linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] sched/clock: Avoid false sharing for sched_clock

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Message-ID: <1c0641e1-38a0-42dc-ae70-393c93f2ca97@linux.ibm.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:31:03 +0530
From: Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@...ux.ibm.com>
To: Wangyang Guo <wangyang.guo@...el.com>,
        K Prateek Nayak <kprateek.nayak@....com>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Benjamin Lei <benjamin.lei@...el.com>,
        Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@...ux.intel.com>,
        Tianyou Li <tianyou.li@...el.com>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Juri Lelli <juri.lelli@...hat.com>,
        Vincent Guittot <vincent.guittot@...aro.org>,
        Dietmar Eggemann <dietmar.eggemann@....com>,
        Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>, Ben Segall <bsegall@...gle.com>,
        Mel Gorman <mgorman@...e.de>, Valentin Schneider <vschneid@...hat.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] sched/clock: Avoid false sharing for
 sched_clock_irqtime



On 1/13/26 1:18 PM, Wangyang Guo wrote:
> Read-mostly sched_clock_irqtime may share the same cacheline with
> frequently updated nohz struct. Mark it as __read_mostly to avoid
> false sharing issue.
> 
> Details:
> We observed ~3% cycles hotspots in irqtime_account_irq when running
> SPECjbb2015 in a 2-sockets system. Most of cycles spent in reading
> sched_clock_irqtime, which is a read-mostly var.
> 
> perf c2c (cachelien view) shows it has false sharing with nohz struct:
>       Num RmtHitm LclHitm  Offset records             Symbol
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%   0x0       4   [k] _nohz_idle_balance.isra.0
>    18.75% 100.00%   0.00%   0x8      14   [k] nohz_balance_exit_idle
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%   0x8       8   [k] nohz_balance_enter_idle
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%   0xc       8   [k] sched_balance_newidle
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%  0x10      31   [k] nohz_balancer_kick
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%  0x20      16   [k] sched_balance_newidle
>    37.50%   0.00%   0.00%  0x38      50   [k] irqtime_account_irq
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%  0x38      47   [k] account_process_tick
>     6.25%   0.00%   0.00%  0x38      12   [k] account_idle_ticks
> 
> Offsets:
> *  0x0 -- nohz.idle_cpu_mask (r)
> *  0x8 -- nohz.nr_cpus (w)
> * 0x38 -- sched_clock_irqtime (r), not in nohz, but share cacheline
> 
> The layout in /proc/kallsyms can also confirm that:
> ffffffff88600d40 b nohz
> ffffffff88600d68 B arch_needs_tick_broadcast
> ffffffff88600d6c b __key.264
> ffffffff88600d6c b __key.265
> ffffffff88600d70 b dl_generation
> ffffffff88600d78 b sched_clock_irqtime
> 
> With the patch applied, irqtime_account_irq hotspot disappear.
> 
> Changes since V1:
> - Use __read_mostly instead of __cacheline_aligned to avoid wasting
>    spaces.
> 
> History:
>    v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260113022958.3379650-1-wangyang.guo@intel.com/
>    prev discussions: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251211055612.4071266-1-wangyang.guo@intel.com/T/#u
> 
> Suggested-by: Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@...ux.ibm.com>

I think it would appropriate to take prateek's tag here.

> Reported-by: Benjamin Lei <benjamin.lei@...el.com>
> Reviewed-by: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@...ux.intel.com>
> Reviewed-by: Tianyou Li <tianyou.li@...el.com>
> Signed-off-by: Wangyang Guo <wangyang.guo@...el.com>
> ---
>   kernel/sched/cputime.c | 2 +-
>   1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/cputime.c b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
> index 7097de2c8cda..fc8f8081c48f 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/cputime.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
> @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
>    */
>   DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct irqtime, cpu_irqtime);
>   
> -int sched_clock_irqtime;
> +int sched_clock_irqtime __read_mostly;
>   
>   void enable_sched_clock_irqtime(void)
>   {

Patch should be good on its own.

Reviewed-by: Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@...ux.ibm.com>