On Fri, Mar 25, 2022, 5:04 AM Jan Beulich <[email protected]> wrote:

> On 24.03.2022 18:02, Tamas K Lengyel wrote:
> > On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 12:44 PM Roger Pau Monné <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 12:22:49PM -0400, Tamas K Lengyel wrote:
> >>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 12:04 PM Roger Pau Monné <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 11:52:38AM -0400, Tamas K Lengyel wrote:
> >>>>> On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 11:46 AM Roger Pau Monné <
> [email protected]> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Tue, Mar 22, 2022 at 01:41:39PM -0400, Tamas K Lengyel wrote:
> >>>>>>> diff --git a/xen/include/public/memory.h
> b/xen/include/public/memory.h
> >>>>>>> index 208d8dcbd9..30ce23c5a7 100644
> >>>>>>> --- a/xen/include/public/memory.h
> >>>>>>> +++ b/xen/include/public/memory.h
> >>>>>>> @@ -541,12 +541,14 @@ struct xen_mem_sharing_op {
> >>>>>>>                  uint32_t gref;     /* IN: gref to debug         */
> >>>>>>>              } u;
> >>>>>>>          } debug;
> >>>>>>> -        struct mem_sharing_op_fork {      /* OP_FORK */
> >>>>>>> +        struct mem_sharing_op_fork {      /* OP_FORK/_RESET */
> >>>>>>>              domid_t parent_domain;        /* IN: parent's domain
> id */
> >>>>>>>  /* These flags only makes sense for short-lived forks */
> >>>>>>>  #define XENMEM_FORK_WITH_IOMMU_ALLOWED (1u << 0)
> >>>>>>>  #define XENMEM_FORK_BLOCK_INTERRUPTS   (1u << 1)
> >>>>>>>  #define XENMEM_FORK_SKIP_SPECIAL_PAGES (1u << 2)
> >>>>>>> +#define XENMEM_FORK_RESET_STATE        (1u << 3)
> >>>>>>> +#define XENMEM_FORK_RESET_MEMORY       (1u << 4)
> >>>>>>>              uint16_t flags;               /* IN: optional
> settings */
> >>>>>>>              uint32_t pad;                 /* Must be set to 0 */
> >>>>>>>          } fork;
> >>>>>>> diff --git a/xen/include/public/vm_event.h
> b/xen/include/public/vm_event.h
> >>>>>>> index bb003d21d0..81c2ee28cc 100644
> >>>>>>> --- a/xen/include/public/vm_event.h
> >>>>>>> +++ b/xen/include/public/vm_event.h
> >>>>>>> @@ -127,6 +127,14 @@
> >>>>>>>   * Reset the vmtrace buffer (if vmtrace is enabled)
> >>>>>>>   */
> >>>>>>>  #define VM_EVENT_FLAG_RESET_VMTRACE      (1 << 13)
> >>>>>>> +/*
> >>>>>>> + * Reset the VM state (if VM is fork)
> >>>>>>> + */
> >>>>>>> +#define VM_EVENT_FLAG_RESET_FORK_STATE   (1 << 14)
> >>>>>>> +/*
> >>>>>>> + * Remove unshared entried from physmap (if VM is fork)
> >>>>>>> + */
> >>>>>>> +#define VM_EVENT_FLAG_RESET_FORK_MEMORY  (1 << 15)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I'm confused about why two different interfaces are added to do this
> >>>>>> kind of selective resets, one to vm_event and one to xenmem_fork?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> I thin k the natural place for the option to live would be
> >>>>>> XENMEM_FORK?
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Yes, that's the natural place for it. But we are adding it to both
> for
> >>>>> a reason. In our use-case the reset operation will happen after a
> >>>>> vm_event is received to which we already must send a reply. Setting
> >>>>> the flag on the vm_event reply saves us having to issue an extra
> memop
> >>>>> hypercall afterwards.
> >>>>
> >>>> Can you do a multicall and batch both operations in a single
> >>>> hypercall?
> >>>>
> >>>> That would seem more natural than adding duplicated interfaces.
> >>>
> >>> Not in a straight forward way, no. There is no exposed API in libxc to
> >>> do a multicall. Even if that was an option it is still easier for me
> >>> to just flip a bit in the response field than having to construct a
> >>> whole standalone hypercall structure to be sent as part of a
> >>> multicall.
> >>
> >> Right, I can see it being easier, but it seems like a bad choice from
> >> an interface PoV. You are the maintainer of both subsystems, but it
> >> would seem to me it's in your best interest to try to keep the
> >> interfaces separated and clean.
> >>
> >> Would it be possible for the reset XENMEM_FORK op to have the side
> >> effect of performing what you would instead do with the vm_event
> >> hypercall?
> >
> > Yes, the event response is really just an event channel signal to Xen,
> > so the memop hypercall could similarly encode the "now check the
> > vm_event response" as an optional field. But why is that any better
> > than the current event channel route processing the vm_response
> > encoding the "now do these ops on the fork"?
>
> Well, as Roger said: Less duplication in the interface.
>

No, you would just duplicate something else instead, ie. the event channel
hypercall.


> > We already have a bunch of different operations you can encode in the
> > vm_event response field, so it reduces the complexity on the toolstack
> > side since I don't have to switch around which hypercall I need to
> > issue depending on what extra ops I want to put into a single
> > hypercall.
>
> The two goals need to be weighed against one another; for the moment
> I think I'm with Roger aiming at a clean interface.
>

It may look like that from the Xen side but from the toolstack side this is
actually the cleanest way to achieve what we need. The vm_event interfaces
are already strongly integrated with both the mem_sharing and mem_paging
subsystems so nothing is gained by now for no reason trying to keep them
separate. So I strongly disagree with this suggestion and I'm going to keep
it as-is. I appreciate the feedback nevertheless.

Tamas

>

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