[PATCH v10 00/21] KVM: x86: Cleaning up the KVM clock mess, part 1
From: Sean Christopherson
Date: Wed Aug 26 2026 - 17:33:17 EST
Part 1 of David's series to clean up the host-side mess of kvmclock. The cut
point in this version is still quite arbitrary, but what's left for "part 2"
fits nicely into 2-3 buckets:
1: Masterclock overhaul
2. New uAPI and tests
v10:
- Drop the stale reference to using div_u64() for the now-removed CPUID leaf.
[Sashiko]
- Don't bother with a enabling the pvclock_gtod notifier on 32-bit, and go
straight to ktime_mono_to_any(). [Sashiko]
v9:
- https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260810225500.869288-1-seanjc@xxxxxxxxxx
- Pull in "Compute kvmclock base without pvclock_gtod_data" before "Avoid NTP
frequency skew for KVM clock on 32-bit host" to avoid having to provide what
is effectively an open-coded version of ktime_mono_to_any() to avoid data
races. [Sashiko].
- Pull in use of kernel timekeeping snapshots, split in three patches purely
to aid review and bisection.
- Check and clear KVM_REQ_MASTERCLOCK_UPDATE in kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate().
[me, Sashiko]
- Add the missing return value in "Move "no master clock" fallback from...".
[Sashiko]
v8:
- Obviously cut partway through the full series.
- Update commit references for 633d7652f80f ("KVM: x86/xen: Do not corrupt
KVM clock in kvm_xen_shared_info_init()").
- Chunk the "Restructure ..." patches into individual logical changes
("Restructure kvm_guest_time_update() for TSC upscaling" in particular was
quite gnarly).
- Ensure the TSC+freq pair during guest time updates happens on a single
CPU. [Sashiko]
- Keep __get_kvmclock() as a masterclock-specific helper to avoid deep
indentation and gotos.
- Do waaaaay too much spelunking to try piece together the history of some
of the many warts.
- Ensure preemption is disabled in get_kvmclock() when getting the TSC freq.
v7: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260728144954.355376-1-dwmw2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
David Woodhouse (14):
KVM: x86: Improve accuracy of KVM clock when TSC scaling is in force
KVM: x86: Explicitly disable TSC scaling without CONSTANT_TSC
KVM: x86: Activate master clock immediately on vCPU creation
KVM: x86: Compute kvmclock base without pvclock_gtod_data
KVM: x86: Avoid NTP frequency skew for KVM clock on 32-bit host
KVM: x86: Wrap all of __get_kvmclock_master_clock() with
CONFIG_X86_64=y
KVM: x86: Fall back to non-master-clock if clockread fails in
get_kvmclock()
KVM: x86: Fix KVM clock precision in get_kvmclock() with TSC scaling
KVM: x86: Use get_kvmclock() in kvm_get_wall_clock_epoch()
KVM: x86: Fix compute_guest_tsc() to handle negative time deltas
KVM: x86: Upscale TSC to "now", not master clock when updating PV
clocks
KVM: x86: Simplify and comment kvm_get_time_scale()
KVM: x86: Remove implicit rdtsc() from kvm_compute_l1_tsc_offset()
KVM: x86: Use kernel timekeeping snapshots for getting kvmclock time
since boot
Sean Christopherson (7):
KVM: x86: Update "last guest TSC" snapshot prior to enabling
IRQs/preemption
KVM: x86: Drop unnecessary CPU pinning when computing/getting kvmclock
KVM: x86: Move "no master clock" fallback from __get_kvmclock() to
get_kvmclock()
KVM: x86: Disable preemption, not IRQs, when getting TSC+freq pair
KVM: x86: Make master clock logic in guest PV clock updates 64-bit
only
KVM: x86: Use kernel timekeeping snapshot for monotonic clock
KVM: x86: Use kernel timekeeping snapshot to get walltime+TSC
arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_host.h | 6 +-
arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c | 1 +
arch/x86/kvm/msrs.c | 3 +-
arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c | 3 +-
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c | 10 +
arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 480 +++++++++++++++-----------------
arch/x86/kvm/x86.h | 3 +-
7 files changed, 240 insertions(+), 266 deletions(-)
base-commit: 76671054f9a1ff6abb976583cd8da37650acdc97
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2.55.0.887.g758fc8c411-goog