Re: [RFC PATCH] Use feature bit names in clearcpuid=

From: Borislav Petkov
Date: Sun Sep 20 2020 - 14:59:24 EST


On Sun, Sep 20, 2020 at 02:35:27PM -0400, Arvind Sankar wrote:
> Thanks. Maybe also mention in the documentation that names can now be
> used.

Already did it as an incremental ontop. Will merge later:

---
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index ffe864390c5a..49988e891d7f 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -577,12 +577,17 @@
loops can be debugged more effectively on production
systems.

- clearcpuid=BITNUM[,BITNUM...] [X86]
+ clearcpuid=X[,X...] [X86]
Disable CPUID feature X for the kernel. See
arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h for the valid bit
- numbers. Note the Linux specific bits are not necessarily
- stable over kernel options, but the vendor specific
+ numbers X. Note the Linux-specific bits are not necessarily
+ stable over kernel options, but the vendor-specific
ones should be.
+ X can also be a string as appearing in the flags: line
+ in /proc/cpuinfo which does not have the above
+ instability issue. However, not all features have names
+ in /proc/cpuinfo.
+ Note that using this option will taint your kernel.
Also note that user programs calling CPUID directly
or using the feature without checking anything
will still see it. This just prevents it from


--
Regards/Gruss,
Boris.

https://people.kernel.org/tglx/notes-about-netiquette