Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:35:37 +0200
From: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
To: Preeti U Murthy <preeti@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
Cc: tj@kernel.org, svaidy@linux.vnet.ibm.com, nacc@linux.vnet.ibm.com,
        rjw@rjwysocki.net, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, lizefan@huawei.com,
        anton@samba.org, bharata@linux.vnet.ibm.com, cgroups@vger.kernel.org,
        paulmck@linux.vnet.ibm.com, mingo@kernel.org, serge@hallyn.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH V2] cpuset: Add knob to make allowed masks hotplug
 invariant on legacy hierarchy
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References: <20150410141118.11284.36206.stgit@preeti.in.ibm.com>
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On Fri, Apr 10, 2015 at 07:41:52PM +0530, Preeti U Murthy wrote:
> The cpus_allowed and mems_allowed masks of a cpuset get overwritten
> after each hotplug operation on the legacy hierarchy of cgroups so as to
> remain in sync with the online mask. But there are use cases which
> expect user configured masks to remain unchanged.
> 
> For instance, when hotplugged out CPUs are brought back online, they
> remain idle with none of the existing tasks allowed to run on them since
> the cpus_allowed mask was overwritten to not include them when they were
> offlined.
> 
> We cannot change the legacy hierarchy design now to keep the allowed
> masks hotplug invariant since it is a user visible change. It was
> suggested instead to add a knob in the root cpuset directory which
> allows the user to specify if he wants the user configured masks to be
> hotplug invariant [1]. This knob will enforce the choice throughout the
> hierarchy. If the knob is set, the allowed maks will not be varied on
> hotplug. It is also to to be noted that this knob will appear in the
> root cgroup mounted on the legacy hierarchy alone since the default
> hierarchy does not overwrite the allowed masks anyway.
> 
> Having said this, there are fair reasons to argue that the kernel is not
> responsible for taking care of user configurations in the face of
> hotplug. But one of the consequences of the current legacy hierarchy
> design, is that CPUs are left out from being used at all on online
> operations. The reason for this is not very obvious at first and several
> users have raised the issue as a bug. Hence the patch was strongly
> called for.
> 
> Moreover the default hierarchy keeps the allowed masks hotplug invariant
> too. So the patch is not bringing about a fundamental change in the
> design of cgroups.

What you've not explained is why you can use this knob but not use the
other new mode?
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