Re: [PATCH v5 1/4] xen/libxc: Allow changes to hypervisor CPUID leaf from config file

[Ian Campbell <Ian.Campbell@citrix.com>]

On Wed, 2014-03-19 at 09:26 +0000, Jan Beulich wrote:
> >>> On 19.03.14 at 01:58, Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@oracle.com> wrote:
> > Currently only "real" cpuid leaves can be overwritten by users via
> > 'cpuid' option in the configuration file. This patch provides ability to
> > do the same for hypervisor leaves (but for now only 0x40000000 is allowed).
> 
> I'm still not really happy with the approach:
> 
> > --- a/xen/arch/x86/traps.c
> > +++ b/xen/arch/x86/traps.c
> > @@ -690,6 +690,9 @@ int cpuid_hypervisor_leaves( uint32_t idx, uint32_t sub_idx,
> >      if ( idx > limit ) 
> >          return 0;
> >  
> > +    if ( domain_cpuid_exists(d, base + idx, sub_idx, eax, ebx, ecx, edx) )
> > +        return 1;
> 
> You basically rely here on the tools having fed back the values the
> hypervisor returned to them. What if this gets tweaked at some
> point based on some other domain characteristics? I'd really like to
> see the hypervisor, and only the hypervisor, being in charge of
> returning the hypervisor leaf values. The sole restriction the tools
> may place ought to be on the maximum leaf.

That does sound like it would simplify things.

> Sadly I didn't see anyone else commenting on this model of yours,
> so I can't judge whether I'm the only one having reservations
> against the model you have been proposing so far.

Well, the libxc side is certainly very complicated if all which is
needed is the ability to limit the maximum hypervisor leaf which is
exposed. That ought to be a dozen lines max across tools and hypervisor
I would have said.

Ian.