[PATCH v3 1/2] sched/doc: add a preemption model overview

[PATCH v3 1/2] sched/doc: add a preemption model overview

[Quchaosheng]

The scheduler documentation describes the individual scheduling classes
and various tuning knobs, but there is nothing that describes the
preemption models themselves.  The only place where they are documented
is the kernel-parameters entry for "preempt=", which explains the boot
time parameter but not the models it selects.

Add a short overview of the models, what separates them, which of them a
given kernel offers, and how a scheduling request is honoured under each.

Assisted-by: LLM
Reviewed-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Suggested-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Quchaosheng <quchaosheng000406@163.com>
---
Changes in v3:
- Spell out what "such a call" referred to. It meant cond_resched(), and
  the wording did not make that obvious. Requested by Sebastian. The
  Reviewed-by is kept because only this paragraph changed.

Changes in v2:
- Reword the entries so that they describe the model rather than the
  boot parameter.
---
 Documentation/scheduler/index.rst            |  1 +
 Documentation/scheduler/sched-preemption.rst | 85 ++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 86 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/scheduler/sched-preemption.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/scheduler/index.rst b/Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
index 17ce8d76befc..d6d75421756a 100644
--- a/Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
@@ -23,5 +23,6 @@ Scheduler
     sched-stats
     sched-ext
     sched-debug
+    sched-preemption
 
     text_files
diff --git a/Documentation/scheduler/sched-preemption.rst b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-preemption.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..bfa22559c29b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-preemption.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+=====================
+Scheduler preemption
+=====================
+
+The kernel can be built to run kernel code either uninterruptibly, or with
+varying degrees of preemptibility.  These are the *preemption models*.
+They apply to kernel code only: a task running in user space is always
+preempted by the scheduler, whichever model is selected.
+
+When CONFIG_PREEMPT_DYNAMIC is enabled the preemption model can additionally
+be selected at boot time with the ``preempt=`` command line parameter, without
+rebuilding the kernel.  See
+Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt for the parameter itself.
+The active model can also be read and changed through
+/sys/kernel/debug/sched/preempt, which exists for debugging purposes and may
+change.
+
+The models selectable at runtime are:
+
+	=========	====================================================
+	none		No preemption of kernel code other than at explicit
+			``cond_resched()`` / blocking points.
+	voluntary	As ``none``, plus ``might_sleep()`` sites.
+	full		Any section that is not explicitly preempt disabled
+			may be preempted at any time.
+	lazy		As ``full``, except that the scheduling request is
+			delayed until the return to user space or the next
+			tick, whichever comes first.  This delay does not
+			apply to real-time tasks.
+	=========	====================================================
+
+Not every model is available on every kernel.  An architecture that provides
+lazy-preempt support offers only ``full`` and ``lazy``, and ``none`` and
+``voluntary`` are rejected there.  A PREEMPT_RT kernel always offers ``full``,
+and ``lazy`` as well if the architecture provides it.
+
+The model that is actually active is reported in the boot log::
+
+	Dynamic Preempt: full
+
+Honouring a scheduling request
+==============================
+
+A wakeup makes a task runnable, and the scheduler then decides whether it
+should run.  If there is an idle CPU which is suitable then the task is moved
+there.  Otherwise the scheduler has to decide which task to preempt, and the
+task that has to leave the CPU gets a reschedule flag.  In the tracing output
+this is the ``need-resched`` column, ``N`` for TIF_NEED_RESCHED and ``l`` for
+TIF_NEED_RESCHED_LAZY.
+
+The kernel then has to honour that request.  A task executing in user space
+can always be preempted; a task executing in kernel space can only be
+preempted where it is safe to do so, and how that is decided is what
+separates the models:
+
+``none``
+	Code paths with long loops contain explicit ``cond_resched()`` calls,
+	which perform the scheduling.
+
+``voluntary``
+	As ``none``, and functions which are known to be able to block gain
+	a ``cond_resched()``-style scheduling point as well, through
+	``might_sleep()``.
+
+``full``
+	Explicit preemption points are no longer involved.  The kernel tracks
+	whether it may be preempted and schedules once the request can be
+	honoured.
+
+``lazy``
+	As ``full``, with one difference: the request the fair scheduler sets
+	is TIF_NEED_RESCHED_LAZY, which is not honoured immediately even where
+	it could be.  It is delayed until the task returns to user space, so
+	that the in-kernel work runs to completion and every lock has been
+	dropped before the CPU is given up.  If the task has not scheduled on
+	its own by then, the request is turned into a full TIF_NEED_RESCHED on
+	the next HZ tick; this is visible as ``B`` in the ``need-resched``
+	column.
+
+Real-time tasks always use TIF_NEED_RESCHED, so the delay above does not
+apply to them.  ``lazy`` is therefore not a replacement for PREEMPT_RT: it
+keeps most of the responsiveness of ``full`` for SCHED_NORMAL tasks while
+letting them run to completion, which avoids leaving a lock behind that
+another task will immediately ask for, and avoids pushing cache-hot data out
+that would have to be pulled back in.
-- 
2.43.0

[PATCH v3 2/2] docs: kernel-parameters: fix a truncated sentence for preempt=lazy

[Quchaosheng]

The preempt=lazy paragraph trails off: "One preemption is when the task
returns to user space." reads as if a preemption and a preemption point
were the same thing, and the sentence does not say what it is describing.

Say which point it means.

Assisted-by: LLM
Reported-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Reviewed-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Quchaosheng <quchaosheng000406@163.com>
---
Changes in v3:
- No change to the diff. The Reviewed-by is for this patch as posted in v2.
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 33cd30996e47..83261eb6b26b 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -5453,8 +5453,8 @@ Kernel parameters
 			lazy - Scheduler controlled. Similar to full but instead
 			       of preempting the task immediately, the task gets
 			       one HZ tick time to yield itself before the
-			       preemption will be forced. One preemption is when the
-			       task returns to user space.
+			       preemption will be forced. One such preemption
+			       point is when the task returns to user space.
 
 	print-fatal-signals=
 			[KNL] debug: print fatal signals
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [PATCH v3 2/2] docs: kernel-parameters: fix a truncated sentence for preempt=lazy

[Sebastian Andrzej Siewior]

On 2026-09-23 15:53:04 [+0800], Quchaosheng wrote:
> The preempt=lazy paragraph trails off: "One preemption is when the task
> returns to user space." reads as if a preemption and a preemption point
> were the same thing, and the sentence does not say what it is describing.
> 
> Say which point it means.
> 
> Assisted-by: LLM
> Reported-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>

I don't want to drag this any further but a Reported-by is usually
followed by a Closes: pointing to the report. And I haven't this tag
until now.

Sebastian