Re: [PATCH kvm/queue v2 2/3] perf: x86/core: Add interface to query perfmon_event_map[] directly

[Jim Mattson]

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 6:43 AM Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Urgh... hate on kvm being a module again. We really need something like
> EXPORT_SYMBOL_KVM() or something.

Perhaps we should reconsider the current approach of treating the
guest as a client of the host perf subsystem via kvm as a proxy. There
are several drawbacks to the current approach:
1) If the guest actually sets the counter mask (and invert counter
mask) or edge detect in the event selector, we ignore it, because we
have no way of requesting that from perf.
2) If a system-wide pinned counter preempts one of kvm's thread-pinned
counters, we have no way of letting the guest know, because the
architectural specification doesn't allow counters to be suspended.
3) TDX is going to pull the rug out from under us anyway. When the TDX
module usurps control of the PMU, any active host counters are going
to stop counting. We are going to need a way of telling the host perf
subsystem what's happening, or other host perf clients are going to
get bogus data.

Given what's coming with TDX, I wonder if we should just bite the
bullet and cede the PMU to the guest while it's running, even for
non-TDX guests. That would solve (1) and (2) as well.