[PATCH] sched_ext: Documentation: Clarify time slice handling in task lifecycle

From: Andrea Righi
Date: Mon Jun 09 2025 - 12:24:46 EST


It is not always obvious how a task's time slice can be refilled, either
explicitly from ops.dispatch() or automatically by the sched_ext core,
to skip subsequent ops.enqueue() and ops.dispatch() calls. This
typically happens when the task is the only one running on a CPU.

To make this behavior easier to understand, update the task lifecycle
diagram to explicitly document how time slice handling works in such
cases.

Signed-off-by: Andrea Righi <arighi@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/scheduler/sched-ext.rst | 11 ++++++++---
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/scheduler/sched-ext.rst b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-ext.rst
index a1869c38046ed..404fe6126a769 100644
--- a/Documentation/scheduler/sched-ext.rst
+++ b/Documentation/scheduler/sched-ext.rst
@@ -313,16 +313,21 @@ by a sched_ext scheduler:
ops.runnable(); /* Task becomes ready to run */

while (task is runnable) {
- if (task is not in a DSQ) {
+ if (task is not in a DSQ && task->scx.slice == 0) {
ops.enqueue(); /* Task can be added to a DSQ */

- /* A CPU becomes available */
+ /* Any usable CPU becomes available */

ops.dispatch(); /* Task is moved to a local DSQ */
}
ops.running(); /* Task starts running on its assigned CPU */
- ops.tick(); /* Called every 1/HZ seconds */
+ while (task->scx.slice > 0 && task is runnable)
+ ops.tick(); /* Called every 1/HZ seconds */
ops.stopping(); /* Task stops running (time slice expires or wait) */
+
+ /* Task's CPU becomes available */
+
+ ops.dispatch(); /* task->scx.slice can be refilled */
}

ops.quiescent(); /* Task releases its assigned CPU (wait) */
--
2.49.0