[PATCH net-next v5 2/6] net_sched: sch_fq: clear past skb->tstamp if offloading pacing

From: Willem de Bruijn <willemdebruijn.kernel@gmail.com>
Date: 2026-08-08 15:52:41
Subsystem: networking [general], tc subsystem, the rest · Maintainers: "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Jamal Hadi Salim, Jiri Pirko, Linus Torvalds

From: Willem de Bruijn <willemb@google.com>

When hardware offload is enabled, FQ will forward packets to the
netdevice for pacing. The device has to test that skb->tstamp is
in the future.

Avoid this cost for packets whose txtime has already passed, by
clearing skb->tstamp.

Also disable timer drift logic when offload is enabled, because
time_next_packet can exceed now causing a negative value.

Signed-off-by: Willem de Bruijn <willemb@google.com>

---

Changes
  v3 -> v4
    - also reset tstamp_type
    - minor: initialize time_next_packet for more obvious correctness

Sashiko, ignore pre-existing issues. In particular, effects on
non-EDT packets and when queue or sk rate limit is set.

Sashiko, pacing offload is an optimization. Ignore that some packets
may not get offloaded, e.g., when txtime is a few usec in the future.

Claude suggests to only call __skb_clear_delivery_time in one location
in fq_dequeue. Unfortunately the separate fastpath location is needed
as that avoids computing now in fq_dequeue for these fastpath packets.
---
 include/linux/skbuff.h | 17 ++++++++++++-----
 net/sched/sch_fq.c     | 19 +++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
index 22eda1d54a0e..b3445ad5a35c 100644
--- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
+++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h

@@ -4490,20 +4490,27 @@ static inline void skb_set_delivery_type_by_clockid(struct sk_buff *skb,
 
 DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(netstamp_needed_key);
 
-/* It is used in the ingress path to clear the delivery_time.
- * If needed, set the skb->tstamp to the (rcv) timestamp.
- */
-static __always_inline void skb_clear_delivery_time(struct sk_buff *skb)
+static __always_inline void __skb_clear_delivery_time(struct sk_buff *skb,
+						      bool want_tstamp)
 {
 	if (skb->tstamp_type) {
 		skb->tstamp_type = SKB_CLOCK_REALTIME;
-		if (static_branch_unlikely(&netstamp_needed_key))
+		if (want_tstamp &&
+		    static_branch_unlikely(&netstamp_needed_key))
 			skb->tstamp = ktime_get_real();
 		else
 			skb->tstamp = 0;
 	}
 }
 
+/* It is used in the ingress path to clear the delivery_time.
+ * If needed, set the skb->tstamp to the (rcv) timestamp.
+ */
+static __always_inline void skb_clear_delivery_time(struct sk_buff *skb)
+{
+	__skb_clear_delivery_time(skb, true);
+}
+
 static inline void skb_clear_tstamp(struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
 	if (skb->tstamp_type)

diff --git a/net/sched/sch_fq.c b/net/sched/sch_fq.c
index 7cae082a9847..8d7458c38409 100644
--- a/net/sched/sch_fq.c
+++ b/net/sched/sch_fq.c

@@ -399,6 +399,11 @@ static struct fq_flow *fq_classify(struct Qdisc *sch, struct sk_buff *skb,
 		    READ_ONCE(sk->sk_pacing_status) != SK_PACING_FQ)
 			smp_store_release(&sk->sk_pacing_status,
 					  SK_PACING_FQ);
+
+		if (q->offload_horizon &&
+		    fq_skb_cb(skb)->time_to_send <= now)
+			__skb_clear_delivery_time(skb, false);
+
 		return &q->internal;
 	}

@@ -707,6 +712,7 @@ static struct sk_buff *fq_dequeue(struct Qdisc *sch)
 	struct fq_sched_data *q = qdisc_priv(sch);
 	struct fq_perband_flows *pband;
 	struct fq_flow_head *head;
+	u64 time_next_packet = 0;
 	struct sk_buff *skb;
 	struct fq_flow *f;
 	unsigned long rate;

@@ -721,7 +727,7 @@ static struct sk_buff *fq_dequeue(struct Qdisc *sch)
 	if (skb) {
 		q->internal.qlen--;
 		fq_dequeue_skb(sch, &q->internal, skb);
-		goto out;
+		return skb;
 	}
 
 	now = ktime_get_ns();

@@ -758,8 +764,8 @@ static struct sk_buff *fq_dequeue(struct Qdisc *sch)
 
 	skb = fq_peek(f);
 	if (skb) {
-		u64 time_next_packet = max_t(u64, fq_skb_cb(skb)->time_to_send,
-					     f->time_next_packet);
+		time_next_packet = max_t(u64, fq_skb_cb(skb)->time_to_send,
+					 f->time_next_packet);
 
 		if (now + q->offload_horizon < time_next_packet) {
 			head->first = f->next;

@@ -828,11 +834,16 @@ static struct sk_buff *fq_dequeue(struct Qdisc *sch)
 		 * f->time_next_packet was set when prior packet was sent,
 		 * and current time (@now) can be too late by tens of us.
 		 */
-		if (f->time_next_packet)
+		if (f->time_next_packet && f->time_next_packet < now)
 			len -= min(len/2, now - f->time_next_packet);
 		f->time_next_packet = now + len;
 	}
+
 out:
+	if (q->offload_horizon &&
+	    time_next_packet && time_next_packet <= now)
+		__skb_clear_delivery_time(skb, false);
+
 	return skb;
 }

-- 
2.55.0.679.g6767b8d81c-goog

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