Re: [PATCH -v2] x86/alternatives: Add alt_instr.flags

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Thu Jan 05 2023 - 06:01:48 EST



* Borislav Petkov <bp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Yeah,
>
> PeterZ had a much better idea for doing the split and hacking it in, it
> turned out to be the cleanest and straightforwardestest eva.
>
> So let's do it.
>
> ---
> From: "Borislav Petkov (AMD)" <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> Add a struct alt_instr.flags field which will contain different flags
> controlling alternatives patching behavior.
>
> The initial idea was to be able to specify it as a separate macro
> parameter but that would mean touching all possible invocations of the
> alternatives macros and thus a lot of churn.
>
> What is more, as PeterZ suggested, being able to say ALT_NOT(feature) is
> very readable and explains exactly what is meant.
>
> So make the feature field a u32 where the patching flags are the upper
> u16 part of the dword quantity while the lower u16 word is the feature.
>
> The highest feature number currently is 0x26a (i.e., word 19) so we have
> plenty of space. If that becomes insufficient, the field can be extended
> to u64 which will then make struct alt_instr of the nice size of 16
> bytes (14 bytes currently).
>
> There should be no functional changes resulting from this.
>
> Suggested-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov (AMD) <bp@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h | 132 ++++++++++--------
> arch/x86/kernel/alternative.c | 14 +-
> tools/objtool/arch/x86/include/arch/special.h | 6 +-
> 3 files changed, 85 insertions(+), 67 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h
> index 7659217f4d49..ad17cda8e5d2 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h
> @@ -6,8 +6,10 @@
> #include <linux/stringify.h>
> #include <asm/asm.h>
>
> -#define ALTINSTR_FLAG_INV (1 << 15)
> -#define ALT_NOT(feat) ((feat) | ALTINSTR_FLAG_INV)
> +#define ALT_FLAGS_SHIFT 16
> +
> +#define ALT_FLAG_NOT BIT(0)
> +#define ALT_NOT(feature) ((ALT_FLAG_NOT << ALT_FLAGS_SHIFT) | (feature))
>
> #ifndef __ASSEMBLY__
>
> @@ -59,10 +61,27 @@
> ".long 999b - .\n\t" \
> ".popsection\n\t"
>
> +/*
> + * The patching flags are part of the upper bits of the @ft_flgs parameter when
> + * specifying them. The split is currently like this:
> + *
> + * [31... flags ...16][15... CPUID feature bit ...0]
> + *
> + * but since this is all hidden in the macros argument being split, those fields can be
> + * extended in the future to fit in a u64 or however the need arises.
> + */
> struct alt_instr {
> s32 instr_offset; /* original instruction */
> s32 repl_offset; /* offset to replacement instruction */
> - u16 cpuid; /* cpuid bit set for replacement */
> +
> + union {
> + struct {
> + u32 cpuid: 16; /* CPUID bit set for replacement */
> + u32 flags: 16; /* patching control flags */
> + };
> + u32 ft_flgs;
> + };

Neat - my only nitpick would be s/ft_flgs/ft_flags - it's more readable and
we haven't run out of a's yet I guess. ;-)

Reviewed-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>

I minimally boot-tested it as well.

Thanks,

Ingo