<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'>
<title>linux-toradex.git/arch/x86/include/asm/i387.h, branch v3.19.3</title>
<subtitle>Linux kernel for Apalis and Colibri modules</subtitle>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/'/>
<entry>
<title>x86, kvm: fix kvm's usage of kernel_fpu_begin/end()</title>
<updated>2012-09-21T23:59:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Suresh Siddha</name>
<email>suresh.b.siddha@intel.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-09-20T18:01:49+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=b1a74bf8212367be2b1d6685c11a84e056eaaaf1'/>
<id>b1a74bf8212367be2b1d6685c11a84e056eaaaf1</id>
<content type='text'>
Preemption is disabled between kernel_fpu_begin/end() and as such
it is not a good idea to use these routines in kvm_load/put_guest_fpu()
which can be very far apart.

kvm_load/put_guest_fpu() routines are already called with
preemption disabled and KVM already uses the preempt notifier to save
the guest fpu state using kvm_put_guest_fpu().

So introduce __kernel_fpu_begin/end() routines which don't touch
preemption and use them instead of kernel_fpu_begin/end()
for KVM's use model of saving/restoring guest FPU state.

Also with this change (and with eagerFPU model), fix the host cr0.TS vm-exit
state in the case of VMX. For eagerFPU case, host cr0.TS is always clear.
So no need to worry about it. For the traditional lazyFPU restore case,
change the cr0.TS bit for the host state during vm-exit to be always clear
and cr0.TS bit is set in the __vmx_load_host_state() when the FPU
(guest FPU or the host task's FPU) state is not active. This ensures
that the host/guest FPU state is properly saved, restored
during context-switch and with interrupts (using irq_fpu_usable()) not
stomping on the active FPU state.

Signed-off-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1348164109.26695.338.camel@sbsiddha-desk.sc.intel.com
Cc: Avi Kivity &lt;avi@redhat.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Preemption is disabled between kernel_fpu_begin/end() and as such
it is not a good idea to use these routines in kvm_load/put_guest_fpu()
which can be very far apart.

kvm_load/put_guest_fpu() routines are already called with
preemption disabled and KVM already uses the preempt notifier to save
the guest fpu state using kvm_put_guest_fpu().

So introduce __kernel_fpu_begin/end() routines which don't touch
preemption and use them instead of kernel_fpu_begin/end()
for KVM's use model of saving/restoring guest FPU state.

Also with this change (and with eagerFPU model), fix the host cr0.TS vm-exit
state in the case of VMX. For eagerFPU case, host cr0.TS is always clear.
So no need to worry about it. For the traditional lazyFPU restore case,
change the cr0.TS bit for the host state during vm-exit to be always clear
and cr0.TS bit is set in the __vmx_load_host_state() when the FPU
(guest FPU or the host task's FPU) state is not active. This ensures
that the host/guest FPU state is properly saved, restored
during context-switch and with interrupts (using irq_fpu_usable()) not
stomping on the active FPU state.

Signed-off-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1348164109.26695.338.camel@sbsiddha-desk.sc.intel.com
Cc: Avi Kivity &lt;avi@redhat.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86, fpu: use non-lazy fpu restore for processors supporting xsave</title>
<updated>2012-09-18T22:52:11+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Suresh Siddha</name>
<email>suresh.b.siddha@intel.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-08-24T21:13:02+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=304bceda6a18ae0b0240b8aac9a6bdf8ce2d2469'/>
<id>304bceda6a18ae0b0240b8aac9a6bdf8ce2d2469</id>
<content type='text'>
Fundamental model of the current Linux kernel is to lazily init and
restore FPU instead of restoring the task state during context switch.
This changes that fundamental lazy model to the non-lazy model for
the processors supporting xsave feature.

Reasons driving this model change are:

i. Newer processors support optimized state save/restore using xsaveopt and
xrstor by tracking the INIT state and MODIFIED state during context-switch.
This is faster than modifying the cr0.TS bit which has serializing semantics.

ii. Newer glibc versions use SSE for some of the optimized copy/clear routines.
With certain workloads (like boot, kernel-compilation etc), application
completes its work with in the first 5 task switches, thus taking upto 5 #DNA
traps with the kernel not getting a chance to apply the above mentioned
pre-load heuristic.

iii. Some xstate features (like AMD's LWP feature) don't honor the cr0.TS bit
and thus will not work correctly in the presence of lazy restore. Non-lazy
state restore is needed for enabling such features.

