Re: [RFC] mpam,x86,fs/resctrl: Generic schema description Proof of Concept

From: Ben Horgan

Date: Thu Jul 16 2026 - 12:49:04 EST


Hi Tony,

On 7/16/26 17:02, Luck, Tony wrote:
>>> This was one element of original discussion that fizzled a bit since it was not obvious that user
>>> space would behave like this. Consider, for example, from Documentation/filesystems/resctrl.rst:
>>>
>>> Reading/writing the schemata file
>>> ---------------------------------
>>> ... When writing you only need to specify those values which you wish to change. ..
>>
>> Yeah, I don't know but it does seem like something a user could reasonably expect to work.
>
> Personally I use one of two options to update schemata:
>
> 1) Just want to change something small:
> # echo "MB:1=50" > schemata
> 2) I want to make global change to some resource
> # vi schemata
> on L2 line: s/ffff/ff/g
> :wq
>
> In case 2 every domain on every resource is written, but most of them to the existing value.

We've got a user :)

>
> This may need careful consideration if the legacy "MB" lines are present together with the
> new controls for MIN, MAX etc.
>
> Having a mode file to select whether legacy OR native controls are exposed would avoid
> a lot of complexity in the kernel. Yes, that would mean a user that wants to use the new
> native interface must add one "echo" to some startup script.
>
> Or perhaps yet another "rdt=" command line option to pick whether mount defaults to
> legacy or native mode?

The "rdt=" options are x86 specific so I don't think we should use them for generic resctrl. A mount
option might be end up being convenient.

Thanks,

Ben

>
> -Tony