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From: David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>
To: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
	Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>,
	Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
	Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
	Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
	x86@kernel.org, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
	Vitaly Kuznetsov <vkuznets@redhat.com>,
	Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>,
	Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@oracle.com>,
	David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>,
	Paul Durrant <paul@xen.org>, Jonathan Cameron <jic23@kernel.org>,
	Sascha Bischoff <Sascha.Bischoff@arm.com>,
	Marc Zyngier <maz@kernel.org>, Joey Gouly <joey.gouly@arm.com>,
	Jack Allister <jalliste@amazon.com>,
	Dongli Zhang <dongli.zhang@oracle.com>,
	joe.jin@oracle.com, kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v5 23/34] KVM: x86: Factor out kvm_use_master_clock()
Date: Mon,  8 Jun 2026 15:48:04 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260608145455.89187-24-dwmw2@infradead.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260608145455.89187-1-dwmw2@infradead.org>

From: David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>

Both kvm_track_tsc_matching() and pvclock_update_vm_gtod_copy() make a
decision about whether the KVM clock should be in master clock mode.
They used *different* criteria for the decision though. This isn't
really a problem; it only has the potential to cause unnecessary
invocations of KVM_REQ_MASTERCLOCK_UPDATE if the masterclock was
disabled due to TSC going backwards, or the guest using the old MSR.
But it isn't pretty.

Factor the decision out to a single function. And document the
historical reason why it's disabled for guests that use the old
MSR_KVM_SYSTEM_TIME.

Signed-off-by: David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>
Reviewed-by: Paul Durrant <paul@xen.org>
---
 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
index 86c30be4c5d2..72fb4620a5ba 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/x86.c
@@ -2638,11 +2638,30 @@ static inline bool gtod_is_based_on_tsc(int mode)
 {
 	return mode == VDSO_CLOCKMODE_TSC || mode == VDSO_CLOCKMODE_HVCLOCK;
 }
-#endif
+
+static bool kvm_use_master_clock(struct kvm *kvm)
+{
+	struct kvm_arch *ka = &kvm->arch;
+
+	/*
+	 * The 'old kvmclock' check is a workaround (from 2015) for a
+	 * SUSE 2.6.16 kernel that didn't boot if the system_time in
+	 * its kvmclock was too far behind the current time. So the
+	 * mode of just setting the reference point and allowing time
+	 * to proceed linearly from there makes it fail to boot.
+	 * Despite that being kind of the *point* of the way the clock
+	 * is exposed to the guest. By coincidence, the offending
+	 * kernels used the old MSR_KVM_SYSTEM_TIME, which was moved
+	 * only because it resided in the wrong number range. So the
+	 * workaround is activated for *all* guests using the old MSR.
+	 */
+	return ka->all_vcpus_matched_freq &&
+		!ka->backwards_tsc_observed &&
+		!ka->boot_vcpu_runs_old_kvmclock;
+}
 
 static void kvm_track_tsc_matching(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, bool new_generation)
 {
-#ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
 	struct kvm_arch *ka = &vcpu->kvm->arch;
 	struct pvclock_gtod_data *gtod = &pvclock_gtod_data;
 
@@ -2677,7 +2696,7 @@ static void kvm_track_tsc_matching(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, bool new_generation)
 	 * are fine — each vCPU's pvclock has its own tsc_timestamp that
 	 * accounts for its offset.
 	 */
-	bool use_master_clock = ka->all_vcpus_matched_freq &&
+	bool use_master_clock = kvm_use_master_clock(vcpu->kvm) &&
 				gtod_is_based_on_tsc(gtod->clock.vclock_mode);
 
 	/*
@@ -2693,8 +2712,11 @@ static void kvm_track_tsc_matching(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, bool new_generation)
 	trace_kvm_track_tsc(vcpu->vcpu_id, ka->nr_vcpus_matched_tsc,
 			    atomic_read(&vcpu->kvm->online_vcpus),
 		            ka->use_master_clock, gtod->clock.vclock_mode);
-#endif
 }
+#else
+static inline void kvm_track_tsc_matching(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu,
+					  bool new_generation) {}
+#endif
 
 /*
  * Multiply tsc by a fixed point number represented by ratio.
@@ -3216,10 +3238,9 @@ static void pvclock_update_vm_gtod_copy(struct kvm *kvm)
 #ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
 	struct kvm_arch *ka = &kvm->arch;
 	int vclock_mode;
-	bool host_tsc_clocksource, vcpus_matched;
+	bool host_tsc_clocksource;
 
 	lockdep_assert_held(&kvm->arch.tsc_write_lock);
-	vcpus_matched = ka->all_vcpus_matched_freq;
 
