Re: [PATCH v2 00/21] arm64: Virtualization Host Extension support

[Will Deacon]

On Mon, Jan 25, 2016 at 03:53:34PM +0000, Marc Zyngier wrote:
> ARMv8.1 comes with the "Virtualization Host Extension" (VHE for
> short), which enables simpler support of Type-2 hypervisors.
> 
> This extension allows the kernel to directly run at EL2, and
> significantly reduces the number of system registers shared between
> host and guest, reducing the overhead of virtualization.
> 
> In order to have the same kernel binary running on all versions of the
> architecture, this series makes heavy use of runtime code patching.
> 
> The first 20 patches massage the KVM code to deal with VHE and enable
> Linux to run at EL2. The last patch catches an ugly case when VHE
> capable CPUs are paired with some of their less capable siblings. This
> should never happen, but hey...
> 
> I have deliberately left out some of the more "advanced"
> optimizations, as they are likely to distract the reviewer from the
> core infrastructure, which is what I care about at the moment.
> 
> A few things to note:
> 
> - Given that the code has been almost entierely rewritten, I've
>   dropped all Acks from the new patches
> 
> - GDB is currently busted on VHE systems, as it checks for version 6
>   on the debug architecture, while VHE is version 7. The binutils
>   people are on the case.

[...]

>  arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h          |   5 ++
>  arch/arm/kvm/arm.c                   | 151 +++++++++++++++++++------------
>  arch/arm/kvm/mmu.c                   |   7 ++
>  arch/arm64/Kconfig                   |  13 +++
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/cpufeature.h  |   3 +-
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_arm.h     |   1 +
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h |   3 +
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h     |  34 ++++++-
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/virt.h        |  27 ++++++
>  arch/arm64/kernel/asm-offsets.c      |   3 -
>  arch/arm64/kernel/cpufeature.c       |  15 +++-
>  arch/arm64/kernel/head.S             |  51 ++++++++++-
>  arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c              |   3 +
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp-init.S            |  18 +---
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp.S                 |   7 ++
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/entry.S           |   6 ++
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S       | 107 +++++++---------------
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/hyp.h             | 119 ++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/switch.c          | 170 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/sysreg-sr.c       | 147 ++++++++++++++++++++----------
>  arch/arm64/kvm/hyp/timer-sr.c        |  10 +--
>  drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c |  96 ++++++++++++--------
>  22 files changed, 724 insertions(+), 272 deletions(-)

Have you tried hw_breakpoint/perf/ptrace with these changes? I was under
the impression that the debug architecture was aware of E2H and did need
some changes made. I know you say that GDB is broken anyway, but we should
check that the kernel does the right thing if userspace pokes it the
right way.

Will