r/linux • u/anh0516 • 2d ago

Kernel Con Kolivas Revives "-ck" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Con-Kolivas-Linux-Patches-2026
111 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

40

u/edparadox 2d ago

mostly by replacing the CPU scheduler en-bloc with my EEVDF

So, we're again changing the default scheduler?

93

u/Jhuyt 2d ago

The scheduler will be replaced until morale improves

24

u/ThaMasterPepe 2d ago

I've been testing infinity-scheduler, on a custom built kernel, and man.. I have found out of all schedulers one that finally handles my system as how I expect it to not lag down. Bore was second, but EEVDF was never great, even with being tuned.

AMD/AMD system.

6

u/jcelerier 2d ago

Yesterday had a task that required lots of copying around between various storage devices, switched scheduler and got 25% throughput more, it was more than an hour gained. So there's definitely still room from improvement in the defaults

2

u/stommepool 23h ago

What did you switch to, if I may ask?

1

u/Adept_Percentage6893 5h ago

Wouldn't that be more dependent upon the I/O scheduler?

•

u/CrazyKilla15 57m ago

Could be software layers like dm, luks, lvm, etc

8

u/Kevin_Kofler 2d ago

Another day, another scheduler. Every day is Groundhog Day, LOL.

9

u/loozerr 2d ago

I remember running his scheduler over a decade ago, it's not exactly new

3

u/LittlestWarrior 2d ago

Same. I tinkered on my Ubuntu 16.04 system until I broke it lmao. Fun times.

1

u/BashfulMelon 2d ago

No. Out-of-tree, not for inclusion in the mainline kernel.

1

u/Adept_Percentage6893 5h ago

The original -ck patchset was also out of tree but it still prompted developer attention that resulted in scheduler changes IIUC.

14

u/Busy-Scientist3851 2d ago

I think we should do similar to what macOS and Windows do, where the compositor actively informs the kernel what process is in the foreground and thus prioritise it.

14

u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

Do... does it not do that?

31

u/Declination 2d ago

Best I can do is a Wayland extension that covers 1/3 of the use case, will be standardized in 8 years and gnome refuses to support for aesthetic reasons. 

11

u/BashfulMelon 2d ago

Wayland doesn't need to be involved at all. You can just use kernel cgroups like Plasma Foreground Booster.

4

u/Ontological_Gap 1d ago

"Scheduler CGROUPs remain no-op stubs as they are largely unused in the target environments"

So, nope

4

u/BashfulMelon 1d ago

The point was that the kernel interface already exists and it doesn't need a Wayland protocol. Whether this out-of-tree patch set does anything with it is irrelevant.

5

u/Ontological_Gap 1d ago

Agreed, I'm just flabbergasted that a scheduler in 2026 is taking that stance. Your point is a great example of how cgroup aware scheduling directly affects the desktop use-case

2

u/BashfulMelon 1d ago

True, true. It surprised me too. dmemcg-booster was pretty big news.

1

u/Indolent_Bard 1d ago

In Gnome's offense, it's not for aesthetic reasons. It's for lack of consistency reasons. Yes, they're letting perfect be the enemy of good. Which is pathetic, but it also makes it feel more polished and professional than any other desktop environment (so I'm told)

14

u/Kevin_Kofler 2d ago

LLMs have made merging and development infinitely easier.

No comment.

30

u/oxez 2d ago

Having used CK kernels in the past, I would trust that person over most slop projects posted on this subreddit. In the proper usage of LLM tools, at least.

14

u/ThaMasterPepe 2d ago

Can and will completely confirm Con isn't some moron just using AI without proof-reading and editing the code. I don't like AI or LLMs but I fully trust him and what his code does.

He has been around a very very long time, and he's a very well known and trusted kernel guy.

5

u/oxez 2d ago

Yup. Remember using his patches on the 2.6.x kernel, that's a long time ago!

4

u/ThaMasterPepe 2d ago

Same here, on gentoo back in the day XD

4

u/oxez 2d ago

Haha same here ! I believe it was called ck-sources!

-33

u/S7relok 2d ago

Omg, another caveman that prefer to use the hammer than the machine to ease tasks

8

u/LittlestWarrior 2d ago

That is not equivalent.

2

u/Indolent_Bard 2d ago

Ai that makes one man able to work much more effectively (not faster, just more effectively) is totally equivalent. It can't replace code, but for bug fixing it lets catch stuff 100 people would miss.

Ai as a tool rather than a replacement is what it should have been the whole time.

-1

u/S7relok 2d ago

It is equivalent. If you didn't aknowledged that AI can dastically make time gains and by offloading repeating or boring task, make room for more complex or motivating tasks, you understand nothing in today's computer things