Re: [PATCH v5] KVM x86/xen: add an override for PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT

[Sean Christopherson]

+Andrew

On Thu, Nov 02, 2023, Paul Durrant wrote:
> From: Paul Durrant <pdurrant@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Unless explicitly told to do so (by passing 'clocksource=tsc' and
> 'tsc=stable:socket', and then jumping through some hoops concerning
> potential CPU hotplug) Xen will never use TSC as its clocksource.
> Hence, by default, a Xen guest will not see PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT set
> in either the primary or secondary pvclock memory areas. This has
> led to bugs in some guest kernels which only become evident if
> PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT *is* set in the pvclocks. Hence, to support
> such guests, give the VMM a new Xen HVM config flag to tell KVM to
> forcibly clear the bit in the Xen pvclocks.

...

> diff --git a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
> index 7025b3751027..a9bdd25826d1 100644
> --- a/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/virt/kvm/api.rst
> @@ -8374,6 +8374,7 @@ PVHVM guests. Valid flags are::
>    #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_EVTCHN_2LEVEL		(1 << 4)
>    #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_EVTCHN_SEND		(1 << 5)
>    #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_RUNSTATE_UPDATE_FLAG	(1 << 6)
> +  #define KVM_XEN_HVM_CONFIG_PVCLOCK_TSC_UNSTABLE	(1 << 7)

Does Xen actually support PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT?  I.e. do we need new uAPI to
fix this, or can/should KVM simply _never_ set PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT for Xen
clocks?  At a glance, PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT looks like it was added as a purely
Linux/KVM-only thing.