--- name: "tuna" section: "8" platform: "linux" package: "tuna" version: "1:0.21-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/tuna" --- # tuna(8) program for tuning running processes ## NAME tuna - program for tuning running processes ## SYNOPSIS **tuna** \[*OPTIONS*\] ## DESCRIPTION This manual page explains the **tuna** program. The program can be used to change the attributes of application and kernel threads. **tuna** can operate on IRQs by name or number, and tasks or threads by process ID or command-line. CPUs and sets of CPUs can be specified by CPU or socket number. IRQ names and process command-lines can include wildcards. **tuna** can change scheduling policy, scheduler priority and processor affinity for processes and process threads. **tuna** can also change the processor affinity for interrupts. **tuna** supports cgroup v2 cpusets for CPU and memory node isolation, providing fine-grained control over which processes can run on which CPUs. When **tuna** is invoked without any options it starts up in its graphical interface mode. This manual page explains only the command-line options for **tuna** ## GLOBAL OPTIONS - **-h**, **--help** Print a list of options. **tuna** will exit after this action, ignoring the remainder of the command-line. - **-v**, **--version** Show version - **-L**, **--logging**=*LOG-LEVEL* Log application details to file for given LOG-LEVEL - **-D**, **--debug** Print DEBUG level logging details to console - **-w**, **--warn** Warn when thread/IRQ patterns match nothing ## COMMANDS - **tuna cpu\_power** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpu\_power \[-h\] (-c CPU-LIST) Set or query the idle (power) states of all or a selection of cpus in the CPU-LIST. Modifiers **-c** may be used to pass the CPU-LIST of cpus to perform the command on. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-i, --idle-info Print general idle information for the selected CPUs, including\ index values for IDLE-STATE.\ \-s, --status IDLE-STATE\ Print whether IDLE-STATE is enabled on the selected CPUs.\ \-d, --disable IDLE-STATE\ Disable IDLE-STATE on the selected CPUs.\ \-e, --enable IDLE-STATE\ Enable IDLE-STATE on the selected CPUs.\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands - **tuna isolate** usage: tuna-cmd.py isolate \[-h\] (-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N)\ \[--cpuset \[NAME\]\] \[--cpuset-housekeeping ...\] Move all allowed threads and IRQs away from CPU-LIST. Requires **-c**, **-S**, or **-N**. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \--cpuset \[NAME\] Use cpusets for isolation with optional name (default: tuna\_isolated,\ partition=isolated)\ \--cpuset-housekeeping \[NAME\] CPU-LIST\ Create housekeeping cpuset: \[NAME\] CPU-LIST (default name:\ tuna\_housekeeping, partition=member) - **tuna include** usage: tuna-cmd.py include \[-h\] (-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N) Allow all allowed threads and IRQs to run on CPU-LIST. Requires **-c**, **-S**, or **-N**. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations - **tuna move** usage: tuna-cmd.py move \[-h\] (-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N \| --cpuset CPUSET-NAME)\ \[-t THREAD-LIST\] \[-q IRQ-LIST\] \[-U\] \[-K\] Move selected entities to CPU-LIST or cpuset. Requires **-c**, **-S**, **-N**, or **--cpuset** and **-t** or **-q**. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \--cpuset CPUSET-NAME Move threads/IRQs into cpuset (cgroup v2) instead of\ setting CPU affinity\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands\ \-q IRQ-LIST, --irqs IRQ-LIST\ IRQ-LIST affect by commands\ \-U, --no\_uthreads Operations will not affect user threads\ \-K, --no\_kthreads Operations will not affect kernel threads - **tuna spread** usage: tuna-cmd.py spread \[-h\] (-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N)\ \[-t THREAD-LIST\] \[-q IRQ-LIST\] \[-U\] \[-K\] Spread selected entities over CPU-LIST. The specified threads and IRQs are each assigned to one cpu in CPU-LIST. Requires **-c**, **-S**, or **-N** and **-t** or **-q**. