linux-kernel - [PATCH v3 7/7] x86/pat: Document PAT initialization

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Message-Id: <1458769323-24491-8-git-send-email-toshi.kani@hpe.com>
Date:	Wed, 23 Mar 2016 15:42:03 -0600
From:	Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@....com>
To:	mingo@...nel.org, bp@...e.de, hpa@...or.com, tglx@...utronix.de
Cc:	mcgrof@...e.com, jgross@...e.com, paul.gortmaker@...driver.com,
	konrad.wilk@...cle.com, elliott@....com, x86@...nel.org,
	xen-devel@...ts.xenproject.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@....com>
Subject: [PATCH v3 7/7] x86/pat: Document PAT initialization

Update PAT documentation to describe how PAT is initialized under
various configurations.

Signed-off-by: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@....com>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@...e.de>
Cc: Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@...e.com>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@...or.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
---
 Documentation/x86/pat.txt |   32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/x86/pat.txt b/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
index 54944c7..8ccc0fc 100644
--- a/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
+++ b/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
@@ -196,3 +196,35 @@ Another, more verbose way of getting PAT related debug messages is with
 "debugpat" boot parameter. With this parameter, various debug messages are
 printed to dmesg log.
 
+PAT Initialization
+------------------
+
+The following table describes how PAT is initialized under various
+configurations. PAT MSR must be updated by Linux in order to support WC
+and WT attributes. Otherwise, the PAT MSR has the value programmed in it
+by the firmware. Note, Xen enables WC attribute in the PAT MSR for guests.
+
+ MTRR PAT   Call Sequence               PAT State  PAT MSR
+ =========================================================
+ E    E     MTRR -> PAT init            Enabled    OS
+ E    D     MTRR -> PAT init            Disabled    -
+ D    E     MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ D    D     MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled    -
+ -    np/E  PAT  -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ -    np/D  PAT  -> PAT disable         Disabled    -
+ E    !P/E  MTRR -> PAT init            Disabled   BIOS
+ D    !P/E  MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ !M   !P/E  MTRR stub -> PAT disable    Disabled   BIOS
+
+ Legend
+ ------------------------------------------------
+ E         Feature enabled in CPU
+ D	   Feature disabled/unsupported in CPU
+ np	   "nopat" boot option specified
+ !P	   CONFIG_X86_PAT option unset
+ !M	   CONFIG_MTRR option unset
+ Enabled   PAT state set to enable
+ Disabled  PAT state set to disable
+ OS        PAT initializes PAT MSR with OS setting
+ BIOS      PAT keeps PAT MSR with BIOS setting
+