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From: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
	Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.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,  Kiryl Shutsemau <kas@kernel.org>,
	Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>,
	 Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
	"K. Y. Srinivasan" <kys@microsoft.com>,
	 Haiyang Zhang <haiyangz@microsoft.com>,
	Wei Liu <wei.liu@kernel.org>,  Dexuan Cui <decui@microsoft.com>,
	Long Li <longli@microsoft.com>,
	 Ajay Kaher <ajay.kaher@broadcom.com>,
	Alexey Makhalov <alexey.makhalov@broadcom.com>,
	 Jan Kiszka <jan.kiszka@siemens.com>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
	 Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
	Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>,
	 Daniel Lezcano <daniel.lezcano@kernel.org>,
	John Stultz <jstultz@google.com>
Cc: Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
	 Vitaly Kuznetsov <vkuznets@redhat.com>,
	 Broadcom internal kernel review list
	<bcm-kernel-feedback-list@broadcom.com>,
	 Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@oracle.com>,
	Stephen Boyd <sboyd@kernel.org>,
	linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,  kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-coco@lists.linux.dev,
	 linux-hyperv@vger.kernel.org, virtualization@lists.linux.dev,
	 xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org,
	Tom Lendacky <thomas.lendacky@amd.com>,
	 Nikunj A Dadhania <nikunj@amd.com>,
	David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>,
	 David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>,
	Michael Kelley <mhklinux@outlook.com>,
	 Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Subject: [PATCH v5 22/51] x86/kvm: Mark TSC as reliable when it's constant and nonstop
Date: Wed,  1 Jul 2026 12:31:43 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260701193212.749551-23-seanjc@google.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260701193212.749551-1-seanjc@google.com>

Mark the TSC as reliable if the hypervisor (KVM) has enumerated the TSC
as constant and nonstop.  Like most (all?) virtualization setups, any
secondary clocksource that's used as a watchdog is guaranteed to be less
reliable than a constant, nonstop TSC, as all clocksources the kernel uses
as a watchdog are all but guaranteed to be emulated when running as a KVM
guest.  I.e. any observed discrepancies between the TSC and watchdog will
be due to jitter in the watchdog.

This is especially true for KVM, as the watchdog clocksource is usually
emulated in host userspace, i.e. reading the clock incurs a roundtrip
cost of thousands of cycles.

Marking the TSC reliable addresses a flaw where the TSC will occasionally
be marked unstable if the host is under moderate/heavy load.

Reviewed-by: David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
---
 arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_para.h |  2 +-
 arch/x86/kernel/kvm.c           | 12 +++++++++++-
 arch/x86/kernel/kvmclock.c      | 14 +++++---------
 3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_para.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_para.h
index 4a47c16e2df8..4a49fc286b4c 100644
--- a/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_para.h
+++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/kvm_para.h
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ static inline long kvm_sev_hypercall3(unsigned int nr, unsigned long p1,
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_KVM_GUEST
-void kvmclock_init(void);
+void kvmclock_init(bool prefer_tsc);
 void kvmclock_disable(void);
 bool kvm_para_available(void);
 unsigned int kvm_arch_para_features(void);
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/kvm.c b/arch/x86/kernel/kvm.c
index 909d3e5e5bcd..1cef54e1e7d9 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/kvm.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/kvm.c
@@ -978,6 +978,7 @@ static void __init kvm_init_platform(void)
 		.mask_hi = (BIT_ULL(boot_cpu_data.x86_phys_bits) - 1) >> 32,
 	};
 	u32 timing_info_leaf;
+	bool tsc_is_reliable;
 
 	if (cc_platform_has(CC_ATTR_GUEST_MEM_ENCRYPT) &&
 	    kvm_para_has_feature(KVM_FEATURE_MIGRATION_CONTROL)) {
@@ -1040,7 +1041,16 @@ static void __init kvm_init_platform(void)
 		}
 	}
 
-	kvmclock_init();
+        /*
+         * If the TSC counts at a constant frequency across P/T states and in
+         * deep C-states, treat the TSC reliable, as guaranteed by KVM.
+         */
+	tsc_is_reliable = boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_CONSTANT_TSC) &&
+			  boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_NONSTOP_TSC);
+	if (tsc_is_reliable)
+		setup_force_cpu_cap(X86_FEATURE_TSC_RELIABLE);
+
+	kvmclock_init(tsc_is_reliable);
 	x86_platform.apic_post_init = kvm_apic_init;
 
 	/*
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/kvmclock.c b/arch/x86/kernel/kvmclock.c
index f55d0305d1f3..2e7ab54cb9dc 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/kvmclock.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/kvmclock.c
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ static int kvmclock_setup_percpu(unsigned int cpu)
 	return p ? 0 : -ENOMEM;
 }
 
-void __init kvmclock_init(void)
+void __init kvmclock_init(bool prefer_tsc)
 {
 	u8 flags;
 
@@ -356,15 +356,11 @@ void __init kvmclock_init(void)
 	kvm_get_preset_lpj();
 
 	/*
-	 * X86_FEATURE_NONSTOP_TSC is TSC runs at constant rate
-	 * with P/T states and does not stop in deep C-states.
-	 *
-	 * Invariant TSC exposed by host means kvmclock is not necessary:
-	 * can use TSC as clocksource.
-	 *
+	 * If TSC is preferred over kvmlock, drop kvmclock's rating so that TSC
+	 * is chosen as the clocksource (but still register kvmclock in case
+	 * the kernel doesn't want to use TSC for whatever reason).
 	 */
-	if (boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_CONSTANT_TSC) &&
-	    boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_NONSTOP_TSC))
+	if (prefer_tsc)
 		kvm_clock.rating = 299;
 
 	clocksource_register_hz(&kvm_clock, NSEC_PER_SEC);
-- 
2.55.0.rc0.799.gd6f94ed593-goog


