[RFC PATCH 0/2] workqueue: Add wornings and check WQ flags usage
From: Marco Crivellari
Date: Thu May 14 2026 - 05:24:46 EST
Hi,
Currently system_wq and system_unbound_wq can still be used and no message
is printed. To avoid further use of them, add a warning and route the
workqueue on system_percpu_wq or system_dfl_wq.
Similar scenario for WQ_PERCPU and WQ_UNBOUND. Currently there are still
users that use alloc_workqueue(,0,). To avoid such situations, a couple
of checks have been added:
- if neither of the flag is present, set WQ_PERCPU
- if both are present, remove WQ_PERCPU
Along with these, a warning will be printed.
~~~~
Few things to note, and that's the main reason because it is an RFC:
1. I wanted to use a compile time error, but considering the new users still
relying on the old workqueue or using alloc_workqueue() without one of the
flags, it means break the code. So I decided to avoid.
2. there are no compile-time warnings: should we add something?
3. __alloc_workqueue() prints the WQ_* messages with pr_warn_ratelimited();
I used this because otherwise with the _once version we're going to see
only the 1st.
4. another option would have been make the workqueue unbound by default, but
of course, it's still not possible due to point 1.
Thanks!
Marco Crivellari (2):
workqueue: Add warn and fallback if system_{unbound}_wq is used
workqueue: Add warnings and ensure one among WQ_PERCPU or WQ_UNBOUND
is present
kernel/workqueue.c | 72 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 72 insertions(+)
--
2.54.0