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Date:   Mon, 11 Jul 2022 10:18:08 -0400
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Subject: Re: [PATCH] x86/PAT: have pat_enabled() properly reflect state when
 running on e.g. Xen
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To:     Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>, Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>
Cc:     Andrew Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
        "dave.hansen@linux.intel.com" <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
        lkml <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
        "xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org" <xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org>
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 <YsRjX/U1XN8rq+8u@zn.tnic>
From:   Chuck Zmudzinski <brchuckz@netscape.net>
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On 7/5/22 12:14 PM, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 05, 2022 at 05:56:36PM +0200, Jan Beulich wrote:
> > Re-using pat_disabled like you do in your suggestion below won't
> > work, because mtrr_bp_init() calls pat_disable() when MTRRs
> > appear to be disabled (from the kernel's view). The goal is to
> > honor "nopat" without honoring any other calls to pat_disable().
>
> Actually, the current goal is to adjust Xen dom0 because:
>
> 1. it uses the PAT code
>
> 2. but then it does something special and hides the MTRRs
>
> which is not something real hardware does.
>
> So this one-off thing should be prominent, visible and not get in the
> way.

Hello,

I have spent a fair amount of time this past weekend
investigating this regression and what might have caused
it and I also have done several tests on my Xen workstation
that exhibits the regression to verify my understanding
of the problem and also raise other problematic points.

I think, in addition to immediately fixing the regression by
fixing the now five-year-old commit that is the root cause
of the recently exposed regression, as discussed in my
earlier message which proposes a simple patch to fix that
five-year-old broken commit,

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/63583497-152f-5880-4c8f-d47e2a81f5a6@netscape.net/

there needs to be a decision about how best to deal with
this very aptly described "one-off Xen thing" in the future.

One problem in x86/mm/pat/memtype.c is the fact that there
exist two functions, pat_init(), and init_cache_modes(), that
do more or less the same thing, so that when one of those
functions needs to be updated, the other also needs to
be updated. In the past, when changes to the pat_enable
and pat_disable functions and variables were made, all
too often, the change was only applied to pat_init() and not
to init_cache_modes() and the one-off Xen case was simply
not addressed and dealt with properly.

So I propose the following:

1) Identify those things that always need to be done in
either pat_init() or init_cache_modes() and try to combine
those things into a single function so that changes will
be applied for both cases. We sort of have that now with
__init_cache_modes(), but it is not really good enough to
prevent the regressions we sometimes get in Xen PV
domains such as the current regression we have with
Xen Dom0 and certain particular Intel graphics devices.

2) If it is not possible to do what is proposed in 1), at least
re-factor the code to make it very clear that whenever
either pat_init() needs to be adjusted or init_cache_modes()
needs to be adjusted, care must be taken to ensure that
all cases are properly dealt with, including the
one-off Xen case of enabling PAT with MTRR disabled,
Currently, AIUI, all one really needs to know is that
init_cached_modes() handles two special cases:
First, when PAT is disabled for any reason, including when
the "nopat" boot option is set, and second, the one-off
Xen case of MTRR being disabled but PAT being enabled.

I am trying to do number 2 with a patch series I am
working on. It is up to the experts to decide if it
is possible or even desirable to improve the code so
that any changes to the caching configuration are more
likely to be properly implemented for all supported platforms
by successfully combining the two functions pat_init() and
init_cache_modes() into a single function. The new function
would probably need to be renamed and include bits from
mtrr_bp_enabled, etc. for it to function properly.

If anyone wants to argue that it is not desirable to try
combine pat_init() and init_cache_modes() into a single
function, I think the burden of proof rests on that
person to demonstrate why it is good and clean
coding practice to continue to have them separate
and independent from each other in the code when
they both essentially do the same thing in the end, which
is call __init_cache_modes() and determine the PAT
state, and also probably the MTRR state.

Best Regards,

Chuck