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Linux/Documentation/admin-guide/mm/userfaultfd.rst

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Diff markup

Differences between /Documentation/admin-guide/mm/userfaultfd.rst (Version linux-6.12-rc7) and /Documentation/admin-guide/mm/userfaultfd.rst (Version linux-5.7.19)


                                                   >>   1 .. _userfaultfd:
                                                   >>   2 
  1 ===========                                         3 ===========
  2 Userfaultfd                                         4 Userfaultfd
  3 ===========                                         5 ===========
  4                                                     6 
  5 Objective                                           7 Objective
  6 =========                                           8 =========
  7                                                     9 
  8 Userfaults allow the implementation of on-dema     10 Userfaults allow the implementation of on-demand paging from userland
  9 and more generally they allow userland to take     11 and more generally they allow userland to take control of various
 10 memory page faults, something otherwise only t     12 memory page faults, something otherwise only the kernel code could do.
 11                                                    13 
 12 For example userfaults allows a proper and mor     14 For example userfaults allows a proper and more optimal implementation
 13 of the ``PROT_NONE+SIGSEGV`` trick.            !!  15 of the PROT_NONE+SIGSEGV trick.
 14                                                    16 
 15 Design                                             17 Design
 16 ======                                             18 ======
 17                                                    19 
 18 Userspace creates a new userfaultfd, initializ !!  20 Userfaults are delivered and resolved through the userfaultfd syscall.
 19 regions of virtual memory with it. Then, any p << 
 20 region(s) result in a message being delivered  << 
 21 userspace of the fault.                        << 
 22                                                    21 
 23 The ``userfaultfd`` (aside from registering an !!  22 The userfaultfd (aside from registering and unregistering virtual
 24 memory ranges) provides two primary functional     23 memory ranges) provides two primary functionalities:
 25                                                    24 
 26 1) ``read/POLLIN`` protocol to notify a userla !!  25 1) read/POLLIN protocol to notify a userland thread of the faults
 27    happening                                       26    happening
 28                                                    27 
 29 2) various ``UFFDIO_*`` ioctls that can manage !!  28 2) various UFFDIO_* ioctls that can manage the virtual memory regions
 30    registered in the ``userfaultfd`` that allo !!  29    registered in the userfaultfd that allows userland to efficiently
 31    resolve the userfaults it receives via 1) o     30    resolve the userfaults it receives via 1) or to manage the virtual
 32    memory in the background                        31    memory in the background
 33                                                    32 
 34 The real advantage of userfaults if compared t     33 The real advantage of userfaults if compared to regular virtual memory
 35 management of mremap/mprotect is that the user     34 management of mremap/mprotect is that the userfaults in all their
 36 operations never involve heavyweight structure     35 operations never involve heavyweight structures like vmas (in fact the
 37 ``userfaultfd`` runtime load never takes the m !!  36 userfaultfd runtime load never takes the mmap_sem for writing).
                                                   >>  37 
 38 Vmas are not suitable for page- (or hugepage)      38 Vmas are not suitable for page- (or hugepage) granular fault tracking
 39 when dealing with virtual address spaces that      39 when dealing with virtual address spaces that could span
 40 Terabytes. Too many vmas would be needed for t     40 Terabytes. Too many vmas would be needed for that.
 41                                                    41 
 42 The ``userfaultfd``, once created, can also be !!  42 The userfaultfd once opened by invoking the syscall, can also be
 43 passed using unix domain sockets to a manager      43 passed using unix domain sockets to a manager process, so the same
 44 manager process could handle the userfaults of     44 manager process could handle the userfaults of a multitude of
 45 different processes without them being aware a     45 different processes without them being aware about what is going on
 46 (well of course unless they later try to use t !!  46 (well of course unless they later try to use the userfaultfd
 47 themselves on the same region the manager is a     47 themselves on the same region the manager is already tracking, which
 48 is a corner case that would currently return ` !!  48 is a corner case that would currently return -EBUSY).