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands\ \-q IRQ-LIST, --irqs IRQ-LIST\ IRQ-LIST affect by commands\ \-U, --no\_uthreads Operations will not affect user threads\ \-K, --no\_kthreads Operations will not affect kernel threads - **tuna priority** usage: tuna-cmd.py priority \[-h\] -t THREAD-LIST \[-C\] POLICY:RTPRIO Set thread scheduler tunables: POLICY and RTPRIO. POLICY is one of OTHER, FIFO, RR, or BATCH. Provide POLICY, RTPRIO, or POLICY:RTPRIO separated by ":". If only POLICY is set, the RT priority will default to 1 if the policy is RT, and 0 otherwise. If only RTPRIO is specified, policy will not be changed. positional arguments:\ POLICY:RTPRIO Set thread scheduler tunables: POLICY and RTPRIO optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands\ \-C, --affect\_children\ Operation will affect children threads - **tuna run** usage: tuna-cmd.py run \[-h\] \[-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N \| --cpuset CPUSET-NAME\]\ \[-p PRIORITY\] \[-b\]\ COMMAND Run the COMMAND. The entire command line must be provided inside "quotes". Modifiers **-c**, **-S**, **--cpuset** and **-p** can be used to set the affinity and scheduler tunables of the given COMMAND. positional arguments:\ COMMAND fork a new process and run the "COMMAND" optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \--cpuset CPUSET-NAME Run process in specified cpuset (cgroup v2) instead of\ setting CPU affinity\ \-p PRIORITY, --priority PRIORITY\ Set thread scheduler tunables: POLICY and RTPRIO\ \-b, --background Run command as background task - **tuna save** usage: tuna-cmd.py save \[-h\] \[-c CPU-LIST \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST \| -N\]\ \[-t THREAD-LIST\]\ FILENAME Save kthreads sched tunables to FILENAME positional arguments:\ FILENAME Save kthreads sched tunables to this file optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands - - **tuna show\_threads** usage: tuna-cmd.py show\_threads \[-h\] \[-c CPU-LIST \| -N \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST\]\ \[-t THREAD-LIST \| -q IRQ-LIST\] \[-U\] \[-K\] \[-C\]\ \[-n\] \[-G\] \[--cpuset CPUSET-NAME\] \[-z\] Show thread list optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands\ \-q IRQ-LIST, --irqs IRQ-LIST\ IRQ-LIST affect by commands\ \-U, --no\_uthreads Operations will not affect user threads\ \-K, --no\_kthreads Operations will not affect kernel threads\ \-C, --affect\_children\ Operation will affect children threads\ \-n, --show\_sockets Show network sockets in use by threads (requires inet\_diag module)\ \-G, --cgroups Display the processes with the type of cgroups they\ are in\ \--cpuset CPUSET-NAME Show only threads in the specified cpuset\ \-z, --spaced Display spaced view for cgroups - **tuna show\_irqs** usage: tuna-cmd.py show\_irqs \[-h\] \[-c CPU-LIST \| -N \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST\]\ \[-q IRQ-LIST\] Show IRQ list optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-q IRQ-LIST, --irqs IRQ-LIST\ IRQ-LIST affect by commands - **tuna show\_configs** usage: tuna-cmd.py show\_configs \[-h\] List preloaded profiles optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit - **tuna what\_is** usage: tuna-cmd.py what\_is \[-h\] THREAD-LIST Provides help about selected entities positional arguments:\ THREAD-LIST THREAD-LIST affected by commands optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit - **tuna gui** usage: tuna-cmd.py gui \[-h\] \[-d\] \[-R MSEC\]\ \[-c CPU-LIST \| -N \| -S CPU-SOCKET-LIST\] \[-U\] \[-K\] Start the GUI optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-d, --disable\_perf Explicitly disable usage of perf in GUI for process\ view\ \-R MSEC, --refresh MSEC\ Refresh the GUI every MSEC milliseconds\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST affected by commands\ \-N, --nohz\_full CPUs in nohz\_full kernel command line will be affected\ by operations\ \-S CPU-SOCKET-LIST, --sockets