diff options
| author | Zeng Chi <zengchi@kylinos.cn> | 2026-09-21 18:24:42 +0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com> | 2026-09-22 08:36:16 -0700 |
| commit | 119e9db233ad0f4cbd4cfb9f9385a7bca378b37d (patch) | |
| tree | 660d50d4139cb750fbde1ae3432452c20726c99d /tools/include/uapi/README | |
| download | linux-stable-119e9db233ad0f4cbd4cfb9f9385a7bca378b37d.tar.gz linux-stable-119e9db233ad0f4cbd4cfb9f9385a7bca378b37d.zip | |
KVM: Don't pre-reserve xarray entries when storing empty/NULL attributesgrafted
Skip the xarray reservation loop when clearing all memory attributes, as
storing NULL only erases the entry and never needs to allocate, so no
reservation (and no cleanup of a failed one) is required in that case.
Suggested-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Cc: David Ballesteros <davimaba.v@proton.me>
Signed-off-by: Zeng Chi <zengchi@kylinos.cn>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260921102442.1232375-1-zeng_chi911@163.com
[sean: split to separate patch]
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'tools/include/uapi/README')
| -rw-r--r-- | tools/include/uapi/README | 73 |
1 files changed, 73 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/tools/include/uapi/README b/tools/include/uapi/README new file mode 100644 index 000000000..7147b1b2c --- /dev/null +++ b/tools/include/uapi/README @@ -0,0 +1,73 @@ +Why we want a copy of kernel headers in tools? +============================================== + +There used to be no copies, with tools/ code using kernel headers +directly. From time to time tools/perf/ broke due to legitimate kernel +hacking. At some point Linus complained about such direct usage. Then we +adopted the current model. + +The way these headers are used in perf are not restricted to just +including them to compile something. + +There are sometimes used in scripts that convert defines into string +tables, etc, so some change may break one of these scripts, or new MSRs +may use some different #define pattern, etc. + +E.g.: + + $ ls -1 tools/perf/trace/beauty/*.sh | head -5 + tools/perf/trace/beauty/arch_errno_names.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/drm_ioctl.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsconfig.sh + tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsmount.sh + $ + $ tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh + static const char *fadvise_advices[] = { + [0] = "NORMAL", + [1] = "RANDOM", + [2] = "SEQUENTIAL", + [3] = "WILLNEED", + [4] = "DONTNEED", + [5] = "NOREUSE", + }; + $ + +The tools/perf/check-headers.sh script, part of the tools/ build +process, points out changes in the original files. + +So its important not to touch the copies in tools/ when doing changes in +the original kernel headers, that will be done later, when +check-headers.sh inform about the change to the perf tools hackers. + +Another explanation from Ingo Molnar: +It's better than all the alternatives we tried so far: + + - Symbolic links and direct #includes: this was the original approach but + was pushed back on from the kernel side, when tooling modified the + headers and broke them accidentally for kernel builds. + + - Duplicate self-defined ABI headers like glibc: double the maintenance + burden, double the chance for mistakes, plus there's no tech-driven + notification mechanism to look at new kernel side changes. + +What we are doing now is a third option: + + - A software-enforced copy-on-write mechanism of kernel headers to + tooling, driven by non-fatal warnings on the tooling side build when + kernel headers get modified: + + Warning: Kernel ABI header differences: + diff -u tools/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h + diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/fs.h include/uapi/linux/fs.h + diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h include/uapi/linux/kvm.h + ... + + The tooling policy is to always pick up the kernel side headers as-is, + and integate them into the tooling build. The warnings above serve as a + notification to tooling maintainers that there's changes on the kernel + side. + +We've been using this for many years now, and it might seem hacky, but +works surprisingly well. + |