 49                                                    49 
 50 API                                                50 API
 51 ===                                                51 ===
 52                                                    52 
 53 Creating a userfaultfd                         !!  53 When first opened the userfaultfd must be enabled invoking the
 54 ----------------------                         !!  54 UFFDIO_API ioctl specifying a uffdio_api.api value set to UFFD_API (or
 55                                                !!  55 a later API version) which will specify the read/POLLIN protocol
 56 There are two ways to create a new userfaultfd !!  56 userland intends to speak on the UFFD and the uffdio_api.features
 57 restrict access to this functionality (since h !!  57 userland requires. The UFFDIO_API ioctl if successful (i.e. if the
 58 handle kernel page faults have been a useful t !!  58 requested uffdio_api.api is spoken also by the running kernel and the
 59                                                << 
 60 The first way, supported since userfaultfd was << 
 61 userfaultfd(2) syscall. Access to this is cont << 
 62                                                << 
 63 - Any user can always create a userfaultfd whi << 
 64   only. Such a userfaultfd can be created usin << 
 65   with the flag UFFD_USER_MODE_ONLY.           << 
 66                                                << 
 67 - In order to also trap kernel page faults for << 
 68   process needs the CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability, << 
 69   vm.unprivileged_userfaultfd set to 1. By def << 
 70   is set to 0.                                 << 
 71                                                << 
 72 The second way, added to the kernel more recen << 
 73 /dev/userfaultfd and issuing a USERFAULTFD_IOC << 
 74 yields equivalent userfaultfds to the userfaul << 
 75                                                << 
 76 Unlike userfaultfd(2), access to /dev/userfaul << 
 77 filesystem permissions (user/group/mode), whic << 
 78 userfaultfd specifically, without also grantin << 
 79 the same time (as e.g. granting CAP_SYS_PTRACE << 
 80 to /dev/userfaultfd can always create userfaul << 
 81 vm.unprivileged_userfaultfd is not considered. << 
 82                                                << 
 83 Initializing a userfaultfd                     << 
 84 --------------------------                     << 
 85                                                << 
 86 When first opened the ``userfaultfd`` must be  << 
 87 ``UFFDIO_API`` ioctl specifying a ``uffdio_api << 
 88 a later API version) which will specify the `` << 
 89 userland intends to speak on the ``UFFD`` and  << 
 90 userland requires. The ``UFFDIO_API`` ioctl if << 
 91 requested ``uffdio_api.api`` is spoken also by << 
 92 requested features are going to be enabled) wi     59 requested features are going to be enabled) will return into
 93 ``uffdio_api.features`` and ``uffdio_api.ioctl !!  60 uffdio_api.features and uffdio_api.ioctls two 64bit bitmasks of
 94 respectively all the available features of the     61 respectively all the available features of the read(2) protocol and
 95 the generic ioctl available.                       62 the generic ioctl available.
 96                                                    63 
 97 The ``uffdio_api.features`` bitmask returned b !!  64 The uffdio_api.features bitmask returned by the UFFDIO_API ioctl
 98 defines what memory types are supported by the !!  65 defines what memory types are supported by the userfaultfd and what
 99 events, except page fault notifications, may b !!  66 events, except page fault notifications, may be generated.
100                                                !!  67 
101 - The ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_*`` flags indicate  !!  68 If the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on hugetlbfs
102   other than page faults are supported. These  !!  69 virtual memory areas, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_HUGETLBFS will be set in
103   detail below in the `Non-cooperative userfau !!  70 uffdio_api.features. Similarly, UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_SHMEM will be
104                                                !!  71 set if the kernel supports registering userfaultfd ranges on shared
105 - ``UFFD_FEATURE_MISSING_HUGETLBFS`` and ``UFF !!  72 memory (covering all shmem APIs, i.e. tmpfs, IPCSHM, /dev/zero
106   indicate that the kernel supports ``UFFDIO_R !!  73 MAP_SHARED, memfd_create, etc).
