[PATCH v2] cgroup/cpuset: Fix update_prstate() always returning 0 on partition errors

[PATCH v2] cgroup/cpuset: Fix update_prstate() always returning 0 on partition errors

[Tao Cui]

From: Tao Cui <cuitao@kylinos.cn>

update_prstate() stores the error code in cs->prs_err and transitions
the partition to an invalid state, but always returns 0. The caller
cpuset_partition_write() uses "return retval ?: nbytes", so the write
syscall always appears to succeed from userspace even when the partition
became invalid. Return -EINVAL when err is set so userspace can detect
the failure immediately.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-7
Signed-off-by: Tao Cui <cuitao@kylinos.cn>
---
 kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c b/kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c
index 591e3aa487fc..8605b4da610e 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cpuset.c
@@ -2965,7 +2965,7 @@ static int update_prstate(struct cpuset *cs, int new_prs)
 	if (force_sd_rebuild)
 		rebuild_sched_domains_locked();
 	free_tmpmasks(&tmpmask);
-	return 0;
+	return err ? -EINVAL : 0;
 }
 
 static struct cpuset *cpuset_attach_old_cs;
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [PATCH v2] cgroup/cpuset: Fix update_prstate() always returning 0 on partition errors

[Michal Koutný]

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Hi.

On Tue, Jun 02, 2026 at 12:55:21PM +0800, Tao Cui <cui.tao@linux.dev> wrote:
> update_prstate() stores the error code in cs->prs_err and transitions
> the partition to an invalid state, but always returns 0. The caller
> cpuset_partition_write() uses "return retval ?: nbytes", so the write
> syscall always appears to succeed from userspace even when the partition
> became invalid.
> Return -EINVAL when err is set so userspace can detect
> the failure immediately.

This is quite a visible UAPI change (a write can succeed to invalidate a
partition) and users are meant to watch for cpuset.cpus.partition state
anyway for asynchronous changes.

I'd not change this gratuitously.

Michal


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Re: [PATCH v2] cgroup/cpuset: Fix update_prstate() always returning 0 on partition errors

[Tao Cui]

Hi Michal,

You are absolutely right. Looking at this again, this patch is total
suckage.

Returning 0 here is the correct declarative UAPI behavior. The invalid
state records intent and can recover later when resources become
available. Returning -EINVAL would only make things worse since the
state has already been mutated.

Sorry for the noise. I'll drop this patch.

--
Tao

在 2026/6/2 15:46, Michal Koutný 写道:
> Hi.
> 
> On Tue, Jun 02, 2026 at 12:55:21PM +0800, Tao Cui <cui.tao@linux.dev> wrote:
>> update_prstate() stores the error code in cs->prs_err and transitions
>> the partition to an invalid state, but always returns 0. The caller
>> cpuset_partition_write() uses "return retval ?: nbytes", so the write
>> syscall always appears to succeed from userspace even when the partition
>> became invalid.
>> Return -EINVAL when err is set so userspace can detect
>> the failure immediately.
> 
> This is quite a visible UAPI change (a write can succeed to invalidate a
> partition) and users are meant to watch for cpuset.cpus.partition state
> anyway for asynchronous changes.
> 
> I'd not change this gratuitously.
> 
> Michal
> 

Re: [PATCH v2] cgroup/cpuset: Fix update_prstate() always returning 0 on partition errors

[Waiman Long]

On 6/2/26 3:46 AM, Michal Koutný wrote:
> Hi.
>
> On Tue, Jun 02, 2026 at 12:55:21PM +0800, Tao Cui <cui.tao@linux.dev> wrote:
>> update_prstate() stores the error code in cs->prs_err and transitions
>> the partition to an invalid state, but always returns 0. The caller
>> cpuset_partition_write() uses "return retval ?: nbytes", so the write
>> syscall always appears to succeed from userspace even when the partition
>> became invalid.
>> Return -EINVAL when err is set so userspace can detect
>> the failure immediately.
> This is quite a visible UAPI change (a write can succeed to invalidate a
> partition) and users are meant to watch for cpuset.cpus.partition state
> anyway for asynchronous changes.

Right, it is purposely done to not return a write error when writing any 
cpuset control files. The only exception is cpuset.cpus.exclusive which 
can return failure when  an exclusive CPU has been taken. It is 
documented in cgroup-v2.rst.

Cheers,
Longman