2024-06-13 19:02:02

by Sean Christopherson

Subject: [PATCH] KVM: nVMX: Update VMCS12_REVISION comment to state it should never change

Rewrite the comment above VMCS12_REVISION to unequivocally state that the
ID must never change. KVM_{G,S}ET_NESTED_STATE have been officially
supported for some time now, i.e. changing VMCS12_REVISION would break
userspace.

Opportunistically add a blurb to the CHECK_OFFSET() comment to make it
explicitly clear that new fields are allowed, i.e. that the restriction
on the layout is all about backwards compatibility.

No functional change intended.

Cc: Jim Mattson <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <[email protected]>
---
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmcs12.h | 14 ++++++++------
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmcs12.h b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmcs12.h
index 01936013428b..56fd150a6f24 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmcs12.h
+++ b/arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmcs12.h
@@ -188,12 +188,13 @@ struct __packed vmcs12 {
};

/*
- * VMCS12_REVISION is an arbitrary id that should be changed if the content or
- * layout of struct vmcs12 is changed. MSR_IA32_VMX_BASIC returns this id, and
- * VMPTRLD verifies that the VMCS region that L1 is loading contains this id.
+ * VMCS12_REVISION is KVM's arbitrary ID for the layout of struct vmcs12. KVM
+ * enumerates this value to L1 via MSR_IA32_VMX_BASIC, and checks the revision
+ * ID during nested VMPTRLD to verify that L1 is loading a VMCS that adhere's
+ * to KVM's virtual CPU definition.
*
- * IMPORTANT: Changing this value will break save/restore compatibility with
- * older kvm releases.
+ * DO NOT change this value, as it will break save/restore compatibility with
+ * older KVM releases.
*/
#define VMCS12_REVISION 0x11e57ed0

@@ -206,7 +207,8 @@ struct __packed vmcs12 {
#define VMCS12_SIZE KVM_STATE_NESTED_VMX_VMCS_SIZE

/*
- * For save/restore compatibility, the vmcs12 field offsets must not change.
+ * For save/restore compatibility, the vmcs12 field offsets must not change,
+ * although appending fields and/or filling gaps is obviously allowed.
*/
#define CHECK_OFFSET(field, loc) \
ASSERT_STRUCT_OFFSET(struct vmcs12, field, loc)

base-commit: e4e9e1067138e5620cf0500c3e5f6ebfb9d322c8
--
2.45.2.627.g7a2c4fd464-goog

2024-06-13 19:31:12

by Jim Mattson

Subject: Re: [PATCH] KVM: nVMX: Update VMCS12_REVISION comment to state it should never change

On Thu, Jun 13, 2024 at 12:01 PM Sean Christopherson <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Rewrite the comment above VMCS12_REVISION to unequivocally state that the
> ID must never change. KVM_{G,S}ET_NESTED_STATE have been officially
> supported for some time now, i.e. changing VMCS12_REVISION would break
> userspace.
>
> Opportunistically add a blurb to the CHECK_OFFSET() comment to make it
> explicitly clear that new fields are allowed, i.e. that the restriction
> on the layout is all about backwards compatibility.
>
> No functional change intended.
>
> Cc: Jim Mattson <[email protected]>
> Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <[email protected]>
Reviewed-by: Jim Mattson <[email protected]>