Re: [PATCH v6 05/16] libs/guest: allocate various migration arrays just once

[Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>]

On 19/06/2026 2:04 pm, Frediano Ziglio wrote:
> From: Edwin Török <edwin.torok@citrix.com>
>
> Allocate these array just once at the start of migration,
> using the maximum batch size, and free them at the end.
>
> Signed-off-by: Edwin Török <edwin.torok@citrix.com>
> Signed-off-by: Frediano Ziglio <frediano.ziglio@citrix.com>

The reason why these are allocated and freed on every iteration is so
they show up as uninitialised to valgrind or ASAN.

Maybe that's overly cautious, and maybe we can relax it, but it's also
not as if these allocations/frees are anywhere but in the noise on this
path.

> --
> Changes since v2:
> - change prefix in subject.
>
> Changes since v3:
> - fix comment style
>
> Changes since v4:
> - change order of fields in structure.
> ---
>  tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_common.h | 13 +++++++
>  tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_save.c   | 66 +++++++++++++--------------------
>  2 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 40 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_common.h b/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_common.h
> index f1573aefcb..95b0564e5c 100644
> --- a/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_common.h
> +++ b/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_common.h
> @@ -209,6 +209,18 @@ static inline int update_blob(struct xc_sr_blob *blob,
>      return 0;
>  }
>  
> +struct xc_sr_context_save_buffers
> +{
> +    xen_pfn_t batch_pfns[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    xen_pfn_t mfns[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    xen_pfn_t types[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    void *guest_data[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    void *local_pages[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    struct iovec iov[MAX_BATCH_SIZE + 2]; /* Headers + data. */
> +    uint64_t rec_pfns[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +    int errors[MAX_BATCH_SIZE];
> +};
> +
>  struct xc_sr_context
>  {
>      xc_interface *xch;
> @@ -244,6 +256,7 @@ struct xc_sr_context
>              unsigned long *deferred_pages;
>              unsigned long nr_deferred_pages;
>              xc_hypercall_buffer_t dirty_bitmap_hbuf;
> +            struct xc_sr_context_save_buffers *buffers;

Please move the higher hunk down here, as:

    struct xc_sr_context_safe_buffers {
        ...
    } *buffers;


This helps keep related content together.

(I'm half tempted to say they don't even need a second memory
allocation, but right now xc_sr_context is 538 bytes, and this buffer
object is nearly 16k which we don't really want to be adding as overhead
to the restore side.)

>          } save;
>  
>          struct /* Restore data. */
> diff --git a/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_save.c b/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_save.c
> index 8c31f9f86c..4988d8040b 100644
> --- a/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_save.c
> +++ b/tools/libs/guest/xg_sr_save.c
> @@ -86,16 +86,16 @@ static int write_checkpoint_record(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>  static int write_batch(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>  {
>      xc_interface *xch = ctx->xch;
> -    xen_pfn_t *mfns = NULL, *types = NULL;
> +    xen_pfn_t *mfns, *types;
>      void *guest_mapping = NULL;
> -    void **guest_data = NULL;
> -    void **local_pages = NULL;
> -    int *errors = NULL, rc = -1;
> +    void **guest_data;
> +    void **local_pages;
> +    int *errors, rc = -1;
>      unsigned int i, p, nr_pages = 0, nr_pages_mapped = 0;
>      unsigned int nr_pfns = ctx->save.nr_batch_pfns;
>      void *page, *orig_page;
> -    uint64_t *rec_pfns = NULL;
> -    struct iovec *iov = NULL; int iovcnt = 0;
> +    uint64_t *rec_pfns;
> +    struct iovec *iov; int iovcnt = 0;
>      struct {
>          struct xc_sr_rhdr rec;
>          struct xc_sr_rec_page_data_header page_data;
> @@ -104,26 +104,24 @@ static int write_batch(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>      };
>  
>      assert(nr_pfns != 0);
> +    assert(nr_pfns <= MAX_BATCH_SIZE);
> +    assert(ctx->save.buffers);
>  
>      /* Mfns of the batch pfns. */
> -    mfns = malloc(nr_pfns * sizeof(*mfns));
> +    mfns = ctx->save.buffers->mfns;
>      /* Types of the batch pfns. */
> -    types = malloc(nr_pfns * sizeof(*types));
> +    types = ctx->save.buffers->types;
>      /* Errors from attempting to map the gfns. */
> -    errors = malloc(nr_pfns * sizeof(*errors));
> +    errors = ctx->save.buffers->errors;
>      /* Pointers to page data to send.  Mapped gfns or local allocations. */
> -    guest_data = calloc(nr_pfns, sizeof(*guest_data));
> +    guest_data = ctx->save.buffers->guest_data;
> +    memset(guest_data, 0, sizeof(*guest_data) * nr_pfns);
>      /* Pointers to locally allocated pages.  Need freeing. */
> -    local_pages = calloc(nr_pfns, sizeof(*local_pages));
> +    local_pages = ctx->save.buffers->local_pages;
> +    memset(local_pages, 0, sizeof(*local_pages) * nr_pfns);
>      /* iovec[] for writev(). */
> -    iov = malloc((nr_pfns + 2) * sizeof(*iov));
> -
> -    if ( !mfns || !types || !errors || !guest_data || !local_pages || !iov )
> -    {
> -        ERROR("Unable to allocate arrays for a batch of %u pages",
> -              nr_pfns);
> -        goto err;
> -    }
> +    iov = ctx->save.buffers->iov;
> +    rec_pfns = ctx->save.buffers->rec_pfns;

