Ubuntu Manpage: sched_setscheduler, sched_getscheduler

Provided by: manpages-dev_2.17-1_all

NAME

       sched_setscheduler,   sched_getscheduler   -  set  and  get  scheduling
       algorithm/parameters

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sched.h>

       int sched_setscheduler(pid_t pid, int policy, const struct  sched_param
       *p);

       int sched_getscheduler(pid_t pid);

       struct sched_param {
           ...
           int sched_priority;
           ...
       };

DESCRIPTION

       sched_setscheduler() sets both the scheduling policy and the associated
       parameters for the process identified by pid. If pid equals  zero,  the
       scheduler of the calling process will be set. The interpretation of the
       parameter p depends on the selected policy.  Currently,  the  following
       three  scheduling  policies  are  supported  under  Linux:  SCHED_FIFO,
       SCHED_RR, and SCHED_OTHER; their  respective  semantics  are  described
       below.

       sched_getscheduler() queries the scheduling policy currently applied to
       the process identified by pid. If pid equals zero, the  policy  of  the
       calling process will be retrieved.

   Scheduling Policies
       The  scheduler  is  the kernel part that decides which runnable process
       will be executed by the CPU next.  The  Linux  scheduler  offers  three
       different  scheduling  policies,  one  for normal processes and two for
       real-time applications.  A  static  priority  value  sched_priority  is
       assigned  to each process and this value can be changed only via system
       calls.  Conceptually,  the  scheduler  maintains  a  list  of  runnable
       processes  for  each  possible sched_priority value, and sched_priority
       can have a value in the range 0  to  99.  In  order  to  determine  the
       process  that  runs  next,  the Linux scheduler looks for the non-empty
       list with the highest static priority and takes the process at the head
       of  this list. The scheduling policy determines for each process, where
       it will be inserted into  the  list  of  processes  with  equal  static
       priority and how it will move inside this list.

       SCHED_OTHER is the default universal time-sharing scheduler policy used
       by most processes, SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR  are  intended  for  special
       time-critical  applications  that  need precise control over the way in
       which  runnable  processes  are  selected  for   execution.   Processes
       scheduled  with  SCHED_OTHER  must  be  assigned the static priority 0,
       processes scheduled under SCHED_FIFO or  SCHED_RR  can  have  a  static
       priority    in    the    range    1    to   99.    The   system   calls
       sched_get_priority_min() and sched_get_priority_max() can  be  used  to
       find out the valid priority range for a scheduling policy in a portable
       way on all POSIX.1b conforming systems.

       All scheduling is  preemptive:  If  a  process  with  a  higher  static
       priority  gets  ready to run, the current process will be preempted and
       returned into its wait list. The scheduling policy only determines  the
       ordering  within  the  list  of  runnable  processes  with equal static
       priority.

   SCHED_FIFO: First In-First Out scheduling
       SCHED_FIFO can only be used with static priorities higher than 0, which
       means that when a SCHED_FIFO processes becomes runnable, it will always
       preempt immediately any currently running normal  SCHED_OTHER  process.
       SCHED_FIFO  is  a simple scheduling algorithm without time slicing. For
       processes scheduled under the SCHED_FIFO policy,  the  following  rules
       are  applied:  A  SCHED_FIFO process that has been preempted by another
       process of higher priority will stay at the head of the  list  for  its
       priority  and  will resume execution as soon as all processes of higher
       priority are blocked again. When a SCHED_FIFO process becomes runnable,
       it  will be inserted at the end of the list for its priority. A call to
       sched_setscheduler() or sched_setparam() will put  the  SCHED_FIFO  (or
       SCHED_RR)  process identified by pid at the start of the list if it was
       runnable.  As a consequence,  it  may  preempt  the  currently  running
       process  if it has the same priority.  (POSIX 1003.1 specifies that the
       process should  go  to  the  end  of  the  list.)   A  process  calling
       sched_yield()  will be put at the end of the list. No other events will
       move a process scheduled under the SCHED_FIFO policy in the  wait  list
       of  runnable processes with equal static priority. A SCHED_FIFO process
       runs until either it is blocked by an I/O request, it is preempted by a
       higher priority process, or it calls sched_yield().

   SCHED_RR: Round Robin scheduling
       SCHED_RR  is  a  simple enhancement of SCHED_FIFO. Everything described
       above for SCHED_FIFO also applies to SCHED_RR, except that each process
       is  only  allowed  to  run  for  a  maximum time quantum. If a SCHED_RR
       process has been running for a time period equal to or longer than  the
       time quantum, it will be put at the end of the list for its priority. A
       SCHED_RR process that has been preempted by a higher  priority  process
       and  subsequently  resumes execution as a running process will complete
       the unexpired portion of its round robin time quantum.  The  length  of
       the time quantum can be retrieved by sched_rr_get_interval().