 	/*
 	 * If the host uses TSC clock, then passthrough TSC as stable
@@ -3229,9 +3250,8 @@ static void pvclock_update_vm_gtod_copy(struct kvm *kvm)
 					&ka->master_kernel_ns,
 					&ka->master_cycle_now);
 
-	ka->use_master_clock = host_tsc_clocksource && vcpus_matched
-				&& !ka->backwards_tsc_observed
-				&& !ka->boot_vcpu_runs_old_kvmclock;
+	ka->use_master_clock = host_tsc_clocksource &&
+				kvm_use_master_clock(kvm);
 
 	if (ka->use_master_clock) {
 		u64 tsc_hz;
@@ -3259,7 +3279,7 @@ static void pvclock_update_vm_gtod_copy(struct kvm *kvm)
 
 	vclock_mode = pvclock_gtod_data.clock.vclock_mode;
 	trace_kvm_update_master_clock(ka->use_master_clock, vclock_mode,
-					vcpus_matched);
+					ka->all_vcpus_matched_freq);
 #endif
 }
 
-- 
2.54.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-06-08 14:55 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 44+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-06-08 14:47 [PATCH v5 00/34] Cleaning up the KVM clock mess David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 01/34] KVM: x86/xen: Do not corrupt KVM clock in kvm_xen_shared_info_init() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 02/34] KVM: x86: Improve accuracy of KVM clock when TSC scaling is in force David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 03/34] UAPI: x86: Move pvclock-abi to UAPI for x86 platforms David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 04/34] KVM: x86: Add KVM_[GS]ET_CLOCK_GUEST for accurate KVM clock migration David Woodhouse
2026-06-16  6:47   ` Dongli Zhang
2026-06-16 11:13     ` David Woodhouse
2026-06-23  8:50       ` David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 05/34] KVM: selftests: Add KVM/PV clock selftest to prove timer correction David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 06/34] KVM: x86: Explicitly disable TSC scaling without CONSTANT_TSC David Woodhouse
2026-07-01 21:38   ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-02  8:58     ` David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 07/34] KVM: x86: Activate master clock immediately on vCPU creation David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 08/34] KVM: x86: Add KVM_VCPU_TSC_SCALE and fix the documentation on TSC migration David Woodhouse
2026-06-09 23:26   ` Randy Dunlap
2026-07-01 21:47   ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-02  8:09     ` David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 09/34] KVM: x86: Avoid NTP frequency skew for KVM clock on 32-bit host David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 10/34] KVM: x86: Fold __get_kvmclock() into get_kvmclock() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 11/34] KVM: x86: Restructure get_kvmclock() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 12/34] KVM: x86: Fix KVM clock precision in get_kvmclock() with TSC scaling David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 13/34] KVM: x86: Use get_kvmclock() in kvm_get_wall_clock_epoch() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 14/34] KVM: x86: Fix compute_guest_tsc() to handle negative time deltas David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 15/34] KVM: x86: Restructure kvm_guest_time_update() for TSC upscaling David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 16/34] KVM: x86: Simplify and comment kvm_get_time_scale() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 17/34] KVM: x86: Remove implicit rdtsc() from kvm_compute_l1_tsc_offset() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:47 ` [PATCH v5 18/34] KVM: x86: Improve synchronization in kvm_synchronize_tsc() David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 19/34] KVM: x86: Kill last_tsc_{nsec,write,offset} fields David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 20/34] KVM: x86: Replace nr_vcpus_matched_tsc count with all_vcpus_matched_tsc bool David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 21/34] KVM: x86: Allow KVM master clock mode when TSCs are offset from each other David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 22/34] KVM: selftests: Add master clock offset test David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` David Woodhouse [this message]
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 24/34] KVM: x86: Avoid gratuitous global clock updates David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 25/34] KVM: x86/xen: Prevent runstate times from becoming negative David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 26/34] KVM: x86: Avoid redundant masterclock updates from multiple vCPUs David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 27/34] KVM: x86: Remove runtime Xen TSC frequency CPUID update David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 28/34] KVM: selftests: Add Xen/generic CPUID timing leaf test David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 29/34] KVM: x86: Re-synchronize TSC after KVM_SET_TSC_KHZ David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 30/34] KVM: selftests: Add Xen runstate migration test David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 31/34] KVM: x86: Use ktime_get_snapshot_id() for master clock David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 32/34] KVM: x86: Compute kvmclock base without pvclock_gtod_data David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 33/34] KVM: x86: Replace pvclock_gtod_data vclock_mode with boolean David Woodhouse
2026-06-08 14:48 ` [PATCH v5 34/34] KVM: x86: Remove pvclock_gtod_data and private timekeeping code David Woodhouse
2026-06-09 18:50 ` [PATCH v5 00/34] Cleaning up the KVM clock mess David Woodhouse

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