Re: [PATCH v12 21/24] vfio: Determine noiommu device in __vfio_register_dev()

[Alex Williamson <alex.williamson@redhat.com>]

On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 14:33:01 +0000
"Liu, Yi L" <yi.l.liu@intel.com> wrote:

> > From: Alex Williamson <alex.williamson@redhat.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 10:19 PM
> > 
> > On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 05:53:42 +0000
> > "Liu, Yi L" <yi.l.liu@intel.com> wrote:
> >   
> > > > From: Alex Williamson <alex.williamson@redhat.com>
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 6:42 AM
> > > >
> > > > On Fri,  2 Jun 2023 05:16:50 -0700
> > > > Yi Liu <yi.l.liu@intel.com> wrote:
> > > >  
> > > > > This moves the noiommu device determination and noiommu taint out of
> > > > > vfio_group_find_or_alloc(). noiommu device is determined in
> > > > > __vfio_register_dev() and result is stored in flag vfio_device->noiommu,
> > > > > the noiommu taint is added in the end of __vfio_register_dev().
> > > > >
> > > > > This is also a preparation for compiling out vfio_group infrastructure
> > > > > as it makes the noiommu detection and taint common between the cdev path
> > > > > and group path though cdev path does not support noiommu.  
> > > >
> > > > Does this really still make sense?  The motivation for the change is
> > > > really not clear without cdev support for noiommu.  Thanks,  
> > >
> > > I think it still makes sense. When CONFIG_VFIO_GROUP==n, the kernel
> > > only supports cdev interface. If there is noiommu device, vfio should
> > > fail the registration. So, the noiommu determination is still needed. But
> > > I'd admit the taint might still be in the group code.  
> > 
> > How is there going to be a noiommu device when VFIO_GROUP is unset?  
> 
> How about booting a kernel with iommu disabled, then all the devices
> are not protected by iommu. I suppose they are noiommu devices. If
> user wants to bound them to vfio, the kernel should have VFIO_GROUP.
> Otherwise, needs to fail.

"noiommu" is a vfio designation of a device, it must be created by
vfio.  There can certainly be devices which are not IOMMU backed, but
without vfio designating them as noiommu devices, which is only done
via the legacy and compat paths, there's no such thing as a noiommu
device.  Devices without an IOMMU are simply out of scope for cdev,
there should never be a vfio cdev entry created for them.  Thanks,

Alex