RE: [PATCH v9 04/12] vfio iommu: Add support for mediated devices

[Tian, Kevin]

> From: Alex Williamson [mailto:alex.williamson@xxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Monday, October 24, 2016 10:32 AM
> 
> > >> -static long vfio_unpin_pages(unsigned long pfn, long npage,
> > >> -			     int prot, bool do_accounting)
> > >> +static long __vfio_unpin_pages_remote(struct vfio_iommu *iommu,
> > >> +				      unsigned long pfn, long npage, int prot,
> > >> +				      bool do_accounting)
> > >
> > > Have you noticed that it's kind of confusing that
> > > __vfio_{un}pin_pages_remote() uses current, which does a
> > > get_user_pages_fast() while "local" uses a provided task_struct and
> > > uses get_user_pages_*remote*()?  And also what was effectively local
> > > (ie. we're pinning for our own use here) is now "remote" and pinning
> > > for a remote, vendor driver consumer, is now "local".  It's not very
> > > intuitive.
> > >

I questioned this confusing naming in v8 too...

> >
> > 'local' in local_domain was suggested to describe the domain for local
> > page tracking. Earlier suggestions to have 'mdev' or 'noimmu' in this
> > name were discarded. May be we should revisit what the name should be.
> > Any suggestion?
> >
> > For local_domain, to pin pages, flow is:
> >
> > for local_domain
> >     |- vfio_pin_pages()
> >         |- vfio_iommu_type1_pin_pages()
> >             |- __vfio_pin_page_local()
> >                 |-  vaddr_get_pfn(task->mm)
> >                     |- get_user_pages_remote()
> >
> > __vfio_pin_page_local() --> get_user_pages_remote()
> 
> 
> In vfio.c we have the concept of an external user, perhaps that could
> be continued here.  An mdev driver would be an external, or remote
> pinning.
> 

I prefer to use remote here. It's aligned with underlying mm operations

Thanks
Kevin