Re: [PATCH RFC v1 10/20] KVM: x86: Refactor REX prefix handling in instruction emulation

From: Chang S. Bae

Date: Thu Nov 13 2025 - 18:23:42 EST


On 11/11/2025 10:17 AM, Paolo Bonzini wrote:

commit fc8aa5c45d558393069a1c89b7a64e059b8f9418
Author: Chang S. Bae <chang.seok.bae@xxxxxxxxx>
Date:   Mon Nov 10 18:01:21 2025 +0000

    KVM: x86: Refactor REX prefix handling in instruction emulation
    Restructure how to represent and interpret REX fields, preparing
    for handling of VEX and REX2.
    REX uses the upper four bits of a single byte as a fixed identifier,
    and the lower four bits containing the data. VEX and REX2 extend this so
    that the first byte identifies the prefix and the rest encode additional
    bits; and while VEX only has the same four data bits as REX, eight zero
    bits are a valid value for the data bits of REX2.  So, stop storing the
    REX byte as-is.  Instead, store only the low bits of the REX prefix and
    track separately whether a REX-like prefix wasused.
    No functional changes intended.
    Signed-off-by: Chang S. Bae <chang.seok.bae@xxxxxxxxx>
    Message-ID: <20251110180131.28264-11-chang.seok.bae@xxxxxxxxx>
    [Extracted from APX series; removed bitfields and REX2-specific
     definitions. - Paolo]
    Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx>

Sure, I think it's good to have consistent handling like this for these
extended prefixes across the board. Thanks!