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>

diff --git a/xen/arch/x86/time.c b/xen/arch/x86/time.c
index 128e6536eff23a915c3d33d254587d40c3d693ab..d307d937789a67e37b6fa7872f59ca1b828b1ffe 100644 (file)
--- a/xen/arch/x86/time.c
+++ b/xen/arch/x86/time.c
@@ -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;