Re: [PATCH 0/3] KVM: x86: Use "standard" mmu_notifier hook for APIC page

From: Jason Gunthorpe
Date: Tue Jun 06 2023 - 12:43:48 EST


On Thu, Jun 01, 2023 at 06:15:15PM -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> Convert VMX's handling of mmu_notifier invalidations of the APIC-access page
> from invalidate_range() to KVM's standard invalidate_range_{start,end}().
>
> KVM (ab)uses invalidate_range() to fudge around not stalling vCPUs until
> relevant in-flight invalidations complete. Abusing invalidate_range() works,
> but it requires one-off code in KVM, sets a bad precedent in KVM, and is
> blocking improvements to mmu_notifier's definition of invalidate_range()
> due to KVM's usage diverging wildly from the original intent of notifying
> IOMMUs of changes to shared page tables.
>
> Clean up the mess by hooking x86's implementation of kvm_unmap_gfn_range()
> and stalling vCPUs by re-requesting KVM_REQ_APIC_PAGE_RELOAD until the
> invalidation completes.

I don't know much about kvm, but this looks like what I had in mind
and is a good way to use mmu notifiers

Thanks,
Jason