linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/3] x86/microcode: support for microcode update in Xen dom0

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Message-ID: <20111012204048.GA22260@phenom.oracle.com>
Date:	Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:40:48 -0400
From:	Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@...cle.com>
To:	Borislav Petkov <bp@...64.org>
Cc:	Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@...p.org>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
	the arch/x86 maintainers <x86@...nel.org>,
	Tigran Aivazian <tigran@...azian.fsnet.co.uk>,
	Xen Devel <xen-devel@...ts.xensource.com>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy.fitzhardinge@...rix.com>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/3] x86/microcode: support for microcode update in Xen
 dom0

On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 09:45:43PM +0200, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 03:18:22PM -0400, Jeremy Fitzhardinge wrote:
> > While doing the whole boot time multiboot thing may offer some small
> > hypothetical technical advantages, it has the significant cost of just
> > complicating the whole deployment and use story.
> 
> You simply can't call the need to apply ucode as early as possible a
> "hypothetical techical advantage." Other issues like how to handle ucode
> images and how to put them together and how distros distribute them
> and whether xen minimizes the amount of "specialness" or not are only
> secondary.

Why is it paramount to do it as early as possible? As in, even doing
it before Linux kernel is invoked is preferred than during initrd runtime?
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