Re: [PATCH v20 15/28] x86/sgx: Add the Linux SGX Enclave Driver

[Jarkko Sakkinen]

On Wed, Jun 05, 2019 at 07:52:19AM -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> At this point I don't see the access control stuff impacting the LKM
> decision.
> 
> Irrespetive of the access control thing, there are (at least) two issues
> with using ACPI to probe the driver:
> 
>   - ACPI probing breaks if there are multiple device, i.e. when KVM adds
>     a raw EPC device.  We could do something like probe the driver via
>     ACPI but manually load the raw EPC device from core SGX code, but IMO
>     taking that approach should be a concious decision.
> 
>   - ACPI probing means core SGX will consume resources for EPC management
>     even if there is no end consumer, e.g. the driver refuses to load due
>     to lack of FLC support.
> 
> It would be very helpful for us to make a decision about LKM support
> sooner rather than later, e.g. to start reworking the core code now and so
> that I can send RFCs for KVM support.  IMO we're just delaying the
> inevitable and slowing down upstreaming in the process.

I think a good reason to not have LKM is that it can be added after
reaching the mainline if there ever becomes strong enough reasons to
do so.

I have similar situation with TPM where TPM core would better be just
part of the core but since tristate was introduced, it is hard to revert
that decision.

I would prefer do this update myself rather than taking patches as it
takes me probably shorter time to implement the change rather than
reviewing and squashing patches. I'll get it done ASAP.

/Jarkko