CPU-SOCKET-LIST\ CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands\ \-U, --no\_uthreads Operations will not affect user threads\ \-K, --no\_kthreads Operations will not affect kernel threads - **tuna cpuset** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset \[-h\] {create,list,destroy,move,show,status,modify,save,apply} Manage CPU sets (cgroup v2). Cpusets provide fine-grained control over which CPUs processes can run on, with NUMA-aware memory node assignment and kernel-enforced isolation. subcommands:\ {create,list,destroy,move,show,status,modify,save,apply} **tuna cpuset create** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset create \[-h\] -c CPU-LIST \[-n NAME\] \[-i\]\ \[-m MEM-NODES\] Create a new cpuset with specified CPUs. Memory nodes are auto-detected from CPU topology unless specified manually. required arguments:\ \-c CPU-LIST, --cpus CPU-LIST\ CPU-LIST to assign to the cpuset optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-n NAME, --name NAME Cpuset name (default: auto-generate tunaN)\ \-i, --isolated Set CPU partition to isolated (kernel-enforced exclusivity)\ \-m MEM-NODES, --memory-nodes MEM-NODES\ Memory nodes (default: auto-detect from CPUs, e.g., "0" or "0-1") **tuna cpuset list** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset list \[-h\] \[-p PATTERN\] \[-v\] \[--show-empty\]\ \[--no-recursive\] List cpusets. By default, empty cpusets (no CPUs assigned) are skipped. optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-p PATTERN, --pattern PATTERN\ Filter by glob pattern (e.g., tuna\*)\ \-v, --verbose Show detailed information (CPUs, tasks, partition type)\ \--show-empty Include cpusets with no CPUs assigned (default: skip empty)\ \--no-recursive Only search top-level cpusets **tuna cpuset destroy** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset destroy \[-h\] \[-p PATTERN\] \[-f\]\ \[--include-empty\] \[--no-recursive\]\ \[NAME ...\] Destroy cpuset(s) positional arguments:\ NAME Cpuset name(s) to destroy (one or more, OR use --pattern) optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-p PATTERN, --pattern PATTERN\ Glob pattern to destroy multiple cpusets (e.g., tuna\*)\ \-f, --force Migrate tasks to root cgroup before destroying\ \--include-empty When using --pattern, include cpusets with no CPUs assigned\ \--no-recursive Only destroy top-level cpusets when using --pattern **tuna cpuset move** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset move \[-h\] \[-t THREAD-LIST\] \[-p PID-LIST\] NAME Move processes to a cpuset positional arguments:\ NAME Cpuset name to move processes to optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-t THREAD-LIST, --threads THREAD-LIST\ THREAD-LIST affected by commands (supports patterns)\ \-p PID-LIST, --pids PID-LIST\ Comma-separated list of PIDs to move **tuna cpuset show** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset show \[-h\] \[--show-tasks\] NAME Show detailed information about a cpuset positional arguments:\ NAME Cpuset name to show optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \--show-tasks Show detailed list of tasks/processes **tuna cpuset status** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset status \[-h\] \[-p PATTERN\] \[--show-empty\]\ \[--no-recursive\] Show system-wide cpuset overview with statistics optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-p PATTERN, --pattern PATTERN\ Filter by glob pattern (e.g., tuna\*)\ \--show-empty Include cpusets with no CPUs assigned (default: skip empty)\ \--no-recursive Only show top-level cpusets **tuna cpuset modify** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset modify \[-h\] \[--add-cpus CPU-LIST\]\ \[--remove-cpus CPU-LIST\] \[-m MEM-NODES\]\ \[--isolated \| --no-isolated\]\ NAME Modify an existing cpuset without destroying it positional arguments:\ NAME Cpuset name to modify optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \--add-cpus CPU-LIST CPUs to add to the cpuset (e.g., 4-7 or 4,5,6,7)\ \--remove-cpus CPU-LIST\ CPUs to