Messages in this thread | | | From | David Laight <> | Subject | RE: [PATCHv4 11/30] x86/tdx: Handle in-kernel MMIO | Date | Fri, 25 Feb 2022 02:23:27 +0000 |
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From: Dave Hansen > Sent: 24 February 2022 20:12 ... > === Limitations of this approach === > > > MMIO addresses can be used with any CPU instruction that accesses > > memory. Address only MMIO accesses done via io.h helpers, such as > > 'readl()' or 'writeq()'. > > Any CPU instruction that accesses memory can also be used to access > MMIO. However, by convention, MMIO access are typically performed via > io.h helpers such as 'readl()' or 'writeq()'. > > > readX()/writeX() helpers limit the range of instructions which can trigger > > MMIO. It makes MMIO instruction emulation feasible. Raw access to a MMIO > > region allows the compiler to generate whatever instruction it wants. > > Supporting all possible instructions is a task of a different scope. > > The io.h helpers intentionally use a limited set of instructions when > accessing MMIO. This known, limited set of instructions makes MMIO > instruction decoding and emulation feasible in KVM hosts and SEV guests > today. > > MMIO accesses are performed without the io.h helpers are at the mercy of > the compiler. Compilers can and will generate a much more broad set of > instructions which can not practically be decoded and emulated. TDX > guests will oops if they encounter one of these decoding failures. > > This means that TDX guests *must* use the io.h helpers to access MMIO. > > This requirement is not new. Both KVM hosts and AMD SEV guests have the > same limitations on MMIO access.
Am I reading the last sentence correctly? Normally (on x86 at least) a driver can mmap() PCIe addresses directly into a user process. This lets a user process directly issue PCIe read/write bus cycles. These can be any instructions at all. I don't think we've had any issues doing that in normal VMs.
Or is this emulation only applying to specific PCIe slaves?
David
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