Some data on a two socket SNB system:
 * Saved 20K DNA exceptions during boot on a two socket SNB system.
 * Saved 50K DNA exceptions during kernel-compilation workload.
 * Improved throughput of the AVX based checksumming function inside the
   kernel by ~15% as xsave/xrstor is faster than the serializing clts/stts
   pair.

Also now kernel_fpu_begin/end() relies on the patched
alternative instructions. So move check_fpu() which uses the
kernel_fpu_begin/end() after alternative_instructions().

Signed-off-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1345842782-24175-7-git-send-email-suresh.b.siddha@intel.com
Merge 32-bit boot fix from,
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1347300665-6209-4-git-send-email-suresh.b.siddha@intel.com
Cc: Jim Kukunas &lt;james.t.kukunas@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: NeilBrown &lt;neilb@suse.de&gt;
Cc: Avi Kivity &lt;avi@redhat.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Fundamental model of the current Linux kernel is to lazily init and
restore FPU instead of restoring the task state during context switch.
This changes that fundamental lazy model to the non-lazy model for
the processors supporting xsave feature.

Reasons driving this model change are:

i. Newer processors support optimized state save/restore using xsaveopt and
xrstor by tracking the INIT state and MODIFIED state during context-switch.
This is faster than modifying the cr0.TS bit which has serializing semantics.

ii. Newer glibc versions use SSE for some of the optimized copy/clear routines.
With certain workloads (like boot, kernel-compilation etc), application
completes its work with in the first 5 task switches, thus taking upto 5 #DNA
traps with the kernel not getting a chance to apply the above mentioned
pre-load heuristic.

iii. Some xstate features (like AMD's LWP feature) don't honor the cr0.TS bit
and thus will not work correctly in the presence of lazy restore. Non-lazy
state restore is needed for enabling such features.

Some data on a two socket SNB system:
 * Saved 20K DNA exceptions during boot on a two socket SNB system.
 * Saved 50K DNA exceptions during kernel-compilation workload.
 * Improved throughput of the AVX based checksumming function inside the
   kernel by ~15% as xsave/xrstor is faster than the serializing clts/stts
   pair.

Also now kernel_fpu_begin/end() relies on the patched
alternative instructions. So move check_fpu() which uses the
kernel_fpu_begin/end() after alternative_instructions().

Signed-off-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1345842782-24175-7-git-send-email-suresh.b.siddha@intel.com
Merge 32-bit boot fix from,
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1347300665-6209-4-git-send-email-suresh.b.siddha@intel.com
Cc: Jim Kukunas &lt;james.t.kukunas@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: NeilBrown &lt;neilb@suse.de&gt;
Cc: Avi Kivity &lt;avi@redhat.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Disintegrate asm/system.h for X86</title>
<updated>2012-03-28T17:11:12+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>David Howells</name>
<email>dhowells@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-03-28T17:11:12+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=f05e798ad4c09255f590f5b2c00a7ca6c172f983'/>
<id>f05e798ad4c09255f590f5b2c00a7ca6c172f983</id>
<content type='text'>
Disintegrate asm/system.h for X86.

Signed-off-by: David Howells &lt;dhowells@redhat.com&gt;
Acked-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
cc: x86@kernel.org
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Disintegrate asm/system.h for X86.

Signed-off-by: David Howells &lt;dhowells@redhat.com&gt;
Acked-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
cc: x86@kernel.org
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: Split up &lt;asm/i387.h&gt; into exported and internal interfaces</title>
<updated>2012-02-21T22:12:54+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-21T21:19:22+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=1361b83a13d4d92e53fbb6c877528713e118b821'/>
<id>1361b83a13d4d92e53fbb6c877528713e118b821</id>
<content type='text'>
While various modules include &lt;asm/i387.h&gt; to get access to things we
actually *intend* for them to use, most of that header file was really
pretty low-level internal stuff that we really don't want to expose to
others.

