From: Yan-Jie Wang <yanjiewtw@gmail.com>
To: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>,
Andre Przywara <andre.przywara@arm.com>,
Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com>, Yan-Jie Wang <yanjiewtw@gmail.com>,
Ching-Chun Huang <jserv@ccns.ncku.edu.tw>,
trivial@kernel.org, kvm@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v2] docs: clarify KVM related kernel parameters' descriptions
Date: Wed, 3 May 2023 16:15:31 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20230503081530.19956-1-yanjiewtw@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20230502112502.14859-1-yanjiewtw@gmail.com>
The descriptions of certain KVM related kernel parameters can be
confusing. They state "Disable ...," which may make people think that
setting them to 1 will disable the associated feature when in fact the
opposite is true.
This commit addresses this issue by revising the descriptions of these
parameters by using "Control..." rather than "Enable/Disable...".
1==enabled or 0==disabled can be communicated by the description of
default value such as "1 (enabled)" or "0 (disabled)".
Also update the description of KVM's default value for kvm-intel.nested
as it is enabled by default.
Signed-off-by: Yan-Jie Wang <yanjiewtw@gmail.com>
---
Changes in v2:
- Revise the descriptions based on Sean's suggesstion.
- Fix the wrong default value of kvm-intel.nested
---
.../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 53 ++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 9e5bab29685f..450c9d3af3ed 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -2551,12 +2551,13 @@
If the value is 0 (the default), KVM will pick a period based
on the ratio, such that a page is zapped after 1 hour on average.
- kvm-amd.nested= [KVM,AMD] Allow nested virtualization in KVM/SVM.
- Default is 1 (enabled)
+ kvm-amd.nested= [KVM,AMD] Control nested virtualization feature in
+ KVM/SVM. Default is 1 (enabled).
- kvm-amd.npt= [KVM,AMD] Disable nested paging (virtualized MMU)
- for all guests.
- Default is 1 (enabled) if in 64-bit or 32-bit PAE mode.
+ kvm-amd.npt= [KVM,AMD] Control KVM's use of Nested Page Tables,
+ a.k.a. Two-Dimensional Page Tables. Default is 1
+ (enabled). Disable by KVM if hardware lacks support
+ for NPT.
kvm-arm.mode=
[KVM,ARM] Select one of KVM/arm64's modes of operation.
@@ -2602,30 +2603,33 @@
Format: <integer>
Default: 5
- kvm-intel.ept= [KVM,Intel] Disable extended page tables
- (virtualized MMU) support on capable Intel chips.
- Default is 1 (enabled)
+ kvm-intel.ept= [KVM,Intel] Control KVM's use of Extended Page Tables,
+ a.k.a. Two-Dimensional Page Tables. Default is 1
+ (enabled). Disable by KVM if hardware lacks support
+ for EPT.
kvm-intel.emulate_invalid_guest_state=
- [KVM,Intel] Disable emulation of invalid guest state.
- Ignored if kvm-intel.enable_unrestricted_guest=1, as
- guest state is never invalid for unrestricted guests.
- This param doesn't apply to nested guests (L2), as KVM
- never emulates invalid L2 guest state.
- Default is 1 (enabled)
+ [KVM,Intel] Control whether to emulate invalid guest
+ state. Ignored if kvm-intel.enable_unrestricted_guest=1,
+ as guest state is never invalid for unrestricted
+ guests. This param doesn't apply to nested guests (L2),
+ as KVM never emulates invalid L2 guest state.
+ Default is 1 (enabled).
kvm-intel.flexpriority=
- [KVM,Intel] Disable FlexPriority feature (TPR shadow).
- Default is 1 (enabled)
+ [KVM,Intel] Control KVM's use of FlexPriority feature
+ (TPR shadow). Default is 1 (enabled). Disalbe by KVM if
+ hardware lacks support for it.
kvm-intel.nested=
- [KVM,Intel] Enable VMX nesting (nVMX).
- Default is 0 (disabled)
+ [KVM,Intel] Control nested virtualization feature in
+ KVM/VMX. Default is 1 (enabled).
kvm-intel.unrestricted_guest=
- [KVM,Intel] Disable unrestricted guest feature
- (virtualized real and unpaged mode) on capable
- Intel chips. Default is 1 (enabled)
+ [KVM,Intel] Control KVM's use of unrestricted guest
+ feature (virtualized real and unpaged mode). Default
+ is 1 (enabled). Disable by KVM if EPT is disabled or
+ hardware lacks support for it.
kvm-intel.vmentry_l1d_flush=[KVM,Intel] Mitigation for L1 Terminal Fault
CVE-2018-3620.
@@ -2639,9 +2643,10 @@
Default is cond (do L1 cache flush in specific instances)
- kvm-intel.vpid= [KVM,Intel] Disable Virtual Processor Identification
- feature (tagged TLBs) on capable Intel chips.
- Default is 1 (enabled)
+ kvm-intel.vpid= [KVM,Intel] Control KVM's use of Virtual Processor
+ Identification feature (tagged TLBs). Default is 1
+ (enabled). Disable by KVM if hardware lacks support
+ for it.
l1d_flush= [X86,INTEL]
Control mitigation for L1D based snooping vulnerability.
base-commit: 865fdb08197e657c59e74a35fa32362b12397f58
--
2.34.1
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2023-05-03 8:16 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2023-05-02 11:25 [PATCH] docs: clarify KVM related kernel parameters' descriptions Yan-Jie Wang
2023-05-02 17:12 ` Sean Christopherson
2023-05-03 7:15 ` Yan-Jie Wang
2023-05-03 8:15 ` Yan-Jie Wang [this message]
2023-05-19 14:56 ` [PATCH v2] " Jonathan Corbet
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20230503081530.19956-1-yanjiewtw@gmail.com \
--to=yanjiewtw@gmail.com \
--cc=andre.przywara@arm.com \
--cc=avi@redhat.com \
--cc=corbet@lwn.net \
--cc=jserv@ccns.ncku.edu.tw \
--cc=kvm@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-doc@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=pbonzini@redhat.com \
--cc=rdunlap@infradead.org \
--cc=seanjc@google.com \
--cc=trivial@kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox