Re: [PATCH v3 06/19] xen/arm: mm: Avoid flushing the TLBs when mapping are inserted

[Stefano Stabellini <sstabellini@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 21 Feb 2022, Julien Grall wrote:
> From: Julien Grall <jgrall@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> Currently, the function xen_pt_update() will flush the TLBs even when
> the mappings are inserted. This is a bit wasteful because we don't
> allow mapping replacement. Even if we were, the flush would need to
> happen earlier because mapping replacement should use Break-Before-Make
> when updating the entry.
> 
> A single call to xen_pt_update() can perform a single action. IOW, it
> is not possible to, for instance, mix inserting and removing mappings.
> Therefore, we can use `flags` to determine what action is performed.
> 
> This change will be particularly help to limit the impact of switching
> boot time mapping to use xen_pt_update().
> 
> Signed-off-by: Julien Grall <jgrall@xxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> ---
>     Changes in v2:
>         - New patch
> ---
>  xen/arch/arm/mm.c | 17 ++++++++++++++---
>  1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/xen/arch/arm/mm.c b/xen/arch/arm/mm.c
> index fd16c1541ce2..7b4b9de8693e 100644
> --- a/xen/arch/arm/mm.c
> +++ b/xen/arch/arm/mm.c
> @@ -1104,7 +1104,13 @@ static bool xen_pt_check_entry(lpae_t entry, mfn_t 
> mfn, unsigned int level,
>          /* We should be here with a valid MFN. */
>          ASSERT(!mfn_eq(mfn, INVALID_MFN));
>  
> -        /* We don't allow replacing any valid entry. */
> +        /*
> +         * We don't allow replacing any valid entry.
> +         *
> +         * Note that the function xen_pt_update() relies on this
> +         * assumption and will skip the TLB flush. The function will need
> +         * to be updated if the check is relaxed.
> +         */
>          if ( lpae_is_valid(entry) )
>          {
>              if ( lpae_is_mapping(entry, level) )
> @@ -1417,11 +1423,16 @@ static int xen_pt_update(unsigned long virt,
>      }
>  
>      /*
> -     * Flush the TLBs even in case of failure because we may have
> +     * The TLBs flush can be safely skipped when a mapping is inserted
> +     * as we don't allow mapping replacement (see xen_pt_check_entry()).
> +     *
> +     * For all the other cases, the TLBs will be flushed unconditionally
> +     * even if the mapping has failed. This is because we may have
>       * partially modified the PT. This will prevent any unexpected
>       * behavior afterwards.
>       */
> -    flush_xen_tlb_range_va(virt, PAGE_SIZE * nr_mfns);
> +    if ( !(flags & _PAGE_PRESENT) || mfn_eq(mfn, INVALID_MFN) )
> +        flush_xen_tlb_range_va(virt, PAGE_SIZE * nr_mfns);

I am trying to think of a care where the following wouldn't be enough
but I cannot come up with one:

   if ( mfn_eq(mfn, INVALID_MFN) )
       flush_xen_tlb_range_va(virt, PAGE_SIZE * nr_mfns);