Re: Re: one question to p2m table entry type

[Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@goop.org>]

On 05/18/2010 04:04 AM, Tim Deegan wrote:
> At 09:17 +0100 on 05 May (1273051073), Jiang, Yunhong wrote:
>   
>> Tim/Keir, I noticed that when translatiing p2m table type and p2m pte entry flags, there are difference handling for x86_64 and x32 like:
>>
>> in p2m_type_to_flags:
>> #ifdef __x86_64__
>>     flags = (unsigned long)(t & 0x3fff) << 9;
>> #else
>>     flags = (t & 0x7UL) << 9;
>> #endif
>>
>> in p2m_flags_to_type:
>>     /* Type is stored in the "available" bits */
>> #ifdef __x86_64__
>>     return (flags >> 9) & 0x3fff;
>> #else
>>     return (flags >> 9) & 0x7;
>>
>> But since we don't support pure 32 bit xen hypervisor any more, and
>> for 32 PAE, we are sure have enough bit to keep these flags, why do we
>> need these special handling? Are there any special reason for it?
>>     
> The Intel SDMs (section 3.8.5, figure 3-20 in the copy in front of me)
> only define three available bits in PAE PTEs; all bits above MAXPHYADDR
> are reserved.  If we can rely on the manuals being wrong about that, we
> can extend the number of p2m types on 32-bit XEN. :)
>   

No, the CPU will fault with a bad pte if you set the upper bits in a PAE
pte.

    J