[RFC PATCH 0/2] ptp: vmclock: Add VM generation counter and ACPI notification

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4 messages, 2 authors, 2025-11-26 · open the first message on its own page

[RFC PATCH 0/2] ptp: vmclock: Add VM generation counter and ACPI notification

From: Chalios, Babis <hidden>
Date: 2025-11-25 15:38:52

Similarly to live migration, starting a VM from some serialized state
(aka snapshot) is an event which calls for adjusting guest clocks, hence
a hypervisor should increase the disruption_marker before resuming the
VM vCPUs, letting the guest know.

However, loading a snapshot, is slightly different than live migration,
especially since we can start multiple VMs from the same serialized
state. Apart from adjusting clocks, the guest needs to take additional
action during such events, e.g. recreate UUIDs, reset network
adapters/connections, reseed entropy pools, etc. These actions are not
necessary during live migration. This calls for a differentiation
between the two triggering events.

We differentiate between the two events via an extra field in the
vmclock_abi, called vm_generation_counter. Whereas hypervisors should
increase the disruption marker in both cases, they should only increase
vm_generation_counter when a snapshot is loaded in a VM (not during live
migration).

Additionally, we attach an ACPI notification to VMClock. Hypervisors
should execute an ACPI notify operation every time seq_count changes to
an even number. We implement the poll() interface for VMClock device.
listeners of poll() will be notified about changes in the ABI every time
the hypervisor sends us a notification.

Babis Chalios (2):
  ptp: vmclock: add vm generation counter
  ptp: vmclock: support device notifications

 drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c        | 85 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h | 19 +++++++
 2 files changed, 99 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

-- 
2.34.1

[RFC PATCH 1/2] ptp: vmclock: add vm generation counter

From: Chalios, Babis <hidden>
Date: 2025-11-25 15:39:06

Similar to live migration, loading a VM from some saved state (aka
snapshot) is also an event that calls for clock adjustments in the
guest. However, guests might want to take more actions as a response to
such events, e.g. as discarding UUIDs, resetting network connections,
reseeding entropy pools, etc. These are actions that guests don't
typically take during live migration, so add a new field in the
vmclock_abi called vm_generation_counter which informs the guest about
such events.

Signed-off-by: Babis Chalios <redacted>
---
 include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+)
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h b/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
index 2d99b29ac44a..fbf1c5928273 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
@@ -115,6 +115,12 @@ struct vmclock_abi {
 	 * bit again after the update, using the about-to-be-valid fields.
 	 */
 #define VMCLOCK_FLAG_TIME_MONOTONIC		(1 << 7)
+	/*
+	 * If the VM_GEN_COUNTER_PRESENT flag is set, the hypervisor will
+	 * bump the vm_generation_counter field every time the guest is
+	 * loaded from some save state (restored from a snapshot).
+	 */
+#define VMCLOCK_FLAG_VM_GEN_COUNTER_PRESENT     (1 << 8)
 
 	__u8 pad[2];
 	__u8 clock_status;
@@ -177,6 +183,19 @@ struct vmclock_abi {
 	__le64 time_frac_sec;		/* Units of 1/2^64 of a second */
 	__le64 time_esterror_nanosec;
 	__le64 time_maxerror_nanosec;
+
+	/*
+	 * This field changes to another non-repeating value when the VM
+	 * is loaded from a snapshot. This event, typically, represents a
+	 * "jump" forward in time. As a result, in this case as well, the
+	 * guest needs to discard any calibrarion against external sources.
+	 * Loading a snapshot in a VM has different semantics than other VM
+	 * events such as live migration, i.e. apart from re-adjusting guest
+	 * clocks a guest user space might want to discard UUIDs, reset
+	 * network connections or reseed entropy, etc. As a result, we
+	 * use a dedicated marker for such events.
+	 */
+	__le64 vm_generation_counter;
 };
 
 #endif /*  __VMCLOCK_ABI_H__ */
-- 
2.34.1

Re: [RFC PATCH 1/2] ptp: vmclock: add vm generation counter

From: David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>
Date: 2025-11-26 14:14:35

On Tue, 2025-11-25 at 15:38 +0000, Chalios, Babis wrote:
quoted hunk
Similar to live migration, loading a VM from some saved state (aka
snapshot) is also an event that calls for clock adjustments in the
guest. However, guests might want to take more actions as a response to
such events, e.g. as discarding UUIDs, resetting network connections,
reseeding entropy pools, etc. These are actions that guests don't
typically take during live migration, so add a new field in the
vmclock_abi called vm_generation_counter which informs the guest about
such events.

