Linux 5.6 To Bring FQ-PIE Packet Scheduler To Help Fight Bufferbloat

In addition to WireGuard being part of "net-next" as the networking subsystem material targeting the upcoming Linux 5.6 cycle, there is another big last minute addition to the networking space: the Flow Queue PIE packet scheduler has been merged.

The Flow Queue PIE (FQ-PIE) network packet scheduler is another attempt at fighting bufferbloat. FQ-PIE is an improved packet scheduler over the existing PIE scheduling code. "It is an enhancement over the PIE algorithm. It integrates the PIE aqm with a deficit round robin scheme. FQ-PIE is implemented over the latest version of PIE which uses timestamps to calculate queue delay with an additional option of using average dequeue rate to calculate the queue delay."

The Proportional Integral Controller Enhanced control scheme is documented at IETF.org as RFC 8033. More background information on FQ-PIE here.

More details on FQ-PIE via this Git commit with landing this packet scheduler into the net-next kernel code.