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From: Tarun Sahu <tarunsahu@google.com>
To: ackerleytng@google.com, fuad.tabba@linux.dev,
	 Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
	seanjc@google.com, dmatlack@google.com,
	 Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
	david@redhat.com,  Tarun Sahu <tarunsahu@google.com>,
	Pasha Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@soleen.com>,
	 Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@kernel.org>,
	sagis@google.com, Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
	 Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
	Alexander Graf <graf@amazon.com>
Cc: linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org, andre.przywara@arm.com,
	 michael.roth@amd.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-mm@kvack.org,  will@kernel.org, vannapurve@google.com,
	maz@kernel.org, fvdl@google.com,  kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	oliver.upton@linux.dev, kvmarm@lists.linux.dev,
	 alexandru.elisei@arm.com, skhawaja@google.com,
	aneesh.kumar@kernel.org,  linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,
	David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
	yan.y.zhao@intel.com,  kexec@lists.infradead.org,
	suzuki.poulose@arm.com
Subject: [PATCH v4 09/11] docs: liveupdate: Add documentation for VM and guest_memfd preservation
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:11:36 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260728121138.1103610-10-tarunsahu@google.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260728121138.1103610-1-tarunsahu@google.com>

Add Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst detailing VMM requirements, scope,
ordering constraints, and kernel-doc inclusions for KVM VM and
guest_memfd preservation via Live Update Orchestrator (LUO).

Also update Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst and MAINTAINERS.

Signed-off-by: Tarun Sahu <tarunsahu@google.com>
---
 Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst |   1 +
 Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst      | 107 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 MAINTAINERS                           |   1 +
 3 files changed, 109 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst b/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
index 5a292d0f3706..bac58a363151 100644
--- a/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
+++ b/Documentation/core-api/liveupdate.rst
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ The following types of file descriptors can be preserved
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    ../mm/memfd_preservation
+   ../liveupdate/vmm
 
 Public API
 ==========
diff --git a/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst b/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b8e8fb2b63c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
+
+=============================
+VM & Guest_Memfd Preservation
+=============================
+
+.. kernel-doc:: virt/kvm/kvm_luo.c
+   :doc: KVM VM Preservation via LUO
+
+.. kernel-doc:: virt/kvm/guest_memfd_luo.c
+   :doc: Guest_Memfd Preservation via LUO
+
+VMM Instructions
+================
+
+This section describes the requirements, scope, conditions, and
+ordering constraints that a Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) must adhere
+to for successful preservation and retrieval of guest_memfd files
+across a Live Update Orchestrator (LUO) sequence.
+
+Scope and Limitations
+---------------------
+
+At this stage, the scope of guest_memfd preservation is restricted to:
+
+1. **Fully Shared guest_memfd**:
+   At this time only fully shared guest_memfd is supported. Any system that
+   supports coco vm (which uses private guest_memfd), will not support
+   the preservation.
+
+2. **Standard Page Size**:
+   Only guest_memfd backed by standard page size (``PAGE_SIZE``,
+   order-0) pages is supported. Large/huge page backing (e.g.,
+   hugetlb guest_memfd) is not supported.
+
+Any Virtual Machine (VM) whose memory is fully backed by such
+guest_memfd files can be preserved across live update.
+
+VMM Actions and Conditions during Live Update
+---------------------------------------------
+
+During the live update sequence, the kernel introduces a *freezing*
+phase for the guest_memfd inode. Freezing prevents any modifications to
+the guest_memfd page cache. Specifically, once a guest_memfd mapping is
+frozen:
+
+- Any subsequent ``fallocate`` calls on the guest_memfd file descriptor
+  will fail and return ``-EPERM``.
+- Any new page faults (guest-side or host-userspace-side) that require
+  folio allocation will fail and return ``-EPERM``.
+
+To prevent vCPUs or VMM helper threads from failing due to these
+``-EPERM`` errors, the VMM must implement one of the following
+strategies:
+
+1. **Pause the VM (Recommended)**:
+   The VMM should pause/suspend all vCPUs before invoking the
+   preservation or freezing of the VM and guest_memfd files. This
+   ensures no new page faults or memory accesses can occur while the
+   guest_memfd is frozen.
+
+2. **Handle Fault Failures**:
+   If the VM is not paused, the VMM must be prepared to handle VM
+   exits or user page fault errors resulting from the ``-EPERM``
+   failures. The VMM must take appropriate action, such as
+   immediately pausing the VM, or aborting the live update sequence
+   (by tearing down or unpreserving the live update session).
+
+Preservation and Retrieval Ordering
+-----------------------------------
+
+Preservation Order
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+There is no strict ordering requirement for initiating the
+preservation of the KVM VM file and the guest_memfd files; they are
+preserved independently. If kexec is triggered with guest_memfd
+preservation without preserving the vm file, kexec will fail.
+
+Retrieval Order
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Similarly, there is no strict ordering required for retrieving the VM
+and guest_memfd files. Any file can be retrieved at any order.
+
+If guest_memfd file is retrieved and VM file is not retrieved, and
+luo_finish is called, then vm_file will be lost and guest_memfd file
+will be hanging around.
+
+NOTE: Before Initiating the preservation/retrieval, it is necessary to make
+sure that the kvm module is loaded (/dev/kvm must be available).
+
+
+VM & Guest_Memfd Preservation ABI
+=================================
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/kho/abi/kvm.h
+   :doc: DOC: guest_memfd Live Update ABI
+
+.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/kho/abi/kvm.h
+   :internal:
+
+See Also
+========
+
+- :doc:`/core-api/liveupdate`
+- :doc:`/userspace-api/liveupdate`
diff --git a/MAINTAINERS b/MAINTAINERS
index 8db8bb448b23..c032f9a0451b 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS
+++ b/MAINTAINERS
@@ -14548,6 +14548,7 @@ L:	kexec@lists.infradead.org
 L:	kvm@vger.kernel.org
 S:	Maintained
 T:	git git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/liveupdate/linux.git
+F:	Documentation/liveupdate/vmm.rst
 F:	virt/kvm/guest_memfd_luo.c
 F:	virt/kvm/kvm_luo.c
 
-- 
2.55.0.229.g6434b31f56-goog


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-28 12:11 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-28 12:11 [PATCH v4 00/11] liveupdate: kvm: Guest_memfd preservation Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 01/11] liveupdate: Add LIVEUPDATE_GUEST_MEMFD config option Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 02/11] KVM: Introduce kvm_create_vm_file() helper Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 03/11] KVM: Export kvm_uevent_notify_vm_create() Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 04/11] KVM: Track weak reference to vm_file in struct kvm Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 05/11] KVM: LUO: Support VM preservation across live updates Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 06/11] KVM: guest_memfd: Move internal definitions to internal header Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 07/11] KVM: guest_memfd: Add support for freezing mappings Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 08/11] KVM: guest_memfd: Add support for preservation via LUO Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` Tarun Sahu [this message]
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 10/11] KVM: selftests: Split ____vm_create() and add vm_create_from_fd() Tarun Sahu
2026-07-28 12:11 ` [PATCH v4 11/11] KVM: selftests: Add guest_memfd_preservation_test Tarun Sahu

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