107   registrations for hugetlbfs and shared memor !!  74 
108   i.e. tmpfs, ``IPCSHM``, ``/dev/zero``, ``MAP !!  75 The userland application that wants to use userfaultfd with hugetlbfs
109   etc) virtual memory areas, respectively.     !!  76 or shared memory need to set the corresponding flag in
110                                                !!  77 uffdio_api.features to enable those features.
111 - ``UFFD_FEATURE_MINOR_HUGETLBFS`` indicates t !!  78 
112   ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MINOR`` registration  !!  79 If the userland desires to receive notifications for events other than
113   areas. ``UFFD_FEATURE_MINOR_SHMEM`` is the a !!  80 page faults, it has to verify that uffdio_api.features has appropriate
114   support for shmem virtual memory areas.      !!  81 UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_* bits set. These events are described in more
115                                                !!  82 detail below in "Non-cooperative userfaultfd" section.
116 - ``UFFD_FEATURE_MOVE`` indicates that the ker !!  83 
117   existing page contents from userspace.       !!  84 Once the userfaultfd has been enabled the UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl should
118                                                !!  85 be invoked (if present in the returned uffdio_api.ioctls bitmask) to
119 The userland application should set the featur !!  86 register a memory range in the userfaultfd by setting the
120 when invoking the ``UFFDIO_API`` ioctl, to req !!  87 uffdio_register structure accordingly. The uffdio_register.mode
121 enabled if supported.                          << 
122                                                << 
123 Once the ``userfaultfd`` API has been enabled  << 
124 ioctl should be invoked (if present in the ret << 
125 bitmask) to register a memory range in the ``u << 
126 uffdio_register structure accordingly. The ``u << 
127 bitmask will specify to the kernel which kind      88 bitmask will specify to the kernel which kind of faults to track for
128 the range. The ``UFFDIO_REGISTER`` ioctl will  !!  89 the range (UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING would track missing
129 ``uffdio_register.ioctls`` bitmask of ioctls t !!  90 pages). The UFFDIO_REGISTER ioctl will return the
                                                   >>  91 uffdio_register.ioctls bitmask of ioctls that are suitable to resolve
130 userfaults on the range registered. Not all io     92 userfaults on the range registered. Not all ioctls will necessarily be
131 supported for all memory types (e.g. anonymous !!  93 supported for all memory types depending on the underlying virtual
132 hugetlbfs), or all types of intercepted faults !!  94 memory backend (anonymous memory vs tmpfs vs real filebacked
                                                   >>  95 mappings).
133                                                    96 
134 Userland can use the ``uffdio_register.ioctls` !!  97 Userland can use the uffdio_register.ioctls to manage the virtual
135 address space in the background (to add or pot     98 address space in the background (to add or potentially also remove
136 memory from the ``userfaultfd`` registered ran !!  99 memory from the userfaultfd registered range). This means a userfault
137 could be triggering just before userland maps     100 could be triggering just before userland maps in the background the
138 user-faulted page.                                101 user-faulted page.
139                                                   102 
140 Resolving Userfaults                           !! 103 The primary ioctl to resolve userfaults is UFFDIO_COPY. That
141 --------------------                           !! 104 atomically copies a page into the userfault registered range and wakes
142                                                !! 105 up the blocked userfaults (unless uffdio_copy.mode &
143 There are three basic ways to resolve userfaul !! 106 UFFDIO_COPY_MODE_DONTWAKE is set). Other ioctl works similarly to
144                                                !! 107 UFFDIO_COPY. They're atomic as in guaranteeing that nothing can see an
145 - ``UFFDIO_COPY`` atomically copies some exist !! 108 half copied page since it'll keep userfaulting until the copy has
146   userspace.                                   !! 109 finished.
