Re: [RFC PATCH 1/1] sched/deadline: Fix RT task potential starvation when expiry time passed

[Kuyo Chang <kuyo.chang@mediatek.com>]

On Mon, 2025-06-16 at 17:03 +0200, Juri Lelli wrote:
> 
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> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> > 
> > [Proposed Solution]:
> > ------------------
> > Instead of immediately re-enqueuing the DL entity on timer
> > registration
> > failure, this change ensures the DL entity is properly replenished
> > and
> > the timer is restarted, preventing RT potential starvation.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: kuyo chang <kuyo.chang@mediatek.com>
> > ---
> >  kernel/sched/deadline.c | 8 +++++---
> >  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/kernel/sched/deadline.c b/kernel/sched/deadline.c
> > index ad45a8fea245..e50cb76c961b 100644
> > --- a/kernel/sched/deadline.c
> > +++ b/kernel/sched/deadline.c
> > @@ -1556,10 +1556,12 @@ static void update_curr_dl_se(struct rq
> > *rq, struct sched_dl_entity *dl_se, s64
> >               }
> > 
> >               if (unlikely(is_dl_boosted(dl_se) ||
> > !start_dl_timer(dl_se))) {
> > -                     if (dl_server(dl_se))
> > -                             enqueue_dl_entity(dl_se,
> > ENQUEUE_REPLENISH);
> > -                     else
> > +                     if (dl_server(dl_se)) {
> > +                             replenish_dl_new_period(dl_se, rq);
> > +                             start_dl_timer(dl_se);
> 
> But, even today, enqueue_dl_entity() is called with ENQUEUE_REPLENISH
> flag, so I don't get why you say 're-enqueues the DL entity without
> properly replenishing'.
> 
> Also, why restarting the replenishing timer right after having
> replenished the entity?
> 

When dl_defer_running = 1 and the running time has been exhausted, 
it means that the dl_server should stop at this point.
However, if start_dl_timer() returns a failure, it indicates that the
actual time spent consuming the running time was unexpectedly long. 
 
At this point, there are two options:
[as-is] 1. re-enqueuing the dl entity with ENQUEUE_REPLENISH will clear
the throttled flag 
and re-enqueue the dl entity to keep the fair_server running. 
enqueue_dl_entity(dl_se, ENQUEUE_REPLENISH);
=> replenish_dl_entity
  => replenish_dl_new_period(dl_se, rq);
  => dl_se->dl_yielded = 0;
  => dl_se->dl_throttled = 0;
=> __enqueue_dl_entity(dl_se);

[to-be] 2. To avoid RT latency, the fair_server should remain throttled
while replenishing the dl_se. 
Once replenishing is complete, we can ensure that a timer is
successfully started. 
When the timer is triggered, the throttled state will be cleared,
ensuring that RT tasks can execute during this interval.
 
It is a policy decision for dealing with the case of failure in
start_dl_timer().
The second approach is better for real-time (RT) latency in my opinion,
as RT tasks must be prioritized.

> Thanks,
> Juri
>