linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v5] KVM x86/xen: add an override for PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE

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Message-ID: <504ca757-c5b9-4d3b-900c-c5f401a02027@xen.org>
Date:   Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:41:43 +0000
From:   Paul Durrant <xadimgnik@...il.com>
To:     Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
Cc:     Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>, Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
        Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>, x86@...nel.org,
        "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
        David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>, kvm@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@...rix.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v5] KVM x86/xen: add an override for
 PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT

On 30/11/2023 16:36, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> +Andrew
> 
> On Thu, Nov 02, 2023, Paul Durrant wrote:
>> From: Paul Durrant <pdurrant@...zon.com>
>>
>> Unless explicitly told to do so (by passing 'clocksource=tsc' and
>> 'tsc=stable:socket', and then jumping through some hoops concerning
>> potential CPU hotplug) Xen will never use TSC as its clocksource.
>> Hence, by default, a Xen guest will not see PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT set
>> in either the primary or secondary pvclock memory areas. This has
>> led to bugs in some guest kernels which only become evident if
>> PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT *is* set in the pvclocks. Hence, to support
>> such guests, give the VMM a new Xen HVM config flag to tell KVM to
>> forcibly clear the bit in the Xen pvclocks.
> 
> ...
> 
>> diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>> index 7025b3751027..a9bdd25826d1 100644
>> --- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>> +++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
>> @@ -8374,6 +8374,7 @@ PVHVM guests. Valid flags are::
>>     #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_EVTCHN_2LEVEL		(1 << 4)
>>     #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_EVTCHN_SEND		(1 << 5)
>>     #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_RUNSTATE_UPDATE_FLAG	(1 << 6)
>> +  #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_PVCLOCK_TSC_UNSTABLE	(1 << 7)
> 
> Does Xen actually support PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT?  I.e. do we need new uAPI to
> fix this, or can/should KVM simply _never_ set PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT for Xen
> clocks?  At a glance, PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT looks like it was added as a purely
> Linux/KVM-only thing.

It's certainly tested in arch/x86/xen/time.c, in 
xen_setup_vsyscall_time_info() and xen_time_init(), so I'd guess it is 
considered to be supported.

   Paul