147                                                << 
148 - ``UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE`` atomically zeros the new << 
149                                                << 
150 - ``UFFDIO_CONTINUE`` maps an existing, previo << 
151                                                << 
152 These operations are atomic in the sense that  << 
153 see a half-populated page, since readers will  << 
154 operation has finished.                        << 
155                                                << 
156 By default, these wake up userfaults blocked o << 
157 They support a ``UFFDIO_*_MODE_DONTWAKE`` ``mo << 
158 that waking will be done separately at some la << 
159                                                << 
160 Which ioctl to choose depends on the kind of p << 
161 like to do to resolve it:                      << 
162                                                << 
163 - For ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING`` faults, << 
164   resolved by either providing a new page (``U << 
165   the zero page (``UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE``). By defa << 
166   the zero page for a missing fault. With user << 
167   decide what content to provide before the fa << 
168                                                << 
169 - For ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MINOR`` faults, t << 
170   the page cache). Userspace has the option of << 
171   contents before resolving the fault. Once th << 
172   (modified or not), userspace asks the kernel << 
173   faulting thread continue with ``UFFDIO_CONTI << 
174                                                   110 
175 Notes:                                            111 Notes:
176                                                   112 
177 - You can tell which kind of fault occurred by !! 113 - If you requested UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING when registering then
178   ``pagefault.flags`` within the ``uffd_msg``, !! 114   you must provide some kind of page in your thread after reading from
179   ``UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_*`` flags.             !! 115   the uffd.  You must provide either UFFDIO_COPY or UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE.
                                                   >> 116   The normal behavior of the OS automatically providing a zero page on
                                                   >> 117   an annonymous mmaping is not in place.
180                                                   118 
181 - None of the page-delivering ioctls default t    119 - None of the page-delivering ioctls default to the range that you
182   registered with.  You must fill in all field    120   registered with.  You must fill in all fields for the appropriate
183   ioctl struct including the range.               121   ioctl struct including the range.
184                                                   122 
185 - You get the address of the access that trigg    123 - You get the address of the access that triggered the missing page
186   event out of a struct uffd_msg that you read    124   event out of a struct uffd_msg that you read in the thread from the
187   uffd.  You can supply as many pages as you w !! 125   uffd.  You can supply as many pages as you want with UFFDIO_COPY or
188   Keep in mind that unless you used DONTWAKE t !! 126   UFFDIO_ZEROPAGE.  Keep in mind that unless you used DONTWAKE then
189   those IOCTLs wakes up the faulting thread.   !! 127   the first of any of those IOCTLs wakes up the faulting thread.
190                                                !! 128 
191 - Be sure to test for all errors including     !! 129 - Be sure to test for all errors including (pollfd[0].revents &
192   (``pollfd[0].revents & POLLERR``).  This can !! 130   POLLERR).  This can happen, e.g. when ranges supplied were
193   supplied were incorrect.                     !! 131   incorrect.
194                                                   132 
195 Write Protect Notifications                       133 Write Protect Notifications
196 ---------------------------                       134 ---------------------------
197                                                   135 
198 This is equivalent to (but faster than) using     136 This is equivalent to (but faster than) using mprotect and a SIGSEGV
199 signal handler.                                   137 signal handler.
200                                                   138 
201 Firstly you need to register a range with ``UF !! 139 Firstly you need to register a range with UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_WP.
202 Instead of using mprotect(2) you use           !! 140 Instead of using mprotect(2) you use ioctl(uffd, UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT,
203 ``ioctl(uffd, UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT, struct *uff !! 141 struct *uffdio_writeprotect) while mode = UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT_MODE_WP
204 while ``mode = UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT_MODE_WP``   << 
205 in the struct passed in.  The range does not d    142 in the struct passed in.  The range does not default to and does not
206 have to be identical to the range you register    143 have to be identical to the range you registered with.  You can write
207 protect as many ranges as you like (inside the    144 protect as many ranges as you like (inside the registered range).
208 Then, in the thread reading from uffd the stru    145 Then, in the thread reading from uffd the struct will have
209 ``msg.arg.pagefault.flags & UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLA !! 146 msg.arg.pagefault.flags & UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_WP set. Now you send
210 ``ioctl(uffd, UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT, struct *uff !! 147 ioctl(uffd, UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT, struct *uffdio_writeprotect) again
211 again while ``pagefault.mode`` does not have ` !! 148 while pagefault.mode does not have UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT_MODE_WP set.
