x86/time: implement PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT

This patch proposes relying on host TSC synchronization and
passthrough to the guest, when running on a TSC-safe platform. On
time_calibration we retrieve the platform time in ns and the counter
read by the clocksource that was used to compute system time. We can
guarantee that on a platform with a constant and reliable TSC, that the
time read on vcpu B right after A is bigger independently of the VCPU
calibration error. Since pvclock time infos are monotonic as seen by any
vCPU set PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT, which then enables usage of VDSO on
Linux.  IIUC, this is similar to how it's implemented on KVM. Add also a
comment regarding this bit changing and that guests are expected to
check this bit on every read.

Should note that I've yet to see time going backwards in a long running
test I ran for 2 weeks (in a dual socket machine), plus few other
tests I did on older platforms.

Signed-off-by: Joao Martins <joao.m.martins@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>
This commit is contained in:
Joao Martins authored and Jan Beulich committed 2016-09-23 18:25:49 +02:00
1 parent 15c3ef8b5e
commit fe0364d293
1 file changed
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@@ -955,6 +955,14 @@ static void __update_vcpu_system_time(struct vcpu *v, int force)
_u.tsc_timestamp = tsc_stamp;
_u.system_time = t->stamp.local_stime;
/*
* It's expected that domains cope with this bit changing on every
* pvclock read to check whether they can resort solely on this tuple
* or if it further requires monotonicity checks with other vcpus.
*/
if ( clocksource_is_tsc() )
_u.flags |= XEN_PVCLOCK_TSC_STABLE_BIT;
if ( is_hvm_domain(d) )
_u.tsc_timestamp += v->arch.hvm_vcpu.cache_tsc_offset;
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