rcu/nocb: Add option to opt rcuo kthreads out of RT priority

This commit introduces a RCU_NOCB_CPU_CB_BOOST Kconfig option that
prevents rcuo kthreads from running at real-time priority, even in
kernels built with RCU_BOOST.  This capability is important to devices
needing low-latency (as in a few milliseconds) response from expedited
RCU grace periods, but which are not running a classic real-time workload.
On such devices, permitting the rcuo kthreads to run at real-time priority
results in unacceptable latencies imposed on the application tasks,
which run as SCHED_OTHER.

See for example the following trace output:

<snip>
<...>-60 [006] d..1 2979.028717: rcu_batch_start: rcu_preempt CBs=34619 bl=270
<snip>

If that rcuop kthread were permitted to run at real-time SCHED_FIFO
priority, it would monopolize its CPU for hundreds of milliseconds
while invoking those 34619 RCU callback functions, which would cause an
unacceptably long latency spike for many application stacks on Android
platforms.

However, some existing real-time workloads require that callback
invocation run at SCHED_FIFO priority, for example, those running on
systems with heavy SCHED_OTHER background loads.  (It is the real-time
system's administrator's responsibility to make sure that important
real-time tasks run at a higher priority than do RCU's kthreads.)

Therefore, this new RCU_NOCB_CPU_CB_BOOST Kconfig option defaults to
"y" on kernels built with PREEMPT_RT and defaults to "n" otherwise.
The effect is to preserve current behavior for real-time systems, but for
other systems to allow expedited RCU grace periods to run with real-time
priority while continuing to invoke RCU callbacks as SCHED_OTHER.

As you would expect, this RCU_NOCB_CPU_CB_BOOST Kconfig option has no
effect except on CPUs with offloaded RCU callbacks.

Signed-off-by: Uladzislau Rezki (Sony) <urezki@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Joel Fernandes (Google) <joel@joelfernandes.org>
Reviewed-by: Neeraj Upadhyay <quic_neeraju@quicinc.com>

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/kernel/rcu/Kconfig b/kernel/rcu/Kconfig
index 27aab870ae4c..c05ca52cdf64 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/Kconfig
+++ b/kernel/rcu/Kconfig
@@ -275,6 +275,22 @@ config RCU_NOCB_CPU_DEFAULT_ALL
 	  Say Y here if you want offload all CPUs by default on boot.
 	  Say N here if you are unsure.
 
+config RCU_NOCB_CPU_CB_BOOST
+	bool "Offload RCU callback from real-time kthread"
+	depends on RCU_NOCB_CPU && RCU_BOOST
+	default y if PREEMPT_RT
+	help
+	  Use this option to invoke offloaded callbacks as SCHED_FIFO
+	  to avoid starvation by heavy SCHED_OTHER background load.
+	  Of course, running as SCHED_FIFO during callback floods will
+	  cause the rcuo[ps] kthreads to monopolize the CPU for hundreds
+	  of milliseconds or more.  Therefore, when enabling this option,
+	  it is your responsibility to ensure that latency-sensitive
+	  tasks either run with higher priority or run on some other CPU.
+
+	  Say Y here if you want to set RT priority for offloading kthreads.
+	  Say N here if you are building a !PREEMPT_RT kernel and are unsure.
+
 config TASKS_TRACE_RCU_READ_MB
 	bool "Tasks Trace RCU readers use memory barriers in user and idle"
 	depends on RCU_EXPERT && TASKS_TRACE_RCU