diff mbox

[v3,02/20] arm64: Use physical counter for in-kernel reads

Message ID 20170923004207.22356-3-cdall@linaro.org (mailing list archive)
State New, archived
Headers show

Commit Message

Christoffer Dall Sept. 23, 2017, 12:41 a.m. UTC
Using the physical counter allows KVM to retain the offset between the
virtual and physical counter as long as it is actively running a VCPU.

As soon as a VCPU is released, another thread is scheduled or we start
running userspace applications, we reset the offset to 0, so that
userspace accessing the virtual timer can still read the cirtual counter
and get the same view of time as the kernel.

This opens up potential improvements for KVM performance.

VHE kernels or kernels continuing to use the virtual timer are
unaffected.

Signed-off-by: Christoffer Dall <cdall@linaro.org>
---
 arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h  | 9 ++++-----
 drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c | 3 +--
 2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

Comments

Will Deacon Oct. 17, 2017, 3:33 p.m. UTC | #1
Hi Christoffer,

On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 02:41:49AM +0200, Christoffer Dall wrote:
> Using the physical counter allows KVM to retain the offset between the
> virtual and physical counter as long as it is actively running a VCPU.
> 
> As soon as a VCPU is released, another thread is scheduled or we start
> running userspace applications, we reset the offset to 0, so that
> userspace accessing the virtual timer can still read the cirtual counter
> and get the same view of time as the kernel.
> 
> This opens up potential improvements for KVM performance.
> 
> VHE kernels or kernels continuing to use the virtual timer are
> unaffected.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Christoffer Dall <cdall@linaro.org>
> ---
>  arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h  | 9 ++++-----
>  drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c | 3 +--
>  2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> index a652ce0..1859a1c 100644
> --- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> +++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> @@ -148,11 +148,10 @@ static inline void arch_timer_set_cntkctl(u32 cntkctl)
>  
>  static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntpct(void)
>  {
> -	/*
> -	 * AArch64 kernel and user space mandate the use of CNTVCT.
> -	 */
> -	BUG();
> -	return 0;
> +	u64 cval;
> +	isb();
> +	asm volatile("mrs %0, cntpct_el0" : "=r" (cval));
> +	return cval;
>  }
>  
>  static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntvct(void)
> diff --git a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> index fd4b7f6..9b3322a 100644
> --- a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> +++ b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> @@ -890,8 +890,7 @@ static void __init arch_counter_register(unsigned type)
>  
>  	/* Register the CP15 based counter if we have one */
>  	if (type & ARCH_TIMER_TYPE_CP15) {
> -		if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARM64) ||
> -		    arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)
> +		if (arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)

Please can you add an is_hyp_mode_available() check here, as you suggested
last time?

http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2017-July/521542.html

Without it, I worry that the kernel timekeeper will be out of sync with the
vDSO (which uses the virtual counter) on systems where CNTVOFF is
initialised to a consistent non-zero offset and Linux was loaded at EL1.

Thanks,

Will
Christoffer Dall Oct. 18, 2017, 10 a.m. UTC | #2
On Tue, Oct 17, 2017 at 04:33:05PM +0100, Will Deacon wrote:
> Hi Christoffer,
> 
> On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 02:41:49AM +0200, Christoffer Dall wrote:
> > Using the physical counter allows KVM to retain the offset between the
> > virtual and physical counter as long as it is actively running a VCPU.
> > 
> > As soon as a VCPU is released, another thread is scheduled or we start
> > running userspace applications, we reset the offset to 0, so that
> > userspace accessing the virtual timer can still read the cirtual counter
> > and get the same view of time as the kernel.
> > 
> > This opens up potential improvements for KVM performance.
> > 
> > VHE kernels or kernels continuing to use the virtual timer are
> > unaffected.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Christoffer Dall <cdall@linaro.org>
> > ---
> >  arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h  | 9 ++++-----
> >  drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c | 3 +--
> >  2 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> > 
> > diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> > index a652ce0..1859a1c 100644
> > --- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> > +++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
> > @@ -148,11 +148,10 @@ static inline void arch_timer_set_cntkctl(u32 cntkctl)
> >  
> >  static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntpct(void)
> >  {
> > -	/*
> > -	 * AArch64 kernel and user space mandate the use of CNTVCT.
> > -	 */
> > -	BUG();
> > -	return 0;
> > +	u64 cval;
> > +	isb();
> > +	asm volatile("mrs %0, cntpct_el0" : "=r" (cval));
> > +	return cval;
> >  }
> >  
> >  static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntvct(void)
> > diff --git a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> > index fd4b7f6..9b3322a 100644
> > --- a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> > +++ b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
> > @@ -890,8 +890,7 @@ static void __init arch_counter_register(unsigned type)
> >  
> >  	/* Register the CP15 based counter if we have one */
> >  	if (type & ARCH_TIMER_TYPE_CP15) {
> > -		if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARM64) ||
> > -		    arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)
> > +		if (arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)
> 
> Please can you add an is_hyp_mode_available() check here, as you suggested
> last time?
> 
> http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-arm-kernel/2017-July/521542.html
> 
> Without it, I worry that the kernel timekeeper will be out of sync with the
> vDSO (which uses the virtual counter) on systems where CNTVOFF is
> initialised to a consistent non-zero offset and Linux was loaded at EL1.
> 

Yes, will do.

Thanks,
-Christoffer
diff mbox

Patch

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
index a652ce0..1859a1c 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/arch_timer.h
@@ -148,11 +148,10 @@  static inline void arch_timer_set_cntkctl(u32 cntkctl)
 
 static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntpct(void)
 {
-	/*
-	 * AArch64 kernel and user space mandate the use of CNTVCT.
-	 */
-	BUG();
-	return 0;
+	u64 cval;
+	isb();
+	asm volatile("mrs %0, cntpct_el0" : "=r" (cval));
+	return cval;
 }
 
 static inline u64 arch_counter_get_cntvct(void)
diff --git a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
index fd4b7f6..9b3322a 100644
--- a/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
+++ b/drivers/clocksource/arm_arch_timer.c
@@ -890,8 +890,7 @@  static void __init arch_counter_register(unsigned type)
 
 	/* Register the CP15 based counter if we have one */
 	if (type & ARCH_TIMER_TYPE_CP15) {
-		if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARM64) ||
-		    arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)
+		if (arch_timer_uses_ppi == ARCH_TIMER_VIRT_PPI)
 			arch_timer_read_counter = arch_counter_get_cntvct;
 		else
 			arch_timer_read_counter = arch_counter_get_cntpct;