Re: [PATCH v4 3/9] mm: Add write-protect and clean utilities for address space ranges

[Nadav Amit]

> On Jun 11, 2019, at 5:24 AM, Thomas HellstrÃm (VMware) <thellstrom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> From: Thomas Hellstrom <thellstrom@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 

[ snip ]

> +/**
> + * apply_pt_wrprotect - Leaf pte callback to write-protect a pte
> + * @pte: Pointer to the pte
> + * @token: Page table token, see apply_to_pfn_range()
> + * @addr: The virtual page address
> + * @closure: Pointer to a struct pfn_range_apply embedded in a
> + * struct apply_as
> + *
> + * The function write-protects a pte and records the range in
> + * virtual address space of touched ptes for efficient range TLB flushes.
> + *
> + * Return: Always zero.
> + */
> +static int apply_pt_wrprotect(pte_t *pte, pgtable_t token,
> +			      unsigned long addr,
> +			      struct pfn_range_apply *closure)
> +{
> +	struct apply_as *aas = container_of(closure, typeof(*aas), base);
> +	pte_t ptent = *pte;
> +
> +	if (pte_write(ptent)) {
> +		pte_t old_pte = ptep_modify_prot_start(aas->vma, addr, pte);
> +
> +		ptent = pte_wrprotect(old_pte);
> +		ptep_modify_prot_commit(aas->vma, addr, pte, old_pte, ptent);
> +		aas->total++;
> +		aas->start = min(aas->start, addr);
> +		aas->end = max(aas->end, addr + PAGE_SIZE);
> +	}
> +
> +	return 0;
> +}
> +
> +/**
> + * struct apply_as_clean - Closure structure for apply_as_clean
> + * @base: struct apply_as we derive from
> + * @bitmap_pgoff: Address_space Page offset of the first bit in @bitmap
> + * @bitmap: Bitmap with one bit for each page offset in the address_space range
> + * covered.
> + * @start: Address_space page offset of first modified pte relative
> + * to @bitmap_pgoff
> + * @end: Address_space page offset of last modified pte relative
> + * to @bitmap_pgoff
> + */
> +struct apply_as_clean {
> +	struct apply_as base;
> +	pgoff_t bitmap_pgoff;
> +	unsigned long *bitmap;
> +	pgoff_t start;
> +	pgoff_t end;
> +};
> +
> +/**
> + * apply_pt_clean - Leaf pte callback to clean a pte
> + * @pte: Pointer to the pte
> + * @token: Page table token, see apply_to_pfn_range()
> + * @addr: The virtual page address
> + * @closure: Pointer to a struct pfn_range_apply embedded in a
> + * struct apply_as_clean
> + *
> + * The function cleans a pte and records the range in
> + * virtual address space of touched ptes for efficient TLB flushes.
> + * It also records dirty ptes in a bitmap representing page offsets
> + * in the address_space, as well as the first and last of the bits
> + * touched.
> + *
> + * Return: Always zero.
> + */
> +static int apply_pt_clean(pte_t *pte, pgtable_t token,
> +			  unsigned long addr,
> +			  struct pfn_range_apply *closure)
> +{
> +	struct apply_as *aas = container_of(closure, typeof(*aas), base);
> +	struct apply_as_clean *clean = container_of(aas, typeof(*clean), base);
> +	pte_t ptent = *pte;
> +
> +	if (pte_dirty(ptent)) {
> +		pgoff_t pgoff = ((addr - aas->vma->vm_start) >> PAGE_SHIFT) +
> +			aas->vma->vm_pgoff - clean->bitmap_pgoff;
> +		pte_t old_pte = ptep_modify_prot_start(aas->vma, addr, pte);
> +
> +		ptent = pte_mkclean(old_pte);
> +		ptep_modify_prot_commit(aas->vma, addr, pte, old_pte, ptent);
> +
> +		aas->total++;
> +		aas->start = min(aas->start, addr);
> +		aas->end = max(aas->end, addr + PAGE_SIZE);
> +
> +		__set_bit(pgoff, clean->bitmap);
> +		clean->start = min(clean->start, pgoff);
> +		clean->end = max(clean->end, pgoff + 1);
> +	}
> +
> +	return 0;

Usually, when a PTE is write-protected, or when a dirty-bit is cleared, the
TLB flush must be done while the page-table lock for that specific table is
taken (i.e., within apply_pt_clean() and apply_pt_wrprotect() in this case).

Otherwise, in the case of apply_pt_clean() for example, another core might
shortly after (before the TLB flush) write to the same page whose PTE was
changed. The dirty-bit in such case might not be set, and the change get
lost.

Does this function regards a certain use-case in which deferring the TLB
flushes is fine? If so, assertions and documentation of the related
assumption would be useful.