linux-kernel - Re: [BUG] Why does mwait_idle_with_hints() call MWAIT with interrupts disabled ?

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Mon, 11 Jul 2011 13:32:53 +0530
From:	Tomar <tomar@...uxsmiths.com>
To:	Mike Galbraith <efault@....de>
Cc:	Venkatesh Pallipadi <venkatesh.pallipadi@...el.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [BUG] Why does mwait_idle_with_hints() call MWAIT with interrupts
 disabled ?

Mike,
        Thanks for pointing. This explains it. I was looking at an
older manual which did not have mention of this ECX extension.

Thanks,
Tomar



> I got curious enough to blow an inch of virtual dust off the manual..
>
> Software_Delelopers_Manual_Volume:2A:Instruction_Set_Reference:A-M
>
> MWAIT for Address Range Monitoring
>
> For address-range monitoring, the MWAIT instruction operates with the MONITOR
> instruction. The two instructions allow the definition of an address at which to wait
> (MONITOR) and a implementation-dependent-optimized operation to commence at
> the wait address (MWAIT). The execution of MWAIT is a hint to the processor that it
> can enter an implementation-dependent-optimized state while waiting for an event
> or a store operation to the address range armed by MONITOR.
> ECX specifies optional extensions for the MWAIT instruction. EAX may contain hints
> such as the preferred optimized state the processor should enter.
> For Pentium 4 processors (CPUID signature family 15 and model 3), non-zero values
> for EAX and ECX are reserved. Later processors defined ECX=1 as a valid extension
> (see below).
>
> A store to the address range armed by the MONITOR instruction, an interrupt, an NMI
> or SMI, a debug exception, a machine check exception, the BINIT# signal, the INIT#
> signal, or the RESET# signal will exit the implementation-dependent-optimized
> state. An interrupt will cause the processor to exit only if the state was entered with
> interrupts enabled or if ECX=1.
>                   ^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/