212 set. This wakes up the thread which will conti !! 149 This wakes up the thread which will continue to run with writes. This
213 allows you to do the bookkeeping about the wri    150 allows you to do the bookkeeping about the write in the uffd reading
214 thread before the ioctl.                          151 thread before the ioctl.
215                                                   152 
216 If you registered with both ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_ !! 153 If you registered with both UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING and
217 ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_WP`` then you need to t !! 154 UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_WP then you need to think about the sequence in
218 which you supply a page and undo write protect    155 which you supply a page and undo write protect.  Note that there is a
219 difference between writes into a WP area and i    156 difference between writes into a WP area and into a !WP area.  The
220 former will have ``UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_WP`` se !! 157 former will have UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_WP set, the latter
221 ``UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_WRITE``.  The latter did !! 158 UFFD_PAGEFAULT_FLAG_WRITE.  The latter did not fail on protection but
222 you still need to supply a page when ``UFFDIO_ !! 159 you still need to supply a page when UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING was
223 used.                                             160 used.
224                                                   161 
225 Userfaultfd write-protect mode currently behav << 
226 (when e.g. page is missing) over different typ << 
227                                                << 
228 For anonymous memory, ``ioctl(UFFDIO_WRITEPROT << 
229 (e.g. when pages are missing and not populated << 
230 like shmem and hugetlbfs, none ptes will be wr << 
231 present pte.  In other words, there will be a  << 
232 message generated when writing to a missing pa << 
233 as long as the page range was write-protected  << 
234 not be generated on anonymous memories by defa << 
235                                                << 
236 If the application wants to be able to write p << 
237 memory, one can pre-populate the memory with e << 
238 newer kernels, one can also detect the feature << 
239 and set the feature bit in advance to make sur << 
240 write protected even upon anonymous memory.    << 
241                                                << 
242 When using ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_WP`` in comb << 
243 ``UFFDIO_REGISTER_MODE_MISSING`` or ``UFFDIO_R << 
244 resolving missing / minor faults with ``UFFDIO << 
245 respectively, it may be desirable for the new  << 
246 write-protected (so future writes will also re << 
247 support a mode flag (``UFFDIO_COPY_MODE_WP`` o << 
248 respectively) to configure the mapping this wa << 
249                                                << 
250 If the userfaultfd context has ``UFFD_FEATURE_ << 
251 any vma registered with write-protection will  << 
252 than the default sync mode.                    << 
253                                                << 
254 In async mode, there will be no message genera << 
255 happens, meanwhile the write-protection will b << 
256 the kernel.  It can be seen as a more accurate << 
257 tracking and it can be different in a few ways << 
258                                                << 
259   - The dirty result will not be affected by v << 
260     merging) because the dirty is only tracked << 
261                                                << 
262   - It supports range operations by default, s << 
263     any range of memory as long as page aligne << 
264                                                << 
265   - Dirty information will not get lost if the << 
266     various reasons (e.g. during split of a sh << 
267                                                << 
268   - Due to a reverted meaning of soft-dirty (p << 
269     set; dirty when uffd-wp bit cleared), it h << 
270     some of the memory operations.  For exampl << 
271     anonymous (or ``MADV_REMOVE`` on a file ma << 
272     dirtying of memory by dropping uffd-wp bit << 
273                                                << 
274 The user app can collect the "written/dirty" s << 
275 uffd-wp bit for the pages being interested in  << 
276                                                << 
277 The page will not be under track of uffd-wp as << 
278 explicitly write-protected by ``ioctl(UFFDIO_W << 
279 flag ``UFFDIO_WRITEPROTECT_MODE_WP`` set.  Try << 
280 that was tracked by async mode userfaultfd-wp  << 
281                                                << 
282 When userfaultfd-wp async mode is used alone,  << 
283 kinds of memory.                               << 
284                                                << 
285 Memory Poisioning Emulation                    << 
286 ---------------------------                    << 
287                                                << 
288 In response to a fault (either missing or mino << 
289 take to "resolve" it is to issue a ``UFFDIO_PO << 
290 future faulters to either get a SIGBUS, or in  << 
291 receive an MCE as if there were hardware memor << 
292                                                << 
293 This is used to emulate hardware memory poison << 
294 machine which experiences a real hardware memo << 
295 the VM to another physical machine. Since we w << 
296 transparent to the guest, we want that same ad << 
297 still poisoned, even though it's on a new phys << 
298 doesn't have a memory error in the exact same  << 
299                                                << 
300 QEMU/KVM                                          162 QEMU/KVM
301 ========                                          163 ========
302                                                   164 
303 QEMU/KVM is using the ``userfaultfd`` syscall  !! 165 QEMU/KVM is using the userfaultfd syscall to implement postcopy live
304 migration. Postcopy live migration is one form    166 migration. Postcopy live migration is one form of memory
305 externalization consisting of a virtual machin    167 externalization consisting of a virtual machine running with part or
306 all of its memory residing on a different node    168 all of its memory residing on a different node in the cloud. The
307 ``userfaultfd`` abstraction is generic enough  !! 169 userfaultfd abstraction is generic enough that not a single line of
308 KVM kernel code had to be modified in order to    170 KVM kernel code had to be modified in order to add postcopy live
309 migration to QEMU.                                171 migration to QEMU.
