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Removing support for 32bit KVM/arm host

RFC PATCH Superseded Marc Zyngier 15 participants 30 messages Feb 10, 2020 – Feb 25, 2020

Subsystems (7)

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Marc Zyngier

author maintainer
#0 lore raw

cover Removing support for 32bit KVM/arm host

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

 Documentation/virt/kvm/arm/hyp-abi.txt |    5 +
 arch/arm/Kconfig                       |    2 -
 arch/arm/Makefile                      |    1 -
 arch/arm/configs/axm55xx_defconfig     |    2 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/arch_gicv3.h      |  114 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h         |  239 ----
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h         |   77 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h      |   36 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h     |  372 ------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h        |  459 --------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h         |  127 ---
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h         |  435 -------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h         |   14 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable-3level.h  |   20 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable.h         |    9 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/sections.h        |    6 +-
 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h  |   75 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h            |   12 -
 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h        |  314 -----
 arch/arm/kernel/asm-offsets.c          |   11 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux-xip.lds.S      |    8 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S          |    8 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.h          |   10 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig                   |   59 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile                  |   43 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c                  | 1455 ------------------------
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h                  |  130 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c              |   39 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c               |   42 -
 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c                 |  166 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c                   |  387 -------
 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c             |  175 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile              |   34 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c           |   70 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c             |   72 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S               |  121 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S           |  295 -----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c            |   22 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c              |  242 ----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c                 |   68 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S                 |   57 -
 arch/arm/kvm/init.S                    |  157 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S              |   36 -
 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h                     |   16 -
 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c          |   27 -
 arch/arm/mach-exynos/Kconfig           |    2 +-
 arch/arm/mm/mmu.c                      |   26 -
 49 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6262 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/init.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
author maintainer
#1 lore raw

RFC PATCH 1/5 arm: Unplug KVM from the build system

As we're about to drop KVM/arm on the floor, carefully unplug it from the build system.

---
 arch/arm/Kconfig             | 2 --
 arch/arm/Makefile            | 1 -
 arch/arm/mach-exynos/Kconfig | 2 +-
 3 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 4 deletions(-)
arch/arm/Kconfig +0 -2
index 97864aabc2a6..a07bec7f4d8d 100644
@@ -2091,5 +2091,3 @@ source "drivers/firmware/Kconfig"
 if CRYPTO
 source "arch/arm/crypto/Kconfig"
 endif
-
-source "arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig"
arch/arm/Makefile +0 -1
index db857d07114f..b4ce96f55ddd 100644
@@ -278,7 +278,6 @@ core-$(CONFIG_FPE_NWFPE)	+= arch/arm/nwfpe/
 core-$(CONFIG_FPE_FASTFPE)	+= $(patsubst $(srctree)/%,%,$(wildcard $(srctree)/arch/arm/fastfpe/))
 core-$(CONFIG_VFP)		+= arch/arm/vfp/
 core-$(CONFIG_XEN)		+= arch/arm/xen/
-core-$(CONFIG_KVM_ARM_HOST) 	+= arch/arm/kvm/
 core-$(CONFIG_VDSO)		+= arch/arm/vdso/
 
 # If we have a machine-specific directory, then include it in the build.
arch/arm/mach-exynos/Kconfig +1 -1
index cbbe03e96de8..76838255b5fa 100644
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ menuconfig ARCH_EXYNOS
 	select EXYNOS_SROM
 	select EXYNOS_PM_DOMAINS if PM_GENERIC_DOMAINS
 	select GPIOLIB
-	select HAVE_ARM_ARCH_TIMER if ARCH_EXYNOS5 && VIRTUALIZATION
+	select HAVE_ARM_ARCH_TIMER if ARCH_EXYNOS5
 	select HAVE_ARM_SCU if SMP
 	select HAVE_S3C2410_I2C if I2C
 	select HAVE_S3C2410_WATCHDOG if WATCHDOG
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
author maintainer
#2 lore raw

RFC PATCH 2/5 arm: Remove KVM from config files

In reply to Marc Zyngier

Only one platform is building KVM by default. How crazy! Remove it whilst nobody is watching.

---
 arch/arm/configs/axm55xx_defconfig | 2 --
 1 file changed, 2 deletions(-)
arch/arm/configs/axm55xx_defconfig +0 -2
index f53634af014b..ce10bc2af320 100644
@@ -237,5 +237,3 @@ CONFIG_CRYPTO_GCM=y
 CONFIG_CRYPTO_XCBC=y
 CONFIG_CRYPTO_SHA256=y
 # CONFIG_CRYPTO_ANSI_CPRNG is not set
-CONFIG_VIRTUALIZATION=y
-CONFIG_KVM=y
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
author maintainer
#3 lore raw

RFC PATCH 3/5 arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support

In reply to Marc Zyngier

That's it. Remove all references to KVM itself, and document that although it is no more, the ABI between SVC and HYP still exists.

---
 Documentation/virt/kvm/arm/hyp-abi.txt |    5 +
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h         |  239 ----
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h         |   77 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h      |   36 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h     |  372 ------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h        |  459 --------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h         |  127 ---
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h         |  435 -------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h         |   14 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h  |   75 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h            |    5 -
 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h        |  314 -----
 arch/arm/kernel/asm-offsets.c          |   11 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig                   |   59 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile                  |   43 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c                  | 1455 ------------------------
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h                  |  130 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c              |   39 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c               |   42 -
 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c                 |  166 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c                   |  387 -------
 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c             |  175 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile              |   34 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c           |   70 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c             |   72 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S               |  121 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S           |  295 -----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c            |   22 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c              |  242 ----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c                 |   68 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S                 |   57 -
 arch/arm/kvm/init.S                    |  157 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S              |   36 -
 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h                     |   16 -
 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c          |   27 -
 37 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 6049 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/init.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c
Documentation/virt/kvm/arm/hyp-abi.txt +5 -0
index a20a0bee268d..26a3be475000 100644
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ hypervisor when running as a guest (under Xen, KVM or any other
 hypervisor), or any hypervisor-specific interaction when the kernel is
 used as a host.
 
+Note: KVM/arm has been removed from the kernel. The API described
+here is still valid though, as it allows the kernel to kexec when
+booted at HYP. It can also be used by a hypervisor other than KVM
+if necessary.
+
 On arm and arm64 (without VHE), the kernel doesn't run in hypervisor
 mode, but still needs to interact with it, allowing a built-in
 hypervisor to be either installed or torn down.
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 9c04bd810d07..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index f615830f9f57..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index a23826117dd6..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 3944305e81df..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index c3314b286a61..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 3c1b55ecc578..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d84d50bf9ba..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index e9577292dfe4..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index aaceec7855ec..000000000000
arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h +0 -5
index 17c26ccd126d..6cd4e33418e9 100644
@@ -67,11 +67,6 @@ static inline bool is_kernel_in_hyp_mode(void)
 	return false;
 }
 
