Skip redundant dag.exceeds_max_non_backfill writes to reduce scheduler/DAG-processor lock contention

[bujjibabukatta]

Summary

_set_exceeds_max_active_runs in scheduler_job_runner.py now only
writes dag_model.exceeds_max_non_backfill when the value actually
changes, instead of writing it unconditionally on every call.

Root Cause

As described in #70614, this write can block behind the DAG
processor's SELECT ... FOR UPDATE lock (find_orm_dags in
collection.py), which is held for the whole per-file parse
transaction. Since the flag only flips to True when a DAG is at its
max_active_runs limit, most dagrun completions don't actually change
it — skipping the write in that case avoids the lock contention for
the common case.

This reduces how often the contention happens; it doesn't remove it
entirely, since the write (and the possible block) still happens when
the flag genuinely transitions. The DAG processor's lock scope itself
is untouched — that's a separate, bigger fix.

related: #70614

Was generative AI tooling used to co-author this PR?

• Yes - Claude

Generated-by: Claude following the guidelines

[steveahnahn]

Thanks for the work but I couldn't reproduce the write this removes, notes inline, happy to approve if i'm mistaken.

[potiuk]

Hello @bujjibabukatta - thank you for your contributions to Apache Airflow!

The Airflow community has introduced a limit of 5 open pull requests at a time for contributors without write access to the repository. You currently have 16 open pull requests, so - as a one-time step of introducing the limit - we closed the ones where maintainers have not engaged yet:

• Fix airflowctl always using production creds when --env is passed #70584 - Fix airflowctl always using production creds when --env is passed
• Skip redundant dag.exceeds_max_non_backfill writes to reduce scheduler/DAG-processor lock contention #70712 - Skip redundant dag.exceeds_max_non_backfill writes to reduce scheduler/DAG-processor lock contention
• Allow temporal partition mappers to accept already-normalized keys #70781 - Allow temporal partition mappers to accept already-normalized keys
• Skip file-based dag processor logs when dag_processor_log_target=stdout #71052 - Skip file-based dag processor logs when dag_processor_log_target=stdout
• Add opt-in append_blob write mode for WASB task logs #71064 - Add opt-in append_blob write mode for WASB task logs
• deny unknown backfill_id directly instead of falling back to body dag_id #71114 - deny unknown backfill_id directly instead of falling back to body dag_id
• Fix DAG processor treating non-.zip files as DAG bundles (#71125) #71166 - Fix DAG processor treating non-.zip files as DAG bundles (DAG processor treats any zip-format file (.jar, .pptx, .docx, .xlsx, etc.) as a potential DAG bundle, not just .zip #71125)
• Surface hasMappedDependants on ts-sdk TaskContext #71191 - Surface hasMappedDependants on ts-sdk TaskContext
• fix: FAB get_application_builder should use create_metadata_engine hook #71673 - fix: FAB get_application_builder should use create_metadata_engine hook
• Task SDK: Fix executor_config aliasing across tasks sharing default_args #72556 - Task SDK: Fix executor_config aliasing across tasks sharing default_args
• Add job_name support to DataflowJobStatusSensor and DataflowJobStatusTrigger #72879 - Add job_name support to DataflowJobStatusSensor and DataflowJobStatusTrigger

These pull requests stay open because maintainers are already engaged in them - they count towards your limit:

• fix(amazon): include deferred-task trigger logs when reading from Clo… #70635 - fix(amazon): include deferred-task trigger logs when reading from Clo…
• Fix ReDoS in SparkSubmitHook._mask_cmd on adversarial input #70716 - Fix ReDoS in SparkSubmitHook._mask_cmd on adversarial input
• Point mask_secret deprecation warning at the module it actually uses #70883 - Point mask_secret deprecation warning at the module it actually uses
• Build DataprocCreateClusterOperator cluster_config from legacy kwargs after rendering #70922 - Build DataprocCreateClusterOperator cluster_config from legacy kwargs after rendering
• Anchor run_id to logical_date when create_cron_data_intervals is enab… #71480 - Anchor run_id to logical_date when create_cron_data_intervals is enab…

This is not a judgement of you or of your changes. We never told contributors before that opening many pull requests at once was a problem, so there is nothing to feel bad about - and nothing is lost: your branches, commits and the review history stay where they are.

What we ask you to do is to make your first prioritization decision: choose which of the pull requests above matter most to you, and reopen them (up to 5 open at a time, including the ones still open) with the "Reopen pull request" button or gh pr reopen <PR_NUMBER> --repo apache/airflow. Reopen the ones you are ready to follow through - keep them rebased, respond to review comments and fix failing checks.

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Drafted-by: Claude Code (Opus 5); reviewed by @potiuk before posting