[PATCH v2 01/18] arm64: KVM: Merged page tables documentation

[marc.zyngier@arm.com (Marc Zyngier)]

Since dealing with VA ranges tends to hurt my brain badly, let's
start with a bit of documentation that will hopefully help
understanding what comes next...

Signed-off-by: Marc Zyngier <marc.zyngier@arm.com>
---
 arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 37 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
index fdfbddb..6149dfc 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
@@ -29,10 +29,44 @@
  *
  * Instead, give the HYP mode its own VA region at a fixed offset from
  * the kernel by just masking the top bits (which are all ones for a
- * kernel address).
+ * kernel address). We need to find out how many bits to mask.
  *
- * ARMv8.1 (using VHE) does have a TTBR1_EL2, and doesn't use these
- * macros (the entire kernel runs at EL2).
+ * We want to build a set of page tables that cover both parts of the
+ * idmap (the trampoline page used to initialize EL2), and our normal
+ * runtime VA space, at the same time.
+ *
+ * Given that the kernel uses VA_BITS for its entire address space,
+ * and that half of that space (VA_BITS - 1) is used for the linear
+ * mapping, we can also limit the EL2 space to (VA_BITS - 1).
+ *
+ * The main question is "Within the VA_BITS space, does EL2 use the
+ * top or the bottom half of that space to shadow the kernel's linear
+ * mapping?". As we need to idmap the trampoline page, this is
+ * determined by the range in which this page lives.
+ *
+ * If the page is in the bottom half, we have to use the top half. If
+ * the page is in the top half, we have to use the bottom half:
+ *
+ * T = __virt_to_phys(__hyp_idmap_text_start)
+ * if (T & BIT(VA_BITS - 1))
+ *	HYP_VA_MIN = 0  //idmap in upper half
+ * else
+ *	HYP_VA_MIN = 1 << (VA_BITS - 1)
+ * HYP_VA_MAX = HYP_VA_MIN + (1 << (VA_BITS - 1)) - 1
+ *
+ * This of course assumes that the trampoline page exists within the
+ * VA_BITS range. If it doesn't, then it means we're in the odd case
+ * where the kernel idmap (as well as HYP) uses more levels than the
+ * kernel runtime page tables (as seen when the kernel is configured
+ * for 4k pages, 39bits VA, and yet memory lives just above that
+ * limit, forcing the idmap to use 4 levels of page tables while the
+ * kernel itself only uses 3). In this particular case, it doesn't
+ * matter which side of VA_BITS we use, as we're guaranteed not to
+ * conflict with anything.
+ *
+ * When using VHE, there are no separate hyp mappings and all KVM
+ * functionality is already mapped as part of the main kernel
+ * mappings, and none of this applies in that case.
  */
 #define HYP_PAGE_OFFSET_SHIFT	VA_BITS
 #define HYP_PAGE_OFFSET_MASK	((UL(1) << HYP_PAGE_OFFSET_SHIFT) - 1)
-- 
2.1.4