From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from foss.arm.com (foss.arm.com [217.140.110.172]) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 855543BF66B; Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:26:25 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=217.140.110.172 ARC-Seal:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1787311589; cv=none; b=P6/2BaNoAhew6GDiL6MvEOTMB+bY8/KNwOAh7FDirFVrr9bVXOOUNxuQC8XXxz6ef1fWAMTo4qGmDuGn5ZYsgEzxJCTNO/VagDXCEq1PTIbDREqqRV4ExD2gou2qi0HtXhxxQTKvGTuT4ywiigxdypTPtup7DpolnY+MenAMqnc= ARC-Message-Signature:i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1787311589; c=relaxed/simple; bh=Bl+hTE7mLTOt5f/k2vBFWuhv1+9Osdu/Tt7Pkm/CsuM=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:Message-ID:In-Reply-To:References: MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Disposition; b=OJXRTc46/tzxhTPJnGGJPxi76M3J4qystkSZwEVN8pjtAEMfsalcYGMU+1sOUxDIDFBfWILcyL80XlgOu6vEipNn99tvdMMG4VhITQSEahQ+irM1H3ypmQ+niiAWWByKYeGGum1JSuEKHYTDsq/Ps1wmhPg0syJzuSxtpDAhEWU= ARC-Authentication-Results:i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=none dis=none) header.from=arm.com; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=arm.com; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=arm.com header.i=@arm.com header.b=SzGA+SkJ; arc=none smtp.client-ip=217.140.110.172 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dmarc=pass (p=none dis=none) header.from=arm.com Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=arm.com Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=arm.com header.i=@arm.com header.b="SzGA+SkJ" Received: from usa-sjc-imap-foss1.foss.arm.com (unknown [10.121.207.14]) by usa-sjc-mx-foss1.foss.arm.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19B851596; Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:26:20 -0700 (PDT) Received: from LeoBrasDK.cambridge.arm.com (LeoBrasDK.cambridge.arm.com [10.2.212.21]) by usa-sjc-imap-foss1.foss.arm.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4D6653F763; Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:26:21 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=arm.com; s=foss; t=1787311583; bh=Bl+hTE7mLTOt5f/k2vBFWuhv1+9Osdu/Tt7Pkm/CsuM=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:In-Reply-To:References:From; b=SzGA+SkJNd0Je+3zKJAyGf1m9WfOuDAW1oZfaMXZJEigu/ojNzVCJHcA443IIKDEN 94WQTAooNVv3FwPmJpVT6tSwVoUgDyIjAxV2ORk9c/0SHMm44bXbr01TpGfFClX2wk ZqwP8TnJllBLq1SWPM40aYbbwTiiNV4WFktXp/8Q= From: Leonardo Bras To: Wei-Lin Chang Cc: Leonardo Bras , Mark Brown , Catalin Marinas , Will Deacon , Marc Zyngier , Joey Gouly , Suzuki K Poulose , Shuah Khan , Fuad Tabba , Oliver Upton , Peter Maydell , Yao Yuan , linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, kvmarm@lists.linux.dev, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [PATCH v19 03/14] KVM: arm64: Manage GCS access and registers for guests Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:26:13 +0100 Message-ID: X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.55.0 In-Reply-To: References: <48be9e5d-357a-4863-8682-8b3f34c69723@sirena.org.uk> <97ad6e83-b22b-4881-b644-66fa99f68d64@sirena.org.uk> Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 12:39:08AM +0100, Wei-Lin Chang wrote: > On Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 03:28:39PM +0100, Leonardo Bras wrote: > > On Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 03:07:14PM +0100, Mark Brown wrote: > > > On Thu, Aug 20, 2026 at 11:16:59AM +0100, Leonardo Bras wrote: > > > > On Wed, Aug 19, 2026 at 05:46:00PM +0100, Mark Brown wrote: > > > > > > > > This is just because there isn't a preexisting ctxt_has_tcrx() check > > > > > already there, FEAT_GCS architecturally depends on FEAT_TCRX and there > > > > > was a request to make this explicit in the code to try to optimise > > > > > things a bit. The compiler should skip over both blocks at once if TCRX > > > > > isn't there rather than having two separate tests or static branches. I > > > > > didn't add new checks where there were none since I expect that to be > > > > > unhelpful for code generation, you'd get the reverse situation and emit > > > > > two checks. > > > > > > > Humm, but then why saving GCSPR_EL2 does not depend on TCRX/E2H? Or maybe a > > > > better question, why are not GCSPR_EL2 and GCSCR_EL2 saved in the same 'if' > > > > clause under ctxt_has_tcrx() (and E2H set), if they are restored in the > > > > same 'if' clause? > > > > > > > As you mentioned, GCS depends on TCRX, so it should be fine, but just by > > > > reading the code I see: > > > > - GCSCR_EL2 : > > > > Save if GCS=1, TCRX=1, E2H=1 > > > > Restore if GCS=1, TCRX=1 > > > > - GCSPR_EL2 : > > > > Save if GCS=1, > > > > Restore if GCS=1, TCRX=1 > > > > > > > Which looks kind of confusing for the as a first time reader. > > > > > > > Does it make sense? > > > > > > I agree that the current situation is a bit hard to follow, I'd actually > > > originally written things without the explict dependency because of that > > > but Marc wanted the optimisation. > > > > Well, I am not against the explicit dependency thing, it just looks odd > > to me that some save/restore have a dependency and it's counterpart does > > not. As well as the dependencies for both registers being different. > > Hey I feel the question wasn't answered completely :) > > Here is the reason for the asymmetric save restore (besides the tcr2 > part): > > GCSCR > If guest E2H == 1: > - L1 accesses to GCSCR_EL2 and GCSCR_EL1 have the same intent -> they > both mean access the vCPU GCSCR_EL2. > - L1 access to GCSCR_EL2 (e.g. msr GCSCR_EL2, x0) traps, KVM updates > both the in-memory vCPU GCSCR_EL2, and the hardware GCSCR_EL1 for the > the guest. In-memory copy stays up to date. > - L1 access to GCSCR_EL1 does not trap -> in-memory vCPU GCSCR_EL2 > becomes stale if it's a write. > - From above, must save on exit. > > If guest E2H == 0: > - Only L1 accesses to GCSCR_EL2 mean access the vCPU GCSCR_EL2. > - L1 accesses to GCSCR_EL2 always traps. > - In-memory vCPU GCSCR_EL2 always stay up to date. > - From above, no need to save on exit. > > GCSPR > - Regardless of the guest E2H value, hardware could write to the > hardware GCSPR_EL1, making the in-memory vCPU GCSPR_EL2 stale. > - From above, must save on exit. > > Restore is trivial, vCPU GCSCR_EL2/GCSPR_EL2 must be written to the > hardware EL1 registers because someone else could be using it. > > Quite a few other registers are saved only if guest E2H == 1 because of > the same reason. > Ah, makes sense. Thanks Wei-Lin!