Re: [PATCHSET v3 sched_ext/for-7.1] sched_ext: Implement cgroup sub-scheduler support

[Andrea Righi]

Hi Tejun,

On Wed, Mar 04, 2026 at 12:00:45PM -1000, Tejun Heo wrote:
> This patchset has been around for a while. I'm planning to apply this soon
> and resolve remaining issues incrementally.
> 
> This patchset implements cgroup sub-scheduler support for sched_ext, enabling
> multiple scheduler instances to be attached to the cgroup hierarchy. This is a
> partial implementation focusing on the dispatch path - select_cpu and enqueue
> paths will be updated in subsequent patchsets. While incomplete, the dispatch
> path changes are sufficient to demonstrate and exercise the core sub-scheduler
> structures.
> 
> Motivation
> ==========
> 
> Applications often have domain-specific knowledge that generic schedulers cannot
> possess. Database systems understand query priorities and lock holder
> criticality. Virtual machine monitors can coordinate with guest schedulers and
> handle vCPU placement intelligently. Game engines know rendering deadlines and
> which threads are latency-critical.
> 
> On multi-tenant systems where multiple such workloads coexist, implementing
> application-customized scheduling is difficult. Hard partitioning with cpuset
> lacks the dynamism needed - users often don't care about specific CPU
> assignments and want optimizations enabled by sharing a larger machine:
> opportunistic over-commit, improving latency-critical workload characteristics
> while maintaining bandwidth fairness, and packing similar workloads on the same
> L3 caches for efficiency.
> 
> Sub-scheduler support addresses this by allowing schedulers to be attached to
> the cgroup hierarchy. Each application domain runs its own BPF scheduler
> tailored to its needs, while a parent scheduler dynamically controls CPU
> allocation to children without static partitioning.
> 
> Structure
> =========
> 
> Schedulers attach to cgroup nodes forming a hierarchy up to SCX_SUB_MAX_DEPTH
> (4) levels deep. Each scheduler instance maintains its own state including
> default time slice, watchdog, and bypass mode. Tasks belong to exactly one
> scheduler - the one attached to their cgroup or the nearest ancestor with a
> scheduler attached.
> 
> A parent scheduler is responsible for allocating CPU time to its children. When
> a parent's ops.dispatch() is invoked, it can call scx_bpf_sub_dispatch() to
> trigger dispatch on a child scheduler, allowing the parent to control when and
> how much CPU time each child receives. Currently only the dispatch path supports
> this - ops.select_cpu() and ops.enqueue() always operate on the task's own
> scheduler. Full support for these paths will follow in subsequent patchsets.
> 
> Kfuncs use the new KF_IMPLICIT_ARGS BPF feature to identify their calling
> scheduler - the kernel passes bpf_prog_aux implicitly, from which scx_prog_sched()
> finds the associated scx_sched. This enables authority enforcement ensuring
> schedulers can only manipulate their own tasks, preventing cross-scheduler
> interference.
> 
> Bypass mode, used for error recovery and orderly shutdown, propagates
> hierarchically - when a scheduler enters bypass, its descendants follow. This
> ensures forward progress even when nested schedulers malfunction. The dump
> infrastructure supports multiple schedulers, identifying which scheduler each
> task and DSQ belongs to for debugging.

I've reviewed and conducted some basic testing with this. Apart from the
few minor nits, I haven't noticed any bugs or performance regressions, even
using scx_bpf_task_set_slice/dsq_vtime(), which is really good! I'll keep
running more tests, but for now everything looks good to me. Good job!

Reviewed-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@xxxxxxxxxx>

Thanks,
-Andrea

> 
> Patches
> =======
> 
> 0001-0004: Preparatory changes exposing cgroup helpers, adding cgroup subtree
> iteration for sched_ext, passing kernel_clone_args to scx_fork(), and reordering
> sched_post_fork() after cgroup_post_fork().
> 
> 0005-0006: Reorganize enable/disable paths in preparation for multiple scheduler
> instances.
> 
> 0007-0009: Core sub-scheduler infrastructure introducing scx_sched structure,
> cgroup attachment, scx_task_sched() for task-to-scheduler mapping, and
> scx_prog_sched() for BPF program-to-scheduler association.
> 
> 0010-0012: Authority enforcement ensuring schedulers can only manipulate their
> own tasks in dispatch, DSQ operations, and task state updates.
> 
> 0013-0014: Refactor task init/exit helpers and update scx_prio_less() to handle
> tasks from different schedulers.
> 
> 0015-0018: Migrate global state to per-scheduler fields: default slice, aborting
> flag, bypass DSQ, and bypass state.
> 
> 0019-0023: Implement hierarchical bypass mode where bypass state propagates from
> parent to descendants, with proper separation of bypass dispatch enabling.
> 
> 0024-0028: Multi-scheduler dispatch and diagnostics - dispatching from all
> scheduler instances, per-scheduler dispatch context, watchdog awareness, and
> multi-scheduler dump support.
> 
> 0029: Implement sub-scheduler enabling and disabling with proper task migration
> between parent and child schedulers.
> 
> 0030-0034: Building blocks for nested dispatching including scx_sched back
> pointers, reenqueue awareness, scheduler linking helpers, rhashtable lookup, and
> scx_bpf_sub_dispatch() kfunc.
> 
> v3:
> - Adapt to for-7.0-fixes change that punts enable path to kthread to avoid
>   starvation. Keep scx_enable() as unified entry dispatching to
>   scx_root_enable_workfn() or scx_sub_enable_workfn() (#6, #7, #29).
> 
> - Fix build with various config combinations (Andrea):
>   - !CONFIG_CGROUP: add root_cgroup()/sch_cgroup() accessors with stubs
>     (#7, #29, #31).
>   - !CONFIG_EXT_SUB_SCHED: add null define for scx_enabling_sub_sched,
>     guard unguarded references, use scx_task_on_sched() helper (#21, #23,
>     #29).
>   - !CONFIG_EXT_GROUP_SCHED: remove unused tg variable (#13).
> 
> - Note scx_is_descendant() usage by later patch to address bisect concern
>   (#7) (Andrea).
> 
> v2: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260225050109.1070059-1-tj@xxxxxxxxxx
> v1: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20260121231140.832332-1-tj@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Based on sched_ext/for-7.1 (0e953de88b92). The scx_claim_exit() preempt
> fix which was a separate prerequisite for v2 has been merged into for-7.1.
> 
> Git tree:
>   git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tj/sched_ext.git scx-sub-sched-v3
> 
>  include/linux/cgroup-defs.h              |    4 +
>  include/linux/cgroup.h                   |   65 +-
>  include/linux/sched/ext.h                |   11 +
>  init/Kconfig                             |    4 +
>  kernel/cgroup/cgroup-internal.h          |    6 -
>  kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c                   |   55 -
>  kernel/fork.c                            |    6 +-
>  kernel/sched/core.c                      |    2 +-
>  kernel/sched/ext.c                       | 2388 +++++++++++++++++++++++-------
>  kernel/sched/ext.h                       |    4 +-
>  kernel/sched/ext_idle.c                  |  104 +-
>  kernel/sched/ext_internal.h              |  248 +++-
>  kernel/sched/sched.h                     |    7 +-
>  tools/sched_ext/include/scx/common.bpf.h |    1 +
>  tools/sched_ext/include/scx/compat.h     |   10 +
>  tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c           |   44 +-
>  tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.c               |   13 +-
>  17 files changed, 2321 insertions(+), 651 deletions(-)
> 
> --
> tejun