Re: [PATCH 2/6] x86/pat: check for MTRRs enabled in memtype_reserve()

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Tue Feb 07 2023 - 03:49:35 EST



* Juergen Gross <jgross@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Today memtype_reserve() bails out early if pat_enabled() returns false.
> The same can be done in case MTRRs aren't enabled.
>
> This will reinstate the behavior of memtype_reserve() before commit
> 72cbc8f04fe2 ("x86/PAT: Have pat_enabled() properly reflect state when
> running on Xen"). There have been reports about that commit breaking
> SEV-SNP guests under Hyper-V, which was tried to be resolved by commit
> 90b926e68f50 ("x86/pat: Fix pat_x_mtrr_type() for MTRR disabled case"),
> but that again resulted in problems with Xen PV guests.
>
> Fixes: 72cbc8f04fe2 ("x86/PAT: Have pat_enabled() properly reflect state when running on Xen")
> Fixes: 90b926e68f50 ("x86/pat: Fix pat_x_mtrr_type() for MTRR disabled case")
> Signed-off-by: Juergen Gross <jgross@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
> arch/x86/mm/pat/memtype.c | 10 +++++++---
> 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/pat/memtype.c b/arch/x86/mm/pat/memtype.c
> index fb4b1b5e0dea..18f612b43763 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/mm/pat/memtype.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/mm/pat/memtype.c
> @@ -557,8 +557,12 @@ int memtype_reserve(u64 start, u64 end, enum page_cache_mode req_type,
> return -EINVAL;
> }
>
> - if (!pat_enabled()) {
> - /* This is identical to page table setting without PAT */
> + /*
> + * PAT disabled or MTRRs disabled don't require any memory type
> + * tracking or type adjustments, as there can't be any conflicts
> + * between PAT and MTRRs with at least one of both being disabled.
> + */
> + if (!pat_enabled() || !mtrr_enabled()) {
> if (new_type)
> *new_type = req_type;

Doesn't memtype_reserve() also check for overlapping ranges & type
compatibility in memtype_check_conflict(), etc., which can occur even in a
pure PAT setup? Ie. are we 100% sure that in the !MTRR case it would be a
NOP?

But even if it's a functional NOP as you claim, we'd still be better off if
the memtype tree was still intact - instead of just turning off the API.

Also, speling nit:

s/one of both
/one or both

Thanks,

Ingo