-static inline bool has_vhe(void)
-{
-	return false;
-}
-
 /* The section containing the hypervisor idmap text */
 extern char __hyp_idmap_text_start[];
 extern char __hyp_idmap_text_end[];
arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 03cd7c19a683..000000000000
arch/arm/kernel/asm-offsets.c +0 -11
index c773b829ee8e..c036a4a2f8e2 100644
@@ -11,9 +11,6 @@
 #include <linux/sched.h>
 #include <linux/mm.h>
 #include <linux/dma-mapping.h>
-#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_ARM_HOST
-#include <linux/kvm_host.h>
-#endif
 #include <asm/cacheflush.h>
 #include <asm/glue-df.h>
 #include <asm/glue-pf.h>
@@ -167,14 +164,6 @@ int main(void)
   DEFINE(CACHE_WRITEBACK_ORDER, __CACHE_WRITEBACK_ORDER);
   DEFINE(CACHE_WRITEBACK_GRANULE, __CACHE_WRITEBACK_GRANULE);
   BLANK();
-#ifdef CONFIG_KVM_ARM_HOST
-  DEFINE(VCPU_GUEST_CTXT,	offsetof(struct kvm_vcpu, arch.ctxt));
-  DEFINE(VCPU_HOST_CTXT,	offsetof(struct kvm_vcpu, arch.host_cpu_context));
-  DEFINE(CPU_CTXT_VFP,		offsetof(struct kvm_cpu_context, vfp));
-  DEFINE(CPU_CTXT_GP_REGS,	offsetof(struct kvm_cpu_context, gp_regs));
-  DEFINE(GP_REGS_USR,		offsetof(struct kvm_regs, usr_regs));
-#endif
-  BLANK();
 #ifdef CONFIG_VDSO
   DEFINE(VDSO_DATA_SIZE,	sizeof(union vdso_data_store));
 #endif
arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index f591026347a5..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/Makefile deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index e442d82821df..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 07745ee022a1..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 637065b13012..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 36bf15421ae8..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 40f643e1e05c..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 29bb852140c5..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/guest.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f7ae0d8690f..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index e58a89d2f13f..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index ba88b1eca93c..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index c4632ed9e819..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index e6923306f698..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 4bd1f6a74180..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index fe3d7811a908..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 5dfbea5adf65..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 1efeef3fd0ee..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 848f27bbad9d..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 675a52348d8d..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/init.S deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 33e34b6d24b2..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 064f4f118ca7..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/irq.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d257de42c10..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/reset.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index eb4174f6ebbd..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/trace.h deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index 69a9d62a0ac6..000000000000
arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c deleted +0 -0
deleted file mode 100644
index ed3b2e4759ce..000000000000
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
author maintainer
#4 lore raw

RFC PATCH 4/5 arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support

In reply to Marc Zyngier

Remove all traces of Stage-2 and HYP page table support.

---
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable-3level.h | 20 --------------------
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable.h        |  9 ---------
 arch/arm/include/asm/sections.h       |  6 +-----
 arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h           |  7 -------
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux-xip.lds.S     |  8 --------
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S         |  8 --------
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.h         | 10 ----------
 arch/arm/mm/mmu.c                     | 26 --------------------------
 8 files changed, 1 insertion(+), 93 deletions(-)
arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable-3level.h +0 -20
index ad55ab068dbf..36805f94939e 100644
@@ -104,26 +104,6 @@
  */
 #define L_PGD_SWAPPER		(_AT(pgdval_t, 1) << 55)	/* swapper_pg_dir entry */
 
-/*
- * 2nd stage PTE definitions for LPAE.
- */
-#define L_PTE_S2_MT_UNCACHED		(_AT(pteval_t, 0x0) << 2) /* strongly ordered */
-#define L_PTE_S2_MT_WRITETHROUGH	(_AT(pteval_t, 0xa) << 2) /* normal inner write-through */
-#define L_PTE_S2_MT_WRITEBACK		(_AT(pteval_t, 0xf) << 2) /* normal inner write-back */
-#define L_PTE_S2_MT_DEV_SHARED		(_AT(pteval_t, 0x1) << 2) /* device */
-#define L_PTE_S2_MT_MASK		(_AT(pteval_t, 0xf) << 2)
-
-#define L_PTE_S2_RDONLY			(_AT(pteval_t, 1) << 6)   /* HAP[1]   */
-#define L_PTE_S2_RDWR			(_AT(pteval_t, 3) << 6)   /* HAP[2:1] */
-
-#define L_PMD_S2_RDONLY			(_AT(pmdval_t, 1) << 6)   /* HAP[1]   */
-#define L_PMD_S2_RDWR			(_AT(pmdval_t, 3) << 6)   /* HAP[2:1] */
-
-/*
- * Hyp-mode PL2 PTE definitions for LPAE.
- */
-#define L_PTE_HYP		L_PTE_USER
-
 #ifndef __ASSEMBLY__
 
 #define pud_none(pud)		(!pud_val(pud))
arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable.h +0 -9
index eabcb48a7840..0483cf413315 100644
@@ -80,9 +80,6 @@ extern void __pgd_error(const char *file, int line, pgd_t);
 
 extern pgprot_t		pgprot_user;
 extern pgprot_t		pgprot_kernel;
-extern pgprot_t		pgprot_hyp_device;
-extern pgprot_t		pgprot_s2;
-extern pgprot_t		pgprot_s2_device;
 
 #define _MOD_PROT(p, b)	__pgprot(pgprot_val(p) | (b))
 
@@ -95,12 +92,6 @@ extern pgprot_t		pgprot_s2_device;
 #define PAGE_READONLY_EXEC	_MOD_PROT(pgprot_user, L_PTE_USER | L_PTE_RDONLY)
 #define PAGE_KERNEL		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_kernel, L_PTE_XN)
 #define PAGE_KERNEL_EXEC	pgprot_kernel
-#define PAGE_HYP		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_kernel, L_PTE_HYP | L_PTE_XN)
-#define PAGE_HYP_EXEC		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_kernel, L_PTE_HYP | L_PTE_RDONLY)
-#define PAGE_HYP_RO		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_kernel, L_PTE_HYP | L_PTE_RDONLY | L_PTE_XN)
-#define PAGE_HYP_DEVICE		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_hyp_device, L_PTE_HYP)
-#define PAGE_S2			_MOD_PROT(pgprot_s2, L_PTE_S2_RDONLY | L_PTE_XN)
-#define PAGE_S2_DEVICE		_MOD_PROT(pgprot_s2_device, L_PTE_S2_RDONLY | L_PTE_XN)
 
 #define __PAGE_NONE		__pgprot(_L_PTE_DEFAULT | L_PTE_RDONLY | L_PTE_XN | L_PTE_NONE)
 #define __PAGE_SHARED		__pgprot(_L_PTE_DEFAULT | L_PTE_USER | L_PTE_XN)
arch/arm/include/asm/sections.h +1 -5
index 4ceb4f757d4d..700b8bcdf9bd 100644
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ extern char __idmap_text_start[];
 extern char __idmap_text_end[];
 extern char __entry_text_start[];
 extern char __entry_text_end[];
-extern char __hyp_idmap_text_start[];
-extern char __hyp_idmap_text_end[];
 
 static inline bool in_entry_text(unsigned long addr)
 {
@@ -22,9 +20,7 @@ static inline bool in_entry_text(unsigned long addr)
 static inline bool in_idmap_text(unsigned long addr)
 {
 	void *a = (void *)addr;
-	return memory_contains(__idmap_text_start, __idmap_text_end, a, 1) ||
-	       memory_contains(__hyp_idmap_text_start, __hyp_idmap_text_end,
-			       a, 1);
+	return memory_contains(__idmap_text_start, __idmap_text_end, a, 1);
 }
 
 #endif	/* _ASM_ARM_SECTIONS_H */
arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h +0 -7
index 6cd4e33418e9..47600a5894b1 100644
@@ -67,13 +67,6 @@ static inline bool is_kernel_in_hyp_mode(void)
 	return false;
 }
 
-/* The section containing the hypervisor idmap text */
-extern char __hyp_idmap_text_start[];
-extern char __hyp_idmap_text_end[];
-
-/* The section containing the hypervisor text */
-extern char __hyp_text_start[];
-extern char __hyp_text_end[];
 #endif
 
