Provided by: schedtool_1.3.0-1_amd64 
NAME
schedtool - query and set CPU scheduling parameters
SYNOPSIS
schedtool
[-0|-N] [-1|-F] [-2|-R] [-3|-B] [-4|-I] [-5|-D]
[-M policy]
[-a affinity]
[-p prio]
[-n nice_level]
[-e command [arg ...]]
[-r]
[-v]
[-h]
[LIST OF PIDs]
DESCRIPTION
schedtool can set all CPU scheduling parameters Linux is capable of or display information for given
processes.
Long-running, non-interactive tasks may benefit from SCHED_BATCH as timeslices are longer, less
system-time is wasted by computing the next runnable process and the caches stay stable.
Audio/video or other near-realtime applications may run with less skipping if set to SCHED_RR. Use the
static priority-switch -p to designate inter-process-hierarchies.
schedtool now supports setting the CPU-affinity introduced in linux 2.5.8.
OPTIONS
-N or -0
set all PIDs to SCHED_NORMAL/OTHER
-F or -1
to SCHED_FIFO root-credentials required
-R or -2
to SCHED_RR root-credentials required
-B or -3
to SCHED_BATCH
-I or -4
to SCHED_ISO
-D or -5
to SCHED_IDLEPRIO
-M policy
for manual/raw mode; policy is the number of the scheduling policy (see above for 0-4). This
option is mostly for kernel guys that want to test their new implementations.
-p prio
specify static priority required for SCHED_FIFO and SCHED_RR. Usually ranged from 1-99.
-a affinity
set the PID's affinity to this bitmask (hexadecimal); alternatively, a list mode is supported.
-n nice_level
set the PID's nice level; see nice(2), nice(1).
-e command [arg ...]
execute command with given scheduling parameters (overwrites schedtool's process image). See
EXAMPLES.
-r display min and max priority for each policy.
-v be verbose.
-h help
EXAMPLES
To query the $SHELL's policies:
#> schedtool $$
To query some PIDs, namely 1 2 and 3:
#> schedtool 1 2 3
To execute mplayer in SCHED_RR with priority 20. The priority arg is needed for both SCHED_RR and
SCHED_FIFO.
#> schedtool -R -p 20 -e mplayer -quiet some_file.avi
To set current shell to SCHED_BATCH, which all programs the shell starts will inherit:
#> schedtool -3 $$
To set all processes with the name 'cpu_hog' to SCHED_BATCH:
#> schedtool -3 `pidof cpu_hog`
To set a process' affinity to only the first CPU (CPU0):
#> schedtool -a 0x1 <PID>
Using the list mode and affinty of CPU0 and CPU3:
#> schedtool -a 0,3 <PID>
A combination of an affinity and a policy-argument is - of course - always possible.
#> schedtool -B -a 0x1 <PID>
AFFINITY MASK
The affinity-argument determines on which CPUs a process is allowed to run. It consists of a simple
bitmask represented in hexadecimal. CPU0 is denoted by the least-significant bit, CPU1 by the second
least-significant and so on, thus giving:
0x1 -> only run on CPU0
0x2 -> only run on CPU1
0x4 -> only run on CPU2
0x8 -> only run on CPU3 ... and so on.
Multi-target CPUs may be specified using bitwise OR of the values:
0x7 -> run on CPUs 0, 1, 2 but NOT on 4
0x3 -> run only on CPUs 0 and 1
The default is to run a process on all CPUs, giving a mask of
0xf for all 4 CPUs
0xff for all 8 CPUs
AFFINITY MASK - LIST MODE
Alternatively a list mode is supported where you can specify the CPUs delimited by ",". The following
runs <PID> on CPU0 and CPU1 (equivalent to 0x3):
#> schedtool -a 0,1 <PID>
POLICY OVERVIEW
SCHED_NORMAL / SCHED_OTHER This is the default policy and for the average program with some interaction.
Does preemption of other processes.
SCHED_FIFO First-In, First Out Scheduler, used only for real-time contraints. Processes in this class
are usually not preempted by others, they need to free themselves from the CPU via sched_yield() and as
such you need special designed applications. Use with extreme care. ROOT-credentials required.
SCHED_RR Round-Robin Scheduler, also used for real-time constraints. CPU-time is assigned in an round-
robin fashion with a much smaller timeslice than with SCHED_NORMAL and processes in this group are
favoured over SCHED_NORMAL. Usable for audio/video applications near peak rate of the system. ROOT-
credentials required.
SCHED_BATCH [ since 2.6.16 in mainline ] SCHED_BATCH was designed for non-interactive, CPU-bound
applications. It uses longer timeslices (to better exploit the cache), but can be interrupted anytime by
other processes in other classes to guaratee interaction of the system. Processes in this class are
selected last but may result in a considerable speed-up (up to 300%). No interactive boosting is done.
SCHED_ISO [ patch needed ] SCHED_ISO was designed to give users a SCHED_RR-similar class. To quote Con
Kolivas: "This is a non-expiring scheduler policy designed to guarantee a timeslice within a reasonable
latency while preventing starvation. Good for gaming, video at the limits of hardware, video capture
etc."
SCHED_IDLEPRIO [ patch needed ] SCHED_IDLEPRIO is similar to SCHED_BATCH, but was explicitely designed to
consume only the time the CPU is idle. No interactive boosting is done. If you used SCHED_BATCH in the
-ck kernels this is what you want since 2.6.16
HINTS
PID 0 means "current process", in our case, schedtool. May occur when using the -e switch.
Be careful with SCHED_FIFO! You may lock out other processes from the CPU, including your shell.
For SCHED_BATCH you certainly need the a recent 2.6 kernel.
A short overview is given in SCHED_DESIGN and the README contains thourough discussion. The INSTALL file
also lists all prerequisites and where you can get patches.
Affinity 0x0 should never be used.
SEE ALSO
sched_setscheduler(2), sched_setaffinity(2), nice(2), nice(1), renice(3).
BUGS
You need some knowledge about the kernel and scheduling. The author is a grumpy little elitist.
AUTHOR
Freek
Please contact me via freshmeat.net's "contact author"-feature (http://freshmeat.net/projects/schedtool).
1 November 2006 SCHEDTOOL(8)