sched_ext is transforming Linux kernel scheduler development with its extensible, BPF-powered approach. Since its inception as an RFC, it has grown into a diverse ecosystem spanning custom schedulers, user-space tooling, and production-ready components. This article provides a deep dive into the major scheduler classes, their unique design goals, and the management utilities powering the system.
Here’s how sched_ext integrates with the kernel’s sched_class model, enabling pluggable, BPF-based scheduler modules:
The ecosystem features a rich variety of schedulers. They are grouped below by core use case and derived architectural principles:
General-Purpose
To coordinate and automate the usage of schedulers, the following tools are central:
The sched_ext ecosystem represents a leap forward in kernel scheduling: it offers depth through its novel BPF-driven extensibility, breadth through its range of schedulers, and usability via standard tooling. Whether in research, gaming, or datacenter production, workload-specific scheduling has never been more practical or accessible.
This article provides a deep dive into the major scheduler classes, their unique design goals, and the management utilities powering the system.
sched_ext is not a scheduler; it’s a framework that securely connects custom BPF programs to the core kernel. Its architecture consists of four distinct layers that separate responsibilities cleanly.
For decades, general-purpose schedulers like CFS and EEVDF, powered everything from phones to supercomputers. But with complex hardware and specialized software, the “one-size-fits-all” scheduling model began to crack. This tension set the stage for sched_ext.
In this final installment of our series, we synthesize our exploration of diverse Linux boot processes by examining two critical, cross-platform themes: securing the chain of trust and ensuring system resiliency through atomic updates