[PATCH 3/4] workqueue: Show in-flight work item duration in stall diagnostics

From: Breno Leitao

Date: Wed Feb 11 2026 - 07:38:09 EST


When diagnosing workqueue stalls, knowing how long each in-flight work
item has been executing is valuable. Add a current_start timestamp
(jiffies) to struct worker, set it when a work item begins execution in
process_one_work(), and print the elapsed wall-clock time in show_pwq().

Unlike current_at (which tracks CPU runtime and resets on wakeup for
CPU-intensive detection), current_start is never reset because the
diagnostic cares about total wall-clock time including sleeps.

Before: in-flight: 165:stall_work_fn [wq_stall]
After: in-flight: 165:stall_work_fn [wq_stall] for 100s

Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/workqueue.c | 3 +++
kernel/workqueue_internal.h | 1 +
2 files changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
index b3ba739cf493a..e527e763162e6 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue.c
+++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
@@ -3204,6 +3204,7 @@ __acquires(&pool->lock)
worker->current_pwq = pwq;
if (worker->task)
worker->current_at = worker->task->se.sum_exec_runtime;
+ worker->current_start = jiffies;
work_data = *work_data_bits(work);
worker->current_color = get_work_color(work_data);

@@ -6359,6 +6360,8 @@ static void show_pwq(struct pool_workqueue *pwq)
pr_cont(" %s", comma ? "," : "");
pr_cont_worker_id(worker);
pr_cont(":%ps", worker->current_func);
+ pr_cont(" for %us",
+ jiffies_to_msecs(jiffies - worker->current_start) / 1000);
list_for_each_entry(work, &worker->scheduled, entry)
pr_cont_work(false, work, &pcws);
pr_cont_work_flush(comma, (work_func_t)-1L, &pcws);
diff --git a/kernel/workqueue_internal.h b/kernel/workqueue_internal.h
index f6275944ada77..8def1ddc5a1bf 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue_internal.h
+++ b/kernel/workqueue_internal.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ struct worker {
work_func_t current_func; /* K: function */
struct pool_workqueue *current_pwq; /* K: pwq */
u64 current_at; /* K: runtime at start or last wakeup */
+ unsigned long current_start; /* K: start time of current work item */
unsigned int current_color; /* K: color */

int sleeping; /* S: is worker sleeping? */

--
2.47.3