Re: Set DBGCLAIM when self-host debug is enabled

Re: Set DBGCLAIM when self-host debug is enabled

[Mark Rutland]

On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 06:29:53PM +0800, tingwei@codeaurora.org wrote:
> Hi Will and Mark,

Hi Tingwei,

> In recent implementation of save/restore ARM debug registers in
> EL2/EL3, we found it's necessary to know whether self-host debug is
> enabled so EL2/EL3 can avoid saving/restoring debug registers but no
> one is using debug.

In what situation are you considering? I assume you mean idle sequences
using CPU_SUSPEND?

Generally our expectation for CPU_SUSPEND is:

* Where StateType==0, the debug state is preserved with all other
  PE state.

* Where StateType==1 and the PE returns "warm" without having entered a
  powerdown state, the debug state is preserved along with all other PE
  state.

* Where StateType==1, and the PE returns "cold" after having entered a
  powerdown state (i.e. we return via the entry point address), the
  debug state is not preserved.

... and I'm missing where you could avoid saving the state. What
situation(s) did you have in mind?

> In ARM PSCI, it has one option to set DBGCLAIM[1] to 1 to indicate
> that debug is in use by a self-host debugger. Do you think it's
> resonable to add this to Kernel?
> 
> For example, can we set DBGCLAIM[1] to 1 in enable_debug_monitors()
> and clear it in disable_debug_monitors().

I was under the impression that this was solely for the benefit of an
external debugger, and should have no functional impact on the PSCI
implementation from the kernel's PoV, so as above I think we need a
better description of the case you're trying to address.

Thanks,
Mark.

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Re: Set DBGCLAIM when self-host debug is enabled

[Mark Rutland]

On Fri, Jan 08, 2021 at 12:00:55PM +0800, Tingwei Zhang wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 08:23:56PM +0800, Mark Rutland wrote:
> > On Wed, Jan 06, 2021 at 06:29:53PM +0800, tingwei@codeaurora.org wrote:
> > > Hi Will and Mark,
> > 
> > Hi Tingwei,
> > 
> > > In recent implementation of save/restore ARM debug registers in
> > > EL2/EL3, we found it's necessary to know whether self-host debug is
> > > enabled so EL2/EL3 can avoid saving/restoring debug registers but no
> > > one is using debug.
> > 
> > In what situation are you considering? I assume you mean idle sequences
> > using CPU_SUSPEND?
> > 
> > Generally our expectation for CPU_SUSPEND is:
> > 
> > * Where StateType==0, the debug state is preserved with all other
> >   PE state.
> > 
> > * Where StateType==1 and the PE returns "warm" without having entered a
> >   powerdown state, the debug state is preserved along with all other PE
> >   state.
> > 
> > * Where StateType==1, and the PE returns "cold" after having entered a
> >   powerdown state (i.e. we return via the entry point address), the
> >   debug state is not preserved.
> > 
> > ... and I'm missing where you could avoid saving the state. What
> > situation(s) did you have in mind?
> > 
> In StateType==1 case, EL2/EL3 can save debug registers before PE suspend
> and restore them after PE resume. If EL2/EL3 doesn't know whether external
> debugger or self-host debugger is using debug registers, it can save and
> restore bindly everytime. However, if EL2/EL3 can get the information from
> DBGCLAIM, it can only save/restore debug registers when debug is ongoing
> which means DGBCLAIM[0] is set by external debugger or DGBCLAIM[1] is set
> by self-host debugger.

I think I'm missing something here. Are you tring to enable self-hosted
debug over powerdown events, or are you trying to optimize the
save/restore of debug state?

Linux doesn't support self-hosted debug over powerdown events, since we
lose context anyway, and we need to get through a reasonable portion of
setup code before it's safe to take debug exceptions again. Linux saves
and restores the debug state in this case (e.g. we call
hw_breakpoint_restore(cpu) in __cpu_suspend_exit()).

So AFAICT, Linux never needs to set DBGCLAIM[1]. For "cold" returns we
already have the relevant save/restore in Linux, and for "warm" returns
the debug state must be preserved by the firmware.

> > I was under the impression that this was solely for the benefit of an
> > external debugger, and should have no functional impact on the PSCI
> > implementation from the kernel's PoV, so as above I think we need a
> > better description of the case you're trying to address.
> 
> If self-host debugger like gdb/kgdb is used for debug, Kernel can set
> DBGCLAIM[1] to inform EL2/EL3.

I think there's additional complexity there.

KGDB relies on other CPU state (e.g. MMU, VBARs, TPIDRs, SP_EL0, DAIF.D)
being configured, so there will always be a blackout period over a
power-down events where this is restored. The kernel itself can
save/restore the debug state during this blackout period.

What benefit do you see there being if FW saves/restores this?

I'm very concerned that there are FW implementations out there which do
not save/restore when DBGCLAIM[1] is set, and the spec isn't entirely
clear as to what "debug context" consists of, so I suspect we don't
have reliable behaviour in this area.

Thanks,
Mark.

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