 #else
arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux-xip.lds.S +0 -8
index 21b8b271c80d..6d2be994ae58 100644
@@ -162,14 +162,6 @@ SECTIONS
 ASSERT((__proc_info_end - __proc_info_begin), "missing CPU support")
 ASSERT((__arch_info_end - __arch_info_begin), "no machine record defined")
 
-/*
- * The HYP init code can't be more than a page long,
- * and should not cross a page boundary.
- * The above comment applies as well.
- */
-ASSERT(__hyp_idmap_text_end - (__hyp_idmap_text_start & PAGE_MASK) <= PAGE_SIZE,
-	"HYP init code too big or misaligned")
-
 #ifdef CONFIG_XIP_DEFLATED_DATA
 /*
  * The .bss is used as a stack area for __inflate_kernel_data() whose stack
arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S +0 -8
index 319ccb10846a..88a720da443b 100644
@@ -170,12 +170,4 @@ __start_rodata_section_aligned = ALIGN(__start_rodata, 1 << SECTION_SHIFT);
 ASSERT((__proc_info_end - __proc_info_begin), "missing CPU support")
 ASSERT((__arch_info_end - __arch_info_begin), "no machine record defined")
 
-/*
- * The HYP init code can't be more than a page long,
- * and should not cross a page boundary.
- * The above comment applies as well.
- */
-ASSERT(__hyp_idmap_text_end - (__hyp_idmap_text_start & PAGE_MASK) <= PAGE_SIZE,
-	"HYP init code too big or misaligned")
-
 #endif /* CONFIG_XIP_KERNEL */
arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.h +0 -10
index 8247bc15addc..381a8e105fa5 100644
@@ -31,20 +31,11 @@
 		*(.proc.info.init)					\
 		__proc_info_end = .;
 
-#define HYPERVISOR_TEXT							\
-		__hyp_text_start = .;					\
-		*(.hyp.text)						\
-		__hyp_text_end = .;
-
 #define IDMAP_TEXT							\
 		ALIGN_FUNCTION();					\
 		__idmap_text_start = .;					\
 		*(.idmap.text)						\
 		__idmap_text_end = .;					\
-		. = ALIGN(PAGE_SIZE);					\
-		__hyp_idmap_text_start = .;				\
-		*(.hyp.idmap.text)					\
-		__hyp_idmap_text_end = .;
 
 #define ARM_DISCARD							\
 		*(.ARM.exidx.exit.text)					\
@@ -72,7 +63,6 @@
 		SCHED_TEXT						\
 		CPUIDLE_TEXT						\
 		LOCK_TEXT						\
-		HYPERVISOR_TEXT						\
 		KPROBES_TEXT						\
 		*(.gnu.warning)						\
 		*(.glue_7)						\
arch/arm/mm/mmu.c +0 -26
index 5d0d0f86e790..69a337df619f 100644
@@ -63,9 +63,6 @@ static unsigned int cachepolicy __initdata = CPOLICY_WRITEBACK;
 static unsigned int ecc_mask __initdata = 0;
 pgprot_t pgprot_user;
 pgprot_t pgprot_kernel;
-pgprot_t pgprot_hyp_device;
-pgprot_t pgprot_s2;
-pgprot_t pgprot_s2_device;
 
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(pgprot_user);
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(pgprot_kernel);
@@ -75,15 +72,8 @@ struct cachepolicy {
 	unsigned int	cr_mask;
 	pmdval_t	pmd;
 	pteval_t	pte;
-	pteval_t	pte_s2;
 };
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_ARM_LPAE
-#define s2_policy(policy)	policy
-#else
-#define s2_policy(policy)	0
-#endif
-
 unsigned long kimage_voffset __ro_after_init;
 
 static struct cachepolicy cache_policies[] __initdata = {
@@ -92,31 +82,26 @@ static struct cachepolicy cache_policies[] __initdata = {
 		.cr_mask	= CR_W|CR_C,
 		.pmd		= PMD_SECT_UNCACHED,
 		.pte		= L_PTE_MT_UNCACHED,
-		.pte_s2		= s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_UNCACHED),
 	}, {
 		.policy		= "buffered",
 		.cr_mask	= CR_C,
 		.pmd		= PMD_SECT_BUFFERED,
 		.pte		= L_PTE_MT_BUFFERABLE,
-		.pte_s2		= s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_UNCACHED),
 	}, {
 		.policy		= "writethrough",
 		.cr_mask	= 0,
 		.pmd		= PMD_SECT_WT,
 		.pte		= L_PTE_MT_WRITETHROUGH,
-		.pte_s2		= s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_WRITETHROUGH),
 	}, {
 		.policy		= "writeback",
 		.cr_mask	= 0,
 		.pmd		= PMD_SECT_WB,
 		.pte		= L_PTE_MT_WRITEBACK,
-		.pte_s2		= s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_WRITEBACK),
 	}, {
 		.policy		= "writealloc",
 		.cr_mask	= 0,
 		.pmd		= PMD_SECT_WBWA,
 		.pte		= L_PTE_MT_WRITEALLOC,
-		.pte_s2		= s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_WRITEBACK),
 	}
 };
 
@@ -246,9 +231,6 @@ static struct mem_type mem_types[] __ro_after_init = {
 	[MT_DEVICE] = {		  /* Strongly ordered / ARMv6 shared device */
 		.prot_pte	= PROT_PTE_DEVICE | L_PTE_MT_DEV_SHARED |
 				  L_PTE_SHARED,
-		.prot_pte_s2	= s2_policy(PROT_PTE_S2_DEVICE) |
-				  s2_policy(L_PTE_S2_MT_DEV_SHARED) |
-				  L_PTE_SHARED,
 		.prot_l1	= PMD_TYPE_TABLE,
 		.prot_sect	= PROT_SECT_DEVICE | PMD_SECT_S,
 		.domain		= DOMAIN_IO,
@@ -434,7 +416,6 @@ static void __init build_mem_type_table(void)
 	struct cachepolicy *cp;
 	unsigned int cr = get_cr();
 	pteval_t user_pgprot, kern_pgprot, vecs_pgprot;
-	pteval_t hyp_device_pgprot, s2_pgprot, s2_device_pgprot;
 	int cpu_arch = cpu_architecture();
 	int i;
 
@@ -558,9 +539,6 @@ static void __init build_mem_type_table(void)
 	 */
 	cp = &cache_policies[cachepolicy];
 	vecs_pgprot = kern_pgprot = user_pgprot = cp->pte;
-	s2_pgprot = cp->pte_s2;
-	hyp_device_pgprot = mem_types[MT_DEVICE].prot_pte;
-	s2_device_pgprot = mem_types[MT_DEVICE].prot_pte_s2;
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_ARM_LPAE
 	/*
@@ -604,7 +582,6 @@ static void __init build_mem_type_table(void)
 			user_pgprot |= L_PTE_SHARED;
 			kern_pgprot |= L_PTE_SHARED;
 			vecs_pgprot |= L_PTE_SHARED;
-			s2_pgprot |= L_PTE_SHARED;
 			mem_types[MT_DEVICE_WC].prot_sect |= PMD_SECT_S;
 			mem_types[MT_DEVICE_WC].prot_pte |= L_PTE_SHARED;
 			mem_types[MT_DEVICE_CACHED].prot_sect |= PMD_SECT_S;
@@ -666,9 +643,6 @@ static void __init build_mem_type_table(void)
 	pgprot_user   = __pgprot(L_PTE_PRESENT | L_PTE_YOUNG | user_pgprot);
 	pgprot_kernel = __pgprot(L_PTE_PRESENT | L_PTE_YOUNG |
 				 L_PTE_DIRTY | kern_pgprot);
-	pgprot_s2  = __pgprot(L_PTE_PRESENT | L_PTE_YOUNG | s2_pgprot);
-	pgprot_s2_device  = __pgprot(s2_device_pgprot);
-	pgprot_hyp_device  = __pgprot(hyp_device_pgprot);
 
 	mem_types[MT_LOW_VECTORS].prot_l1 |= ecc_mask;
 	mem_types[MT_HIGH_VECTORS].prot_l1 |= ecc_mask;
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
author maintainer
#5 lore raw

RFC PATCH 5/5 arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

In reply to Marc Zyngier

We used to use a set of macros to provide support of vgic-v3 to 32bit without duplicating everything. We don't need it anymore, so drop it.

