Re: [PATCH v2] intel_idle: mention assumption that wbinvd is not needed

From: Rafael J. Wysocki
Date: Fri Oct 16 2020 - 11:11:40 EST


On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 2:51 PM Alexander Monakov <amonakov@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Intel SDM does not explicitly say that entering a C-state via MWAIT will
> implicitly flush CPU caches as appropriate for that C-state. However,
> documentation for individual Intel CPU generations does mention this
> behavior.
>
> Since intel_idle binds to any Intel CPU with MWAIT, list this assumption
> of MWAIT behavior. In passing, reword opening comment to make it clear
> that the driver can load on any old and future Intel CPU with MWAIT.
>
> Signed-off-by: Alexander Monakov <amonakov@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Rafael J. Wysocki <rafael.j.wysocki@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>
> v2: reword remark about WBINVD (Rafael)
>
> drivers/idle/intel_idle.c | 8 ++++++--
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/idle/intel_idle.c b/drivers/idle/intel_idle.c
> index f4495841bf68..6d87f2129119 100644
> --- a/drivers/idle/intel_idle.c
> +++ b/drivers/idle/intel_idle.c
> @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
> */
>
> /*
> - * intel_idle is a cpuidle driver that loads on specific Intel processors
> + * intel_idle is a cpuidle driver that loads on all Intel CPUs with MWAIT
> * in lieu of the legacy ACPI processor_idle driver. The intent is to
> * make Linux more efficient on these processors, as intel_idle knows
> * more than ACPI, as well as make Linux more immune to ACPI BIOS bugs.
> @@ -20,7 +20,11 @@
> * All CPUs have same idle states as boot CPU
> *
> * Chipset BM_STS (bus master status) bit is a NOP
> - * for preventing entry into deep C-stats
> + * for preventing entry into deep C-states
> + *
> + * CPU will flush caches as needed when entering a C-state via MWAIT
> + * (in contrast to entering ACPI C3, in which case the WBINVD
> + * instruction needs to be executed to flush the caches)
> */
>
> /*
> --

Applied as 5.10-rc material, thanks!