[Xen-devel] [PATCH for-4.9 4/4] docs: Clarify the expected behaviour of zero-content records

[Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The sending side shouldn't send any data records which end up having zero
content, but the receiving side will need to tolerate such records for
compatibility purposes.

Signed-off-by: Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
CC: Ian Jackson <Ian.Jackson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Wei Liu <wei.liu2@xxxxxxxxxx>
CC: Julien Grall <julien.grall@xxxxxxx>
---
 docs/specs/libxc-migration-stream.pandoc | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/docs/specs/libxc-migration-stream.pandoc 
b/docs/specs/libxc-migration-stream.pandoc
index 31eba10..546baab 100644
--- a/docs/specs/libxc-migration-stream.pandoc
+++ b/docs/specs/libxc-migration-stream.pandoc
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   Andrew Cooper <<andrew.cooper3@xxxxxxxxxx>>
   Wen Congyang <<wency@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
   Yang Hongyang <<hongyang.yang@xxxxxxxxxxxx>>
-% Revision 1
+% Revision 2
 
 Introduction
 ============
@@ -631,6 +631,11 @@ The set of valid records depends on the guest architecture 
and type.  No
 assumptions should be made about the ordering or interleaving of
 independent records.  Record dependencies are noted below.
 
+Some records are used for signalling, and explicitly have zero length.  All
+other records contain data relevent to the migration.  Data records with no
+content should be elided on the source side, as they their presence serves no
+purpose, but result in extra work for the restore side.
+
 x86 PV Guest
 ------------
 
@@ -719,3 +724,12 @@ restored.
 The image header may only be extended by _appending_ additional
 fields.  In particular, the `marker`, `id` and `version` fields must
 never change size or location.
+
+
+Errata
+======
+
+1. For compatibility with older code, the receving side of a stream should
+   tolerate and ignore variable sized records with zero content.  Xen releases
+   between 4.6 and 4.8 could end up generating valid HVM\_PARAMS or
+   X86\_PV\_VCPU\_{EXTENDED,XSAVE,MSRS} records with 0 content.
-- 
2.1.4


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