[PATCH v3 4/7] sched/fair: Add cgroup_mode: concur

From: Peter Zijlstra

Date: Fri Jun 05 2026 - 08:54:06 EST


Improve upon the previous scheme ("max") by no longer assuming maximal
concurrency. Instead scale by: 'min(nr_tasks, nr_cpus)'. This handles
the low concurrency cases more gracefully:

F_g_n' = min(M, N) * F_g_n

Notably this is the first mode where:

avg(F_g_n) = 1

In the single task case it reduces to ("smp") and then it nicely scales up
until it hits N, where it behaves like ("max").

This is no longer clipped at nice -20. Strictly speaking it isn't different
from the normal SMP scenario where all tasks are extremely unbalanced. There
are no unnatural inflations in this scheme.

The meaning of "cpu.weight" would be: weight per active CPU.

NOTE: Compute the group wide number of tasks by extending the tg->load_avg
computation with tg->runnable_avg, since cfs_rq->runnable_avg is based on
cfs_rq->h_nr_running.

Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/sched/debug.c | 1 +
kernel/sched/fair.c | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
kernel/sched/sched.h | 3 +++
3 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

--- a/kernel/sched/debug.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/debug.c
@@ -641,6 +641,7 @@ static int cgroup_mode = 1;
static const char *cgroup_mode_str[] = {
"up",
"smp",
+ "concur",
"max",
};

--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -4846,6 +4846,11 @@ static int tg_cpus(struct task_group *tg
return nr;
}

+static inline int tg_tasks(struct task_group *tg)
+{
+ return max(1, atomic_long_read(&tg->runnable_avg) >> SCHED_CAPACITY_SHIFT);
+}
+
/*
* Func: min(fraction(nr_cpus * tg->shares), nice -20)
*
@@ -4863,6 +4868,20 @@ static long calc_max_shares(struct cfs_r
}

/*
+ * Func: fraction(nr * tg->shares); nr = min(nr_tasks, nr_cpus)
+ *
+ * Scales between "smp" and "max" in a natural way. No longer needs clipping
+ * since there are no unnatural inflations like with "max".
+ */
+static long calc_concur_shares(struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq)
+{
+ struct task_group *tg = cfs_rq->tg;
+ int nr = min(tg_tasks(tg), tg_cpus(tg));
+ long tg_shares = READ_ONCE(tg->shares);
+ return __calc_smp_shares(cfs_rq, nr * tg_shares, nr * tg_shares);
+}
+
+/*
* Func: fraction(tg->shares)
*
* This infamously results in tiny shares when you have many CPUs.
@@ -4897,6 +4916,9 @@ void __sched_cgroup_mode_update(int mode
func = &calc_smp_shares;
break;
case 2:
+ func = &calc_concur_shares;
+ break;
+ case 3:
func = &calc_max_shares;
break;
}
@@ -5043,7 +5065,7 @@ static inline bool cfs_rq_is_decayed(str
*/
static inline void update_tg_load_avg(struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq)
{
- long delta;
+ long dl, dr;
u64 now;

/*
@@ -5064,17 +5086,21 @@ static inline void update_tg_load_avg(st
if (now - cfs_rq->last_update_tg_load_avg < NSEC_PER_MSEC)
return;

- delta = cfs_rq->avg.load_avg - cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib;
- if (abs(delta) > cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib / 64) {
- atomic_long_add(delta, &cfs_rq->tg->load_avg);
+ dl = cfs_rq->avg.load_avg - cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib;
+ dr = cfs_rq->avg.runnable_avg - cfs_rq->tg_runnable_avg_contrib;
+ if (abs(dl) > cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib / 64 ||
+ abs(dr) > cfs_rq->tg_runnable_avg_contrib / 64) {
+ atomic_long_add(dl, &cfs_rq->tg->load_avg);
+ atomic_long_add(dr, &cfs_rq->tg->runnable_avg);
cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib = cfs_rq->avg.load_avg;
+ cfs_rq->tg_runnable_avg_contrib = cfs_rq->avg.runnable_avg;
cfs_rq->last_update_tg_load_avg = now;
}
}

static inline void clear_tg_load_avg(struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq)
{
- long delta;
+ long dl, dr;
u64 now;

/*
@@ -5084,9 +5110,12 @@ static inline void clear_tg_load_avg(str
return;

now = rq_clock(rq_of(cfs_rq));
- delta = 0 - cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib;
- atomic_long_add(delta, &cfs_rq->tg->load_avg);
+ dl = 0 - cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib;
+ dr = 0 - cfs_rq->tg_runnable_avg_contrib;
+ atomic_long_add(dl, &cfs_rq->tg->load_avg);
+ atomic_long_add(dr, &cfs_rq->tg->runnable_avg);
cfs_rq->tg_load_avg_contrib = 0;
+ cfs_rq->tg_runnable_avg_contrib = 0;
cfs_rq->last_update_tg_load_avg = now;
}

--- a/kernel/sched/sched.h
+++ b/kernel/sched/sched.h
@@ -493,6 +493,8 @@ struct task_group {
* will also be accessed at each tick.
*/
atomic_long_t load_avg ____cacheline_aligned;
+ atomic_long_t runnable_avg;
+
#endif /* CONFIG_FAIR_GROUP_SCHED */

#ifdef CONFIG_RT_GROUP_SCHED
@@ -722,6 +724,7 @@ struct cfs_rq {
#ifdef CONFIG_FAIR_GROUP_SCHED
u64 last_update_tg_load_avg;
unsigned long tg_load_avg_contrib;
+ unsigned long tg_runnable_avg_contrib;
long propagate;
long prop_runnable_sum;