310                                                   172 
311 Guest async page faults, ``FOLL_NOWAIT`` and a !! 173 Guest async page faults, FOLL_NOWAIT and all other GUP features work
312 just fine in combination with userfaults. User    174 just fine in combination with userfaults. Userfaults trigger async
313 page faults in the guest scheduler so those gu    175 page faults in the guest scheduler so those guest processes that
314 aren't waiting for userfaults (i.e. network bo    176 aren't waiting for userfaults (i.e. network bound) can keep running in
315 the guest vcpus.                                  177 the guest vcpus.
316                                                   178 
317 It is generally beneficial to run one pass of     179 It is generally beneficial to run one pass of precopy live migration
318 just before starting postcopy live migration,     180 just before starting postcopy live migration, in order to avoid
319 generating userfaults for readonly guest regio    181 generating userfaults for readonly guest regions.
320                                                   182 
321 The implementation of postcopy live migration     183 The implementation of postcopy live migration currently uses one
322 single bidirectional socket but in the future     184 single bidirectional socket but in the future two different sockets
323 will be used (to reduce the latency of the use    185 will be used (to reduce the latency of the userfaults to the minimum
324 possible without having to decrease ``/proc/sy !! 186 possible without having to decrease /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_wmem).
325                                                   187 
326 The QEMU in the source node writes all pages t    188 The QEMU in the source node writes all pages that it knows are missing
327 in the destination node, into the socket, and     189 in the destination node, into the socket, and the migration thread of
328 the QEMU running in the destination node runs  !! 190 the QEMU running in the destination node runs UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE
329 ioctls on the ``userfaultfd`` in order to map  !! 191 ioctls on the userfaultfd in order to map the received pages into the
330 guest (``UFFDIO_ZEROCOPY`` is used if the sour !! 192 guest (UFFDIO_ZEROCOPY is used if the source page was a zero page).
331                                                   193 
332 A different postcopy thread in the destination    194 A different postcopy thread in the destination node listens with
333 poll() to the ``userfaultfd`` in parallel. Whe !! 195 poll() to the userfaultfd in parallel. When a POLLIN event is
334 generated after a userfault triggers, the post    196 generated after a userfault triggers, the postcopy thread read() from
335 the ``userfaultfd`` and receives the fault add !! 197 the userfaultfd and receives the fault address (or -EAGAIN in case the
336 userfault was already resolved and waken by a  !! 198 userfault was already resolved and waken by a UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE run
337 by the parallel QEMU migration thread).           199 by the parallel QEMU migration thread).
