Re: [PATCH v6 05/27] PCI: liveupdate: Add helpers to preserve struct pci_saved_state

[Vipin Sharma]

On Tue, Nov 03, 2026 at 12:48:14AM +0000, David Matlack wrote:
> On 2026-11-02 05:06 PM, Bjorn Helgaas wrote:
> > On Mon, Nov 02, 2026 at 07:36:34AM -0800, Vipin Sharma wrote:
> > > struct pci_saved_state is private to the PCI core and its in-memory
> > > layout is not a stable ABI. Add helpers to serialize it into a
> > > caller-provided buffer and rebuild it in the next kernel with a stable
> > > struct pci_saved_state_ser ABI. Using caller-provided buffers allows
> > > drivers to embed the serialized saved state directly in their own
> > > KHO-preserved data with a single allocation and lifetime.
> >
> > Acked-by: Bjorn Helgaas <bhelgaas@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> We discussed this patch off-list this morning. I'll sharing the context
> here since you were not there Bjorn.
> 
> The ABI added by this patch is not actually stable across kernel
> versions.
> 
> struct pci_saved_state_ser is stable, but the contents of each
> capability entry are not:
> 
> > > +struct pci_cap_saved_data_ser {
> > > +	u16 cap_nr;
> > > +	u16 extended;
> > > +	u32 size;
> > > +	u8 data[];
> > > +} __packed;
> 
> @data is a memcpy() of the per-capability save buffer, and the layout
> of that buffer is not defined by the device or the spec. It is whatever
> registers that capability's pci_save_*_state() function happens to
> read, in whatever order it reads them. 
> 
> None of that is described in include/linux/kho/abi/pci.h, so this patch
> implicitly turns the private layout of every capability save buffer in
> drivers/pci/ into Live Update ABI. Someone changing
> pci_save_pcie_state() or pci_save_aer_state() has no way of knowing they
> just broke Live Update compatibility.
> 
> And these layouts do change. Commit 898585172fa7 ("PCI: save and restore
> PCIe 2.0 registers") grew the PCIe buffer from 4 to 7 registers, and the
> AER, LTR, L1SS, PTM, TPH and DPC buffers were all added over time.
> 
> This is the problem I was trying to solve with:
> 
>   https://lore.kernel.org/linux-pci/20260924173501.856380-1-dmatlack@xxxxxxxxxx/
> 
> That series replaces the per-capability buffers with a single store
> indexed by config space offset.
> 
> Where a saved value goes is then determined by the device's config
> space, not by the kernel that saved it, so the PCI core can change which
> registers it saves without changing what the data means. Serializing
> that for Live Update should be trivial (a size/flags header plus the
> bitmap and the values). The cross-kernel compatibility question also
> becomes explicit and per-register ("the previous kernel saved offset X
> and this kernel doesn't restore it") instead of a size mismatch on an
> opaque blob.
> 
> Bjorn, this is also related to your last comment:
> 
> > I think it would be helpful if the names of "config_space[]" and
> > "caps[]" hinted at the connection between them (both are in config
> > space).
> 
> With the offset-indexed layout the two are no longer separate. The
> header and the capability registers are all just DWORDs in the same
> config space map in struct pci_saved_state.
> 
> So I'd suggest that we land the saved state series first and then rebase
> this patch on top of it.
> 
> I can send a v2 of that series this week that addresses Josh's feedback,
> rebases on top of the PCI Live Update v10 series, and includes the
> serialization helpers. We can use that as the basis for the next version
> of this series.
> 

Agree with David here. I think David's series will make things more
explicit in saving PCI state and easier to find changes. I will review
your series provide my feedback but don't stop your v2 on it.

Thanks,
Vipin