Re: [Xen-devel] about the funtion call memory_type_changed()

["Tian, Kevin" <kevin.tian@xxxxxxxxx>]

> From: Jan Beulich [mailto:JBeulich@xxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 6:31 PM
> 
> >
> > Yes, it's true. But I still don't understand why to do the flush_all just
> > when
> > iommu_enable is true. Could you  explain why ?
> 
> The question you raise doesn't reflect what the function does: It
> doesn't flush when iommu_enabled, in calls
> p2m_memory_type_changed() in that case. And that operation is
> what requires a flush afterwards (unless we know that nothing can
> be cached yet), as there may have been a cachable -> non-
> cachable transition for some of the pages assigned to the guest.
> 
> The fact that the call is made dependent on iommu_enabled is
> simply because when that flag is not set, all memory of the
> guest is treated WB (as no physical device can be assigned to
> the guest in that case), and hence to type changes can occur.
> Possibly one could instead use need_iommu(d), but I didn't
> properly think through eventual consequences of doing so.
> 

using need_iommu(d) can minimize the impact to only guests
with device assigned. of course just check need_iommu(d) is
not enough, since a guest may be hotplugged with a device
thus there may be dirty cache lines before need_iommu(d)
becoming true. this can be amended by forcing a flush_all
in assign_device if noting one or more memory type changes
happened before.

Thanks
Kevin

_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel