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WARM1d

[PATCH net v3] tun/tap & vhost-net: make qdisc backpressure opt-in via IFF_BACKPRESSURE

From: Simon Schippers <hidden>
Date: 2026-07-09 09:58:41
Also in: linux-doc, lkml
Subsystem: documentation, networking drivers, networking [general], the rest, tun/tap driver · Maintainers: Jonathan Corbet, Andrew Lunn, "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Linus Torvalds, Willem de Bruijn, Jason Wang

Commit 1d6e569b7d0c ("tun/tap & vhost-net: avoid ptr_ring tail-drop
when a qdisc is present") did not show a relevant performance regression
in my testing but on Brett Sheffield's librecast testbed it shows a
significant performance drop in a IPv6 multicast testcase. The regression
can be pinpointed when multiple iperf3 TCP threads are sending. For 8
threads the performance dropped from 13.5 Gbit/s to 9.13 Gbit/s. This is
the reason why this patch makes the qdisc backpressure behavior opt-in.

One option to accomplish the opt-in would be to set the default qdisc to
noqueue at init. However this may also break userspace as users might
have chosen a custom qdisc even though most of the qdiscs did nothing
for tun/tap in the past due to missing backpressure...

This is the reason why in this patch, the flag IFF_BACKPRESSURE is
introduced instead which is required to enable the backpressure logic.
This means the stopping logic in tun_net_xmit() and the waking logic in
__tun_wake_queue() are skipped if the flag is disabled. Setting
IFF_BACKPRESSURE makes an attached qdisc effective by stopping the queue
instead of tail-dropping when the internal ring is full.

To avoid a possible stall due to disabling IFF_BACKPRESSURE, the new
helper tun_force_wake_queue() is implemented. The helper safely wakes the
respective netdev queue and resets cons_cnt while the consumer_lock and
the producer_lock of the ring are held. The helper is run in tun_attach()
when a queue (re)attaches, in tun_set_iff() for attached tfiles, and
in tun_queue_resize().

The documentation in tuntap.rst is updated accordingly.

Fixes: 1d6e569b7d0c ("tun/tap & vhost-net: avoid ptr_ring tail-drop when a qdisc is present")
Reported-by: Brett Sheffield <redacted>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/akVnoOYQOrt8k-Gu@karahi.librecast.net/T/#u (local)
Signed-off-by: Simon Schippers <redacted>
---
V2 -> V3:
- As suggested by MST: Clarify in tuntap.rst and the UAPI header what
  enabling IFF_BACKPRESSURE opts into: an attached qdisc becomes effective
  instead of the driver tail-dropping when the internal ring is full.
- Avoid lines over 75 characters.
- Update comment in tun_net_xmit() to include IFF_BACKPRESSURE.
- Brett: Update in commit message that the referenced tests were TCP.

V1 -> V2:
- Sashiko: Ensure detached queues are woken on re-attach by calling the
  new tun_force_wake_queue() helper from tun_attach(), and reuse it
  across the existing wake paths.
- Specify the failing test case in the commit message.

V1: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260704112058.95421-1-simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de/T/#u (local)
V2: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260706094242.115992-1-simon.schippers@tu-dortmund.de/T/#u (local)

 Documentation/networking/tuntap.rst | 22 +++++++++++++
 drivers/net/tun.c                   | 51 ++++++++++++++++++++---------
 include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h         |  4 +++
 tools/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h   |  1 +
 4 files changed, 62 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/networking/tuntap.rst b/Documentation/networking/tuntap.rst
index 4d7087f727be..5921a924c2ae 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/tuntap.rst
+++ b/Documentation/networking/tuntap.rst
@@ -206,6 +206,28 @@ enable is true we enable it, otherwise we disable it::
       return ioctl(fd, TUNSETQUEUE, (void *)&ifr);
   }
 
+3.4 qdisc backpressure
+----------------------
+
+Starting with Linux 7.2, IFF_BACKPRESSURE can be set to enable qdisc
+backpressure. Without it, TX drops occur when the internal ring buffer
+is full, so any attached qdisc is effectively bypassed and applications
+only learn about congestion through those drops.
+
+With it, the kernel stops instead, letting the qdisc hold and schedule
+packets, so its AQM, shaping and fairness actually apply. This helps
+protocols like TCP, which cut throughput in reaction to packet drops.
+With IFF_BACKPRESSURE, drops then only occur as a rare race. Backpressure
+requires a qdisc to be attached and has no effect with noqueue.
+
+The txqueuelen can be reduced alongside this flag to further shift
+buffering into the qdisc and reduce bufferbloat, but comes at possible
+performance cost.
+
+When running multiple network streams in parallel through a single
+TUN/TAP queue, the flag may reduce performance due to the extra overhead
+of the backpressure mechanism.
+
 Universal TUN/TAP device driver Frequently Asked Question
 =========================================================
 
diff --git a/drivers/net/tun.c b/drivers/net/tun.c
index ffbe6f13fb1f..5941e8f302ea 100644
--- a/drivers/net/tun.c
+++ b/drivers/net/tun.c
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ static void tun_default_link_ksettings(struct net_device *dev,
 #define TUN_FASYNC	IFF_ATTACH_QUEUE
 
 #define TUN_FEATURES (IFF_NO_PI | IFF_ONE_QUEUE | IFF_VNET_HDR | \
-		      IFF_MULTI_QUEUE | IFF_NAPI | IFF_NAPI_FRAGS)
+		      IFF_MULTI_QUEUE | IFF_NAPI | IFF_NAPI_FRAGS | \
+		      IFF_BACKPRESSURE)
 
 #define GOODCOPY_LEN 128
 
@@ -694,6 +695,20 @@ static void tun_detach_all(struct net_device *dev)
 		module_put(THIS_MODULE);
 }
 
