linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] KVM: x86: Make the hardcoded APIC bus frequency vm variable

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Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2023 15:56:53 +0800
From: Xiaoyao Li <xiaoyao.li@...el.com>
To: Jim Mattson <jmattson@...gle.com>,
 Isaku Yamahata <isaku.yamahata@...ux.intel.com>
Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>,
 Maxim Levitsky <mlevitsk@...hat.com>, isaku.yamahata@...el.com,
 kvm@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, isaku.yamahata@...il.com,
 Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>, erdemaktas@...gle.com,
 Vishal Annapurve <vannapurve@...gle.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/3] KVM: x86: Make the hardcoded APIC bus frequency vm
 variable

On 12/19/2023 11:53 AM, Jim Mattson wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 5:40 PM Isaku Yamahata
> <isaku.yamahata@...ux.intel.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 14, 2023 at 08:41:43AM -0800,
>> Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 14, 2023, Maxim Levitsky wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 2023-12-13 at 15:10 -0800, Sean Christopherson wrote:
>>>>> Upstream KVM's non-TDX behavior is fine, because KVM doesn't advertise support
>>>>> for CPUID 0x15, i.e. doesn't announce to host userspace that it's safe to expose
>>>>> CPUID 0x15 to the guest.  Because TDX makes exposing CPUID 0x15 mandatory, KVM
>>>>> needs to be taught to correctly emulate the guest's APIC bus frequency, a.k.a.
>>>>> the TDX guest core crystal frequency of 25Mhz.
>>>>
>>>> I assume that TDX doesn't allow to change the CPUID 0x15 leaf.
>>>
>>> Correct.  I meant to call that out below, but left my sentence half-finished.  It
>>> was supposed to say:
>>>
>>>    I halfheartedly floated the idea of "fixing" the TDX module/architecture to either
>>>    use 1Ghz as the base frequency or to allow configuring the base frequency
>>>    advertised to the guest.
>>>
>>>>> I halfheartedly floated the idea of "fixing" the TDX module/architecture to either
>>>>> use 1Ghz as the base frequency (off list), but it definitely isn't a hill worth
>>>>> dying on since the KVM changes are relatively simple.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/ZSnIKQ4bUavAtBz6@google.com
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>      Maxim Levitsky
>>
>> The followings are the updated version of the commit message.
>>
>>
>> KVM: x86: Make the hardcoded APIC bus frequency VM variable
>>
>> The TDX architecture hard-codes the APIC bus frequency to 25MHz in the
>> CPUID leaf 0x15.  The
>> TDX mandates it to be exposed and doesn't allow the VMM to override
>> its value.  The KVM APIC timer emulation hard-codes the frequency to
>> 1GHz.  It doesn't unconditionally enumerate it to the guest unless the
>> user space VMM sets the CPUID leaf 0x15 by KVM_SET_CPUID.
>>
>> If the CPUID leaf 0x15 is enumerated, the guest kernel uses it as the
>> APIC bus frequency.  If not, the guest kernel measures the frequency
>> based on other known timers like the ACPI timer or the legacy PIT.
>> The TDX guest kernel gets timer interrupt more times by 1GHz / 25MHz.
>>
>> To ensure that the guest doesn't have a conflicting view of the APIC
>> bus frequency, allow the userspace to tell KVM to use the same
>> frequency that TDX mandates instead of the default 1Ghz.
>>
>> There are several options to address this.
>> 1. Make the KVM able to configure APIC bus frequency (This patch).
>>     Pros: It resembles the existing hardware.  The recent Intel CPUs
>>     adapts 25MHz.
>>     Cons: Require the VMM to emulate the APIC timer at 25MHz.
>> 2. Make the TDX architecture enumerate CPUID 0x15 to configurable
>>     frequency or not enumerate it.
>>     Pros: Any APIC bus frequency is allowed.
>>     Cons: Deviation from the real hardware.
>> 3. Make the TDX guest kernel use 1GHz when it's running on KVM.
>>     Cons: The kernel ignores CPUID leaf 0x15.
> 
> 4. Change CPUID.15H under TDX to report the crystal clock frequency as 1 GHz.

This will have an impact on TSC frequency. Core crystal clock frequency 
is also used to calculate TSC frequency.

> Pro: This has been the virtual APIC frequency for KVM guests for 13 years.
> Pro: This requires changing only one hard-coded constant in TDX.
> 
> I see no compelling reason to complicate KVM with support for
> configurable APIC frequencies, and I see no advantages to doing so.

I'm wondering what's the attitude of KVM community to provide support 
CPUID leaf 0x15? Even KVM decides to never advertise CPUID 0x15 in 
GET_SUPPORTED_CPUID, hard-coded APIC frequency puts additional 
limitation when userspace want to emualte CPUID 0x15