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-The PPC KVM paravirtual interface
-=================================
-
-The basic execution principle by which KVM on PowerPC works is to run all kernel
-space code in PR=1 which is user space. This way we trap all privileged
-instructions and can emulate them accordingly.
-
-Unfortunately that is also the downfall. There are quite some privileged
-instructions that needlessly return us to the hypervisor even though they
-could be handled differently.
-
-This is what the PPC PV interface helps with. It takes privileged instructions
-and transforms them into unprivileged ones with some help from the hypervisor.
-This cuts down virtualization costs by about 50% on some of my benchmarks.
-
-The code for that interface can be found in arch/powerpc/kernel/kvm*
-
-Querying for existence
-======================
-
-To find out if we're running on KVM or not, we leverage the device tree. When
-Linux is running on KVM, a node /hypervisor exists. That node contains a
-compatible property with the value "linux,kvm".
-
-Once you determined you're running under a PV capable KVM, you can now use
-hypercalls as described below.
-
-KVM hypercalls
-==============
-
-Inside the device tree's /hypervisor node there's a property called
-'hypercall-instructions'. This property contains at most 4 opcodes that make
-up the hypercall. To call a hypercall, just call these instructions.
-
-The parameters are as follows:
-
- Register IN OUT
-
- r0 - volatile
- r3 1st parameter Return code
- r4 2nd parameter 1st output value
- r5 3rd parameter 2nd output value
- r6 4th parameter 3rd output value
- r7 5th parameter 4th output value
- r8 6th parameter 5th output value
- r9 7th parameter 6th output value
- r10 8th parameter 7th output value
- r11 hypercall number 8th output value
- r12 - volatile
-
-Hypercall definitions are shared in generic code, so the same hypercall numbers
-apply for x86 and powerpc alike with the exception that each KVM hypercall
-also needs to be ORed with the KVM vendor code which is (42 << 16).
-
-Return codes can be as follows:
-
- Code Meaning
-
- 0 Success
- 12 Hypercall not implemented
- <0 Error
-
-The magic page
-==============
-
-To enable communication between the hypervisor and guest there is a new shared
-page that contains parts of supervisor visible register state. The guest can
-map this shared page using the KVM hypercall KVM_HC_PPC_MAP_MAGIC_PAGE.
-
-With this hypercall issued the guest always gets the magic page mapped at the
-desired location in effective and physical address space. For now, we always
-map the page to -4096. This way we can access it using absolute load and store
-functions. The following instruction reads the first field of the magic page:
-
- ld rX, -4096(0)
-
-The interface is designed to be extensible should there be need later to add
-additional registers to the magic page. If you add fields to the magic page,
-also define a new hypercall feature to indicate that the host can give you more
-registers. Only if the host supports the additional features, make use of them.
-
-The magic page has the following layout as described in
-arch/powerpc/include/asm/kvm_para.h:
-
-struct kvm_vcpu_arch_shared {
- __u64 scratch1;
- __u64 scratch2;
- __u64 scratch3;
- __u64 critical; /* Guest may not get interrupts if == r1 */
- __u64 sprg0;
- __u64 sprg1;
- __u64 sprg2;
- __u64 sprg3;
- __u64 srr0;
- __u64 srr1;
- __u64 dar;
- __u64 msr;
- __u32 dsisr;
- __u32 int_pending; /* Tells the guest if we have an interrupt */
-};
-
-Additions to the page must only occur at the end. Struct fields are always 32
-or 64 bit aligned, depending on them being 32 or 64 bit wide respectively.
-
-Magic page features
-===================
-
-When mapping the magic page using the KVM hypercall KVM_HC_PPC_MAP_MAGIC_PAGE,
-a second return value is passed to the guest. This second return value contains
-a bitmap of available features inside the magic page.
-
-The following enhancements to the magic page are currently available:
-
- KVM_MAGIC_FEAT_SR Maps SR registers r/w in the magic page
-
-For enhanced features in the magic page, please check for the existence of the
-feature before using them!
-
-MSR bits
-========
-
-The MSR contains bits that require hypervisor intervention and bits that do
-not require direct hypervisor intervention because they only get interpreted
-when entering the guest or don't have any impact on the hypervisor's behavior.
-
-The following bits are safe to be set inside the guest:
-
- MSR_EE
- MSR_RI
- MSR_CR
- MSR_ME
-
-If any other bit changes in the MSR, please still use mtmsr(d).
-
-Patched instructions
-====================
-
-The "ld" and "std" instructions are transormed to "lwz" and "stw" instructions
-respectively on 32 bit systems with an added offset of 4 to accomodate for big
-endianness.
-
-The following is a list of mapping the Linux kernel performs when running as
-guest. Implementing any of those mappings is optional, as the instruction traps
-also act on the shared page. So calling privileged instructions still works as
-before.
-
-From To
-==== ==
-
-mfmsr rX ld rX, magic_page->msr
-mfsprg rX, 0 ld rX, magic_page->sprg0
-mfsprg rX, 1 ld rX, magic_page->sprg1
-mfsprg rX, 2 ld rX, magic_page->sprg2
-mfsprg rX, 3 ld rX, magic_page->sprg3
-mfsrr0 rX ld rX, magic_page->srr0
-mfsrr1 rX ld rX, magic_page->srr1
-mfdar rX ld rX, magic_page->dar
-mfdsisr rX lwz rX, magic_page->dsisr
-
-mtmsr rX std rX, magic_page->msr
-mtsprg 0, rX std rX, magic_page->sprg0
-mtsprg 1, rX std rX, magic_page->sprg1
-mtsprg 2, rX std rX, magic_page->sprg2
-mtsprg 3, rX std rX, magic_page->sprg3
-mtsrr0 rX std rX, magic_page->srr0
-mtsrr1 rX std rX, magic_page->srr1
-mtdar rX std rX, magic_page->dar
-mtdsisr rX stw rX, magic_page->dsisr
-
-tlbsync nop
-
-mtmsrd rX, 0 b <special mtmsr section>
-mtmsr rX b <special mtmsr section>
-
-mtmsrd rX, 1 b <special mtmsrd section>
-
-[Book3S only]
-mtsrin rX, rY b <special mtsrin section>
-
-[BookE only]
-wrteei [0|1] b <special wrteei section>
-
-
-Some instructions require more logic to determine what's going on than a load
-or store instruction can deliver. To enable patching of those, we keep some
-RAM around where we can live translate instructions to. What happens is the
-following:
-
- 1) copy emulation code to memory
- 2) patch that code to fit the emulated instruction
- 3) patch that code to return to the original pc + 4
- 4) patch the original instruction to branch to the new code
-
-That way we can inject an arbitrary amount of code as replacement for a single
-instruction. This allows us to check for pending interrupts when setting EE=1
-for example.