 +825,9 @@ static void psi_group_change(struct psi_group *group, int cpu,
> }
> }
>
> - for (t = 0; set; set &= ~(1 << t), t++)
> - if (set & (1 << t))
> - groupc->tasks[t]++;
> + m = set;
> + for_each_set_bit(t, &m, ARRAY_SIZE(groupc->tasks))
> + groupc->tasks[t]++;
>
> if (!group->enabled) {
> /*
> @@ -853,6 +840,13 @@ static void psi_group_change(struct psi_group *group, int cpu,
> if (unlikely(groupc->state_mask & (1 << PSI_NONIDLE)))
> record_times(groupc, now);
>
> + if (unlikely(clear & TSK_ONCPU))
> + state_mask = 0;
> + else if (unlikely(set & TSK_ONCPU))
> + state_mask = PSI_ONCPU;
> + else
> + state_mask = groupc->state_mask & PSI_ONCPU;

You moved it here, but this is the !group->enabled exception
only. What about the common case when the group is enabled?