Re: [PATCH] KVM: x86/xen: bail in IRQ context on PREEMPT_RT in kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast()

[David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>]

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On Thu, 2026-05-07 at 11:56 -0300, Mauricio Faria de Oliveira wrote:
> On 2026-05-07 03:58, David Woodhouse wrote:
> > On Wed, 2026-05-06 at 23:36 -0300, Mauricio Faria de Oliveira wrote:
> > > kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast() calls read_lock_irqsave(), which might block
> > > on PREEMPT_RT, but that is invalid in IRQ context, as when it's called
> > > by xen_timer_callback() (even on PREEMPT_RT per HRTIMER_MODE_ABS_HARD).
> > > 
> > > Check for that case, and bail out early.
> > > 
> > > Note: there is previous work and discussion on this [1] (~2 years ago),
> > > which involved continuing to execute the function with changes, but it
> > > was not merged. That was a different, more complex approach.
> > > 
> > > [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/ZdPQVP7eejq3eFjc@google.com/
> > 
> > ...
> > 
> > > +	/* Bail in IRQ context on PREEMPT_RT; read_lock_irqsave() might block */
> > > +	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT) && in_hardirq())
> > > +		goto out;
> > 
> > 
> > The approach in Paul's earlier patch was better; we absolutely *want*
> > to deliver the interrupt to the guest immediately whenever we can, and
> > only fall back to the workqueue in the rare case that the shared info
> > page has been invalidated.
> 
> Certainly, that was better. This was a simple workaround, but with this
> clarification, it indeed doesn't fit.
> 
> > We should switch to plain read_trylock(), *without* the
> > local_irq_save(). And since this was the *only* case where the GPC lock
> > was ever taken under IRQ¹, all the GPC locking can drop the _irq part.
> 
> Ok, I can take a look. Or do you plan to work on it yourself (as you
> hit the issue with read_unlock later in this thread)?

I'm working on it now; thanks.

Currently confused by the fact that the read_trylock() seems to fail
more often than it should under RT, causing the fallback path to be
taken... and the fallback path doesn't seem to work properly...

Your version should have seen this too, surely? Did the selftest in
linux/tools/testing/selftests/kvm/x86/xen_shinfo_test work with your
patch?



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