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From: Jacob Pan <jacob.pan@linux.microsoft.com>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	"iommu@lists.linux.dev" <iommu@lists.linux.dev>,
	Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@nvidia.com>,
	Alex Williamson <alex@shazbot.org>,
	Joerg Roedel <joro@8bytes.org>,
	Mostafa Saleh <smostafa@google.com>,
	David Matlack <dmatlack@google.com>,
	Robin Murphy <robin.murphy@arm.com>,
	Nicolin Chen <nicolinc@nvidia.com>,
	"Tian, Kevin" <kevin.tian@intel.com>, Yi Liu <yi.l.liu@intel.com>,
	Baolu Lu <baolu.lu@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Saurabh Sengar <ssengar@linux.microsoft.com>,
	skhawaja@google.com, pasha.tatashin@soleen.com,
	Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>,
	Jacob Pan <jacob.pan@linux.microsoft.com>
Subject: [PATCH v6 7/7] Documentation: Update VFIO NOIOMMU mode
Date: Thu, 21 May 2026 15:11:54 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260521221155.1375144-8-jacob.pan@linux.microsoft.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260521221155.1375144-1-jacob.pan@linux.microsoft.com>

Document the NOIOMMU mode with newly added cdev support under iommufd.

Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Signed-off-by: Jacob Pan <jacob.pan@linux.microsoft.com>
---
 v6:
 - Generalize device node names (noiommu-vfioX, noiommu-Y) in the tree
   example (Yi)
 - Clarify table column descriptions for Yes/No meanings (Yi)
---
 Documentation/driver-api/vfio.rst | 83 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 81 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/vfio.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/vfio.rst
index 2a21a42c9386..739576a22de6 100644
--- a/Documentation/driver-api/vfio.rst
+++ b/Documentation/driver-api/vfio.rst
@@ -275,8 +275,6 @@ in a VFIO group.
 With CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV=y the user can now acquire a device fd
 by directly opening a character device /dev/vfio/devices/vfioX where
 "X" is the number allocated uniquely by VFIO for registered devices.
-cdev interface does not support noiommu devices, so user should use
-the legacy group interface if noiommu is wanted.
 
 The cdev only works with IOMMUFD.  Both VFIO drivers and applications
 must adapt to the new cdev security model which requires using
@@ -370,6 +368,87 @@ IOMMUFD IOAS/HWPT to enable userspace DMA::
 
