[PATCH 13/15] net: Use backlog-NAPI to clean up the defer_list.
From: wen . yang
Date: Tue Oct 13 2026 - 16:09:04 EST
From: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
commit 80d2eefcb4c84aa9018b2a997ab3a4c567bc821a upstream.
The defer_list is a per-CPU list which is used to free skbs outside of
the socket lock and on the CPU on which they have been allocated.
The list is processed during NAPI callbacks so ideally the list is
cleaned up.
Should the amount of skbs on the list exceed a certain water mark then
the softirq is triggered remotely on the target CPU by invoking a remote
function call. The raise of the softirqs via a remote function call
leads to waking the ksoftirqd on PREEMPT_RT which is undesired.
The backlog-NAPI threads already provide the infrastructure which can be
utilized to perform the cleanup of the defer_list.
The NAPI state is updated with the input_pkt_queue.lock acquired. It
order not to break the state, it is needed to also wake the backlog-NAPI
thread with the lock held. This requires to acquire the use the lock in
rps_lock_irq*() if the backlog-NAPI threads are used even with RPS
disabled.
Move the logic of remotely starting softirqs to clean up the defer_list
into kick_defer_list_purge(). Make sure a lock is held in
rps_lock_irq*() if backlog-NAPI threads are used. Schedule backlog-NAPI
for defer_list cleanup if backlog-NAPI is available.
Acked-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Wen Yang <wen.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/netdevice.h | 1 +
net/core/dev.c | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++----
net/core/skbuff.c | 4 ++--
3 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
index b399773d123b..d7361bc7635e 100644
--- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -3245,6 +3245,7 @@ static inline void dev_xmit_recursion_dec(void)
__this_cpu_dec(softnet_data.xmit.recursion);
}
+void kick_defer_list_purge(struct softnet_data *sd, unsigned int cpu);
void __netif_schedule(struct Qdisc *q);
void netif_schedule_queue(struct netdev_queue *txq);
diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 0b2cf2f0f5a4..251985e85954 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ static inline struct hlist_head *dev_index_hash(struct net *net, int ifindex)
static inline void rps_lock_irqsave(struct softnet_data *sd,
unsigned long *flags)
{
- if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
spin_lock_irqsave(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock, *flags);
else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
local_irq_save(*flags);
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ static inline void rps_lock_irqsave(struct softnet_data *sd,
static inline void rps_lock_irq_disable(struct softnet_data *sd)
{
- if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
spin_lock_irq(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock);
else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
local_irq_disable();
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ static inline void rps_lock_irq_disable(struct softnet_data *sd)
static inline void rps_unlock_irq_restore(struct softnet_data *sd,
unsigned long *flags)
{
- if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock, *flags);
else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
local_irq_restore(*flags);
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ static inline void rps_unlock_irq_restore(struct softnet_data *sd,
static inline void rps_unlock_irq_enable(struct softnet_data *sd)
{
- if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
spin_unlock_irq(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock);
else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
local_irq_enable();
@@ -4749,6 +4749,23 @@ static void napi_schedule_rps(struct softnet_data *sd)
__napi_schedule_irqoff(&mysd->backlog);
}
+void kick_defer_list_purge(struct softnet_data *sd, unsigned int cpu)
+{
+ unsigned long flags;
+
+ if (use_backlog_threads()) {
+ rps_lock_irqsave(sd, &flags);
+
+ if (!__test_and_set_bit(NAPI_STATE_SCHED, &sd->backlog.state))
+ __napi_schedule_irqoff(&sd->backlog);
+
+ rps_unlock_irq_restore(sd, &flags);
+
+ } else if (!cmpxchg(&sd->defer_ipi_scheduled, 0, 1)) {
+ smp_call_function_single_async(cpu, &sd->defer_csd);
+ }
+}
+
#ifdef CONFIG_NET_FLOW_LIMIT
int netdev_flow_limit_table_len __read_mostly = (1 << 12);
#endif
diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index 6111c1bba704..717f23563ea9 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -6748,6 +6748,6 @@ nodefer: __kfree_skb(skb);
/* Make sure to trigger NET_RX_SOFTIRQ on the remote CPU
* if we are unlucky enough (this seems very unlikely).
*/
- if (unlikely(kick) && !cmpxchg(&sd->defer_ipi_scheduled, 0, 1))
- smp_call_function_single_async(cpu, &sd->defer_csd);
+ if (unlikely(kick))
+ kick_defer_list_purge(sd, cpu);
}
--
2.25.1