Re: [PATCH 2/5 V5] Add functions to check if the host has stoppedthe vm

From: Marcelo Tosatti
Date: Wed Dec 14 2011 - 07:20:18 EST


On Thu, Dec 08, 2011 at 10:23:10AM -0500, Eric B Munson wrote:
> On Wed, 07 Dec 2011, Avi Kivity wrote:
>
> > On 12/05/2011 10:19 PM, Eric B Munson wrote:
> > > When a host stops or suspends a VM it will set a flag to show this. The
> > > watchdog will use these functions to determine if a softlockup is real, or the
> > > result of a suspended VM.
> > >
> > > +bool kvm_check_and_clear_guest_paused(int cpu)
> > > +{
> > > + bool ret = false;
> > > + struct pvclock_vcpu_time_info *src;
> > > +
> > > + /*
> > > + * per_cpu() is safe here because this function is only called from
> > > + * timer functions where preemption is already disabled.
> > > + */
> > > + WARN_ON(!in_atomic());
> > > + src = &per_cpu(hv_clock, cpu);
> >
> > __get_cpu_var(); drop the cpu argument
> >
>
> Will change for V6.
>
> > > + if ((src->flags & PVCLOCK_GUEST_STOPPED) != 0) {
> > > + src->flags = src->flags & (~PVCLOCK_GUEST_STOPPED);
> >
> > Isn't this racy? Between reading and writing src->flags, we can exit to
> > the hypervisor and add/remove new flags. The write then overrides those
> > new flags.
> >
>
> If I understand (please correct me if this is wrong) because this is only
> called from the watchdog, which disables preemption, we should be protected
> from something else writing to these flags.

The host can write, but in that case race is harmless.

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