+static void tun_force_wake_queue(struct tun_struct *tun,
+				 struct tun_file *tfile)
+{
+	/* Ensure that the producer can not stop the
+	 * queue concurrently by taking locks.
+	 */
+	spin_lock_bh(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
+	spin_lock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
+	netif_wake_subqueue(tun->dev, tfile->queue_index);
+	tfile->cons_cnt = 0;
+	spin_unlock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
+	spin_unlock_bh(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
+}
+
 static int tun_attach(struct tun_struct *tun, struct file *file,
 		      bool skip_filter, bool napi, bool napi_frags,
 		      bool publish_tun)
@@ -737,11 +752,9 @@ static int tun_attach(struct tun_struct *tun, struct file *file,
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	spin_lock(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
-	tfile->cons_cnt = 0;
-	spin_unlock(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
 	tfile->queue_index = tun->numqueues;
 	tfile->socket.sk->sk_shutdown &= ~RCV_SHUTDOWN;
+	tun_force_wake_queue(tun, tfile);
 
 	if (tfile->detached) {
 		/* Re-attach detached tfile, updating XDP queue_index */
@@ -1077,7 +1090,8 @@ static netdev_tx_t tun_net_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 
 	spin_lock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
 	ret = __ptr_ring_produce(&tfile->tx_ring, skb);
-	if (!qdisc_txq_has_no_queue(queue) &&
+	if ((tun->flags & IFF_BACKPRESSURE) &&
+	    !qdisc_txq_has_no_queue(queue) &&
 	    __ptr_ring_check_produce(&tfile->tx_ring) == -ENOSPC) {
 		netif_tx_stop_queue(queue);
 		/* Paired with smp_mb() in __tun_wake_queue() */
@@ -1088,8 +1102,8 @@ static netdev_tx_t tun_net_xmit(struct sk_buff *skb, struct net_device *dev)
 	spin_unlock(&tfile->tx_ring.producer_lock);
 
 	if (ret) {
-		/* This should be a rare case if a qdisc is present, but
-		 * can happen due to lltx.
+		/* This should be a rare case if IFF_BACKPRESSURE is enabled and
+		 * a qdisc is present, but can happen due to lltx.
 		 * Since skb_tx_timestamp(), skb_orphan(),
 		 * run_ebpf_filter() and pskb_trim() could have tinkered
 		 * with the SKB, returning NETDEV_TX_BUSY is unsafe and
@@ -2151,8 +2165,12 @@ static ssize_t tun_put_user(struct tun_struct *tun,
 static void __tun_wake_queue(struct tun_struct *tun,
 			     struct tun_file *tfile, int consumed)
 {
-	struct netdev_queue *txq = netdev_get_tx_queue(tun->dev,
-						tfile->queue_index);
+	struct netdev_queue *txq;
+
+	if (!(tun->flags & IFF_BACKPRESSURE))
+		return;
+
+	txq = netdev_get_tx_queue(tun->dev, tfile->queue_index);
 
 	/* Paired with smp_mb__after_atomic() in tun_net_xmit() */
 	smp_mb();
@@ -2764,7 +2782,7 @@ static int tun_set_iff(struct net *net, struct file *file, struct ifreq *ifr)
 	struct tun_struct *tun;
 	struct tun_file *tfile = file->private_data;
 	struct net_device *dev;
-	int err;
+	int err, i;
 
 	if (tfile->detached)
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -2893,8 +2911,12 @@ static int tun_set_iff(struct net *net, struct file *file, struct ifreq *ifr)
 	/* Make sure persistent devices do not get stuck in
 	 * xoff state.
 	 */
-	if (netif_running(tun->dev))
-		netif_tx_wake_all_queues(tun->dev);
+	if (netif_running(tun->dev)) {
+		for (i = 0; i < tun->numqueues; i++) {
+			tfile = rtnl_dereference(tun->tfiles[i]);
+			tun_force_wake_queue(tun, tfile);
+		}
+	}
 
 	strscpy(ifr->ifr_name, tun->dev->name);
 	return 0;
@@ -3693,10 +3715,7 @@ static int tun_queue_resize(struct tun_struct *tun)
 	if (!ret) {
 		for (i = 0; i < tun->numqueues; i++) {
 			tfile = rtnl_dereference(tun->tfiles[i]);
-			spin_lock(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
-			netif_wake_subqueue(tun->dev, tfile->queue_index);
-			tfile->cons_cnt = 0;
-			spin_unlock(&tfile->tx_ring.consumer_lock);
+			tun_force_wake_queue(tun, tfile);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h b/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
index 79d53c7a1ebd..a0ddc50a7534 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
@@ -69,6 +69,10 @@
 #define IFF_NAPI_FRAGS	0x0020
 /* Used in TUNSETIFF to bring up tun/tap without carrier */
 #define IFF_NO_CARRIER	0x0040
+/* Stop the queue instead of dropping when the internal ring is full, so an
+ * attached qdisc applies backpressure instead of being bypassed.
+ */
+#define IFF_BACKPRESSURE	0x0080
 #define IFF_NO_PI	0x1000
 /* This flag has no real effect */
 #define IFF_ONE_QUEUE	0x2000
diff --git a/tools/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h b/tools/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
index 2ec07de1d73b..97b670f5bc0a 100644
--- a/tools/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
+++ b/tools/include/uapi/linux/if_tun.h
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
 #define IFF_TAP		0x0002
 #define IFF_NAPI	0x0010
 #define IFF_NAPI_FRAGS	0x0020
+#define IFF_BACKPRESSURE	0x0080
 #define IFF_NO_PI	0x1000
 /* This flag has no real effect */
 #define IFF_ONE_QUEUE	0x2000
-- 
2.43.0
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