---
 arch/arm/include/asm/arch_gicv3.h | 114 ------------------------------
 1 file changed, 114 deletions(-)
arch/arm/include/asm/arch_gicv3.h +0 -114
index c815477b4303..413abfb42989 100644
@@ -38,71 +38,6 @@
 #define ICC_AP1R2			__ICC_AP1Rx(2)
 #define ICC_AP1R3			__ICC_AP1Rx(3)
 
-#define ICC_HSRE			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c9, 5)
-
-#define ICH_VSEIR			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c9, 4)
-#define ICH_HCR				__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 0)
-#define ICH_VTR				__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 1)
-#define ICH_MISR			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 2)
-#define ICH_EISR			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 3)
-#define ICH_ELRSR			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 5)
-#define ICH_VMCR			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c11, 7)
-
-#define __LR0(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c12, x)
-#define __LR8(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c13, x)
-
-#define ICH_LR0				__LR0(0)
-#define ICH_LR1				__LR0(1)
-#define ICH_LR2				__LR0(2)
-#define ICH_LR3				__LR0(3)
-#define ICH_LR4				__LR0(4)
-#define ICH_LR5				__LR0(5)
-#define ICH_LR6				__LR0(6)
-#define ICH_LR7				__LR0(7)
-#define ICH_LR8				__LR8(0)
-#define ICH_LR9				__LR8(1)
-#define ICH_LR10			__LR8(2)
-#define ICH_LR11			__LR8(3)
-#define ICH_LR12			__LR8(4)
-#define ICH_LR13			__LR8(5)
-#define ICH_LR14			__LR8(6)
-#define ICH_LR15			__LR8(7)
-
-/* LR top half */
-#define __LRC0(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c14, x)
-#define __LRC8(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c15, x)
-
-#define ICH_LRC0			__LRC0(0)
-#define ICH_LRC1			__LRC0(1)
-#define ICH_LRC2			__LRC0(2)
-#define ICH_LRC3			__LRC0(3)
-#define ICH_LRC4			__LRC0(4)
-#define ICH_LRC5			__LRC0(5)
-#define ICH_LRC6			__LRC0(6)
-#define ICH_LRC7			__LRC0(7)
-#define ICH_LRC8			__LRC8(0)
-#define ICH_LRC9			__LRC8(1)
-#define ICH_LRC10			__LRC8(2)
-#define ICH_LRC11			__LRC8(3)
-#define ICH_LRC12			__LRC8(4)
-#define ICH_LRC13			__LRC8(5)
-#define ICH_LRC14			__LRC8(6)
-#define ICH_LRC15			__LRC8(7)
-
-#define __ICH_AP0Rx(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c8, x)
-#define ICH_AP0R0			__ICH_AP0Rx(0)
-#define ICH_AP0R1			__ICH_AP0Rx(1)
-#define ICH_AP0R2			__ICH_AP0Rx(2)
-#define ICH_AP0R3			__ICH_AP0Rx(3)
-
-#define __ICH_AP1Rx(x)			__ACCESS_CP15(c12, 4, c9, x)
-#define ICH_AP1R0			__ICH_AP1Rx(0)
-#define ICH_AP1R1			__ICH_AP1Rx(1)
-#define ICH_AP1R2			__ICH_AP1Rx(2)
-#define ICH_AP1R3			__ICH_AP1Rx(3)
-
-/* A32-to-A64 mappings used by VGIC save/restore */
-
 #define CPUIF_MAP(a32, a64)			\
 static inline void write_ ## a64(u32 val)	\
 {						\
@@ -113,21 +48,6 @@ static inline u32 read_ ## a64(void)		\
 	return read_sysreg(a32); 		\
 }						\
 
-#define CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(a32lo, a32hi, a64)	\
-static inline void write_ ## a64(u64 val)	\
-{						\
-	write_sysreg(lower_32_bits(val), a32lo);\
-	write_sysreg(upper_32_bits(val), a32hi);\
-}						\
-static inline u64 read_ ## a64(void)		\
-{						\
-	u64 val = read_sysreg(a32lo);		\
-						\
-	val |=	(u64)read_sysreg(a32hi) << 32;	\
-						\
-	return val; 				\
-}
-
 CPUIF_MAP(ICC_PMR, ICC_PMR_EL1)
 CPUIF_MAP(ICC_AP0R0, ICC_AP0R0_EL1)
 CPUIF_MAP(ICC_AP0R1, ICC_AP0R1_EL1)
@@ -138,40 +58,6 @@ CPUIF_MAP(ICC_AP1R1, ICC_AP1R1_EL1)
 CPUIF_MAP(ICC_AP1R2, ICC_AP1R2_EL1)
 CPUIF_MAP(ICC_AP1R3, ICC_AP1R3_EL1)
 
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_HCR, ICH_HCR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_VTR, ICH_VTR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_MISR, ICH_MISR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_EISR, ICH_EISR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_ELRSR, ICH_ELRSR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_VMCR, ICH_VMCR_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP0R3, ICH_AP0R3_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP0R2, ICH_AP0R2_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP0R1, ICH_AP0R1_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP0R0, ICH_AP0R0_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP1R3, ICH_AP1R3_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP1R2, ICH_AP1R2_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP1R1, ICH_AP1R1_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICH_AP1R0, ICH_AP1R0_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICC_HSRE, ICC_SRE_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP(ICC_SRE, ICC_SRE_EL1)
-
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR15, ICH_LRC15, ICH_LR15_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR14, ICH_LRC14, ICH_LR14_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR13, ICH_LRC13, ICH_LR13_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR12, ICH_LRC12, ICH_LR12_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR11, ICH_LRC11, ICH_LR11_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR10, ICH_LRC10, ICH_LR10_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR9, ICH_LRC9, ICH_LR9_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR8, ICH_LRC8, ICH_LR8_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR7, ICH_LRC7, ICH_LR7_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR6, ICH_LRC6, ICH_LR6_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR5, ICH_LRC5, ICH_LR5_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR4, ICH_LRC4, ICH_LR4_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR3, ICH_LRC3, ICH_LR3_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR2, ICH_LRC2, ICH_LR2_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR1, ICH_LRC1, ICH_LR1_EL2)
-CPUIF_MAP_LO_HI(ICH_LR0, ICH_LRC0, ICH_LR0_EL2)
-
 #define read_gicreg(r)                 read_##r()
 #define write_gicreg(v, r)             write_##r(v)
 
Signature · 1 line
2.20.1
Acked-by on the v1 series
#6 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 25 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Quoted 6 lines

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

Since I'm generally happy to drop legacy code that has no users, with the "if there are any significant users that speak up, I'll revoke my support" caveat:

-Olof

Acked-by
#7 lore raw
Quoted 18 lines · Olof Johansson
Quoted 17 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 3 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

I think this makes a lot of sense: we are seeing fewer new 32-bit systems that have enough RAM to be a usable virtualization host, as most new boards with more than 1GB of RAM typically pick 64-bit SoCs, and on less than 1GB it gets awfully tight to do anything useful.

