linux-kernel - [PATCH 10/10] KVM: Relaxed boost as safety net

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Message-ID: <20251110033954.13524-1-kernellwp@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:39:54 +0800
From: Wanpeng Li <kernellwp@...il.com>
To: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@...hat.com>,
	Sean Christopherson <seanjc@...gle.com>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
	Vincent Guittot <vincent.guittot@...aro.org>,
	Juri Lelli <juri.lelli@...hat.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	kvm@...r.kernel.org,
	Wanpeng Li <wanpengli@...cent.com>
Subject: [PATCH 10/10] KVM: Relaxed boost as safety net

From: Wanpeng Li <wanpengli@...cent.com>

Add a minimal two-round fallback mechanism in kvm_vcpu_on_spin() to
avoid pathological stalls when the first round finds no eligible
target.

Round 1 applies strict IPI-aware candidate selection (existing
behavior). Round 2 provides a relaxed scan gated only by preempted
state as a safety net, addressing cases where IPI context is missed or
the runnable set is transient.

The second round is controlled by module parameter enable_relaxed_boost
(bool, 0644, default on) to allow easy disablement by distributions if
needed.

Introduce the enable_relaxed_boost parameter, add a first_round flag,
retry label, and reset of yielded counter. Gate the IPI-aware check in
round 1 and use preempted-only gating in round 2. Keep churn minimal
by reusing the same scan logic while preserving all existing
heuristics, tracing, and bookkeeping.

Signed-off-by: Wanpeng Li <wanpengli@...cent.com>
---
 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c | 24 +++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
index 9cf44b6b396d..b03be8d9ae4c 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/kvm_main.c
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_KVM_INTERNAL(halt_poll_ns_shrink);
 static bool allow_unsafe_mappings;
 module_param(allow_unsafe_mappings, bool, 0444);
 
+static bool enable_relaxed_boost = true;
+module_param(enable_relaxed_boost, bool, 0644);
+
 /*
  * Ordering of locks:
  *
@@ -4015,6 +4018,7 @@ void kvm_vcpu_on_spin(struct kvm_vcpu *me, bool yield_to_kernel_mode)
 	struct kvm *kvm = me->kvm;
 	struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu;
 	int try = 3;
+	bool first_round = true;
 
 	nr_vcpus = atomic_read(&kvm->online_vcpus);
 	if (nr_vcpus < 2)
@@ -4025,6 +4029,9 @@ void kvm_vcpu_on_spin(struct kvm_vcpu *me, bool yield_to_kernel_mode)
 
 	kvm_vcpu_set_in_spin_loop(me, true);
 
+retry:
+	yielded = 0;
+
 	/*
 	 * The current vCPU ("me") is spinning in kernel mode, i.e. is likely
 	 * waiting for a resource to become available.  Attempt to yield to a
@@ -4057,7 +4064,12 @@ void kvm_vcpu_on_spin(struct kvm_vcpu *me, bool yield_to_kernel_mode)
 			continue;
 
 		/* IPI-aware candidate selection */
-		if (!kvm_vcpu_is_good_yield_candidate(me, vcpu, yield_to_kernel_mode))
+		if (first_round &&
+			!kvm_vcpu_is_good_yield_candidate(me, vcpu, yield_to_kernel_mode))
+			continue;
+
+		/* Minimal preempted gate for second round */
+		if (!first_round && !READ_ONCE(vcpu->preempted))
 			continue;
 
 		if (!kvm_vcpu_eligible_for_directed_yield(vcpu))
@@ -4071,6 +4083,16 @@ void kvm_vcpu_on_spin(struct kvm_vcpu *me, bool yield_to_kernel_mode)
 			break;
 		}
 	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Second round: relaxed boost as safety net, with preempted gate.
+	 * Only execute when enabled and when the first round yielded nothing.
+	 */
+	if (enable_relaxed_boost && first_round && yielded <= 0) {
+		first_round = false;
+		goto retry;
+	}
+
 	kvm_vcpu_set_in_spin_loop(me, false);
 
 	/* Ensure vcpu is not eligible during next spinloop */
-- 
2.43.0