 	/* Other device operations as stated in "VFIO Usage Example" */
 
+VFIO NOIOMMU mode
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+VFIO also supports a no-IOMMU mode, intended for usages where unsafe DMA can
+be performed by userspace drivers w/o physical IOMMU protection. This mode
+is controlled by the parameter:
+
+/sys/module/vfio/parameters/enable_unsafe_noiommu_mode
+
+Upon enabling this mode, with an assigned device, the user will be presented
+with a VFIO group and device file, e.g.::
+
+  /dev/vfio/
+  |-- devices
+  |   `-- noiommu-vfioX	/* VFIO device cdev */
+  |-- noiommu-Y		/* VFIO group */
+  `-- vfio
+
+The capabilities vary depending on the device programming interface and kernel
+configuration used. The following table summarizes the differences ("Yes" means
+the UAPI is accessible and functional in noiommu mode, "No" means the UAPI is
+not supported):
+
++-------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
+| Feature           | VFIO group          | VFIO device cdev     |
++===================+=====================+======================+
+| VFIO device UAPI  | Yes                 | Yes                  |
++-------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
+| VFIO container    | No                  | No                   |
++-------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
+| IOMMUFD IOAS      | No                  | Yes*                 |
++-------------------+---------------------+----------------------+
+
+Note that the VFIO container case includes IOMMUFD provided VFIO compatibility
+interfaces when either CONFIG_VFIO_CONTAINER or CONFIG_IOMMUFD_VFIO_CONTAINER is
+enabled.
+
+* IOMMUFD UAPI is available for VFIO device cdev to pin and map user memory with
+  the ability to retrieve physical addresses for DMA command submission.
+
+Kconfig Support Matrix
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The visibility of CONFIG_VFIO_NOIOMMU depends on the combination of
+CONFIG_VFIO_GROUP, CONFIG_VFIO_DEVICE_CDEV, and whether a container backend
+(CONFIG_VFIO_CONTAINER or CONFIG_IOMMUFD_VFIO_CONTAINER) is configured.  The
+Kconfig dependencies enforce the following constraints:
+
+- At least one access path (group or cdev) must be available.
+- If VFIO_GROUP is enabled, a container backend is required; otherwise the
+  group node would be unusable in noiommu mode.
+
+The resulting support matrix:
+
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+| Case | GROUP | Container | CDEV | NOIOMMU | Notes                     |
++======+=======+===========+======+=========+===========================+
+|  1   |   y   |     y     |  n   |   yes   | Group noiommu works       |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+|  2   |   y   |     n     |  n   |   no    | Blocked - no container    |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+|  3   |   y   |     y     |  y   |   yes   | Both paths work           |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+|  4   |   y   |     n     |  y   |   no    | Blocked - no container    |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+|  5   |   n   |     -     |  y   |   yes   | Cdev-only works           |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+|  6   |   n   |     -     |  n   |   no    | No access path            |
++------+-------+-----------+------+---------+---------------------------+
+
+Container = CONFIG_VFIO_CONTAINER or CONFIG_IOMMUFD_VFIO_CONTAINER (either
+suffices).  Case 4 is intentionally blocked: allowing NOIOMMU with GROUP
+enabled but no container would create unusable group nodes.  Users who want
+cdev-only noiommu should set CONFIG_VFIO_GROUP=n (case 5).
+
+A new IOMMUFD ioctl IOMMU_IOAS_NOIOMMU_GET_PA is added to retrieve the physical
+address for a given IOVA. Although there is no physical DMA remapping hardware,
+IOMMU_IOAS_MAP_FIXED_IOVA is still used to establish IOVA-to-PA mappings in the
+software page table for later IOMMU_IOAS_NOIOMMU_GET_PA lookups.
+tools/testing/selftests/vfio/vfio_iommufd_noiommu_test.c provides an example of
+using this ioctl in no-IOMMU mode.
+
 VFIO User API
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-- 
2.43.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-05-21 22:12 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-05-21 22:11 [PATCH v6 0/7] iommufd: Enable noiommu mode for cdev Jacob Pan
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 1/7] iommufd: Support a HWPT without an iommu driver for noiommu Jacob Pan
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 2/7] iommufd: Move igroup allocation to a function Jacob Pan
2026-05-22  6:00   ` Baolu Lu
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 3/7] iommufd: Allow binding to a noiommu device Jacob Pan
2026-05-22  6:01   ` Baolu Lu
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 4/7] iommufd: Add an ioctl to query PA from IOVA for noiommu mode Jacob Pan
2026-05-22  9:22   ` Yi Liu
2026-05-23 22:09     ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 5/7] vfio: Enable cdev noiommu mode under iommufd Jacob Pan
2026-05-22  9:19   ` Yi Liu
2026-05-23 22:01     ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-25  6:29       ` Yi Liu
2026-05-28 18:52         ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-29  7:27           ` Yi Liu
2026-05-21 22:11 ` [PATCH v6 6/7] selftests/vfio: Add iommufd noiommu mode selftest for cdev Jacob Pan
2026-05-21 22:39   ` David Matlack
2026-06-03  0:13     ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-21 22:11 ` Jacob Pan [this message]
2026-05-22  9:42   ` [PATCH v6 7/7] Documentation: Update VFIO NOIOMMU mode Yi Liu
2026-05-23  3:42     ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-25  6:29       ` Yi Liu
2026-05-25  8:30 ` [PATCH v6 0/7] iommufd: Enable noiommu mode for cdev Tian, Kevin
2026-05-26 15:32   ` Jacob Pan
2026-05-26 17:57     ` Alex Williamson
2026-05-27 22:34       ` Jacob Pan

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