So split the header file into two: the small exported interfaces remain
in &lt;asm/i387.h&gt;, while the internal definitions that are only used by
core architecture code are now in &lt;asm/fpu-internal.h&gt;.

The guiding principle for this was to expose functions that we export to
modules, and leave them in &lt;asm/i387.h&gt;, while stuff that is used by
task switching or was marked GPL-only is in &lt;asm/fpu-internal.h&gt;.

The fpu-internal.h file could be further split up too, especially since
arch/x86/kvm/ uses some of the remaining stuff for its module.  But that
kvm usage should probably be abstracted out a bit, and at least now the
internal FPU accessor functions are much more contained.  Even if it
isn't perhaps as contained as it _could_ be.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.LFD.2.02.1202211340330.5354@i5.linux-foundation.org
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
While various modules include &lt;asm/i387.h&gt; to get access to things we
actually *intend* for them to use, most of that header file was really
pretty low-level internal stuff that we really don't want to expose to
others.

So split the header file into two: the small exported interfaces remain
in &lt;asm/i387.h&gt;, while the internal definitions that are only used by
core architecture code are now in &lt;asm/fpu-internal.h&gt;.

The guiding principle for this was to expose functions that we export to
modules, and leave them in &lt;asm/i387.h&gt;, while stuff that is used by
task switching or was marked GPL-only is in &lt;asm/fpu-internal.h&gt;.

The fpu-internal.h file could be further split up too, especially since
arch/x86/kvm/ uses some of the remaining stuff for its module.  But that
kvm usage should probably be abstracted out a bit, and at least now the
internal FPU accessor functions are much more contained.  Even if it
isn't perhaps as contained as it _could_ be.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.LFD.2.02.1202211340330.5354@i5.linux-foundation.org
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: Uninline the generic FP helpers that we expose to kernel modules</title>
<updated>2012-02-21T22:12:46+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-21T18:25:45+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=8546c008924d5fd1724fa698eaa92b414bafd50d'/>
<id>8546c008924d5fd1724fa698eaa92b414bafd50d</id>
<content type='text'>
Instead of exporting the very low-level internals of the FPU state
save/restore code (ie things like 'fpu_owner_task'), we should export
the higher-level interfaces.

Inlining these things is pointless anyway: sure, sometimes the end
result is small, but while 'stts()' can result in just three x86
instructions, those are not cheap instructions (writing %cr0 is a
serializing instruction and a very slow one at that).

So the overhead of a function call is not noticeable, and we really
don't want random modules mucking about with our internal state save
logic anyway.

So this unexports 'fpu_owner_task', and instead uninlines and exports
the actual functions that modules can use: fpu_kernel_begin/end() and
unlazy_fpu().

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.LFD.2.02.1202211339590.5354@i5.linux-foundation.org
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Instead of exporting the very low-level internals of the FPU state
save/restore code (ie things like 'fpu_owner_task'), we should export
the higher-level interfaces.

Inlining these things is pointless anyway: sure, sometimes the end
result is small, but while 'stts()' can result in just three x86
instructions, those are not cheap instructions (writing %cr0 is a
serializing instruction and a very slow one at that).

So the overhead of a function call is not noticeable, and we really
don't want random modules mucking about with our internal state save
logic anyway.

So this unexports 'fpu_owner_task', and instead uninlines and exports
the actual functions that modules can use: fpu_kernel_begin/end() and
unlazy_fpu().

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/alpine.LFD.2.02.1202211339590.5354@i5.linux-foundation.org
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: support lazy restore of FPU state</title>
<updated>2012-02-20T18:58:54+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-19T21:27:00+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=7e16838d94b566a17b65231073d179bc04d590c8'/>
<id>7e16838d94b566a17b65231073d179bc04d590c8</id>
<content type='text'>
This makes us recognize when we try to restore FPU state that matches
what we already have in the FPU on this CPU, and avoids the restore
entirely if so.

To do this, we add two new data fields:

 - a percpu 'fpu_owner_task' variable that gets written any time we
   update the "has_fpu" field, and thus acts as a kind of back-pointer
   to the task that owns the CPU.  The exception is when we save the FPU
   state as part of a context switch - if the save can keep the FPU
   state around, we leave the 'fpu_owner_task' variable pointing at the
   task whose FP state still remains on the CPU.

