Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:05:24 +0900
To: joerg.roedel@amd.com
Cc: mingo@redhat.com, iommu@lists.linux-foundation.org,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [GIT PULL] AMD IOMMU updates for 2.6.28-rc5
From: FUJITA Tomonori <fujita.tomonori@lab.ntt.co.jp>
In-Reply-To: <20081118154322.GX13394@amd.com>
References: <20081118154322.GX13394@amd.com>
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On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:43:22 +0100
Joerg Roedel <joerg.roedel@amd.com> wrote:

> Joerg Roedel (4):
>       AMD IOMMU: add parameter to disable device isolation
>       AMD IOMMU: enable device isolation per default
>       AMD IOMMU: fix fullflush comparison length
>       AMD IOMMU: check for next_bit also in unmapped area
> 
>  Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt |    4 +++-
>  arch/x86/kernel/amd_iommu.c         |    2 +-
>  arch/x86/kernel/amd_iommu_init.c    |    6 ++++--
>  3 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> 
> As the most important change these patches enable device isolation per
> default. Tests have shown that there are drivers which have bugs and do
> double-freeing of DMA memory.

What drivers? We need to fix them if they are mainline drivers.


> This can lead to data corruption with a
> hardware IOMMU when multiple devices share the same protection domain.
> Therefore device isolation should be enabled by default.

Hmm, the change is just because of the bug workaround? If so, I'm not
sure it's a good idea. We need to fix the buggy drivers anyway. And
device isolation is not free; e.g. use more memory rather than sharing
a protection domain. I guess that more people prefer sharing a
protection domain by default. It had been the default option for AMD
IOMMU until you hit the bugs. IIRC, VT-d also shares a protection
domain by default. It would be nice to avoid surprising users if the
two virtualization IOMMUs works in the similar way.
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