Question

I found this declaration in kernel/sched/core.c and I do not understand what does this specify.

static void __sched __schedule(void)

Any help appreciated.

[EDIT] kernel version 3.5.4

Answer 1

__sched is actually a macro defined as __attribute__((__section__(".sched.text"))) in include/linux/sched.h. This attribute is picked up by the GCC compiler:

Normally, the compiler places the objects it generates in sections
like data and bss. Sometimes, however, you need additional sections,
or you need certain particular variables to appear in special
sections, for example to map to special hardware. The section
attribute specifies that a variable (or function) lives in a
particular section.