NAME

chrt – manipulate the real-time attributes of a process  

SYNOPSIS

chrt [optionsprio command [arg]…
chrt [options] -p [priopid  

DESCRIPTION

chrt sets or retrieves the real-time scheduling attributes of an existing pid, or runs command with the given attributes. Both policy (one of SCHED_OTHER, SCHED_FIFO, SCHED_RR, SCHED_BATCH, or SCHED_IDLE) and priority can be set and retrieved.

The SCHED_BATCH policy is supported since Linux 2.6.16. The SCHED_IDLE policy is supported since Linux 2.6.23.

The SCHED_RESET_ON_FORK flag for policies SCHED_RR and SCHED_FIFO is supported since Linux 2.6.31.  

OPTIONS

-a, –all-tasks
Set or retrieve the scheduling attributes of all the tasks (threads) for a given PID.
-b, –batch
Set scheduling policy to SCHED_BATCH (Linux specific).
-f, –fifo
Set scheduling policy to SCHED_FIFO.
-i, –idle
Set scheduling policy to SCHED_IDLE (Linux specific).
-m, –max
Show minimum and maximum valid priorities, then exit.
-o, –other
Set policy scheduling policy to SCHED_OTHER.
-p, –pid
Operate on an existing PID and do not launch a new task.
-r, –rr
Set scheduling policy to SCHED_RR. When policy is not defined the SCHED_RR is used as default.
-R, –reset-on-fork
Add SCHED_RESET_ON_FORK flag to the SCHED_FIFO or SCHED_RR scheduling policy (Linux specific).
-v, –verbose
Show status information.
-h, –help
Display help text and exit.
-V, –version
Display version information and exit.
 

USAGE

The default behavior is to run a new command:
chrt prio command [arguments]
You can also retrieve the real-time attributes of an existing task:
chrt -p pid
Or set them:
chrt -r -p prio pid
 

PERMISSIONS

A user must possess CAP_SYS_NICE to change the scheduling attributes of a process. Any user can retrieve the scheduling information.  

NOTES

Only SCHED_FIFO, SCHED_OTHER and SCHED_RR are part of POSIX 1003.1b Process Scheduling. The other scheduling attributes may be ignored on some systems.

Linux default scheduling policy is SCHED_OTHER.  

Willie has over 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and DevOps. After managing infrastructure for startups and enterprises alike, he founded Command Linux to share the practical knowledge he wished he had when starting out. He oversees content strategy and contributes guides on server management, automation, and security.