Quoted 5 lines

Since I'm generally happy to drop legacy code that has no users, with the "if there are any significant users that speak up, I'll revoke my support" caveat:

Same here

Acked-by on the v1 series
#8 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 8 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)

I tend to use it to test that it still works, but that's it.

Quoted 1 line

- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

To echo this last point, we're currently looking at the possibility of using KVM to isolate VMs from the host in Android. The scope of the changes we think we'll have to make would mean effectively duplicating the existing code for 32-bit or implementing a whole load of unused and untested functionality to keep the current structure. Neither of these options are particularly satisfactory from a maintainance point of view, so removing the 32-bit code if it doesn't have any significant use would be welcomed:

Will

#9 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 10 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 5 lines

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

It is only very recently that 64-bit ARM has really started to filter down to people like me, and people like me have setup systems which use 32-bit VMs under 64-bit hosts (about a year ago now.) In fact, everything that you presently see for the *.armlinux.org.uk domain now runs inside several 32-bit ARM VMs under a 64-bit ARM host.

It isn't perfect; I've found issues with qemu and libvirt. One example is the rather sub-standard RTC implementation, which means if you use libvirt's managesave across a host reboot, the guests idea of time-of-day freezes while it's asleep, and resumes when the guest is reloaded - resulting in the guests time-of-day being rather wrong, sometimes to the point that NTP gives up. That becomes very painful if you use kerberos authentication, where time-of-day is important.

So, just because you haven't received any bug reports doesn't mean there aren't any users; there certainly are, there are problems, but the problems are in places other than the kernel.

Signature · 3 lines
RMK's Patch system: https://www.armlinux.org.uk/developer/patches/
FTTC broadband for 0.8mile line in suburbia: sync at 12.1Mbps down 622kbps up
According to speedtest.net: 11.9Mbps down 500kbps up
#10 lore raw
Quoted 31 lines · Russell King - ARM Linux admin
Quoted 10 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 5 lines

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

It is only very recently that 64-bit ARM has really started to filter down to people like me, and people like me have setup systems which use 32-bit VMs under 64-bit hosts (about a year ago now.) In fact, everything that you presently see for the *.armlinux.org.uk domain now runs inside several 32-bit ARM VMs under a 64-bit ARM host.

It isn't perfect; I've found issues with qemu and libvirt. One example is the rather sub-standard RTC implementation, which means if you use libvirt's managesave across a host reboot, the guests idea of time-of-day freezes while it's asleep, and resumes when the guest is reloaded - resulting in the guests time-of-day being rather wrong, sometimes to the point that NTP gives up. That becomes very painful if you use kerberos authentication, where time-of-day is important.

Quoted 3 lines

So, just because you haven't received any bug reports doesn't mean there aren't any users; there certainly are, there are problems, but the problems are in places other than the kernel.

... argh, I see, you're not removing 32-bit guest on 64-bit. Ignore the above then.

Signature · 3 lines
RMK's Patch system: https://www.armlinux.org.uk/developer/patches/
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According to speedtest.net: 11.9Mbps down 500kbps up
Acked-by on the v1 series
#11 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 24 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Quoted 6 lines

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

Acked-by on the v1 series
#12 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 24 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Quoted 6 lines

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

FWIW:

Acked-by on the v1 series
#13 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 2 lines · Marc Zyngier

it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

Wittgenstein wrote that sometimes an intellectual exercise work like such that you have to throw away the ladder after you climbed it. It often happens in engineering.

It also echoes Fred Brooks Mythical Man-Month:
"In most projects, the first system built is barely usable....Hence plan to throw one away; you will, anyhow."

Quoted 2 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes.

That sounds more useful.

I won't miss it.

Yours,
Linus Walleij

#14 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 10 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 4 lines

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

Not entirely true:
https://lore.kernel.org/m/[email protected]

But, after that was fixed, it actually was perfect :-D
https://blog.printk.io/2016/09/kvm-with-kvmtool-on-armv7/

That said, I never used it in a real-world application, so from my side removing it is fine.

--
Stefan

Quoted 101 lines

But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

 Documentation/virt/kvm/arm/hyp-abi.txt |    5 +
 arch/arm/Kconfig                       |    2 -
 arch/arm/Makefile                      |    1 -
 arch/arm/configs/axm55xx_defconfig     |    2 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/arch_gicv3.h      |  114 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h         |  239 ----
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h         |   77 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h      |   36 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h     |  372 ------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h        |  459 --------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h         |  127 ---
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h         |  435 -------
 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h         |   14 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable-3level.h  |   20 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable.h         |    9 -
 arch/arm/include/asm/sections.h        |    6 +-
 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h  |   75 --
 arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h            |   12 -
 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h        |  314 -----
 arch/arm/kernel/asm-offsets.c          |   11 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux-xip.lds.S      |    8 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S          |    8 -
 arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.h          |   10 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig                   |   59 -
 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile                  |   43 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c                  | 1455 ------------------------
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h                  |  130 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c              |   39 -
 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c               |   42 -
 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c                 |  166 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c                   |  387 -------
 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c             |  175 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile              |   34 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c           |   70 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c             |   72 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S               |  121 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S           |  295 -----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c            |   22 -
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c              |  242 ----
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c                 |   68 --
 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S                 |   57 -
 arch/arm/kvm/init.S                    |  157 ---
 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S              |   36 -
 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h                     |   16 -
 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h                   |   86 --
 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c          |   27 -
 arch/arm/mach-exynos/Kconfig           |    2 +-
 arch/arm/mm/mmu.c                      |   26 -
 49 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6262 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/init.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h
 delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c
author maintainer
#15 lore raw
Quoted 11 lines · Stefan Agner
Quoted 10 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

Not entirely true:
https://lore.kernel.org/m/[email protected]

And I thank you for that. This bug was actually hitting both arm and arm64, and triggered by a bogus DT (that KVM should have handled in a nicer way). What I was trying to say is that nobody reports bugs that are specific to 32bit KVM/arm.

Quoted 2 lines

But, after that was fixed, it actually was perfect :-D
https://blog.printk.io/2016/09/kvm-with-kvmtool-on-armv7/

Hey, neat! not sure how useful, but neat nonetheless... ;-)

Quoted 2 lines

That said, I never used it in a real-world application, so from my side removing it is fine.

Thanks,

        M.
Signature · 1 line
Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny...
Acked-by on the v1 series
#16 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 16 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

Quoted 7 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

#17 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 17 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

Quoted 7 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Just one more thought before it's gone: is there any shared code (header files?) that is used by the jailhouse hypervisor?

If there is, are there any plans to merge that into the mainline kernel for arm32 in the near future?

I'm guessing the answer to at least one of those questions is 'no', so we don't need to worry about it, but it seems better to ask.

Arnd

#18 lore raw
Quoted 26 lines · Arnd Bergmann
Quoted 17 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

Quoted 7 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Quoted 8 lines

Just one more thought before it's gone: is there any shared code (header files?) that is used by the jailhouse hypervisor?

If there is, are there any plans to merge that into the mainline kernel for arm32 in the near future?

I'm guessing the answer to at least one of those questions is 'no', so we don't need to worry about it, but it seems better to ask.

Good that you mention it: There is one thing we share on ARM (and ARM64), and that is the hypervisor enabling stub, to install our own vectors. If that was to be removed as well, we would have to patch it back downstream. So far, we only carry few EXPORT_SYMBOL patches for essential enabling.

That said, I was also starting to think about how long we will continue to support Jailhouse on 32-bit ARM. We currently have no supported SoC there that comes with an SMMU, and I doubt to see one still showing up. So, Jailhouse on ARM is really just a testing/demo case, maybe useful (but I didn't get concrete feedback) for cleaner collaborative AMP for real-time purposes, without security concerns. I assume 32-bit ARM will never be part of what would be proposed of Jailhouse for upstream.