 - a per-thread 'last_cpu' field, that indicates which CPU that thread
   used its FPU on last.  We update this on every context switch
   (writing an invalid CPU number if the last context switch didn't
   leave the FPU in a lazily usable state), so we know that *that*
   thread has done nothing else with the FPU since.

These two fields together can be used when next switching back to the
task to see if the CPU still matches: if 'fpu_owner_task' matches the
task we are switching to, we know that no other task (or kernel FPU
usage) touched the FPU on this CPU in the meantime, and if the current
CPU number matches the 'last_cpu' field, we know that this thread did no
other FP work on any other CPU, so the FPU state on the CPU must match
what was saved on last context switch.

In that case, we can avoid the 'f[x]rstor' entirely, and just clear the
CR0.TS bit.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
This makes us recognize when we try to restore FPU state that matches
what we already have in the FPU on this CPU, and avoids the restore
entirely if so.

To do this, we add two new data fields:

 - a percpu 'fpu_owner_task' variable that gets written any time we
   update the "has_fpu" field, and thus acts as a kind of back-pointer
   to the task that owns the CPU.  The exception is when we save the FPU
   state as part of a context switch - if the save can keep the FPU
   state around, we leave the 'fpu_owner_task' variable pointing at the
   task whose FP state still remains on the CPU.

 - a per-thread 'last_cpu' field, that indicates which CPU that thread
   used its FPU on last.  We update this on every context switch
   (writing an invalid CPU number if the last context switch didn't
   leave the FPU in a lazily usable state), so we know that *that*
   thread has done nothing else with the FPU since.

These two fields together can be used when next switching back to the
task to see if the CPU still matches: if 'fpu_owner_task' matches the
task we are switching to, we know that no other task (or kernel FPU
usage) touched the FPU on this CPU in the meantime, and if the current
CPU number matches the 'last_cpu' field, we know that this thread did no
other FP work on any other CPU, so the FPU state on the CPU must match
what was saved on last context switch.

In that case, we can avoid the 'f[x]rstor' entirely, and just clear the
CR0.TS bit.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: use 'restore_fpu_checking()' directly in task switching code</title>
<updated>2012-02-20T18:58:28+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-19T19:48:44+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=80ab6f1e8c981b1b6604b2f22e36c917526235cd'/>
<id>80ab6f1e8c981b1b6604b2f22e36c917526235cd</id>
<content type='text'>
This inlines what is usually just a couple of instructions, but more
importantly it also fixes the theoretical error case (can that FPU
restore really ever fail? Maybe we should remove the checking).

We can't start sending signals from within the scheduler, we're much too
deep in the kernel and are holding the runqueue lock etc.  So don't
bother even trying.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
This inlines what is usually just a couple of instructions, but more
importantly it also fixes the theoretical error case (can that FPU
restore really ever fail? Maybe we should remove the checking).

We can't start sending signals from within the scheduler, we're much too
deep in the kernel and are holding the runqueue lock etc.  So don't
bother even trying.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: fix up some fpu_counter confusion</title>
<updated>2012-02-20T18:24:09+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-20T18:24:09+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=cea20ca3f3181fc36788a15bc65d1062b96a0a6c'/>
<id>cea20ca3f3181fc36788a15bc65d1062b96a0a6c</id>
<content type='text'>
This makes sure we clear the FPU usage counter for newly created tasks,
just so that we start off in a known state (for example, don't try to
preload the FPU state on the first task switch etc).

It also fixes a thinko in when we increment the fpu_counter at task
switch time, introduced by commit 34ddc81a230b ("i387: re-introduce FPU
state preloading at context switch time").  We should increment the
*new* task fpu_counter, not the old task, and only if we decide to use
that state (whether lazily or preloaded).

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
This makes sure we clear the FPU usage counter for newly created tasks,
just so that we start off in a known state (for example, don't try to
preload the FPU state on the first task switch etc).

It also fixes a thinko in when we increment the fpu_counter at task
switch time, introduced by commit 34ddc81a230b ("i387: re-introduce FPU
state preloading at context switch time").  We should increment the
*new* task fpu_counter, not the old task, and only if we decide to use
that state (whether lazily or preloaded).

