Re: [PATCH v8 11/27] x86/mm: Introduce _PAGE_DIRTY_SW

Peter Zijlstra
2019-08-28T07:03:08Z

On Tue, Aug 27, 2019 at 03:37:12PM -0700, Yu-cheng Yu wrote:
> On Fri, 2019-08-23 at 16:02 +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 01:52:09PM -0700, Yu-cheng Yu wrote:
> >
> > > +static inline pte_t pte_move_flags(pte_t pte, pteval_t from, pteval_t to)
> > > +{
> > > + if (pte_flags(pte) & from)
> > > + pte = pte_set_flags(pte_clear_flags(pte, from), to);
> > > + return pte;
> > > +}
> >
> > Aside of the whole conditional thing (I agree it would be better to have
> > this unconditionally); the function doesn't really do as advertised.
> >
> > That is, if @from is clear, it doesn't endeavour to make sure @to is
> > also clear.
> >
> > Now it might be sufficient, but in that case it really needs a comment
> > and or different name.
> >
> > An implementation that actually moves the bit is something like:
> >
> > pteval_t a,b;
> >
> > a = native_pte_value(pte);
> > b = (a >> from_bit) & 1;
> > a &= ~((1ULL << from_bit) | (1ULL << to_bit));
> > a |= b << to_bit;
> > return make_native_pte(a);
>
> There can be places calling pte_wrprotect() on a PTE that is already RO +
> DIRTY_SW. Then in pte_move_flags(pte, _PAGE_DIRTY_HW, _PAGE_DIRTY_SW) we do not
> want to clear _PAGE_DIRTY_SW. But, I will look into this and make it more
> obvious.

Well, then the name 'move' is just wrong, because that is not the
semantics you're looking for.

So the thing is; if you provide a generic function that 'munges' two
bits, then it's name had better be accurate. But AFAICT you only ever
used this for the DIRTY bits, so it might be better to have a function
specifically for that and with a comment that spells out the exact
semantics and reasons for them.