Jan

Signature · 6 lines
Siemens AG, Corporate Technology, CT RDA IOT SES-DE
Corporate Competence Center Embedded Linux
_______________________________________________
kvmarm mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.cs.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/kvmarm
author maintainer
#19 lore raw
Quoted 33 lines · Jan Kiszka
Quoted 32 lines · Arnd Bergmann
Quoted 17 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

Quoted 7 lines

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Just one more thought before it's gone: is there any shared code (header files?) that is used by the jailhouse hypervisor?

If there is, are there any plans to merge that into the mainline kernel for arm32 in the near future?

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 2 lines

I'm guessing the answer to at least one of those questions is 'no', so we don't need to worry about it, but it seems better to ask.

Good that you mention it: There is one thing we share on ARM (and ARM64), and that is the hypervisor enabling stub, to install our own vectors. If that was to be removed as well, we would have to patch it back downstream. So far, we only carry few EXPORT_SYMBOL patches for essential enabling.

I actually have a few extra patches on top of the series, one of them actually removing the ability to register new vectors (mostly because I don't like leaving unused stuff behind), see [1]. I'll post an update so that we can discuss whether we want this particular to stay or not.

Quoted 8 lines

That said, I was also starting to think about how long we will continue to support Jailhouse on 32-bit ARM. We currently have no supported SoC there that comes with an SMMU, and I doubt to see one still showing up. So, Jailhouse on ARM is really just a testing/demo case, maybe useful (but I didn't get concrete feedback) for cleaner collaborative AMP for real-time purposes, without security concerns. I assume 32-bit ARM will never be part of what would be proposed of Jailhouse for upstream.

I guess we all come to the same conclusion...

        M.

[1] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/maz/arm-platforms.git/commit/?h=kvm-arm/goodbye&id=0943dd119105b65197adffda52c402cce28da56d

Signature · 1 line
Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny...
#20 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier

Hi Marc,

Quoted 9 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Quoted 97 lines

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree. One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect. But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

Marc Zyngier (5):
arm: Unplug KVM from the build system
arm: Remove KVM from config files
arm: Remove 32bit KVM host support
arm: Remove HYP/Stage-2 page-table support
arm: Remove GICv3 vgic compatibility macros

  Documentation/virt/kvm/arm/hyp-abi.txt |    5 +
  arch/arm/Kconfig                       |    2 -
  arch/arm/Makefile                      |    1 -
  arch/arm/configs/axm55xx_defconfig     |    2 -
  arch/arm/include/asm/arch_gicv3.h      |  114 --
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h         |  239 ----
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h         |   77 --
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h      |   36 -
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h     |  372 ------
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h        |  459 --------
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h         |  127 ---
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h         |  435 -------
  arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h         |   14 -
  arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable-3level.h  |   20 -
  arch/arm/include/asm/pgtable.h         |    9 -
  arch/arm/include/asm/sections.h        |    6 +-
  arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h  |   75 --
  arch/arm/include/asm/virt.h            |   12 -
  arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h        |  314 -----
  arch/arm/kernel/asm-offsets.c          |   11 -
  arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux-xip.lds.S      |    8 -
  arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S          |    8 -
  arch/arm/kernel/vmlinux.lds.h          |   10 -
  arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig                   |   59 -
  arch/arm/kvm/Makefile                  |   43 -
  arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c                  | 1455 ------------------------
  arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h                  |  130 ---
  arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c              |   39 -
  arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c               |   42 -
  arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c                 |  166 ---
  arch/arm/kvm/guest.c                   |  387 -------
  arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c             |  175 ---
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile              |   34 -
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c           |   70 --
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c             |   72 --
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S               |  121 --
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S           |  295 -----
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c            |   22 -
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c              |  242 ----
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c                 |   68 --
  arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S                 |   57 -
  arch/arm/kvm/init.S                    |  157 ---
  arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S              |   36 -
  arch/arm/kvm/irq.h                     |   16 -
  arch/arm/kvm/reset.c                   |   86 --
  arch/arm/kvm/trace.h                   |   86 --
  arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c          |   27 -
  arch/arm/mach-exynos/Kconfig           |    2 +-
  arch/arm/mm/mmu.c                      |   26 -
  49 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 6262 deletions(-)

delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_arm.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_asm.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_coproc.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_host.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_hyp.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_mmu.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/kvm_ras.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/asm/stage2_pgtable.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/include/uapi/asm/kvm.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Kconfig
delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/Makefile
delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.c
delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc.h
delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a15.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/coproc_a7.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/emulate.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/guest.c
delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/handle_exit.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/Makefile delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/banked-sr.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/cp15-sr.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/entry.S delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/hyp-entry.S delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/s2-setup.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/switch.c

Quoted 9 lines

delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/tlb.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/hyp/vfp.S delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/init.S delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/interrupts.S delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/irq.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/reset.c delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/trace.h delete mode 100644 arch/arm/kvm/vgic-v3-coproc.c

Best regards

Signature · 2 lines
Marek Szyprowski, PhD
Samsung R&D Institute Poland
author maintainer
#21 lore raw

Hi Marek,

Quoted 13 lines · Marek Szyprowski

Hi Marc,

Quoted 9 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 4 lines

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Something like "too little, too late" springs to mind, but let's be constructive. Is anyone using it in a production environment, where they rely on the latest mainline kernel having KVM support?

The current proposal is to still have KVM support in 5.6, as well as ongoing support for stable kernels. If that's not enough, can you please explain your precise use case?

        M.
Signature · 1 line
Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny...
maintainer
#22 lore raw
Quoted 8 lines · Marc Zyngier
Quoted 4 lines

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Something like "too little, too late" springs to mind, but let's be constructive. Is anyone using it in a production environment, where they rely on the latest mainline kernel having KVM support?

Depends if you consider "production environment" somebody playing at home with a SBC. But it's true that, these days, most of those that support EL2 do support ARM64, even if they are used with a 32-bit userland.

Paolo

#23 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier
Quoted 21 lines · Marc Zyngier

Hi Marek,

Quoted 13 lines · Marek Szyprowski

Hi Marc,

Quoted 9 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 4 lines

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Quoted 7 lines

Something like "too little, too late" springs to mind, but let's be constructive. Is anyone using it in a production environment, where they rely on the latest mainline kernel having KVM support?

The current proposal is to still have KVM support in 5.6, as well as ongoing support for stable kernels. If that's not enough, can you please explain your precise use case?

Presumably there's no *technical* reason why the stable subset of v7 support couldn't be stripped down and brought back private to arch/arm if somebody really wants and is willing to step up and look after it?

Robin.

author maintainer
#24 lore raw
Quoted 26 lines · Robin Murphy
Quoted 25 lines · Marc Zyngier

Hi Marek,

Quoted 13 lines · Marek Szyprowski

Hi Marc,

Quoted 9 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 4 lines

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Something like "too little, too late" springs to mind, but let's be constructive. Is anyone using it in a production environment, where they rely on the latest mainline kernel having KVM support?

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 3 lines

The current proposal is to still have KVM support in 5.6, as well as ongoing support for stable kernels. If that's not enough, can you please explain your precise use case?

Presumably there's no *technical* reason why the stable subset of v7 support couldn't be stripped down and brought back private to arch/arm if somebody really wants and is willing to step up and look after it?

There is no technical reason at all, just a maintenance effort.

The main killer is the whole MMU code, which I'm butchering with NV, and that I suspect Will will also turn upside down with his stuff. Not to mention the hypercall interface that will need a complete overhaul.

