I’ve recently move from vanilla kernel to -ck kernel flavor.  What is -ck ? This is set of patches by Con Kolivas that improves desktop performance. By default -ck patches includes Brain Fuck Scheduler (bfs also by Con Kolivas); this scheduler is designed to improve system interactivity and responsiveness in small system, where “small” means less then 16 cpu’s/cores/threads.

Few days ago the new version of vanilla kernel (2.6.38.4) was released, two or three days before the new version of bfs (401) was also released. Unfortunately -ck patches didn’t get an update, so I’ve decided to play a little bit with it.

First of all I’ve spotted that -ck apples bfs as a first patch, so second step wast to find out where bfs patch ends … this was a really easy task. With this knowledge I could easily extract old version of bfs from -ck3. Then both patches can be contacted and applied on vanilla 2.6.38.4. First compilation shows that function above_background_load was removed from bfs401, fortunately it was used only once 😉

I’m using this kernel (2.6.38.4-ck3-bfs401) for two days without any problems so it seams that my combination of those patches doesn’t brake anything. If you want to try this on your own, here is 2.6.38.4-ck3-bfs401.patch