338                                                   200 
339 After the QEMU postcopy thread (running in the    201 After the QEMU postcopy thread (running in the destination node) gets
340 the userfault address it writes the informatio    202 the userfault address it writes the information about the missing page
341 into the socket. The QEMU source node receives    203 into the socket. The QEMU source node receives the information and
342 roughly "seeks" to that page address and conti    204 roughly "seeks" to that page address and continues sending all
343 remaining missing pages from that new page off    205 remaining missing pages from that new page offset. Soon after that
344 (just the time to flush the tcp_wmem queue thr    206 (just the time to flush the tcp_wmem queue through the network) the
345 migration thread in the QEMU running in the de    207 migration thread in the QEMU running in the destination node will
346 receive the page that triggered the userfault     208 receive the page that triggered the userfault and it'll map it as
347 usual with the ``UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE`` (witho !! 209 usual with the UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE (without actually knowing if it
348 was spontaneously sent by the source or if it     210 was spontaneously sent by the source or if it was an urgent page
349 requested through a userfault).                   211 requested through a userfault).
350                                                   212 
351 By the time the userfaults start, the QEMU in     213 By the time the userfaults start, the QEMU in the destination node
352 doesn't need to keep any per-page state bitmap    214 doesn't need to keep any per-page state bitmap relative to the live
353 migration around and a single per-page bitmap     215 migration around and a single per-page bitmap has to be maintained in
354 the QEMU running in the source node to know wh    216 the QEMU running in the source node to know which pages are still
355 missing in the destination node. The bitmap in    217 missing in the destination node. The bitmap in the source node is
356 checked to find which missing pages to send in    218 checked to find which missing pages to send in round robin and we seek
357 over it when receiving incoming userfaults. Af    219 over it when receiving incoming userfaults. After sending each page of
358 course the bitmap is updated accordingly. It's    220 course the bitmap is updated accordingly. It's also useful to avoid
359 sending the same page twice (in case the userf    221 sending the same page twice (in case the userfault is read by the
360 postcopy thread just before ``UFFDIO_COPY|ZERO !! 222 postcopy thread just before UFFDIO_COPY|ZEROPAGE runs in the migration
361 thread).                                          223 thread).
362                                                   224 
363 Non-cooperative userfaultfd                       225 Non-cooperative userfaultfd
364 ===========================                       226 ===========================
365                                                   227 
366 When the ``userfaultfd`` is monitored by an ex !! 228 When the userfaultfd is monitored by an external manager, the manager
367 must be able to track changes in the process v    229 must be able to track changes in the process virtual memory
368 layout. Userfaultfd can notify the manager abo    230 layout. Userfaultfd can notify the manager about such changes using
369 the same read(2) protocol as for the page faul    231 the same read(2) protocol as for the page fault notifications. The
370 manager has to explicitly enable these events     232 manager has to explicitly enable these events by setting appropriate
371 bits in ``uffdio_api.features`` passed to ``UF !! 233 bits in uffdio_api.features passed to UFFDIO_API ioctl:
372                                                   234 
373 ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_FORK``                    !! 235 UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_FORK
374         enable ``userfaultfd`` hooks for fork( !! 236         enable userfaultfd hooks for fork(). When this feature is
375         enabled, the ``userfaultfd`` context o !! 237         enabled, the userfaultfd context of the parent process is
376         duplicated into the newly created proc    238         duplicated into the newly created process. The manager
377         receives ``UFFD_EVENT_FORK`` with file !! 239         receives UFFD_EVENT_FORK with file descriptor of the new
378         ``userfaultfd`` context in the ``uffd_ !! 240         userfaultfd context in the uffd_msg.fork.
379                                                   241 
380 ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMAP``                   !! 242 UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMAP
381         enable notifications about mremap() ca    243         enable notifications about mremap() calls. When the
382         non-cooperative process moves a virtua    244         non-cooperative process moves a virtual memory area to a
383         different location, the manager will r    245         different location, the manager will receive
384         ``UFFD_EVENT_REMAP``. The ``uffd_msg.r !! 246         UFFD_EVENT_REMAP. The uffd_msg.remap will contain the old and
385         new addresses of the area and its orig    247         new addresses of the area and its original length.
