Re: [PATCH 1/4] x86/reboot: Unconditionally define cpu_emergency_virt_cb typedef
From: Sean Christopherson
Date: Tue May 21 2024 - 16:03:06 EST
On Wed, May 15, 2024, Kai Huang wrote:
> How about we just make all emergency virtualization disable code
> unconditional but not guided by CONFIG_KVM_INTEL || CONFIG_KVM_AMD, i.e.,
> revert commit
>
> 261cd5ed934e ("x86/reboot: Expose VMCS crash hooks if and only if
> KVM_{INTEL,AMD} is enabled")
>
> It makes sense anyway from the perspective that it allows the out-of-tree
> kernel module hypervisor to use this mechanism w/o needing to have the
> kernel built with KVM enabled in Kconfig. Otherwise, strictly speaking,
> IIUC, the kernel won't be able to support out-of-tree module hypervisor as
> there's no other way the module can intercept emergency reboot.
Practically speaking, no one is running an out-of-tree hypervisor without either
(a) KVM being enabled in the .config, or (b) non-trivial changes to the kernel.
Exposing/exporting select APIs and symbols if and only if KVM is enabled is a
a well-established pattern, and there are concrete benefits to doing so. E.g.
it allows minimizing the kernel footprint for use cases that don't want/need KVM.
> This approach avoids the weirdness of the unconditional define for only
> cpu_emergency_virt_cb.
I genuinely don't understand why you find it weird to unconditionally define
cpu_emergency_virt_cb. There are myriad examples throughout the kernel where a
typedef, struct, enum, etc. is declared/defined even though support for its sole
end consumer is disabled. E.g. include/linux/mm_types.h declares "struct mem_cgroup"
for pretty much the exact same reason, even though the structure is only fully
defined if CONFIG_MEMCG=y.
The only oddity here is that the API that the #ifdef that guards the usage happens
to be right below the typedef, but it shouldn't take that much brain power to
figure out why a typedef exists outside of an #ifdef.