linux-kernel - [PATCH 4/4] x86/mtrr: Drop cache_disable

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Message-ID: <20260121141106.755458-5-jgross@suse.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2026 15:11:06 +0100
From: Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>
To: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	x86@...nel.org
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...nel.org>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
	Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
	Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
Subject: [PATCH 4/4] x86/mtrr: Drop cache_disable_lock

Now that no global state is modified under cache_disable_lock, it can
be dropped.

All required serialization is done via mtrr_mutex and cpus_read_lock(),
ensuring that only one set_mtrr() can be active at any time and that
this call can't run concurrently with CPU bringup.

The main advantages are a faster boot of machines with lots of CPUs,
and avoiding hard lockups on those machines in case
mtrr_generic_set_state() takes too long in uncached mode, resulting
in other CPUs waiting for seconds to get the cache_disable_lock.

This has been seen happening in more than 1% of all boots on an Intel
machine with 960 CPUs. With this patch applied boot was always
successful.

Signed-off-by: Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>
---
I was considering applying a "Fixes:" tag, but this could only
reference the initial kernel git commit, as MTRR support predates
git, and the problem existed since MTRRs became a thing.

 arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/generic.c | 12 ------------
 1 file changed, 12 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/generic.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/generic.c
index bfd5a7ba17cb..280f9491ec2e 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/generic.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/generic.c
@@ -970,7 +970,6 @@ static void mtrr_enable(struct mtrr_work_state *state)
  * The caller must ensure that local interrupts are disabled and
  * are reenabled after cache_enable() has been called.
  */
-static DEFINE_RAW_SPINLOCK(cache_disable_lock);
 
 /*
  * Cache flushing is the most time-consuming step when programming the
@@ -984,17 +983,9 @@ static void maybe_flush_caches(void)
 }
 
 static void cache_disable(struct mtrr_work_state *state)
-	__acquires(cache_disable_lock)
 {
 	unsigned long cr0;
 
-	/*
-	 * This is not ideal since the cache is only flushed/disabled
-	 * for this CPU while the MTRRs are changed, but changing this
-	 * requires more invasive changes to the way the kernel boots.
-	 */
-	raw_spin_lock(&cache_disable_lock);
-
 	/* Enter the no-fill (CD=1, NW=0) cache mode and flush caches. */
 	cr0 = read_cr0() | X86_CR0_CD;
 	write_cr0(cr0);
@@ -1018,7 +1009,6 @@ static void cache_disable(struct mtrr_work_state *state)
 }
 
 static void cache_enable(struct mtrr_work_state *state)
-	__releases(cache_disable_lock)
 {
 	/* Flush TLBs (no need to flush caches - they are disabled) */
 	count_vm_tlb_event(NR_TLB_LOCAL_FLUSH_ALL);
@@ -1033,8 +1023,6 @@ static void cache_enable(struct mtrr_work_state *state)
 	/* Restore value of CR4 */
 	if (cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_PGE))
 		__write_cr4(state->cr4);
-
-	raw_spin_unlock(&cache_disable_lock);
 }
 
 void mtrr_generic_set_state(void)
-- 
2.52.0