[virtio-comment] Re: [virtio] [PATCH v10 01/10] virtio: document forward compatibility guarantees

["Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>]

On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 01:53:50PM +0000, David Edmondson wrote:
> "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com> writes:
> 
> > Feature negotiation forms the basis of forward compatibility
> > guarantees of virtio but has never been properly documented.
> > Do it now.
> >
> > Suggested-by: Halil Pasic <pasic@linux.ibm.com>
> > Signed-off-by: Michael S. Tsirkin <mst@redhat.com>
> > ---
> >  content.tex | 42 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >  1 file changed, 42 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/content.tex b/content.tex
> > index 0e474dd..0c2d917 100644
> > --- a/content.tex
> > +++ b/content.tex
> > @@ -114,21 +114,63 @@ \section{Feature Bits}\label{sec:Basic Facilities of a Virtio Device / Feature B
> >  In particular, new fields in the device configuration space are
> >  indicated by offering a new feature bit.
> >  
> > +To keep the feature negotiation mechanism extensible, it is important
> > +that devices \em{do not} offer any feature bits that they would not be
> > +able to handle if the driver accepted them (even though drivers are not
> > +supposed to accept them in the first place even if offered, according to
> > +this version of the specification.) 
> 
> I find this (the bit in parenthesis) confusing.
> 
> Why are drivers not supposed to accept features that they have been
> offered, given that they can't know that the device cannot handle the
> feature that it just offered?
> 
> Is this alluding to the later section:
> 
> > feature bits not described in this specification, reserved feature
> > bits and feature bits reserved or not supported for the specific
> > transport or the specific device type
> 
> ?

exactly. how would you put this better? given an example?

> > Likewise, it is important that
> > +drivers \em{do not} accept feature bits they do not know how to handle
> > +(even though devices are not supposed to offer them in the first place,
> > +according to this version of the specification.) The preferred way for
> > +handling reserved and unexpected features is that the driver ignores
> > +them.
> > +
> > +In particular, this is
> > +especially important for features limited to specific transports,
> > +as enabling these for more transports in future versions of the
> > +specification is highly likely to require changing the behaviour
> > +from drivers and devices.
> 
> "require changed behaviour from drivers and devices".
> 
> > Drivers and devices supporting
> > +multiple transports need to carefully maintain per-transport
> > +lists of allowed features.
> > +
> >  \drivernormative{\subsection}{Feature Bits}{Basic Facilities of a Virtio Device / Feature Bits}
> >  The driver MUST NOT accept a feature which the device did not offer,
> >  and MUST NOT accept a feature which requires another feature which was
> >  not accepted.
> >  
> > +The driver MUST validate the feature bits offered by the device.
> > +The driver MUST ignore and MUST NOT accept any feature bit that is
> > +\begin{itemize}
> > +\item not described in this specification,
> > +\item marked as reserved,
> > +\item not supported for the specific transport,
> > +\item not defined for the device type.
> > +\end{itemize}
> > +
> >  The driver SHOULD go into backwards compatibility mode
> >  if the device does not offer a feature it understands, otherwise MUST
> >  set the FAILED \field{device status} bit and cease initialization.
> >  
> > +By contrast, the driver MUST NOT fail solely because a feature
> > +it does not understand has been offered by the device.
> > +
> >  \devicenormative{\subsection}{Feature Bits}{Basic Facilities of a Virtio Device / Feature Bits}
> >  The device MUST NOT offer a feature which requires another feature
> >  which was not offered.  The device SHOULD accept any valid subset
> >  of features the driver accepts, otherwise it MUST fail to set the
> >  FEATURES_OK \field{device status} bit when the driver writes it.
> >  
> > +The device MUST NOT offer feature bits corresponding to features
> > +it would not support if accepted by the driver (even if the
> > +driver is prohibited from accepting the feature bits by the
> > +specification); for the sake of clarity, this refers to feature
> > +bits not described in this specification, reserved feature bits
> > +and feature bits reserved or not supported for the specific
> > +transport or the specific device type, but this does not preclude
> > +devices written to a future version of this specification from
> > +offering such feature bits should such a specification have a
> > +provision for devices to support the corresponding features.
> > +
> >  If a device has successfully negotiated a set of features
> >  at least once (by accepting the FEATURES_OK \field{device
> >  status} bit during device initialization), then it SHOULD
> > -- 
> > MST
> >
> >
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