linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] KVM: arm64: preserve pending during kvm_irqfd

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Message-ID: <6f7b0581-e44b-4f07-bc7c-9d0a7c12140d@oracle.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2025 12:51:22 -0400
From: Steven Sistare <steven.sistare@...cle.com>
To: Oliver Upton <oliver.upton@...ux.dev>
Cc: kvmarm@...ts.linux.dev, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Marc Zyngier <maz@...nel.org>, Joey Gouly <joey.gouly@....com>,
        Suzuki K Poulose <suzuki.poulose@....com>,
        Zenghui Yu <yuzenghui@...wei.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] KVM: arm64: preserve pending during kvm_irqfd_deassign

On 7/2/2025 11:19 AM, Oliver Upton wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 02, 2025 at 07:41:37AM -0700, Steve Sistare wrote:
>> When kvm_irqfd_deassign ... -> kvm_vgic_v4_unset_forwarding is called,
>> if an interrupt is pending in irq->pending_latch, then transfer it to
>> the producer's eventfd.  This way, if the KVM instance is subsequently
>> destroyed, the interrupt is preserved in producer state.  If the irqfd
>> is re-created in a new KVM instance, kvm_irqfd_assign finds the producer,
>> polls the eventfd, finds the interrupt, and injects it into KVM.
>>
>> QEMU live update does that: it passes the VFIO device descriptors to the
>> new process, but destroys and recreates the KVM instance, without
>> quiescing VFIO interrupts.
> 
> This *does not work*. Updates to the ITS mapping are non-atomic and a
> poorly timed MSI will get dropped on the floor. Or generate an SError if
> your system implementer has a sense of humor.
> 
> KVM already provides the SAVE_PENDING_TABLES ioctl for saving the
> pending state of LPIs to memory which also retrieves the pending state
> of vLPIs from hardware. The expectation for this ioctl is that userspace
> has already quiesced the interrupt generator.

Thank you Oliver for reviewing this and suggesting SAVE_PENDING_TABLES.
I have added it to the QEMU live update sequence, after calling
kvm_irqfd_deassign, and it does the trick.

- Steve

> If userspace can't honor that I don't see a reason for KVM to go out of
> the way to forward the pending state, especially considering the fact
> that the architecture doesn't support this behavior.
> 
> A spurious interrupt doesn't seem that bad here.
> 
>> -int kvm_vgic_v4_unset_forwarding(struct kvm *kvm, int host_irq)
>> +int kvm_vgic_v4_unset_forwarding(struct kvm *kvm, int host_irq, bool *pending)
>>   {
>>   	struct vgic_irq *irq;
>>   	unsigned long flags;
>>   	int ret = 0;
>> +	bool direct_msi = vgic_supports_direct_msis(kvm);
>>   
>> -	if (!vgic_supports_direct_msis(kvm))
>> +	if (!pending && !direct_msi)
>>   		return 0;
> 
> You've broken the early return in case hardware doesn't support GICv4...
> 
>>   	irq = __vgic_host_irq_get_vlpi(kvm, host_irq);
>> @@ -542,7 +543,13 @@ int kvm_vgic_v4_unset_forwarding(struct kvm *kvm, int host_irq)
>>   
>>   	raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&irq->irq_lock, flags);
>>   	WARN_ON(irq->hw && irq->host_irq != host_irq);
>> -	if (irq->hw) {
>> +
>> +	if (pending) {
>> +		*pending = irq->pending_latch;
>> +		irq->pending_latch = false;
>> +	}
>> +
> 
> So this "works" for software-injected LPIs (notice that this function is
> for handling *vLPIs*) as KVM's pending state is always the source of
> truth. Is that why you're allowing GICv3 to get here now?
> 
> This (importantly) doesn't work for hardware vLPIs, as the pending state
> is maintained in the vLPI pending table for the vPE.
> 
> Overall, I'm not convinced KVM needs to do anything here. We have state
> save/restore mechanisms readily available, if userspace wants to go
> off-label then it's up to userspace to figure that out.
> 
> Thanks,
> Oliver