[PATCH v4 09/11] docs: liveupdate: Add documentation for VM and guest_memfd preservation
From: Tarun Sahu
Date: Tue Jul 28 2026 - 08:26:01 EST
Add Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst detailing VMM requirements, scope,
ordering constraints, and kernel-doc inclusions for KVM VM and
guest_memfd preservation via Live Update Orchestrator (LUO).
Also update Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst and MAINTAINERS.
Signed-off-by: Tarun Sahu <tarunsahu@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst | 1 +
Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst | 107 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MAINTAINERS | 1 +
3 files changed, 109 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst b/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
index 5a292d0f3706..bac58a363151 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ The following types of file descriptors can be preserved
:maxdepth: 1
../mm/memfd_preservation
+ ../liveupdate/vmm
Public API
==========
diff --git a/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst b/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b8e8fb2b63c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+
+=============================
+VM & Guest_Memfd Preservation
+=============================
+
+.. kernel-doc:: virt/kvm/kvm_luo.c
+ :doc: KVM VM Preservation via LUO
+
+.. kernel-doc:: virt/kvm/guest_memfd_luo.c
+ :doc: Guest_Memfd Preservation via LUO
+
+VMM Instructions
+================
+
+This section describes the requirements, scope, conditions, and
+ordering constraints that a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) must adhere
+to for successful preservation and retrieval of guest_memfd files
+across a Live Update Orchestrator (LUO) sequence.
+
+Scope and Limitations
+---------------------
+
+At this stage, the scope of guest_memfd preservation is restricted to:
+
+1. **Fully Shared guest_memfd**:
+ At this time only fully shared guest_memfd is supported. Any system that
+ supports coco vm (which uses private guest_memfd), will not support
+ the preservation.
+
+2. **Standard Page Size**:
+ Only guest_memfd backed by standard page size (``PAGE_SIZE``,
+ order-0) pages is supported. Large/huge page backing (e.g.,
+ hugetlb guest_memfd) is not supported.
+
+Any Virtual Machine (VM) whose memory is fully backed by such
+guest_memfd files can be preserved across live update.
+
+VMM Actions and Conditions during Live Update
+---------------------------------------------
+
+During the live update sequence, the kernel introduces a *freezing*
+phase for the guest_memfd inode. Freezing prevents any modifications to
+the guest_memfd page cache. Specifically, once a guest_memfd mapping is
+frozen:
+
+- Any subsequent ``fallocate`` calls on the guest_memfd file descriptor
+ will fail and return ``-EPERM``.
+- Any new page faults (guest-side or host-userspace-side) that require
+ folio allocation will fail and return ``-EPERM``.
+
+To prevent vCPUs or VMM helper threads from failing due to these
+``-EPERM`` errors, the VMM must implement one of the following
+strategies:
+
+1. **Pause the VM (Recommended)**:
+ The VMM should pause/suspend all vCPUs before invoking the
+ preservation or freezing of the VM and guest_memfd files. This
+ ensures no new page faults or memory accesses can occur while the
+ guest_memfd is frozen.
+
+2. **Handle Fault Failures**:
+ If the VM is not paused, the VMM must be prepared to handle VM
+ exits or user page fault errors resulting from the ``-EPERM``
+ failures. The VMM must take appropriate action, such as
+ immediately pausing the VM, or aborting the live update sequence
+ (by tearing down or unpreserving the live update session).
+
+Preservation and Retrieval Ordering
+-----------------------------------
+
+Preservation Order
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+There is no strict ordering requirement for initiating the
+preservation of the KVM VM file and the guest_memfd files; they are
+preserved independently. If kexec is triggered with guest_memfd
+preservation without preserving the vm file, kexec will fail.
+
+Retrieval Order
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Similarly, there is no strict ordering required for retrieving the VM
+and guest_memfd files. Any file can be retrieved at any order.
+
+If guest_memfd file is retrieved and VM file is not retrieved, and
+luo_finish is called, then vm_file will be lost and guest_memfd file
+will be hanging around.
+
+NOTE: Before Initiating the preservation/retrieval, it is necessary to make
+sure that the kvm module is loaded (/dev/kvm must be available).
+
+
+VM & Guest_Memfd Preservation ABI
+=================================
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/kho/abi/kvm.h
+ :doc: DOC: guest_memfd Live Update ABI
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/kho/abi/kvm.h
+ :internal:
+
+See Also
+========
+
+- :doc:`/core-api/liveupdate`
+- :doc:`/userspace-api/liveupdate`
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 8db8bb448b23..c032f9a0451b 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -14548,6 +14548,7 @@ L: kexec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
L: kvm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
S: Maintained
T: git git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/liveupdate/linux.git
+F: Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
F: virt/kvm/guest_memfd_luo.c
F: virt/kvm/kvm_luo.c
--
2.55.0.229.g6434b31f56-goog