linux-kernel - Re: 2.6.22 x86_64 : kernel initial decompression hangs on vmware

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Date:	Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:18:48 +0200
From:	Gabriel Barazer <gabriel@...va.fr>
To:	Zachary Amsden <zach@...are.com>
CC:	Andi Kleen <ak@...e.de>, Jim Mattson <jmattson@...are.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Virtualization Mailing List <virtualization@...ts.osdl.org>,
	Avi Kivity <avi@...ranet.com>,
	kvm-devel <kvm-devel@...ts.sourceforge.net>
Subject: Re: 2.6.22 x86_64 : kernel initial decompression hangs on vmware

On 08/04/2007 6:23:00 PM +0200, Zachary Amsden <zach@...are.com> wrote:
> Gabriel Barazer wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> After upgrading kernel to 2.6.22 on a Vmware workstation guest version 
>> 5.5 and 6 , the kernel decompression stage ("Decompressing Linux...") 
>> is hanging for a very long time (~5 minutes) before finally  
>> succeeding (displaying "done.\nBooting the kernel.\n"). During this 
>> time, the VM process is eating all the CPU time during the 
>> decompression, like an infinite loop.
>> Between these 2 strings is the gunzip() function at 
>> boot/compressed/misc.c which does the real job, and the problem seemed 
>> to appear since commit 1ab60e0f72f71ec54831e525a3e1154f1c092408. 
>> (2.6.22-rc1 hangs, 2.6.21.6 works). The problem occurs with or without 
>> CONFIG_RELOCATABLE enabled.
>>
>> What are the possible solutions to confirm where the problem is coming 
>> from ?
> 
> Since I was just involved in the boot decompressor for another bug, I 
> took a look at this.  2.6.22 switches it to be 64-bit code.  VT is very 
> picky about what state it can run in.  Not using VT on Intel 64-bit 
> hardware cripples performance, running at far below normal speed, and 
> taking minutes to decompress the kernel, which is nearly instantaneous 
> otherwise.
> 
> To get back into VT in this case, not only do we need to load FS and GS, 
> we also need to setup an initial LDT and task.  Can you try the attached 
> patch and see that it does the right thing?

It Works (tm) ! Tried compiling with and without the patch, with exactly 
the same config, just to be sure. Decompressing the kernel is now 
lightning fast.

Thanks !

> I've also cc'd the KVM developers, as the same problem will affect them, 
> and hopefully the same patch will fix it.

View attachment "boot-decompress-vt-fix.patch" of type "text/x-patch" (1178 bytes)