Re: [kvm-unit-tests PATCH v1 0/7] x86_64 UEFI set up process refactor and scripts fixes

[Zixuan Wang <zxwang42@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Nov 1, 2021 at 12:11 AM Andrew Jones <drjones@redhat.com> wrote:
>
> On Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 02:54:00PM -0700, Zixuan Wang wrote:
> > On Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 9:14 AM Marc Orr <marcorr@google.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Sun, Oct 31, 2021 at 12:28 AM Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > On 31/10/21 06:56, Zixuan Wang wrote:
> > > > > Hello,
> > > > >
> > > > > This patch series refactors the x86_64 UEFI set up process and fixes the
> > > > > `run-tests.sh` script to run under UEFI. The patches are organized as
> > > > > three parts.
> > > > >
> > > > > The first part (patches 1-2) refactors the x86_64 UEFI set up process.
> > > > > The previous UEFI setup calls arch-specific setup functions twice and
> > > > > generates arch-specific data structure. As Andrew suggested [1], we
> > > > > refactor this process to make only one call to the arch-specific
> > > > > function and generate arch-neutral data structures. This simplifies the
> > > > > set up process and makes it easier to develop UEFI support for other
> > > > > architectures.
> > > > >
> > > > > The second part (patch 3) converts several x86 test cases to
> > > > > Position-Independent Code (PIC) to run under UEFI. This patch is ported
> > > > > from the initial UEFI support patchset [2] with fixes to the 32-bit
> > > > > compilation.
> > > > >
> > > > > The third part (patches 4-7) fixes the UEFI runner scripts. Patch 4 sets
> > > > > UEFI OVMF image as readonly. Patch 5 fixes test cases' return code under
> > > > > UEFI, enabling Patch 6-7 to fix the `run-tests.sh` script under UEFI.
> > > > >
> > > > > This patch set is based on the `uefi` branch.
> > > >
> > > > Thank you, for patches 1-6 I have squashed the patches when applicable
> > > > (1, 4, 5, 6) and queued the others (2 and 3).
> > > >
> > > > I did not queue patch 7 yet, it seems okay but I want to understand
> > > > better the changes it needs in the harness and what is missing.  I'll
> > > > take a look during the week.
> > >
> > > SGTM, thank you! Zixuan and I discussed a few things that are missing:
> > >
> > > 1. Test cases that take the `-append` arg are currently marked `SKIP`.
> > > Two issues need to be resolved here. First, we're not using QEMU's
> > > `-kernel` flag for EFI test cases [1]. And the `-append` flag does not
> > > work without the `-kernel` flag. I don't understand the details on why
> > > we don't use the `-kernel` flag myself. Maybe Zixuan can elaborate.
> > > Second, assuming we fix the first issue, then we need to enlighten the
> > > KVM-Unit-Tests under UEFI to parse kernel command line arguments and
> > > pass them down to the test cases via `argv`. Zixuan pointed out to me
> > > that there is some prior work from Drew [2] that we should be able to
> > > follow to make this work. So I'm hoping that Zixuan and I can work
> > > together on solving these issues to get the argument passing working
> > > next.
> >
> > Thank you for the detailed summary!
> >
> > Current kvm-unit-tests pass an EFI binary as part of a disk image,
> > instead of using the `-kernel` argument.
> >
> > I just tested the `-kernel` argument and it seems to work with EFI
> > binaries, and more importantly, it's really fast (bypassing the
> > default 5-second user input waiting). I will update the `x86/efi/run`
> > to use `-kernel` argument to pass the EFI binaries.
> >
> > Since `-kernel` is working, I can start to investigate how to use
> > `-append` to pass arguments. If that doesn't work well, an alternative
> > approach could be:
> >
> > 1. (host) create a file `args.txt` in the disk image, which contains
> > all the arguments needed
> > 2. (guest) call UEFI filesystem interface to read this `args.txt` from
> > the disk image, parse it and pass the arguments to `main()`
> >
> > > 2. We need a way to annotate test cases in `x86/unittests.cfg` as
> > > known to work under SEV. I'm thinking of doing this via new (very
> > > broad) test groups in `unittests.cfg`. I _think_ SEV is the primary
> > > scenario we care about. However, folks may care about running the test
> > > cases under UEFI outside of SEV. For example, last time I checked,
> > > emulator runs OK under UEFI minus SEV-ES but fails under SEV-ES. And
> > > similarly, while most test cases work under UEFI minus SEV, there are
> > > a few that do mis-behave -- and it probably makes sense to document
> > > this (e.g., via annotations in `unittests.cfg`). Also, there are many
> > > variations of SEV (SEV, SEV-ES, SEV-SNP)... And hopefully some of this
> > > will eventually be applicable to TDX as well. So many testgroups is
> > > not a good solution. I'm not sure.
> >
> > Adding an `efi` group seems helpful. E.g., the current `x86/smap.c`
> > does not work under UEFI; but the `run-tests.sh` still tries to run
> > this test case, even if this test case is not compiled.
> >
> > > 3. Multi-CPU needs to be made to work under UEFI. For now, patch #7
> > > forces all EFI test cases to run with 1 vCPU. I chatted with Brijesh,
> > > and he mentioned that Varad would like to work on this. However, if
> > > anything here changes, please let me know, because we can work on this
> > > as well. But for now, I'm not planning to work on it so we can avoid
> > > duplicating work.
> > > 4. UEFI runs a lot slower than SEABIOS. It doesn't help that the test
> > > harness launches QEMU more than once for each test case (i.e., it runs
> > > the `_NO_FILE_4Uhere_` scenario to check QEMU arguments). I'm not sure
> > > how much of an issue this is in practice. Depending on the answer, I
> > > know Zixuan had some ideas on how to speed this up in the current test
> > > harness. Or maybe we can explore an alternative to the
> > > `_NO_FILE_4Uhere_` approach instead.
> >
> > As the `-kernel` argument now works with the EFI binaries and is
> > significantly faster, this should not be an issue anymore. We just
> > need to update the runner scripts to use `-kernel` argument.
>
> You can add an additional '-kernel' + EFI binary runner if you want, but
> the goal of being able to run kvm-unit-tests on bare-metal means we
> shouldn't be counting on QEMU/OVMF to do magic stuff with the kernel. We
> need to build disk images. Argument passing works with EFI apps, when
> implemented, so that's not a problem. I also created a script that uses
> the framework's for_each_unittest to generate an EFI script that allowed
> each test to be easily run with its arguments.
>
> Thanks,
> drew

I see, I think an alternative approach is to rename test case binaries
to UEFI default binary filename, which is EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI for
x86_64. This should work just like the `-kernel` argument. I will
explore this approach with the argument passing mechanisms.

Best regards,
Zixuan