[Patch v2 4/6] sched/fair: Consider the idle state of the whole core for load balance

[Tim Chen]

From: Ricardo Neri <ricardo.neri-calderon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

should_we_balance() traverses the group_balance_mask (AND'ed with lb_env::
cpus) starting from lower numbered CPUs looking for the first idle CPU.

In hybrid x86 systems, the siblings of SMT cores get CPU numbers, before
non-SMT cores:

	[0, 1] [2, 3] [4, 5] 6 7 8 9
         b  i   b  i   b  i  b i i i

In the figure above, CPUs in brackets are siblings of an SMT core. The
rest are non-SMT cores. 'b' indicates a busy CPU, 'i' indicates an
idle CPU.

We should let a CPU on a fully idle core get the first chance to idle
load balance as it has more CPU capacity than a CPU on an idle SMT
CPU with busy sibling.  So for the figure above, if we are running
should_we_balance() to CPU 1, we should return false to let CPU 7 on
idle core to have a chance first to idle load balance.

A partially busy (i.e., of type group_has_spare) local group with SMT 
cores will often have only one SMT sibling busy. If the destination CPU
is a non-SMT core, partially busy, lower-numbered, SMT cores should not
be considered when finding the first idle CPU. 

However, in should_we_balance(), when we encounter idle SMT first in partially
busy core, we prematurely break the search for the first idle CPU.

Higher-numbered, non-SMT cores is not given the chance to have
idle balance done on their behalf. Those CPUs will only be considered
for idle balancing by chance via CPU_NEWLY_IDLE.

Instead, consider the idle state of the whole SMT core.

Signed-off-by: Ricardo Neri <ricardo.neri-calderon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Co-developed-by: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
 kernel/sched/fair.c | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index 0b0904263d51..33246dce10db 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -10749,7 +10749,7 @@ static int active_load_balance_cpu_stop(void *data);
 static int should_we_balance(struct lb_env *env)
 {
 	struct sched_group *sg = env->sd->groups;
-	int cpu;
+	int cpu, idle_smt = -1;
 
 	/*
 	 * Ensure the balancing environment is consistent; can happen
@@ -10776,10 +10776,24 @@ static int should_we_balance(struct lb_env *env)
 		if (!idle_cpu(cpu))
 			continue;
 
+		/*
+		 * Don't balance to idle SMT in busy core right away when
+		 * balancing cores, but remember the first idle SMT CPU for
+		 * later consideration.  Find CPU on an idle core first.
+		 */
+		if (!(env->sd->flags & SD_SHARE_CPUCAPACITY) && !is_core_idle(cpu)) {
+			if (idle_smt == -1)
+				idle_smt = cpu;
+			continue;
+		}
+
 		/* Are we the first idle CPU? */
 		return cpu == env->dst_cpu;
 	}
 
+	if (idle_smt == env->dst_cpu)
+		return true;
+
 	/* Are we the first CPU of this group ? */
 	return group_balance_cpu(sg) == env->dst_cpu;
 }
-- 
2.32.0