--- title: Con Kolivas Revives "-ck" Patches & MuQSS To Improve... description: Con Kolivas has unexpectedly revived his out-of-tree "-ck" patch series and MuQSS CPU scheduler, a decade after abandoning the project, releasing Linux 7.2-ck1... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Con Kolivas Revives "-ck" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness | daily.dev og:description: Con Kolivas has unexpectedly revived his out-of-tree "-ck" patch series and MuQSS CPU scheduler, a decade after abandoning the project, releasing Linux 7.2-ck1... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2qO2PPCea.png og:image:alt: Con Kolivas Revives "-ck" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Con Kolivas Revives "-ck" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness **[Phoronix](https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Con Kolivas has unexpectedly revived his out-of-tree "-ck" patch series and MuQSS CPU scheduler, a decade after abandoning the project, releasing Linux 7.2-ck1 aimed at improving desktop and mobile responsiveness. He credits LLMs for making it dramatically easier to merge and maintain out-of-tree patches, which motivated his return. The new release adds I/O-aware CPU scheduling, kthread work accounting back to calling tasks, Intel P/E core hybrid-aware load balancing, skiplist optimizations, and numerous bug fixes. Kolivas still has no plans to upstream the work into mainline Linux, citing long-standing frustration with the kernel development process, and instead maintains it independently. The announcement was posted to the Linux kernel mailing list, with performance benchmarks against modern hardware expected soon. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is the -ck patch series and MuQSS scheduler for Linux, and has it been updated recently? The -ck patch series is Con Kolivas's out-of-tree Linux kernel patchset featuring the MuQSS (MultiQueue Skiplist Scheduler) CPU scheduler, aimed at improving desktop and mobile responsiveness, interactivity, and gaming. After being abandoned for about ten years, Kolivas released Linux 7.2-ck1 with an updated MuQSS build for the 7.2 kernel, adding I/O-aware CPU scheduling and Intel P/E core hybrid load balancing. _Kernel tinkerers chasing desktop responsiveness follow scheduler patchset updates like this on daily.dev._ ### Why did Con Kolivas resume development on his abandoned -ck kernel patches? Con Kolivas resumed the work because large language models made merging and maintaining the out-of-tree patchset dramatically easier than before, calling the improvement 'infinitely easier' compared to when he abandoned it a decade earlier due to time constraints. He still has no intention of upstreaming the code into mainline Linux, remaining frustrated with the mainline kernel development process. _Developers curious how LLMs reshape maintenance of niche open-source projects can track stories like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Linux Patches Show Promising Results For Lower Latency Of Short Slice Tasks](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-patches-show-promising-results-for-lower-latency-of-short-slice-tasks-fmmoukwef) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Linux 7.3 Expected To "Flatten The Pick" For Better Scheduling While Gaming & More](https://daily.dev/posts/linux-7-3-expected-to-flatten-the-pick-for-better-scheduling-while-gaming-more-4sk8p5nyz) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Intel's Cache Aware Scheduling Inches Closer To Being Merged For Linux](https://daily.dev/posts/intel-s-cache-aware-scheduling-inches-closer-to-being-merged-for-linux-otzzt47dg) · Phoronix · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Con Kolivas Revives \"-ck\" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T10:34:47.355Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T09:20:28.016Z","description":"Con Kolivas has unexpectedly revived his out-of-tree \"-ck\" patch series and MuQSS CPU scheduler, a decade after abandoning the project, releasing Linux 7.2-ck1...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--58gMhC4P--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2012","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--58gMhC4P--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2012","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Phoronix","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Phoronix","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/6a26ba379dd64932830aa0c9803dd7ee","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"open-source,linux","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Phoronix","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/phoronix"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Con Kolivas Revives \"-ck\" Patches & MuQSS To Improve Linux Desktop Responsiveness"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/con-kolivas-revives--ck-patches-muqss-to-improve-linux-desktop-responsiveness-2qo2ppcea#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is the -ck patch series and MuQSS scheduler for Linux, and has it been updated recently?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The -ck patch series is Con Kolivas's out-of-tree Linux kernel patchset featuring the MuQSS (MultiQueue Skiplist Scheduler) CPU scheduler, aimed at improving desktop and mobile responsiveness, interactivity, and gaming. 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