[PATCH v2 sched_ext/for-7.1-fixes] tools/sched_ext: scx_qmap: Silence task_ctx lookup miss

From: Tejun Heo

Date: Tue Apr 21 2026 - 03:18:47 EST


scx_fork() dispatches ops.init_task to exactly one scheduler - the one
owning the forking task's cgroup. A task forked inside a sub-scheduler's
cgroup is init'd into the sub only; the root scheduler has no task_ctx
entry for it. When that task later appears as @prev in the root's
qmap_dispatch() (or flows through core-sched comparison via task_qdist),
the bpf_task_storage_get() legitimately misses.

qmap treated those misses as fatal via scx_bpf_error("task_ctx lookup
failed") and aborted the scheduler as soon as the first cross-sched
task hit the root. Drop the error in the sites where the miss is
legitimate: lookup_task_ctx() (helper; callers already check for NULL),
qmap_dispatch()'s @prev branch (bookkeeping-only), task_qdist()
(returns 0 which makes the comparison a no-op), and qmap_select_cpu()
(returns prev_cpu as a no-op fallback instead of -ESRCH). The existing
scx_error was a paranoid guard from the pre-sub-sched world where every
task was owned by the one and only scheduler.

v2: qmap_select_cpu() returns prev_cpu on NULL instead of -ESRCH, so
the root scheduler doesn't error on cross-sched tasks that pass
through it (Andrea Righi).

Fixes: 4f8b122848db ("sched_ext: Add basic building blocks for nested sub-scheduler dispatching")
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c | 24 ++++++------------------
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c b/tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c
index b68abb9e760b..aad698fe294b 100644
--- a/tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c
+++ b/tools/sched_ext/scx_qmap.bpf.c
@@ -159,13 +159,7 @@ static s32 pick_direct_dispatch_cpu(struct task_struct *p, s32 prev_cpu)

static struct task_ctx *lookup_task_ctx(struct task_struct *p)
{
- struct task_ctx *tctx;
-
- if (!(tctx = bpf_task_storage_get(&task_ctx_stor, p, 0, 0))) {
- scx_bpf_error("task_ctx lookup failed");
- return NULL;
- }
- return tctx;
+ return bpf_task_storage_get(&task_ctx_stor, p, 0, 0);
}

s32 BPF_STRUCT_OPS(qmap_select_cpu, struct task_struct *p,
@@ -175,7 +169,7 @@ s32 BPF_STRUCT_OPS(qmap_select_cpu, struct task_struct *p,
s32 cpu;

if (!(tctx = lookup_task_ctx(p)))
- return -ESRCH;
+ return prev_cpu;

if (p->scx.weight < 2 && !(p->flags & PF_KTHREAD))
return prev_cpu;
@@ -540,13 +534,9 @@ void BPF_STRUCT_OPS(qmap_dispatch, s32 cpu, struct task_struct *prev)
*/
if (prev) {
tctx = bpf_task_storage_get(&task_ctx_stor, prev, 0, 0);
- if (!tctx) {
- scx_bpf_error("task_ctx lookup failed");
- return;
- }
-
- tctx->core_sched_seq =
- core_sched_tail_seqs[weight_to_idx(prev->scx.weight)]++;
+ if (tctx)
+ tctx->core_sched_seq =
+ core_sched_tail_seqs[weight_to_idx(prev->scx.weight)]++;
}
}

@@ -584,10 +574,8 @@ static s64 task_qdist(struct task_struct *p)
s64 qdist;

tctx = bpf_task_storage_get(&task_ctx_stor, p, 0, 0);
- if (!tctx) {
- scx_bpf_error("task_ctx lookup failed");
+ if (!tctx)
return 0;
- }

qdist = tctx->core_sched_seq - core_sched_head_seqs[idx];

--
2.53.0