[Xen-devel] [PATCH 5/6] docs: Document start_info changes in Xen 4.2.

[Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The  25833:bb85bbccb1c9. "x86/32-on-64: adjust Dom0 initial page table layout"
fixes a bug in the reported value of pt_base versus where the page tables
actually start. This documents this in the start of the world header note.

This clarifies the implied understanding that the page table space is
pointed by pt_base. As in it is ".. implied that the range of page-tables
is the range [pt_base, pt_base + nr_pt_frames), whereas that that range
here indeed is [pt_base - 2, pt_base -2 + nr_pt_frames)" (Jan Beulich).

Also make it crystal clear that pt_base == %cr3.

Signed-off-by: Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
 xen/include/public/xen.h | 12 +++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/xen/include/public/xen.h b/xen/include/public/xen.h
index 73fd7e7..4dd9615 100644
--- a/xen/include/public/xen.h
+++ b/xen/include/public/xen.h
@@ -693,7 +693,7 @@ typedef struct shared_info shared_info_t;
  *      c. list of allocated page frames [mfn_list, nr_pages]
  *         (unless relocated due to XEN_ELFNOTE_INIT_P2M)
  *      d. start_info_t structure        [register ESI (x86)]
- *      e. bootstrap page tables         [pt_base, CR3 (x86)]
+ *      e. bootstrap page tables         [pt_base and CR3 (x86)]
  *      f. bootstrap stack               [register ESP (x86)]
  *  4. Bootstrap elements are packed together, but each is 4kB-aligned.
  *  5. The initial ram disk may be omitted.
@@ -705,6 +705,16 @@ typedef struct shared_info shared_info_t;
  *  8. There is guaranteed to be at least 512kB padding after the final
  *     bootstrap element. If necessary, the bootstrap virtual region is
  *     extended by an extra 4MB to ensure this.
+ *
+ * Note: Prior to 25833:bb85bbccb1c9. ("x86/32-on-64 adjust Dom0 initial page
+ * table layout") a bug caused the pt_base (3.e above) and cr3 to not point
+ * to the start of the guest page tables (it was offset by two pages).
+ * This only manifested itself on 32-on-64 dom0 kernels and not 32-on-64 domU
+ * or 64-bit kernels of any colour. The page tables for a 32-on-64 dom0 got
+ * allocated in the order: 'first L1','first L2', 'first L3', so the offset
+ * to the page table base is by two pages back. The initial domain if it is
+ * 32-bit and runs under a 64-bit hypervisor should _NOT_ use two of the
+ * pages preceding pt_base and mark them as reserved/unused.
  */
 
 #define MAX_GUEST_CMDLINE 1024
-- 
1.8.0.2


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