[PATCH resend v6 25/30] virtio_balloon: skip zeroing for host-zeroed reported pages

From: Michael S. Tsirkin

Date: Mon May 11 2026 - 05:14:28 EST


Implement VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED (per virtio spec
proposal): when negotiated, the device initializes reported pages
(zeros, or poison_val if PAGE_POISON).

Check per-page used length returned by the device to determine
which reported pages were zeroed. If used_len matches the page
size, the device successfully initialized the page (e.g. via
MADV_DONTNEED), and we set the corresponding zeroed_bitmap bit.

Gate host_zeroes_pages on the feature bit and page content:
when PAGE_POISON is negotiated with non-zero poison_val, the
device fills with poison not zeros, so pages are not zeroed.

Clear the feature in validate() if REPORTING is not present
or if PAGE_POISON is active with non-zero poison_val.

See the virtio spec change:
https://github.com/oasis-tcs/virtio-spec/issues/244

Signed-off-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-6
Assisted-by: cursor-agent:GPT-5.4-xhigh
---
drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++--
include/uapi/linux/virtio_balloon.h | 1 +
2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c b/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
index fdfd828657dd..e5d11782ce41 100644
--- a/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
+++ b/drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c
@@ -204,6 +204,8 @@ static int virtballoon_free_page_report(struct page_reporting_dev_info *pr_dev_i
struct virtqueue *vq = vb->reporting_vq;
unsigned int i, err;

+ bitmap_zero(pr_dev_info->zeroed_bitmap, nents);
+
/* We should always be able to add these buffers to an empty queue. */
for (i = 0; i < nents; i++) {
struct scatterlist one;
@@ -223,10 +225,14 @@ static int virtballoon_free_page_report(struct page_reporting_dev_info *pr_dev_i

/* When host has read buffer, this completes via balloon_ack */
for (i = 0; i < nents; i++) {
- unsigned int unused;
+ struct scatterlist *entry;
+ unsigned int used_len;

wait_event(vb->acked,
- virtqueue_get_buf(vq, &unused));
+ (entry = virtqueue_get_buf(vq, &used_len)));
+ if (used_len == entry->length)
+ set_bit(entry - sg,
+ pr_dev_info->zeroed_bitmap);
}
}

@@ -1048,6 +1054,9 @@ static int virtballoon_probe(struct virtio_device *vdev)
#endif

vb->pr_dev_info.capacity = capacity;
+ vb->pr_dev_info.host_zeroes_pages =
+ virtio_has_feature(vdev,
+ VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED);
err = page_reporting_register(&vb->pr_dev_info);
if (err)
goto out_unregister_oom;
@@ -1173,6 +1182,14 @@ static int virtballoon_validate(struct virtio_device *vdev)
else if (!virtio_has_feature(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON))
__virtio_clear_bit(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_REPORTING);

+ if (!virtio_has_feature(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_REPORTING))
+ __virtio_clear_bit(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED);
+
+ /* Device fills with poison_val, not zeros; disable zeroed hint */
+ if (virtio_has_feature(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON) &&
+ !want_init_on_free())
+ __virtio_clear_bit(vdev, VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED);
+
__virtio_clear_bit(vdev, VIRTIO_F_ACCESS_PLATFORM);
return 0;
}
@@ -1184,6 +1201,7 @@ static unsigned int features[] = {
VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_FREE_PAGE_HINT,
VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON,
VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_REPORTING,
+ VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED,
};

static struct virtio_driver virtio_balloon_driver = {
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/virtio_balloon.h b/include/uapi/linux/virtio_balloon.h
index ee35a372805d..13074631f300 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/virtio_balloon.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/virtio_balloon.h
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
#define VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_FREE_PAGE_HINT 3 /* VQ to report free pages */
#define VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_PAGE_POISON 4 /* Guest is using page poisoning */
#define VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_REPORTING 5 /* Page reporting virtqueue */
+#define VIRTIO_BALLOON_F_DEVICE_INIT_REPORTED 6 /* Device initializes reported pages */

/* Size of a PFN in the balloon interface. */
#define VIRTIO_BALLOON_PFN_SHIFT 12
--
MST