Re: [PATCH v3 2/9] Documentation: KVM: s390: Describe KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG
From: Thomas Huth <hidden>
Date: 2022-11-22 07:48:35
Also in:
kvm, linux-kselftest, linux-s390, lkml
On 17/11/2022 23.17, Janis Schoetterl-Glausch wrote:
Describe the semantics of the new KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG flag for absolute vm write memops which allows user space to perform (storage key checked) cmpxchg operations on guest memory. Signed-off-by: Janis Schoetterl-Glausch <redacted> ---
...
Supported flags:
* ``KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CHECK_ONLY``
* ``KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_SKEY_PROTECTION``
+ * ``KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG``
+
+The semantics of the flags common with logical acesses are as for logical
+accesses.
+
+For write accesses, the KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG might be supported.I'd maybe merge this with the last sentence: For write accesses, the KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG flag is supported if KVM_CAP_S390_MEM_OP_EXTENSION has bit 1 (i.e. bit with value 2) set. ... and speaking of that, I wonder whether it's maybe a good idea to introduce some #defines for bit 1 / value 2, to avoid the confusion ?
+In this case, instead of doing an unconditional write, the access occurs only +if the target location contains the "size" byte long value pointed to by +"old_p". This is performed as an atomic cmpxchg.
I had to read the first sentence twice to understand it ... maybe it's easier to understand if you move the "size" part to the second sentence: In this case, instead of doing an unconditional write, the access occurs only if the target location contains value pointed to by "old_p". This is performed as an atomic cmpxchg with the length specified by the "size" parameter. ?
"size" must be a power of two +up to and including 16. +The value at the target location is written to the location "old_p" points to.
IMHO something like this would be better: The value at the target location is replaced with the value from the location that "old_p" points to.
+If the exchange did not take place because the target value doesn't match the +old value KVM_S390_MEMOP_R_NO_XCHG is returned. +The KVM_S390_MEMOP_F_CMPXCHG flag is supported if KVM_CAP_S390_MEM_OP_EXTENSION +has bit 1 (i.e. bit with value 2) set.
Thomas PS: Please take my suggestions with a grain of salt ... I'm not a native speaker either.