linux-kernel - [PATCH v2] efi: Allow to enable EFI runtime services by default on RT

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Date:   Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:16:54 +0200
From:   Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@...hat.com>
To:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Cc:     linux-efi@...r.kernel.org, Brian Masney <bmasney@...hat.com>,
        Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
        Al Stone <ahs3@...hat.com>,
        Peter Robinson <pbrobinson@...il.com>,
        Robbie Harwood <rharwood@...hat.com>,
        Peter Jones <pjones@...hat.com>,
        Alexander Larsson <alexl@...hat.com>,
        Andrew Halaney <ahalaney@...hat.com>,
        Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>,
        linux-rt-users@...r.kernel.org,
        Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@...hat.com>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Subject: [PATCH v2] efi: Allow to enable EFI runtime services by default on RT

Commit d9f283ae71af ("efi: Disable runtime services on RT") disabled EFI
runtime services by default when the CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT option is enabled.

The rationale for that commit is that some EFI calls could take too much
time, leading to large latencies which is an issue for Real-Time kernels.

But a side effect of that change was that now is not possible anymore to
enable the EFI runtime services by default when CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT is set,
without passing an efi=runtime command line parameter to the kernel.

Instead, let's add a new EFI_DISABLE_RUNTIME boolean Kconfig option, that
would be set to n by default but to y if CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT is enabled.

That way, the current behaviour is preserved but gives users a mechanism
to enable the EFI runtimes services in their kernels if that is required.
For example, if the firmware could guarantee bounded time for EFI calls.

Also, having a separate boolean config could allow users to disable the
EFI runtime services by default even when CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT is not set.

Reported-by: Alexander Larsson <alexl@...hat.com>
Fixes: d9f283ae71af ("efi: Disable runtime services on RT")
Signed-off-by: Javier Martinez Canillas <javierm@...hat.com>
---

Changes in v2:
- Improve commit description to make clear the motivation for the change
  (Sebastian Andrzej Siewior).

 drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig | 15 +++++++++++++++
 drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c   |  2 +-
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig b/drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig
index 2c3dac5ecb36..243882f5e5f9 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig
+++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/Kconfig
@@ -284,3 +284,18 @@ config EFI_CUSTOM_SSDT_OVERLAYS
 
 	  See Documentation/admin-guide/acpi/ssdt-overlays.rst for more
 	  information.
+
+config EFI_DISABLE_RUNTIME
+	bool "Disable EFI runtime services support by default"
+	default y if PREEMPT_RT
+	help
+	  Allow to disable the EFI runtime services support by default. This can
+	  already be achieved by using the efi=noruntime option, but it could be
+	  useful to have this default without any kernel command line parameter.
+
+	  The EFI runtime services are disabled by default when PREEMPT_RT is
+	  enabled, because measurements have shown that some EFI functions calls
+	  might take too much time to complete, causing large latencies which is
+	  an issue for Real-Time kernels.
+
+	  This default can be overridden by using the efi=runtime option.
diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
index 5502e176d51b..ff57db8f8d05 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
+++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ struct mm_struct efi_mm = {
 
 struct workqueue_struct *efi_rts_wq;
 
-static bool disable_runtime = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT);
+static bool disable_runtime = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_EFI_DISABLE_RUNTIME);
 static int __init setup_noefi(char *arg)
 {
 	disable_runtime = true;
-- 
2.35.1