Signed-off-by: Babis Chalios <redacted>
---
 include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h | 19 +++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+)
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h b/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
index 2d99b29ac44a..fbf1c5928273 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/vmclock-abi.h
@@ -115,6 +115,12 @@ struct vmclock_abi {
 	 * bit again after the update, using the about-to-be-valid fields.
 	 */
 #define VMCLOCK_FLAG_TIME_MONOTONIC		(1 << 7)
+	/*
+	 * If the VM_GEN_COUNTER_PRESENT flag is set, the hypervisor will
+	 * bump the vm_generation_counter field every time the guest is
+	 * loaded from some save state (restored from a snapshot).
+	 */
+#define VMCLOCK_FLAG_VM_GEN_COUNTER_PRESENT     (1 << 8)
 
 	__u8 pad[2];
 	__u8 clock_status;
@@ -177,6 +183,19 @@ struct vmclock_abi {
 	__le64 time_frac_sec;		/* Units of 1/2^64 of a second */
 	__le64 time_esterror_nanosec;
 	__le64 time_maxerror_nanosec;
+
+	/*
+	 * This field changes to another non-repeating value when the VM
+	 * is loaded from a snapshot. This event, typically, represents a
+	 * "jump" forward in time. As a result, in this case as well, the
+	 * guest needs to discard any calibrarion against external sources.
+	 * Loading a snapshot in a VM has different semantics than other VM
+	 * events such as live migration, i.e. apart from re-adjusting guest
+	 * clocks a guest user space might want to discard UUIDs, reset
+	 * network connections or reseed entropy, etc. As a result, we
+	 * use a dedicated marker for such events.
+	 */
+	__le64 vm_generation_counter;
 };
Looks good, thank you. Just a bit of nitpicking about the comment.

I really don't like talking about a "jump forward in time". That's what
clocks *do*. VMClock tells the guest a relationship between its CPU
counter (TSC, arch timer, etc.) and real time. As long as that
relationship remains within the error bounds which were previously
promised, there is no disruption. It certainly isn't about time jumping
*forward*.

Let's also make it 100% clear that an implementation must *also* bump
the disruption_marker field in this case, not only the
vm_generation_counter. How about...

"A change in this field indicates that the guest has been loaded from a
snapshot. In addition to handling a disruption in time (which will also
be signalled through the disruption_marker field), a guest may wish to
discard UUIDs, reset network connections or reseed entropy, etc."

[RFC PATCH 2/2] ptp: vmclock: support device notifications

From: Chalios, Babis <hidden>
Date: 2025-11-25 15:39:12

VMClock now expects the hypervisor to send a device notification every
time the seqcount lock changes to a new (even) value.

Moreover, add support for poll() in VMClock as a means to propagate this
notification to user space. poll() will notify listeners every time
seq_count has changed to a new (even) value since the last time read()
(or open()) was called on the device. This means that when poll()
returns a (POLLIN) event, listeners need to use read() to observe what
has changed and update the reader's view of seq_count. In other words,
after a poll() returned all subsequent calls to poll() will immediately
return with a POLLIN event until the listener calls read().

Signed-off-by: Babis Chalios <redacted>
---
 drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c | 85 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 80 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c b/drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c
index b3a83b03d9c1..efcdcc5c40cf 100644
--- a/drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c
+++ b/drivers/ptp/ptp_vmclock.c
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@
  * Copyright © 2024 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
  */
 
+#include "linux/poll.h"
+#include "linux/types.h"
+#include "linux/wait.h"
 #include <linux/acpi.h>
 #include <linux/device.h>
 #include <linux/err.h>
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@ struct vmclock_state {
 	struct resource res;
 	struct vmclock_abi *clk;
 	struct miscdevice miscdev;
+	wait_queue_head_t disrupt_wait;
 	struct ptp_clock_info ptp_clock_info;
 	struct ptp_clock *ptp_clock;
 	enum clocksource_ids cs_id, sys_cs_id;
@@ -357,10 +361,15 @@ static struct ptp_clock *vmclock_ptp_register(struct device *dev,
 	return ptp_clock_register(&st->ptp_clock_info, dev);
 }
 