If we wanted to decouple the two, we'd need to make the MMU code, the hypercalls, arm.c and a number of other bits private to 32bit.

        M.
Signature · 1 line
Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny...
#25 lore raw
Quoted 35 lines · Marc Zyngier
Quoted 26 lines · Robin Murphy
Quoted 25 lines · Marc Zyngier

Hi Marek,

Quoted 13 lines · Marek Szyprowski

Hi Marc,

Quoted 9 lines · Marc Zyngier

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)
- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

Quoted 4 lines

That is a bit sad information. Mainline Exynos finally got everything that was needed to run it on the quite popular Samsung Exynos5422-based Odroid XU4/HC1/MC1 boards. According to the Odroid related forums it is being used. We also use it internally at Samsung.

Something like "too little, too late" springs to mind, but let's be constructive. Is anyone using it in a production environment, where they rely on the latest mainline kernel having KVM support?

Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 3 lines

The current proposal is to still have KVM support in 5.6, as well as ongoing support for stable kernels. If that's not enough, can you please explain your precise use case?

Presumably there's no *technical* reason why the stable subset of v7 support couldn't be stripped down and brought back private to arch/arm if somebody really wants and is willing to step up and look after it?

Quoted 8 lines

There is no technical reason at all, just a maintenance effort.

The main killer is the whole MMU code, which I'm butchering with NV, and that I suspect Will will also turn upside down with his stuff. Not to mention the hypercall interface that will need a complete overhaul.

If we wanted to decouple the two, we'd need to make the MMU code, the hypercalls, arm.c and a number of other bits private to 32bit.

Right, the prospective kvm-arm maintainer's gameplan would essentially be an equivalent "move virt/kvm/arm to arch/arm/kvm" patch, but then ripping out all the Armv8 and GICv3 gubbins instead. Yes, there would then be lots of *similar* code to start with, but it would only diverge further as v8 architecture development continues independently.

Anyway, I just thought it seemed worth saying out loud, to reassure folks that a realistic middle-ground between "yay bye!" and "oh no the end of the world!" does exist, namely "someone else's problem" :)

Robin.

#26 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier

Hi

I found this mailing list thread and would like to express my opinion and dependence on KVM/arm32.

I hope that I'm not too late already.

Quoted 8 lines · On Monday, 10.02.2020, 14:13 +0000 Marc Zyngier wrote:

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)

I might not be an important user, but I have been for multiple years and still am a regular user of KVM/arm32 on different devices.

I use KVM on my Tegra K1 Chromebook for app development and have multiple SBCs at home on which I run VMs on using KVM+libvirt.

Sure, neither of these devices has many resources available, but they are working fine. I would love to keep them in service since I haven't found arm64-based replacements that don't require hours upon hours of tinkering to just get a basic OS installation running with a mainline kernel.

As an example that they can still be of use in 2020 I'd like to point out that one of the SBCs is running my DNS resolver, LDAP server, RSS reader, IRC bouncer, and shared todo list just fine, each in their separate VM.

Quoted 5 lines

- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree.

*scream*

Quoted 3 lines

One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

This assumption is deeply flawed. Most users (including me) are not subscribed to this mailing list and will never find this thread at all. I myself stumbled upon this discussion just by chance while I was browsing the web trying to find something completely unrelated.

I've been using KVM on x86, ppc and arm for many years, yet I never felt the need to report a bug on the mailing list.
(This is to be interpreted as a compliment to the great work the devs of KVM have done!)

Just going by the number of bugs reported on a developers mailing list is not going to paint an accurate picture.

I am convinced that I'm not the only one relying on KVM/arm32 in the mainline kernel and would ask you to please reconsider keeping arm32 in the mainline kernel for a few more years until adequate arm64 replacements are available on the market and have gained proper support in the mainline kernel.

I myself unfortunately do neither have the knowledge nor resources to help with development in KVM or maintaining a non-mainline kernel.

Quoted 7 lines

But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

Quoted 5 lines

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

[...]

Thanks for your understanding.

Kind regards

- Yoshi

_______________________________________________
linux-arm-kernel mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-arm-kernel

#27 lore raw
In reply to Marc Zyngier

Hi

I found this mailing list thread and would like to express my opinion and dependence on KVM/arm32.

I hope that I'm not too late already.

Quoted 8 lines · On Monday, 10.02.2020, 14:13 +0000 Marc Zyngier wrote:

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)

I might not be an important user, but I have been for multiple years and still am a regular user of KVM/arm32 on different devices.

I use KVM on my Tegra K1 Chromebook for app development and have multiple SBCs at home on which I run VMs on using KVM+libvirt.

Sure, neither of these devices has many resources available, but they are working fine. I would love to keep them in service since I haven't found arm64-based replacements that don't require hours upon hours of tinkering to just get a basic OS installation running with a mainline kernel.

As an example that they can still be of use in 2020 I'd like to point out that one of the SBCs is running my DNS resolver, LDAP server, RSS reader, IRC bouncer, and shared todo list just fine, each in their separate VM.

Quoted 5 lines

- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree.

*scream*

Quoted 3 lines

One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

This assumption is deeply flawed. Most users (including me) are not subscribed to this mailing list and will never find this thread at all. I myself stumbled upon this discussion just by chance while I was browsing the web trying to find something completely unrelated.

I've been using KVM on x86, ppc and arm for many years, yet I never felt the need to report a bug on the mailing list.
(This is to be interpreted as a compliment to the great work the devs of KVM have done!)

Just going by the number of bugs reported on a developers mailing list is not going to paint an accurate picture.

I am convinced that I'm not the only one relying on KVM/arm32 in the mainline kernel and would ask you to please reconsider keeping arm32 in the mainline kernel for a few more years until adequate arm64 replacements are available on the market and have gained proper support in the mainline kernel.

I myself unfortunately do neither have the knowledge nor resources to help with development in KVM or maintaining a non-mainline kernel.

Quoted 7 lines

But if you depend on KVM/arm being available in mainline, please shout.

To reiterate: 32bit guest support for arm64 stays, of course. Only 32bit host goes. Once this is merged, I plan to move virt/kvm/arm to arm64, and cleanup all the now unnecessary abstractions.

Quoted 5 lines

The patches have been generated with the -D option to avoid spamming everyone with huge diffs, and there is a kvm-arm/goodbye branch in my kernel.org repository.

[...]

Thanks for your understanding.

Kind regards

- Yoshi

#28 lore raw
Quoted 22 lines · Takashi Yoshi
Quoted 8 lines · On Monday, 10.02.2020, 14:13 +0000 Marc Zyngier wrote:

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)

I might not be an important user, but I have been for multiple years and still am a regular user of KVM/arm32 on different devices.

I use KVM on my Tegra K1 Chromebook for app development and have multiple SBCs at home on which I run VMs on using KVM+libvirt.

Sure, neither of these devices has many resources available, but they are working fine. I would love to keep them in service since I haven't found arm64-based replacements that don't require hours upon hours of tinkering to just get a basic OS installation running with a mainline kernel.

Quoted 4 lines

As an example that they can still be of use in 2020 I'd like to point out that one of the SBCs is running my DNS resolver, LDAP server, RSS reader, IRC bouncer, and shared todo list just fine, each in their separate VM.

Thank you for providing an important data point to this question.

Quoted 22 lines
Quoted 5 lines

- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree.

*scream*

Quoted 3 lines

One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

This assumption is deeply flawed. Most users (including me) are not subscribed to this mailing list and will never find this thread at all. I myself stumbled upon this discussion just by chance while I was browsing the web trying to find something completely unrelated.

I've been using KVM on x86, ppc and arm for many years, yet I never felt the need to report a bug on the mailing list.
(This is to be interpreted as a compliment to the great work the devs of KVM have done!)

