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Date:   Thu, 1 Jun 2023 10:56:02 +0200
From:   Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
To:     Muhammad Usama Anjum <usama.anjum@collabora.com>
Cc:     Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>, Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
        Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
        "maintainer:X86 ARCHITECTURE (32-BIT AND 64-BIT)" <x86@kernel.org>,
        "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
        "open list:DOCUMENTATION" <linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>,
        open list <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
        "Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@igalia.com>,
        Steven Noonan <steven@uplinklabs.net>, kernel@collabora.com
Subject: Re: Direct rdtsc call side-effect
Message-ID: <20230601085602.GR4253@hirez.programming.kicks-ass.net>
References: <6719fb05-382c-8ec4-ccda-72798906a54b@collabora.com>
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On Thu, Jun 01, 2023 at 01:45:35PM +0500, Muhammad Usama Anjum wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've been looking into a problem where Windows applications misbehave
> across suspend/resume when run on Wine on x86. These applications see time
> going backwards. The timestamp counter (TSC) is reset when system resumes.
> In case of Windows on Intel and AMD, the timestamp is saved and restored
> when the system resumes from suspend.
> 
> These applications read timestamp by rdtsc directly. These calls cannot be
> intercepted by Wine. The application should be fixed such that it handles
> these scenarios correctly. But there are hundreds of applications which
> cannot be fixed. So some support is required in Wine or kernel. There isn't
> anything which Wine can do as rdtsc call directly reads the timestamp. The
> only option is that we support something in kernel.
> 
> As more and more things are being added to Wine, Windows application can be
> run pretty easily on Linux. But this rdtsc is a big hurdle. What are your
> thoughts on solving this problem?
> 
> We are thinking of saving and restoring the timestamp counter at suspend
> and resume time respectively. In theory it can work on Intel because of
> TSC_ADJUST register. But it'll never work on AMD until:
> * AMD supports the same kind of adjust register. (AMD has said that the
> adjust register cannot be implemented in their firmware. They'll have to
> add it to their hardware.)
> * by manual synchronization in kernel (I know you don't like this idea. But
> there is something Windows is doing to save/restore and sync the TSC)

Wine could set TIF_NOTSC, which will cause it to run with CR4.TSD
cleared and cause RDTSC to #GP, at which point you can emulate it.