Re: [RFC 10/20] iommu/iommufd: Add IOMMU_DEVICE_GET_INFO

hch
2021-10-01T03:31:01Z

On Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 07:23:55PM -0300, Jason Gunthorpe wrote:
> > > The Intel functional issue is that Intel blocks the cache maintaince
> > > ops from the VM and the VM has no way to self-discover that the cache
> > > maintaince ops don't work.
> >
> > the VM doesn't need to know whether the maintenance ops
> > actually works.
>
> Which is the whole problem.
>
> Intel has a design where the device driver tells the device to issue
> non-cachable TLPs.
>
> The driver is supposed to know if it can issue the cache maintaince
> instructions - if it can then it should ask the device to issue
> no-snoop TLPs.

The driver should never issue them. This whole idea that a driver
can just magically poke the cache directly is just one of these horrible
short cuts that seems to happen in GPU land all the time but nowhere
else.

> > coherency and indirectly the underlying I/O page table format.
> > If yes, then I don't see a reason why such decision should not be
> > given to userspace for passthrough case.
>
> The choice all comes down to if the other arches have cache
> maintenance instructions in the VM that *don't work*

Or have them at all.