Quoted 8 lines

Just going by the number of bugs reported on a developers mailing list is not going to paint an accurate picture.

I am convinced that I'm not the only one relying on KVM/arm32 in the mainline kernel and would ask you to please reconsider keeping arm32 in the mainline kernel for a few more years until adequate arm64 replacements are available on the market and have gained proper support in the mainline kernel.

Can you provide some more information about how you use KVM on 32-bit machines, to make it possible to better estimate how many others might do the same, and how long you will need to upgrade to newer kernels for?

In particular:

- What is the smallest amount of physical RAM that you have to found to make a usable ARM/KVM host? Note that the 4GB configuration of the Tegra K1 (an rk3288) Chromebooks seems to be extremely rare in other devices, while most new 32-bit SBCs come with 1GB or less these days.

- How often do you update the host kernels on those 32-bit machines that you still use to newer releases? What is the oldest/newest you run at the moment?

- Are you able to move the host installation to a distribution with a long-term stable release cycle such as Debian, Ubuntu that gives you a ~five year support after a kernel release?

Arnd

#29 lore raw

Dear Arnd

Please excuse my late response.

Quoted 62 lines · On Sat, 22 Feb 2020 22:31:40 +0100 Arnd Bergmann <[email protected]> wrote:
Quoted 22 lines · Takashi Yoshi
Quoted 8 lines · On Monday, 10.02.2020, 14:13 +0000 Marc Zyngier wrote:

KVM/arm was merged just over 7 years ago, and has lived a very quiet life so far. It mostly works if you're prepared to deal with its limitations, it has been a good prototype for the arm64 version, but it suffers a few problems:

- It is incomplete (no debug support, no PMU)
- It hasn't followed any of the architectural evolutions
- It has zero users (I don't count myself here)

I might not be an important user, but I have been for multiple years and still am a regular user of KVM/arm32 on different devices.

I use KVM on my Tegra K1 Chromebook for app development and have multiple SBCs at home on which I run VMs on using KVM+libvirt.

Sure, neither of these devices has many resources available, but they are working fine. I would love to keep them in service since I haven't found arm64-based replacements that don't require hours upon hours of tinkering to just get a basic OS installation running with a mainline kernel.

Quoted 4 lines

As an example that they can still be of use in 2020 I'd like to point out that one of the SBCs is running my DNS resolver, LDAP server, RSS reader, IRC bouncer, and shared todo list just fine, each in their separate VM.

Thank you for providing an important data point to this question.

Quoted 22 lines
Quoted 5 lines

- It is more and more getting in the way of new arm64 developments

So here it is: unless someone screams and shows that they rely on KVM/arm to be maintained upsteam, I'll remove 32bit host support form the tree.

*scream*

Quoted 3 lines

One of the reasons that makes me confident nobody is using it is that I never receive *any* bug report. Yes, it is perfect.

This assumption is deeply flawed. Most users (including me) are not subscribed to this mailing list and will never find this thread at all. I myself stumbled upon this discussion just by chance while I was browsing the web trying to find something completely unrelated.

I've been using KVM on x86, ppc and arm for many years, yet I never felt the need to report a bug on the mailing list.
(This is to be interpreted as a compliment to the great work the devs of KVM have done!)

Quoted 8 lines

Just going by the number of bugs reported on a developers mailing list is not going to paint an accurate picture.

I am convinced that I'm not the only one relying on KVM/arm32 in the mainline kernel and would ask you to please reconsider keeping arm32 in the mainline kernel for a few more years until adequate arm64 replacements are available on the market and have gained proper support in the mainline kernel.

Quoted 3 lines

Can you provide some more information about how you use KVM on 32-bit machines, to make it possible to better estimate how many others might do the same,

Sure.
First of all I own different ARM boards. Currently I virtualise on Banana Pi M1 (1GB), cubox-i (2GB) and my Acer Chromebook (4GB).

The Chromebook is my travel laptop on which I have three VMs on (LAMP, PostgreSQL, kernel testing) which I primarily use to develop against.

The others are "home servers", they run all kinds of things for my home (incl. DNS, LDAP, RSS-Reader, Wiki, Music-Database, RDBMS, Task-Management).

Quoted 1 line

and how long you will need to upgrade to newer kernels for?

I don't really have a strict policy regarding when to upgrade kernels. I just run whatever gets patched and works.

Sometimes this is the latest stable release, most of the time this is the last longterm release.

Quoted 4 lines

In particular:

- What is the smallest amount of physical RAM that you have to found to make a usable ARM/KVM host?

Not sure if I can answer this question adequately as the smallest of my ARM32 boards have at least 1GB of RAM, which works for sure.

Since you're asking about the smallest amount I did some experiments. I spun up the testing VM on my Chromebook. It consists of a basic Gentoo userland currently running on a "reduced" 4.19 kernel (I'm sure it could be stripped further if one was determined enough).

When I boot it up and log in the qemu-system process on the host uses 100MB. The memory usage (incl. cache) inside the VM is only 50 MB, though.

Adding a few MB for the actual application one would want to run to these 100MB, I calculate with 160MB for a "lightweight" VM.

This would mean that one could run 2-3 such VMs in just 512MB which I would count as "usable".

If you were conservative with memory and used a lightweight distro, like Alpine, OpenWrt or built your own using Buildroot, I could imagine that you can make a nice little home router with virtualized DHCP server, DNS server (for home network) + resolver, TFTP and possibly VPN in 512MB.
(Sounds like a cool experiment for the next time im bored :P)

A very different use case could be to host unikernels using e.g. Solo5 (https://github.com/Solo5/solo5) whose hvt backend also uses KVM. I, unfortunately, don't have any experience with unikernels, but I assume that they consume a lot less memory than a full Linux VM.

Quoted 3 lines

Note that the 4GB configuration of the Tegra K1 (an rk3288) Chromebooks seems to be extremely rare in other devices, while most new 32-bit SBCs come with 1GB or less these days.

I agree that 4GB seems to be really rare in 32-bit land outside of laptops like Chromebooks or Novena, but I don't agree that most 32-bit SBCs are so low specced.

There are quite a few 2GB boards out there:
ODROID U2/U3/X2/XU/XU3/XU4/HC1/HC2, Cubieboard 3/4/5, HummingBoard, CuBox i4/Pulse, ASUS TinkerBoard (S), Lenovo G66 TV-Box, Radxa ROCK PRO / Rock2, Nvidia Jetson TK1, Banana Pi M2U/M3, Firefly RK3288, BeagleBoard X15, OrangePi Plus 2E, Utilite, Wandboard, ClearFog, NetGate SC3100, and probably a lot more can be had with 2GB RAM.

(If I were to buy an SBC for virtualization, I'd get one of these :-))

Also lets not forget all the powerful smartphones out there which could be used as virtualizers using postmarketos.org.

Quoted 2 lines

- How often do you update the host kernels on those 32-bit machines that you still use to newer releases?

I usually track the latest longterm branch (but I wait a bit before jumping to a new longterm). So at the moment the majority is running 4.19.x, but I'm in the process of upgrading to 5.4.x now that most of the annoying bugs should be fixed ;-)

Quoted 1 line

What is the oldest/newest you run at the moment?

Oldest: 4.15.18 (because of an annoying regression that's likely never going to get fixed)
Newest: 5.4.20

Quoted 3 lines

- Are you able to move the host installation to a distribution with a long-term stable release cycle such as Debian, Ubuntu that gives you a ~five year support after a kernel release?

I could do that, but I would like to avoid being dependent on an old kernel as from personal experience even on so-called "longterm" releases regressions do slip in and tend not to get fixed if they're not too severe, especially in old distro kernels.

Kind regards,

- Yoshi