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sched/headers: Move 'struct sched_param' out of uapi, to work around …
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…glibc/musl breakage

Both glibc and musl define 'struct sched_param' in sched.h, while kernel
has it in uapi/linux/sched/types.h, making it cumbersome to use
sched_getattr(2) or sched_setattr(2) from userspace.

For example, something like this:

	#include <sched.h>
	#include <linux/sched/types.h>

	struct sched_attr sa;

will result in "error: redefinition of ‘struct sched_param’" (note the
code doesn't need sched_param at all -- it needs struct sched_attr
plus some stuff from sched.h).

The situation is, glibc is not going to provide a wrapper for
sched_{get,set}attr, thus the need to include linux/sched_types.h
directly, which leads to the above problem.

Thus, the userspace is left with a few sub-par choices when it wants to
use e.g. sched_setattr(2), such as maintaining a copy of struct
sched_attr definition, or using some other ugly tricks.

OTOH, 'struct sched_param' is well known, defined in POSIX, and it won't
be ever changed (as that would break backward compatibility).

So, while 'struct sched_param' is indeed part of the kernel uapi,
exposing it the way it's done now creates an issue, and hiding it
(like this patch does) fixes that issue, hopefully without creating
another one: common userspace software rely on libc headers, and as
for "special" software (like libc), it looks like glibc and musl
do not rely on kernel headers for 'struct sched_param' definition
(but let's Cc their mailing lists in case it's otherwise).

The alternative to this patch would be to move struct sched_attr to,
say, linux/sched.h, or linux/sched/attr.h (the new file).

Oh, and here is the previous attempt to fix the issue:

  https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/

While I support Linus arguments, the issue is still here
and needs to be fixed.

[ mingo: Linus is right, this shouldn't be needed - but on the other
         hand I agree that this header is not really helpful to
	 user-space as-is. So let's pretend that
	 <uapi/linux/sched/types.h> is only about sched_attr, and
	 call this commit a workaround for user-space breakage
	 that it in reality is ... Also, remove the Fixes tag. ]

Signed-off-by: Kir Kolyshkin <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <[email protected]>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <[email protected]>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <[email protected]>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/[email protected]
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kolyshkin authored and Ingo Molnar committed Oct 2, 2023
1 parent 83494dc commit d844fe6
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Showing 2 changed files with 4 additions and 5 deletions.
5 changes: 4 additions & 1 deletion include/linux/sched.h
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -63,7 +63,6 @@ struct robust_list_head;
struct root_domain;
struct rq;
struct sched_attr;
struct sched_param;
struct seq_file;
struct sighand_struct;
struct signal_struct;
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -370,6 +369,10 @@ extern struct root_domain def_root_domain;
extern struct mutex sched_domains_mutex;
#endif

struct sched_param {
int sched_priority;
};

struct sched_info {
#ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_INFO
/* Cumulative counters: */
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4 changes: 0 additions & 4 deletions include/uapi/linux/sched/types.h
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,10 +4,6 @@

#include <linux/types.h>

struct sched_param {
int sched_priority;
};

#define SCHED_ATTR_SIZE_VER0 48 /* sizeof first published struct */
#define SCHED_ATTR_SIZE_VER1 56 /* add: util_{min,max} */

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