386                                                   248 
387 ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE``                  !! 249 UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE
388         enable notifications about madvise(MAD    250         enable notifications about madvise(MADV_REMOVE) and
389         madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) calls. The even !! 251         madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) calls. The event UFFD_EVENT_REMOVE will
390         be generated upon these calls to madvi !! 252         be generated upon these calls to madvise. The uffd_msg.remove
391         will contain start and end addresses o    253         will contain start and end addresses of the removed area.
392                                                   254 
393 ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP``                   !! 255 UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP
394         enable notifications about memory unma    256         enable notifications about memory unmapping. The manager will
395         get ``UFFD_EVENT_UNMAP`` with ``uffd_m !! 257         get UFFD_EVENT_UNMAP with uffd_msg.remove containing start and
396         end addresses of the unmapped area.       258         end addresses of the unmapped area.
397                                                   259 
398 Although the ``UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE`` and !! 260 Although the UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_REMOVE and UFFD_FEATURE_EVENT_UNMAP
399 are pretty similar, they quite differ in the a    261 are pretty similar, they quite differ in the action expected from the
400 ``userfaultfd`` manager. In the former case, t !! 262 userfaultfd manager. In the former case, the virtual memory is
401 removed, but the area is not, the area remains    263 removed, but the area is not, the area remains monitored by the
402 ``userfaultfd``, and if a page fault occurs in !! 264 userfaultfd, and if a page fault occurs in that area it will be
403 delivered to the manager. The proper resolutio    265 delivered to the manager. The proper resolution for such page fault is
404 to zeromap the faulting address. However, in t    266 to zeromap the faulting address. However, in the latter case, when an
405 area is unmapped, either explicitly (with munm    267 area is unmapped, either explicitly (with munmap() system call), or
406 implicitly (e.g. during mremap()), the area is    268 implicitly (e.g. during mremap()), the area is removed and in turn the
407 ``userfaultfd`` context for such area disappea !! 269 userfaultfd context for such area disappears too and the manager will
408 not get further userland page faults from the     270 not get further userland page faults from the removed area. Still, the
409 notification is required in order to prevent m    271 notification is required in order to prevent manager from using
410 ``UFFDIO_COPY`` on the unmapped area.          !! 272 UFFDIO_COPY on the unmapped area.
411                                                   273 
412 Unlike userland page faults which have to be s    274 Unlike userland page faults which have to be synchronous and require
413 explicit or implicit wakeup, all the events ar    275 explicit or implicit wakeup, all the events are delivered
414 asynchronously and the non-cooperative process    276 asynchronously and the non-cooperative process resumes execution as
415 soon as manager executes read(). The ``userfau !! 277 soon as manager executes read(). The userfaultfd manager should
416 carefully synchronize calls to ``UFFDIO_COPY`` !! 278 carefully synchronize calls to UFFDIO_COPY with the events
417 processing. To aid the synchronization, the `` !! 279 processing. To aid the synchronization, the UFFDIO_COPY ioctl will
418 return ``-ENOSPC`` when the monitored process  !! 280 return -ENOSPC when the monitored process exits at the time of
419 ``UFFDIO_COPY``, and ``-ENOENT``, when the non !! 281 UFFDIO_COPY, and -ENOENT, when the non-cooperative process has changed
420 its virtual memory layout simultaneously with  !! 282 its virtual memory layout simultaneously with outstanding UFFDIO_COPY
421 operation.                                        283 operation.
422                                                   284 
423 The current asynchronous model of the event de    285 The current asynchronous model of the event delivery is optimal for
424 single threaded non-cooperative ``userfaultfd` !! 286 single threaded non-cooperative userfaultfd manager implementations. A
425 synchronous event delivery model can be added     287 synchronous event delivery model can be added later as a new
426 ``userfaultfd`` feature to facilitate multithr !! 288 userfaultfd feature to facilitate multithreading enhancements of the
427 non cooperative manager, for example to allow  !! 289 non cooperative manager, for example to allow UFFDIO_COPY ioctls to
428 run in parallel to the event reception. Single    290 run in parallel to the event reception. Single threaded
429 implementations should continue to use the cur    291 implementations should continue to use the current async event
430 delivery model instead.                           292 delivery model instead.
                                                      

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