Re: [PATCH V2 01/11] machine: alloc-anon option

[Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>]

On Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 11:43:54AM -0400, Steven Sistare wrote:
> On 7/17/2024 3:24 PM, Peter Xu wrote:
> [...]
> > 
> > PS to Steve: and I think I left tons of other comments in previous version
> > outside this patch too, but I don't think they're fully discussed when this
> > series was sent.  I can re-read the series again, but I don't think it'll
> > work out if we keep skipping discussions..
> 
> Hi Peter, let me address this part first, because I don't want you to think
> that I ignored your questions and concerns.  This V2 series tries to address
> them.  The change log was intended to be my response, rather than responding
> to each open question individually, but let me try again here with more detail.
> I apologize if I don't summarize your concerns correctly or completely.
> 
> issue: discomfort with exec. why is it needed?
> response: exec is just a transport mechanism to send fd's to new qemu.
>   I refactored to separate core patches from exec-specific patches, submitted
>   cpr-transfer patches to illustrate a non-exec method, and provided reasons
>   why one vs the other would be desirable in the commit messages and cover
>   letter.
> 
> issue: why do we need to preserve the ramblock fields and make them available
>   prior to object creation?
> response.  we don't need to preserve all of them, and we only need fd prior
>   to object creation, so I deleted the precreate, factory, and named object
>   patches, and added CprState to preserve fd's. used_length arrives in the
>   normal migration stream.  max_length is recovered from the mfd using lseek.
> 
> issue: the series is too large, with too much change.
> response: in addition to the deletions mentioned above, I simplified the
>   functionality and tossed out style patches and nice-to-haves, so we can
>   focus on core functionality.  V2 is much smaller.
> 
> issue: memfd_create option is oddly expressed and hard to understand.
> response: I redefined the option, deleted all the stylistic ramblock patches
>   to lay its workings bare, and explicitly documented its affect on all types
>   of memory in the commit messages and qapi documentation.
> 
> issue: no need to preserve blocks like ROM for DMA (with memfd_create).
>   Blocks that must be preserved should be surfaced to the user as objects.
> response: I disagree, and will continue that conversation in this email thread.
> 
> issue: how will vfio be handled?
> response: I submitted the vfio patches (non-trivial, because first I had to
>   rework them without using precreate vmstate).
> 
> issue: how will fd's be preserved for chardevs?
> response: via cpr_save_fd, CprState, and cpr_load_fd at device creation time,
>   in each device's creation function, just like vfio.  Those primitives are
>   defined in this V2 series.

Thanks for the answers.  I think I'll need to read more into the patches in
the next few days; it looks like I'll get more answers from there.

I just sent an email probably when you're drafting this one.. it may has
some questions that may not be covered here.

I think a major issue with exec() is the (1-3) steps that I mentioned there
that needs to run sequentially, and IIUC all these steps can be completely
avoided in cpr-transfer, and it may matter a lot in huge VMs.  But maybe I
missed something.

Please have a look there.

-- 
Peter Xu