[tip:x86/mm] x86/mm/mtrr, pat: Document Write Combining MTRR type effects on PAT / non-PAT pages

From: tip-bot for Luis R. Rodriguez
Date: Wed May 27 2015 - 10:21:34 EST

Commit-ID: 2f9e897353fcb99effd6eff22f7b464f8e2a659a
Gitweb: http://git.kernel.org/tip/2f9e897353fcb99effd6eff22f7b464f8e2a659a
Author: Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@xxxxxxxx>
AuthorDate: Tue, 26 May 2015 10:28:12 +0200
Committer: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
CommitDate: Wed, 27 May 2015 14:40:59 +0200

x86/mm/mtrr, pat: Document Write Combining MTRR type effects on PAT / non-PAT pages

As part of the effort to phase out MTRR use document
write-combining MTRR effects on pages with different non-PAT
page attributes flags and different PAT entry values. Extend
arch_phys_wc_add() documentation to clarify power of two sizes /
boundary requirements as we phase out mtrr_add() use.

Lastly hint towards ioremap_uc() for corner cases on device
drivers working with devices with mixed regions where MTRR size
requirements would otherwise not enable write-combining
effective memory types.

Signed-off-by: Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@xxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Antonino Daplas <adaplas@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Daniel Vetter <daniel.vetter@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Airlie <airlied@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Davidlohr Bueso <dbueso@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jean-Christophe Plagniol-Villard <plagnioj@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@xxxxxxxx>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mel Gorman <mgorman@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Suresh Siddha <sbsiddha@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Tomi Valkeinen <tomi.valkeinen@xxxxxx>
Cc: Ville SyrjÃlà <syrjala@xxxxxx>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx>
Cc: linux-fbdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1430343851-967-3-git-send-email-mcgrof@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1432628901-18044-10-git-send-email-bp@xxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/x86/mtrr.txt | 18 +++++++++++++++---
Documentation/x86/pat.txt | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c | 3 +++
3 files changed, 52 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/x86/mtrr.txt b/Documentation/x86/mtrr.txt
index cc071dc..860bc3a 100644
--- a/Documentation/x86/mtrr.txt
+++ b/Documentation/x86/mtrr.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,19 @@
MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) control
-3 Jun 1999
-Richard Gooch
-<rgooch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
+
+Richard Gooch <rgooch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> - 3 Jun 1999
+Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> - April 9, 2015
+
+===============================================================================
+Phasing out MTRR use
+
+MTRR use is replaced on modern x86 hardware with PAT. Over time the only type
+of effective MTRR that is expected to be supported will be for write-combining.
+As MTRR use is phased out device drivers should use arch_phys_wc_add() to make
+MTRR effective on non-PAT systems while a no-op on PAT enabled systems.
+
+For details refer to Documentation/x86/pat.txt.
+
+===============================================================================

On Intel P6 family processors (Pentium Pro, Pentium II and later)
the Memory Type Range Registers (MTRRs) may be used to control
diff --git a/Documentation/x86/pat.txt b/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
index cf08c9f..521bd8a 100644
--- a/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
+++ b/Documentation/x86/pat.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ ioremap | -- | UC- | UC- |
| | | |
ioremap_cache | -- | WB | WB |
| | | |
+ioremap_uc | -- | UC | UC |
+ | | | |
ioremap_nocache | -- | UC- | UC- |
| | | |
ioremap_wc | -- | -- | WC |
@@ -102,7 +104,38 @@ wants to export a RAM region, it has to do set_memory_uc() or set_memory_wc()
as step 0 above and also track the usage of those pages and use set_memory_wb()
before the page is freed to free pool.

-
+MTRR effects on PAT / non-PAT systems
+-------------------------------------
+
+The following table provides the effects of using write-combining MTRRs when
+using ioremap*() calls on x86 for both non-PAT and PAT systems. Ideally
+mtrr_add() usage will be phased out in favor of arch_phys_wc_add() which will
+be a no-op on PAT enabled systems. The region over which a arch_phys_wc_add()
+is made, should already have been ioremapped with WC attributes or PAT entries,
+this can be done by using ioremap_wc() / set_memory_wc(). Devices which
+combine areas of IO memory desired to remain uncacheable with areas where
+write-combining is desirable should consider use of ioremap_uc() followed by
+set_memory_wc() to white-list effective write-combined areas. Such use is
+nevertheless discouraged as the effective memory type is considered
+implementation defined, yet this strategy can be used as last resort on devices
+with size-constrained regions where otherwise MTRR write-combining would
+otherwise not be effective.
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+MTRR Non-PAT PAT Linux ioremap value Effective memory type
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+ Non-PAT | PAT
+ PAT
+ |PCD
+ ||PWT
+ |||
+WC 000 WB _PAGE_CACHE_MODE_WB WC | WC
+WC 001 WC _PAGE_CACHE_MODE_WC WC* | WC
+WC 010 UC- _PAGE_CACHE_MODE_UC_MINUS WC* | UC
+WC 011 UC _PAGE_CACHE_MODE_UC UC | UC
+----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(*) denotes implementation defined and is discouraged

Notes:

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c
index ea5f363..04aceb7 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mtrr/main.c
@@ -538,6 +538,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(mtrr_del);
* attempts to add a WC MTRR covering size bytes starting at base and
* logs an error if this fails.
*
+ * The called should provide a power of two size on an equivalent
+ * power of two boundary.
+ *
* Drivers must store the return value to pass to mtrr_del_wc_if_needed,
* but drivers should not try to interpret that return value.
*/
--
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