linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86: Don't unnecessarily force masterclock update on vCPU hotplug

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Date:   Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:52:12 -0800
From:   Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
To:     Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>,
        Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>
Cc:     kvm@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Dongli Zhang <dongli.zhang@...cle.com>,
        David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86: Don't unnecessarily force masterclock update on
 vCPU hotplug

On Wed, 18 Oct 2023 12:56:38 -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> Don't force a masterclock update when a vCPU synchronizes to the current
> TSC generation, e.g. when userspace hotplugs a pre-created vCPU into the
> VM.  Unnecessarily updating the masterclock is undesirable as it can cause
> kvmclock's time to jump, which is particularly painful on systems with a
> stable TSC as kvmclock _should_ be fully reliable on such systems.
> 
> The unexpected time jumps are due to differences in the TSC=>nanoseconds
> conversion algorithms between kvmclock and the host's CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW
> (the pvclock algorithm is inherently lossy).  When updating the
> masterclock, KVM refreshes the "base", i.e. moves the elapsed time since
> the last update from the kvmclock/pvclock algorithm to the
> CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW algorithm.  Synchronizing kvmclock with
> CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW is the lesser of evils when the TSC is unstable, but
> adds no real value when the TSC is stable.
> 
> [...]

Applied to kvm-x86 misc, thanks!

[1/1] KVM: x86: Don't unnecessarily force masterclock update on vCPU hotplug
      https://github.com/kvm-x86/linux/commit/c52ffadc65e2

--
https://github.com/kvm-x86/linux/tree/next