remove from the cpuset (e.g., 0-1 or 0,1)\ \-m MEM-NODES, --memory-nodes MEM-NODES\ Set memory nodes (e.g., "0" or "0-1")\ \--isolated Set CPU partition to isolated\ \--no-isolated Set CPU partition to member (not isolated) **tuna cpuset save** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset save \[-h\] \[filename\] Save cpuset configuration to YAML profile positional arguments:\ filename Output YAML file. Default path depends on execution context:\ ./cpuset-profile.yaml when running from development (tuna-cmd.py)\ /etc/tuna/cpuset-profile.yaml when running from production (tuna) optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit **tuna cpuset apply** usage: tuna-cmd.py cpuset apply \[-h\] \[-v\] \[filename\] Apply cpuset configuration from YAML profile positional arguments:\ filename Input YAML file. Default path depends on execution context:\ ./cpuset-profile.yaml when running from development (tuna-cmd.py)\ /etc/tuna/cpuset-profile.yaml when running from production (tuna) optional arguments:\ \-h, --help show this help message and exit\ \-v, --verbose Print detailed progress messages - *Modifiers* - **-c**, **--cpus**=*CPU-LIST* CPU-LIST affected by commands. Requires a CPU number, a range, or a comma-separated list of CPU numbers. - **-S**, **--sockets**=*CPU-SOCKET-LIST* CPU-SOCKET-LIST affected by commands. Requires a socket number or a comma-separated list of socket numbers. - **-t**, **--threads**=*THREAD-LIST* THREAD-LIST affected by commands. Requires a thread number or thread name, or a comma-separated list of thread numbers and/or names. Thread names may contain wildcards. Be sure to quote or escape any wildcard specifications. - **-q**, **--irqs**=*IRQ-LIST* IRQ-LIST affected by commands. Requires an IRQ number or IRQ user name, or a comma-separated list of IRQ numbers and/or user names. IRQ user names may contain wildcards. Be sure to quote or escape any wildcard specifications. ## USAGE EXAMPLES ### CPU Affinity Examples If for instance the Ethernet NICs have multiple queues for both receive and transmit, each with its own IRQ, the Ethernet IRQs can be associated with a CPU socket: - **tuna isolate -S 2** - **tuna spread -q 'eth\*' -S 2** Move everything off the CPUs in socket 2, then spread the IRQs for the Ethernet devices across those same CPUs. ### Cpuset Examples Create an isolated cpuset for real-time workloads: - **tuna cpuset create -c 2-5 -n rt\_workload -i** Create a cpuset named 'rt\_workload' with CPUs 2-5, set to isolated partition. Memory nodes are auto-detected from CPU topology. - **tuna run --cpuset rt\_workload -p FIFO:80 'my\_rt\_app'** Launch a real-time application in the rt\_workload cpuset with FIFO scheduler and priority 80. - Isolate CPUs using cpusets (more powerful than traditional affinity): - **tuna isolate -c 4-7 --cpuset my\_isolated --cpuset-housekeeping my\_hk 0-3** Isolate CPUs 4-7 by creating 'my\_isolated' cpuset with kernel-enforced exclusivity (partition=isolated), and move all existing processes to 'my\_hk' cpuset on CPUs 0-3 (partition=member). - **tuna move --cpuset rt\_workload -t 'kworker/\*'** Move all kworker threads to the rt\_workload cpuset. - **tuna show\_threads --cpuset rt\_workload** Show only processes running in the rt\_workload cpuset. - **tuna cpuset modify rt\_workload --add-cpus 6-7** Add CPUs 6-7 to the rt\_workload cpuset without disrupting running processes. - **tuna cpuset status** Display system-wide overview of all cpusets with statistics. - **tuna cpuset save /etc/tuna/my-rt-config.yaml** Save current cpuset configuration to a YAML profile. When running the installed version (tuna), the default path is /etc/tuna/cpuset-profile.yaml. When running from development (tuna-cmd.py), it defaults to ./cpuset-profile.yaml in the current directory. - **tuna cpuset apply /etc/tuna/my-rt-config.yaml** Apply a previously saved cpuset configuration from a YAML profile. This recreates all cpusets defined in the profile with their CPU assignments, memory nodes, and partition settings.