Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86: switch hugepage recovery thread to vhost_task
From: Paolo Bonzini
Date: Mon Nov 18 2024 - 07:43:52 EST
On Fri, Nov 15, 2024 at 5:59 PM Michal Koutný <mkoutny@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Nov 08, 2024 at 08:07:37AM GMT, Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Since the worker kthread is tied to a user process, it's better if
> > it behaves similarly to user tasks as much as possible, including
> > being able to send SIGSTOP and SIGCONT.
>
> Do you mean s/send/receive/?
I mean being able to send it to the threads with an effect.
> Consequently, it's OK if a (possibly unprivileged) user stops this
> thread forever (they only harm themselves, not the rest of the system),
> correct?
Yes, they will run with fewer huge pages and worse TLB performance.
Paolo
> > In fact, vhost_task is all that kvm_vm_create_worker_thread() wanted
> > to be and more: not only it inherits the userspace process's cgroups,
> > it has other niceties like being parented properly in the process
> > tree. Use it instead of the homegrown alternative.
>
> It is nice indeed.
> I think the bugs we saw are not so serious to warrant
> Fixes: c57c80467f90e ("kvm: Add helper function for creating VM worker threads")
> .
> (But I'm posting it here so that I can find the reference later.)