Re: [PATCH v2 10/39] x86/mm: Introduce _PAGE_COW

Dave Hansen
2022-10-05T14:08:24Z

On 10/4/22 19:17, Andrew Cooper wrote:
> On 29/09/2022 23:29, Rick Edgecombe wrote:
>> From: Yu-cheng Yu <yu-cheng.yu@intel.com>
>>
>> There is essentially no room left in the x86 hardware PTEs on some OSes
>> (not Linux). That left the hardware architects looking for a way to
>> represent a new memory type (shadow stack) within the existing bits.
>> They chose to repurpose a lightly-used state: Write=0,Dirty=1.
> How does "Some OSes have a greater dependence on software available bits
> in PTEs than Linux" sound?
>
>> The reason it's lightly used is that Dirty=1 is normally set _before_ a
>> write. A write with a Write=0 PTE would typically only generate a fault,
>> not set Dirty=1. Hardware can (rarely) both set Write=1 *and* generate the
>> fault, resulting in a Dirty=0,Write=1 PTE. Hardware which supports shadow
>> stacks will no longer exhibit this oddity.
> Again, an interesting anecdote but not salient information here.

As much as I like the sound of my own voice (and anecdotes), I agree
that this is a bit oblique for the patch. Maybe this anecdote should
get banished elsewhere.

The changelog here could definitely get to the point faster.