The Linux Kernel's Scheduler Apparently Causing Issues For Google Stadia Game Developers

guest · Jan 6, 2020

The Linux Kernel's Scheduler Apparently Causing Issues For Google Stadia Game Developers
January 1, 2020
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-2020-Scheduler-Bugs-Stadia

Among the issues that game developers have been facing in bringing their games to Linux for Google's Stadia cloud gaming service apparently stem from kernel scheduler issues.
Game/C++ developer Malte Skarupke wrote a post about how bad the Linux kernel scheduler is and that solutions like MuQSS are an improvement but not complete.

The latest kernel scheduler woes appear to be game/engine developers hitting issues in readying their software for Google Stadia.

"So this all started like this: I overheard somebody at work complaining about mysterious stalls while porting Rage 2 to Stadia. The only thing those mysterious stalls had in common was that they were all using spinlocks. [...]"
In a comment by MuQSS lead developer Con Kolivas, Malte responded,

"I know that we were not the only developers who had problems with the scheduler on Stadia. And Google is very aware of the problem. They care a lot about latency because latency is super important for the Stadia experience. [...] So this might be an opportunity for you to get [the MuQSS] scheduler used by more people and to maybe eventually get it into the mainline kernel.
Click to expand...

Let's hope for scheduler improvements to the Linux kernel in 2020 and maybe even seeing MuQSS mainlined if there becomes enough support.
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guest · Jan 6, 2020

Torvalds' Comments On Linux Scheduler Woes: "Pure Garbage"
January 5, 2020
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Torvalds-On-Scheduler-Woes

The scheduler was to blame and in particular Linux's spinlocks. Linus Torvalds has now commented on the matter.

In a mailing list discussion on the reported Linux kernel troubles, Linus Torvalds wrote,

"The whole post seems to be just wrong, and is measuring something completely different than what the author thinks and claims it is measuring. [...] just inane and pointless and completely wrong. That's pure garbage."
Linus went on to add, "So what's the fix for this? [...] I repeat: do not use spinlocks in user space, unless you actually know what you're doing. And be aware that the likelihood that you know what you are doing is basically nil." See his post in full for a lot more interesting technical details.

In another post he goes on to argue the game developer's locking was fundamentally wrong. In other words, the Linux kernel isn't to blame at least in full, from the perspective of Linus Torvalds. But as shown in other instances, there's still room for improvement with the Linux kernel's scheduler code.
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The Linux Kernel's Scheduler Apparently Causing Issues For Google Stadia Game Developers

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