Date: Thu, 16 May 2024 22:44:42 -0600
From: Alex Williamson <alex.williamson@...hat.com>
To: Yan Zhao <yan.y.zhao@...el.com>
Cc: <kvm@...r.kernel.org>, <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, <x86@...nel.org>,
 <jgg@...dia.com>, <kevin.tian@...el.com>, <iommu@...ts.linux.dev>,
 <pbonzini@...hat.com>, <seanjc@...gle.com>, <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>,
 <luto@...nel.org>, <peterz@...radead.org>, <tglx@...utronix.de>,
 <mingo@...hat.com>, <bp@...en8.de>, <hpa@...or.com>, <corbet@....net>,
 <joro@...tes.org>, <will@...nel.org>, <robin.murphy@....com>,
 <baolu.lu@...ux.intel.com>, <yi.l.liu@...el.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 4/5] vfio/type1: Flush CPU caches on DMA pages in
 non-coherent domains

On Fri, 17 May 2024 11:11:48 +0800
Yan Zhao <yan.y.zhao@...el.com> wrote:

> On Thu, May 16, 2024 at 02:50:09PM -0600, Alex Williamson wrote:
> > On Mon, 13 May 2024 15:11:28 +0800
> > Yan Zhao <yan.y.zhao@...el.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > On Fri, May 10, 2024 at 10:57:28AM -0600, Alex Williamson wrote:  
> > > > On Fri, 10 May 2024 18:31:13 +0800
> > > > Yan Zhao <yan.y.zhao@...el.com> wrote:
> > > >     
> > > > > On Thu, May 09, 2024 at 12:10:49PM -0600, Alex Williamson wrote:    
> > > > > > On Tue,  7 May 2024 14:21:38 +0800
> > > > > > Yan Zhao <yan.y.zhao@...el.com> wrote:      
> ...   
> > > > > > > @@ -1683,9 +1715,14 @@ static int vfio_iommu_replay(struct vfio_iommu *iommu,
> > > > > > >  	for (; n; n = rb_next(n)) {
> > > > > > >  		struct vfio_dma *dma;
> > > > > > >  		dma_addr_t iova;
> > > > > > > +		bool cache_flush_required;
> > > > > > >  
> > > > > > >  		dma = rb_entry(n, struct vfio_dma, node);
> > > > > > >  		iova = dma->iova;
> > > > > > > +		cache_flush_required = !domain->enforce_cache_coherency &&
> > > > > > > +				       !dma->cache_flush_required;
> > > > > > > +		if (cache_flush_required)
> > > > > > > +			dma->cache_flush_required = true;      
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > The variable name here isn't accurate and the logic is confusing.  If
> > > > > > the domain does not enforce coherency and the mapping is not tagged as
> > > > > > requiring a cache flush, then we need to mark the mapping as requiring
> > > > > > a cache flush.  So the variable state is something more akin to
> > > > > > set_cache_flush_required.  But all we're saving with this is a
> > > > > > redundant set if the mapping is already tagged as requiring a cache
> > > > > > flush, so it could really be simplified to:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 		dma->cache_flush_required = !domain->enforce_cache_coherency;      
> > > > > Sorry about the confusion.
> > > > > 
> > > > > If dma->cache_flush_required is set to true by a domain not enforcing cache
> > > > > coherency, we hope it will not be reset to false by a later attaching to domain 
> > > > > enforcing cache coherency due to the lazily flushing design.    
> > > > 
> > > > Right, ok, the vfio_dma objects are shared between domains so we never
> > > > want to set 'dma->cache_flush_required = false' due to the addition of a
> > > > 'domain->enforce_cache_coherent == true'.  So this could be:
> > > > 
> > > > 	if (!dma->cache_flush_required)
> > > > 		dma->cache_flush_required = !domain->enforce_cache_coherency;    
> > > 
> > > Though this code is easier for understanding, it leads to unnecessary setting of
> > > dma->cache_flush_required to false, given domain->enforce_cache_coherency is
> > > true at the most time.  
> > 
> > I don't really see that as an issue, but the variable name originally
> > chosen above, cache_flush_required, also doesn't convey that it's only
> > attempting to set the value if it wasn't previously set and is now
> > required by a noncoherent domain.  
> Agreed, the old name is too vague.
> What about update_to_noncoherent_required?

set_noncoherent?  Thanks,

Alex

> Then in vfio_iommu_replay(), it's like
> 
> update_to_noncoherent_required = !domain->enforce_cache_coherency && !dma->is_noncoherent;
> if (update_to_noncoherent_required)
>          dma->is_noncoherent = true;
> 
> ...
> if (update_to_noncoherent_required)
> 	arch_flush_cache_phys((phys, size);
> >   
> > > > > > It might add more clarity to just name the mapping flag
> > > > > > dma->mapped_noncoherent.      
> > > > > 
> > > > > The dma->cache_flush_required is to mark whether pages in a vfio_dma requires
> > > > > cache flush in the subsequence mapping into the first non-coherent domain
> > > > > and page unpinning.    
> > > > 
> > > > How do we arrive at a sequence where we have dma->cache_flush_required
> > > > that isn't the result of being mapped into a domain with
> > > > !domain->enforce_cache_coherency?    
> > > Hmm, dma->cache_flush_required IS the result of being mapped into a domain with
> > > !domain->enforce_cache_coherency.
> > > My concern only arrives from the actual code sequence, i.e.
> > > dma->cache_flush_required is set to true before the actual mapping.
> > > 
> > > If we rename it to dma->mapped_noncoherent and only set it to true after the
> > > actual successful mapping, it would lead to more code to handle flushing for the
> > > unwind case.
> > > Currently, flush for unwind is handled centrally in vfio_unpin_pages_remote()
> > > by checking dma->cache_flush_required, which is true even before a full
> > > successful mapping, so we won't miss flush on any pages that are mapped into a
> > > non-coherent domain in a short window.  
> > 
> > I don't think we need to be so literal that "mapped_noncoherent" can
> > only be set after the vfio_dma is fully mapped to a noncoherent domain,
> > but also we can come up with other names for the flag.  Perhaps
> > "is_noncoherent".  My suggestion was more from the perspective of what
> > does the flag represent rather than what we intend to do as a result of
> > the flag being set.  Thanks,   
> Makes sense!
> I like the name "is_noncoherent" :)
> 

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