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: re-introduce FPU state preloading at context switch time</title>
<updated>2012-02-18T22:03:48+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-18T20:56:35+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=34ddc81a230b15c0e345b6b253049db731499f7e'/>
<id>34ddc81a230b15c0e345b6b253049db731499f7e</id>
<content type='text'>
After all the FPU state cleanups and finally finding the problem that
caused all our FPU save/restore problems, this re-introduces the
preloading of FPU state that was removed in commit b3b0870ef3ff ("i387:
do not preload FPU state at task switch time").

However, instead of simply reverting the removal, this reimplements
preloading with several fixes, most notably

 - properly abstracted as a true FPU state switch, rather than as
   open-coded save and restore with various hacks.

   In particular, implementing it as a proper FPU state switch allows us
   to optimize the CR0.TS flag accesses: there is no reason to set the
   TS bit only to then almost immediately clear it again.  CR0 accesses
   are quite slow and expensive, don't flip the bit back and forth for
   no good reason.

 - Make sure that the same model works for both x86-32 and x86-64, so
   that there are no gratuitous differences between the two due to the
   way they save and restore segment state differently due to
   architectural differences that really don't matter to the FPU state.

 - Avoid exposing the "preload" state to the context switch routines,
   and in particular allow the concept of lazy state restore: if nothing
   else has used the FPU in the meantime, and the process is still on
   the same CPU, we can avoid restoring state from memory entirely, just
   re-expose the state that is still in the FPU unit.

   That optimized lazy restore isn't actually implemented here, but the
   infrastructure is set up for it.  Of course, older CPU's that use
   'fnsave' to save the state cannot take advantage of this, since the
   state saving also trashes the state.

In other words, there is now an actual _design_ to the FPU state saving,
rather than just random historical baggage.  Hopefully it's easier to
follow as a result.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
After all the FPU state cleanups and finally finding the problem that
caused all our FPU save/restore problems, this re-introduces the
preloading of FPU state that was removed in commit b3b0870ef3ff ("i387:
do not preload FPU state at task switch time").

However, instead of simply reverting the removal, this reimplements
preloading with several fixes, most notably

 - properly abstracted as a true FPU state switch, rather than as
   open-coded save and restore with various hacks.

   In particular, implementing it as a proper FPU state switch allows us
   to optimize the CR0.TS flag accesses: there is no reason to set the
   TS bit only to then almost immediately clear it again.  CR0 accesses
   are quite slow and expensive, don't flip the bit back and forth for
   no good reason.

 - Make sure that the same model works for both x86-32 and x86-64, so
   that there are no gratuitous differences between the two due to the
   way they save and restore segment state differently due to
   architectural differences that really don't matter to the FPU state.

 - Avoid exposing the "preload" state to the context switch routines,
   and in particular allow the concept of lazy state restore: if nothing
   else has used the FPU in the meantime, and the process is still on
   the same CPU, we can avoid restoring state from memory entirely, just
   re-expose the state that is still in the FPU unit.

   That optimized lazy restore isn't actually implemented here, but the
   infrastructure is set up for it.  Of course, older CPU's that use
   'fnsave' to save the state cannot take advantage of this, since the
   state saving also trashes the state.

In other words, there is now an actual _design_ to the FPU state saving,
rather than just random historical baggage.  Hopefully it's easier to
follow as a result.

Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>i387: move TS_USEDFPU flag from thread_info to task_struct</title>
<updated>2012-02-18T18:19:41+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-18T05:48:54+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.toradex.cn/cgit/linux-toradex.git/commit/?id=f94edacf998516ac9d849f7bc6949a703977a7f3'/>
<id>f94edacf998516ac9d849f7bc6949a703977a7f3</id>
<content type='text'>
This moves the bit that indicates whether a thread has ownership of the
FPU from the TS_USEDFPU bit in thread_info-&gt;status to a word of its own
(called 'has_fpu') in task_struct-&gt;thread.has_fpu.

This fixes two independent bugs at the same time:

 - changing 'thread_info-&gt;status' from the scheduler causes nasty
   problems for the other users of that variable, since it is defined to
   be thread-synchronous (that's what the "TS_" part of the naming was
   supposed to indicate).