+struct vmclock_file_state {
+	struct vmclock_state *st;
+	uint32_t seq;
+};
+
 static int vmclock_miscdev_mmap(struct file *fp, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
-	struct vmclock_state *st = container_of(fp->private_data,
-						struct vmclock_state, miscdev);
+	struct vmclock_file_state *fst = fp->private_data;
+	struct vmclock_state *st = fst->st;
 
 	if ((vma->vm_flags & (VM_READ|VM_WRITE)) != VM_READ)
 		return -EROFS;
@@ -379,8 +388,9 @@ static int vmclock_miscdev_mmap(struct file *fp, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 static ssize_t vmclock_miscdev_read(struct file *fp, char __user *buf,
 				    size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
 {
-	struct vmclock_state *st = container_of(fp->private_data,
-						struct vmclock_state, miscdev);
+	struct vmclock_file_state *fst = fp->private_data;
+	struct vmclock_state *st = fst->st;
+
 	ktime_t deadline = ktime_add(ktime_get(), VMCLOCK_MAX_WAIT);
 	size_t max_count;
 	uint32_t seq;
@@ -402,8 +412,10 @@ static ssize_t vmclock_miscdev_read(struct file *fp, char __user *buf,
 
 		/* Pairs with hypervisor wmb */
 		virt_rmb();
-		if (seq == le32_to_cpu(st->clk->seq_count))
+		if (seq == le32_to_cpu(st->clk->seq_count)) {
+			fst->seq = seq;
 			break;
+		}
 
 		if (ktime_after(ktime_get(), deadline))
 			return -ETIMEDOUT;
@@ -413,10 +425,51 @@ static ssize_t vmclock_miscdev_read(struct file *fp, char __user *buf,
 	return count;
 }
 
+static __poll_t vmclock_miscdev_poll(struct file *fp, poll_table *wait)
+{
+	struct vmclock_file_state *fst = fp->private_data;
+	struct vmclock_state *st = fst->st;
+	uint32_t seq;
+
+	poll_wait(fp, &st->disrupt_wait, wait);
+
+	seq = le32_to_cpu(st->clk->seq_count);
+	if (fst->seq != seq)
+		return POLLIN | POLLRDNORM;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int vmclock_miscdev_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *fp)
+{
+	struct vmclock_state *st = container_of(fp->private_data,
+						struct vmclock_state, miscdev);
+	struct vmclock_file_state *fst = kzalloc(sizeof(*fst), GFP_KERNEL);
+
+	if (!fst)
+		return -ENOMEM;
+
+	fst->st = st;
+	fst->seq = le32_to_cpu(st->clk->seq_count);
+
+	fp->private_data = fst;
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int vmclock_miscdev_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *fp)
+{
+	kfree(fp->private_data);
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static const struct file_operations vmclock_miscdev_fops = {
 	.owner = THIS_MODULE,
+	.open = vmclock_miscdev_open,
+	.release = vmclock_miscdev_release,
 	.mmap = vmclock_miscdev_mmap,
 	.read = vmclock_miscdev_read,
+	.poll = vmclock_miscdev_poll,
 };
 
 /* module operations */
@@ -459,6 +512,16 @@ static acpi_status vmclock_acpi_resources(struct acpi_resource *ares, void *data
 	return AE_ERROR;
 }
 
+static void
+vmclock_acpi_notification_handler(acpi_handle __always_unused handle,
+				  u32 __always_unused event, void *dev)
+{
+	struct device *device = dev;
+	struct vmclock_state *st = device->driver_data;
+
+	wake_up_interruptible(&st->disrupt_wait);
+}
+
 static int vmclock_probe_acpi(struct device *dev, struct vmclock_state *st)
 {
 	struct acpi_device *adev = ACPI_COMPANION(dev);
@@ -479,6 +542,14 @@ static int vmclock_probe_acpi(struct device *dev, struct vmclock_state *st)
 		return -ENODEV;
 	}
 
+	status = acpi_install_notify_handler(adev->handle, ACPI_DEVICE_NOTIFY,
+					     vmclock_acpi_notification_handler,
+					     dev);
+	if (ACPI_FAILURE(status)) {
+		dev_err(dev, "failed to install notification handler");
+		return -ENODEV;
+	}
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -549,6 +620,8 @@ static int vmclock_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
+	init_waitqueue_head(&st->disrupt_wait);
+
 	/*
 	 * If the structure is big enough, it can be mapped to userspace.
 	 * Theoretically a guest OS even using larger pages could still
@@ -581,6 +654,8 @@ static int vmclock_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
 		return -ENODEV;
 	}
 
+	dev->driver_data = st;
+
 	dev_info(dev, "%s: registered %s%s%s\n", st->name,
 		 st->miscdev.minor ? "miscdev" : "",
 		 (st->miscdev.minor && st->ptp_clock) ? ", " : "",
-- 
2.34.1
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