Re: [PATCH] xen: filter APERFMPERF feature for kernel usage

From: Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
Date: Thu May 31 2012 - 12:24:28 EST


On Tue, May 29, 2012 at 01:07:31PM +0200, Andre Przywara wrote:
> Xen PV kernels allow access to the APERF/MPERF registers to read the
> effective frequency. Access to the MSRs is however redirected to the
> currently scheduled physical CPU, making consecutive read and
> compares unreliable. In addition each rdmsr traps into the hypervisor.
> So to avoid bogus readouts and expensive traps, disable the kernel
> internal feature flag for APERF/MPERF if running under Xen.
> This will
> a) remove the aperfmperf flag from /proc/cpuinfo
> b) not mislead the power scheduler (arch/x86/kernel/cpu/sched.c) to
> use the feature to improve scheduling (by default disabled)
> c) not mislead the cpufreq driver to use the MSRs
>
> This does not cover userland programs which access the MSRs via the
> device file interface, but this will be addressed separately.
>
> Signed-off-by: Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx # v3.0+

applied.
> ---
> arch/x86/xen/enlighten.c | 8 ++++++++
> 1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/xen/enlighten.c b/arch/x86/xen/enlighten.c
> index 95dccce..dfbe1af 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/xen/enlighten.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/xen/enlighten.c
> @@ -207,6 +207,9 @@ static void __init xen_banner(void)
> xen_feature(XENFEAT_mmu_pt_update_preserve_ad) ? " (preserve-AD)" : "");
> }
>
> +#define CPUID_THERM_POWER_LEAF 6
> +#define APERFMPERF_PRESENT 0
> +
> static __read_mostly unsigned int cpuid_leaf1_edx_mask = ~0;
> static __read_mostly unsigned int cpuid_leaf1_ecx_mask = ~0;
>
> @@ -240,6 +243,11 @@ static void xen_cpuid(unsigned int *ax, unsigned int *bx,
> *dx = cpuid_leaf5_edx_val;
> return;
>
> + case CPUID_THERM_POWER_LEAF:
> + /* Disabling APERFMPERF for kernel usage */
> + maskecx = ~(1 << APERFMPERF_PRESENT);
> + break;
> +
> case 0xb:
> /* Suppress extended topology stuff */
> maskebx = 0;
> --
> 1.7.4.4
>
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/