   SCHED_OTHER: Default Linux time-sharing scheduling
       SCHED_OTHER  can only be used at static priority 0.  SCHED_OTHER is the
       standard  Linux  time-sharing  scheduler  that  is  intended  for   all
       processes  that  do  not  require  special  static  priority  real-time
       mechanisms. The process to run is chosen from  the  static  priority  0
       list  based  on  a dynamic priority that is determined only inside this
       list. The dynamic priority is based on  the  nice  level  (set  by  the
       nice()  or  setpriority()  system  call)  and  increased  for each time
       quantum the process  is  ready  to  run,  but  denied  to  run  by  the
       scheduler.  This ensures fair progress among all SCHED_OTHER processes.

   Privileges and resource limits
       In  Linux  kernels  before  2.6.12,  only   privileged   (CAP_SYS_NICE)
       processes  can set a non-zero static priority.  The only change that an
       unprivileged process can make is to set  the  SCHED_OTHER  policy,  and
       this  can  only  be  done  if  the  effective  user ID of the caller of
       sched_setscheduler() matches the real  or  effective  user  ID  of  the
       target  process  (i.e.,  the  process specified by pid) whose policy is
       being changed.

       Since Linux 2.6.12, the RLIMIT_RTPRIO resource limit defines a  ceiling
       on  an  unprivileged process’s priority for the SCHED_RR and SCHED_FIFO
       policies.  If an unprivileged process has a non-zero RLIMIT_RTPRIO soft
       limit,  then  it can change its scheduling policy and priority, subject
       to the restriction that the priority cannot be set to  a  value  higher
       than  the RLIMIT_RTPRIO soft limit.  If the RLIMIT_RTPRIO soft limit is
       0, then the only permitted change is to lower the priority.  Subject to
       the  same  rules,  another  unprivileged  process  can  also make these
       changes, as long as the effective user ID of  the  process  making  the
       change  matches  the  real  or effective user ID of the target process.
       See getrlimit(2) for further information on RLIMIT_RTPRIO.   Privileged
       (CAP_SYS_NICE)  processes  ignore  this  limit;  as  with  older  older
       kernels, they can make  arbitrary  changes  to  scheduling  policy  and
       priority.

   Response time
       A  blocked  high  priority  process  waiting  for the I/O has a certain
       response time before it is scheduled again. The  device  driver  writer
       can  greatly  reduce  this  response  time  by using a "slow interrupt"
       interrupt handler.

   Miscellaneous
       Child processes inherit the scheduling algorithm and parameters  across
       a fork().

       Memory  locking  is  usually  needed  for  real-time processes to avoid
       paging delays, this can be done with mlock() or mlockall().

       As a non-blocking end-less loop in a process scheduled under SCHED_FIFO
       or  SCHED_RR  will  block  all processes with lower priority forever, a
       software developer should always keep available on the console a  shell
       scheduled  under  a higher static priority than the tested application.
       This will allow an emergency kill of tested real-time applications that
       do not block or terminate as expected.

       POSIX  systems  on  which sched_setscheduler() and sched_getscheduler()
       are available define _POSIX_PRIORITY_SCHEDULING in <unistd.h>.

RETURN VALUE

       On   success,   sched_setscheduler()   returns   zero.    On   success,
       sched_getscheduler() returns the policy for the process (a non-negative
       integer).  On error, -1 is returned, errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       EINVAL The scheduling policy is not one of the recognized policies,  or
              the parameter p does not make sense for the policy.

       EPERM  The calling process does not have appropriate privileges.

       ESRCH  The process whose ID is pid could not be found.

CONFORMING TO

       POSIX.1b (formerly POSIX.4)

NOTE

       Standard  Linux  is  a  general-purpose operating system and can handle
       background processes,  interactive  applications,  and  soft  real-time
       applications (applications that need to usually meet timing deadlines).
       This man page is directed at these kinds of applications.

       Standard Linux is not designed to support hard real-time  applications,
       that  is,  applications  in  which deadlines (often much shorter than a
       second) must be guaranteed or the system  will  fail  catastrophically.
       Like  all  general-purpose  operating  systems,  Linux  is  designed to
       maximize average case performance instead of  worst  case  performance.
       Linux’s  worst  case  performance for interrupt handling is much poorer
       than its average case, its various  kernel  locks  (such  as  for  SMP)
       produce   long   maximum  wait  times,  and  many  of  its  performance
       improvement techniques decrease average time by  increasing  worst-case
       time.   For most situations, that’s what you want, but if you truly are
       developing a hard real-time application, consider using hard  real-time
       extensions  to  Linux  such as RTLinux (http://www.rtlinux.org) or RTAI
       (http://www.rtai.org) or use  a  different  operating  system  designed
       specifically for hard real-time applications.

Ubuntu manuals

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

RETURN VALUE

ERRORS

CONFORMING TO

NOTE

SEE ALSO