These two hunks are rather messy.  You don't actually need the first
hunk at all; the pointers can all start initialised to NULL.

Alternatively, if you want to avoid the redundant assignments, then
split the variable block in half and list the second half as /*
shorthand names for the buffers */ or somesuch.  This will need to come
ahead of the asserts().

But if you're going to try cleaning this up, please do it in a separate
patch.

>  
>      for ( i = 0; i < nr_pfns; ++i )
>      {
> @@ -209,14 +207,6 @@ static int write_batch(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>          }
>      }
>  
> -    rec_pfns = malloc(nr_pfns * sizeof(*rec_pfns));
> -    if ( !rec_pfns )
> -    {
> -        ERROR("Unable to allocate %zu bytes of memory for page data pfn list",
> -              nr_pfns * sizeof(*rec_pfns));
> -        goto err;
> -    }
> -
>      hdrs.rec.length = sizeof(hdrs.page_data);
>      hdrs.rec.length += nr_pfns * sizeof(*rec_pfns);
>      hdrs.rec.length += nr_pages * PAGE_SIZE;
> @@ -267,17 +257,13 @@ static int write_batch(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>      rc = ctx->save.nr_batch_pfns = 0;
>  
>   err:
> -    free(rec_pfns);
>      if ( guest_mapping )
>          xenforeignmemory_unmap(xch->fmem, guest_mapping, nr_pages_mapped);
>      for ( i = 0; local_pages && i < nr_pfns; ++i )
> +    {
>          free(local_pages[i]);
> -    free(iov);
> -    free(local_pages);
> -    free(guest_data);
> -    free(errors);
> -    free(types);
> -    free(mfns);
> +        local_pages[i] = NULL;
> +    }

Given this NULL-ing, the memset earlier shouldn't be needed.

Along with a memset() over guest_mapping, that gets rid of all the early
memset()'s I think.

>  
>      return rc;
>  }
> @@ -806,18 +792,18 @@ static int setup(struct xc_sr_context *ctx)
>  
>      dirty_bitmap = xc_hypercall_buffer_alloc_pages(
>          xch, dirty_bitmap, NRPAGES(bitmap_size(ctx->save.p2m_size)));
> -    ctx->save.batch_pfns = malloc(MAX_BATCH_SIZE *
> -                                  sizeof(*ctx->save.batch_pfns));
>      ctx->save.deferred_pages = bitmap_alloc(ctx->save.p2m_size);
> +    ctx->save.buffers = calloc(1, sizeof(*ctx->save.buffers));
>  
> -    if ( !ctx->save.batch_pfns || !dirty_bitmap || !ctx->save.deferred_pages )
> +    if ( !dirty_bitmap || !ctx->save.deferred_pages || !ctx->save.buffers)
>      {
> -        ERROR("Unable to allocate memory for dirty bitmaps, batch pfns and"
> -              " deferred pages");
> +        ERROR("Unable to allocate memory for dirty bitmaps, deferred pages"
> +              " and various batch buffers");
>          rc = -1;
>          errno = ENOMEM;
>          goto err;
>      }
> +    ctx->save.batch_pfns = ctx->save.buffers->batch_pfns;

This is wonky.  As far as I can tell, you've included batch_pfns in the
buffers struct, but left it's old pointer in place, meaning it becomes
dangling when the allocation is freed.

This wants splitting into two patches.  First introduce the buffers
struct with batch_pfns moved only, and sort out the allocation here. 
Then in the subsequent patch, move the contents of write_batch() into
the buffers struct.

~Andrew