   So perfectly valid code could (and did) do

	ti-&gt;status |= TS_RESTORE_SIGMASK;

   and the compiler was free to do that as separate load, or and store
   instructions.  Which can cause problems with preemption, since a task
   switch could happen in between, and change the TS_USEDFPU bit. The
   change to TS_USEDFPU would be overwritten by the final store.

   In practice, this seldom happened, though, because the 'status' field
   was seldom used more than once, so gcc would generally tend to
   generate code that used a read-modify-write instruction and thus
   happened to avoid this problem - RMW instructions are naturally low
   fat and preemption-safe.

 - On x86-32, the current_thread_info() pointer would, during interrupts
   and softirqs, point to a *copy* of the real thread_info, because
   x86-32 uses %esp to calculate the thread_info address, and thus the
   separate irq (and softirq) stacks would cause these kinds of odd
   thread_info copy aliases.

   This is normally not a problem, since interrupts aren't supposed to
   look at thread information anyway (what thread is running at
   interrupt time really isn't very well-defined), but it confused the
   heck out of irq_fpu_usable() and the code that tried to squirrel
   away the FPU state.

   (It also caused untold confusion for us poor kernel developers).

It also turns out that using 'task_struct' is actually much more natural
for most of the call sites that care about the FPU state, since they
tend to work with the task struct for other reasons anyway (ie
scheduling).  And the FPU data that we are going to save/restore is
found there too.

Thanks to Arjan Van De Ven &lt;arjan@linux.intel.com&gt; for pointing us to
the %esp issue.

Cc: Arjan van de Ven &lt;arjan@linux.intel.com&gt;
Reported-and-tested-by: Raphael Prevost &lt;raphael@buro.asia&gt;
Acked-and-tested-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Tested-by: Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
This moves the bit that indicates whether a thread has ownership of the
FPU from the TS_USEDFPU bit in thread_info-&gt;status to a word of its own
(called 'has_fpu') in task_struct-&gt;thread.has_fpu.

This fixes two independent bugs at the same time:

 - changing 'thread_info-&gt;status' from the scheduler causes nasty
   problems for the other users of that variable, since it is defined to
   be thread-synchronous (that's what the "TS_" part of the naming was
   supposed to indicate).

   So perfectly valid code could (and did) do

	ti-&gt;status |= TS_RESTORE_SIGMASK;

   and the compiler was free to do that as separate load, or and store
   instructions.  Which can cause problems with preemption, since a task
   switch could happen in between, and change the TS_USEDFPU bit. The
   change to TS_USEDFPU would be overwritten by the final store.

   In practice, this seldom happened, though, because the 'status' field
   was seldom used more than once, so gcc would generally tend to
   generate code that used a read-modify-write instruction and thus
   happened to avoid this problem - RMW instructions are naturally low
   fat and preemption-safe.

 - On x86-32, the current_thread_info() pointer would, during interrupts
   and softirqs, point to a *copy* of the real thread_info, because
   x86-32 uses %esp to calculate the thread_info address, and thus the
   separate irq (and softirq) stacks would cause these kinds of odd
   thread_info copy aliases.

   This is normally not a problem, since interrupts aren't supposed to
   look at thread information anyway (what thread is running at
   interrupt time really isn't very well-defined), but it confused the
   heck out of irq_fpu_usable() and the code that tried to squirrel
   away the FPU state.

   (It also caused untold confusion for us poor kernel developers).

It also turns out that using 'task_struct' is actually much more natural
for most of the call sites that care about the FPU state, since they
tend to work with the task struct for other reasons anyway (ie
scheduling).  And the FPU data that we are going to save/restore is
found there too.

Thanks to Arjan Van De Ven &lt;arjan@linux.intel.com&gt; for pointing us to
the %esp issue.

Cc: Arjan van de Ven &lt;arjan@linux.intel.com&gt;
Reported-and-tested-by: Raphael Prevost &lt;raphael@buro.asia&gt;
Acked-and-tested-by: Suresh Siddha &lt;suresh.b.siddha@intel.com&gt;
Tested-by: Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
</feed>