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-01 19:32 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 67+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-01 19:31 [PATCH v5 00/51] x86: Try to wrangle PV clocks vs. TSC Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 01/51] x86/apic: Provide helpers to set local APIC timer period in hz and khz Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:46   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:05     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 02/51] x86/apic: Add CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=n stubs for apic_set_timer_period_{,k}hz() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:48   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 03/51] x86/tsc: Ensure that TSC recalibration doesn't run if TSC frequency is known Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 04/51] x86/tsc: Restrict recalibrate_cpu_khz() export to p4-clockmod and powernow-k7 Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 05/51] x86/sev: Mark TSC as reliable when configuring Secure TSC Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:56   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:07     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 06/51] x86/sev: Don't override CPU frequency calibration for SNP's " Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:53   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:09     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 07/51] x86/sev: Move check for SNP Secure TSC support to tsc_early_init() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 08/51] x86/sev: Shove SNP's secure/trusted TSC frequency directly into "calibration" Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 09/51] x86/tsc: Add a standalone helper for getting TSC info from CPUID.0x15 Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 10/51] x86/tdx: Force TSC frequency with CPUID-based info provided by the TDX-Module Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 11/51] x86/tsc: Add dedicated hypervisor hooks for getting known TSC/CPU frequencies Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 12/51] x86/acrn: Register TSC/CPU frequency callbacks iff frequency is actually in CPUID Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:52   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:10     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 13/51] x86/acrn: Mark TSC frequency as known when using ACRN for calibration Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 14/51] x86/tsc: Consolidate forcing of X86_FEATURE_TSC_KNOWN_FREQ for PV code Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 15/51] x86/tsc: Kill off x86_platform_ops.calibrate_{cpu,tsc}() hooks Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 16/51] x86/tsc: Rename pit_hpet_ptimer_calibrate_cpu() => native_calibrate_cpu_late() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 17/51] x86/tsc: Fold native_calibrate_cpu() into recalibrate_cpu_khz() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:50   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 18/51] x86/kvmclock: Rename kvm_get_tsc_khz() to kvmclock_get_tsc_khz() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 19/51] x86/kvmclock: Drop dead check on TSC being unstable during kvmclock_init() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 20/51] KVM: x86: Officially define CPUID 0x40000010 as PV Timing Info (TSC and Bus) Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 21/51] x86/kvm: Obtain TSC frequency from PV CPUID if present Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` Sean Christopherson [this message]
2026-07-01 20:03   ` [PATCH v5 22/51] x86/kvm: Mark TSC as reliable when it's constant and nonstop sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:13     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 23/51] x86/tsc: Add standalone helper for getting CPU frequency from CPUID Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 24/51] x86/kvm: Get CPU base frequency from CPUID when it's available Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:54   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 25/51] clocksource: hyper-v: Register sched_clock save/restore iff it's necessary Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 26/51] clocksource: hyper-v: Drop wrappers to sched_clock save/restore helpers Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 27/51] clocksource: hyper-v: Don't save/restore TSC offset when using HV sched_clock Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 28/51] x86/kvmclock: Setup kvmclock for secondary CPUs iff CONFIG_SMP=y Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 29/51] x86/kvm: Don't disable kvmclock on BSP in syscore_suspend() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 20:03   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-01 20:43     ` Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 30/51] x86/paravirt: Remove unnecessary PARAVIRT=n stub for paravirt_set_sched_clock() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 31/51] x86/paravirt: Move handling of unstable PV clocks into paravirt_set_sched_clock() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 32/51] x86/kvmclock: Move sched_clock save/restore helpers up in kvmclock.c Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 33/51] x86/xen/time: NOP-ify x86_platform's sched_clock save/restore hooks Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 34/51] x86/vmware: NOP-ify save/restore hooks when using VMware's sched_clock Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 35/51] x86/tsc: WARN if TSC sched_clock save/restore used with PV sched_clock Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 36/51] x86/paravirt: Pass sched_clock save/restore helpers during registration Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 37/51] x86/kvmclock: Move kvm_sched_clock_init() down in kvmclock.c Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:31 ` [PATCH v5 38/51] x86/xen/time: Mark xen_setup_vsyscall_time_info() as __init Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 39/51] x86/pvclock: Mark setup helpers and related various as __init/__ro_after_init Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 40/51] x86/pvclock: WARN if pvclock's valid_flags are overwritten Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 41/51] x86/kvmclock: Refactor handling of PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT during kvmclock_init() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 42/51] timekeeping: Resume clocksources before reading persistent clock Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 43/51] x86/kvmclock: Hook clocksource.suspend/resume when kvmclock isn't sched_clock Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 44/51] x86/kvmclock: WARN if wall clock is read while kvmclock is suspended Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 45/51] x86/paravirt: Mark __paravirt_set_sched_clock() as __init Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 46/51] x86/paravirt: Plumb a return code into __paravirt_set_sched_clock() Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 47/51] x86/paravirt: Don't use a PV sched_clock in CoCo guests with trusted TSC Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 48/51] x86/kvmclock: Use TSC for sched_clock if it's constant and non-stop Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 49/51] x86/kvmclock: Plumb in AP-online and BSP-resume to kvmlock, for documentation Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 50/51] x86/paravirt: Move using_native_sched_clock() stub into timer.h Sean Christopherson
2026-07-01 19:32 ` [PATCH v5 51/51] x86/kvm: Get local APIC bus frequency from PV CPUID Timing Info Sean Christopherson

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