[v3,27/38] arm64: Avoid cpus_have_const_cap() for ARM64_SSBS

Commit Message

Mark Rutland Oct. 10, 2023, 10:31 a.m. UTC

In ssbs_thread_switch() we use cpus_have_const_cap() to check for
ARM64_SSBS, but this is not necessary and alternative_has_cap_*() would
be preferable.

For historical reasons, cpus_have_const_cap() is more complicated than
it needs to be. Before cpucaps are finalized, it will perform a bitmap
test of the system_cpucaps bitmap, and once cpucaps are finalized it
will use an alternative branch. This used to be necessary to handle some
race conditions in the window between cpucap detection and the
subsequent patching of alternatives and static branches, where different
branches could be out-of-sync with one another (or w.r.t. alternative
sequences). Now that we use alternative branches instead of static
branches, these are all patched atomically w.r.t. one another, and there
are only a handful of cases that need special care in the window between
cpucap detection and alternative patching.

Due to the above, it would be nice to remove cpus_have_const_cap(), and
migrate callers over to alternative_has_cap_*(), cpus_have_final_cap(),
or cpus_have_cap() depending on when their requirements. This will
remove redundant instructions and improve code generation, and will make
it easier to determine how each callsite will behave before, during, and
after alternative patching.

The cpus_have_const_cap() check in ssbs_thread_switch() is an
optimization to avoid the overhead of
spectre_v4_enable_task_mitigation() where all CPUs implement SSBS and
naturally preserve the SSBS bit in SPSR_ELx. In the window between
detecting the ARM64_SSBS system-wide and patching alternative branches
it is benign to continue to call spectre_v4_enable_task_mitigation().

This patch replaces the use of cpus_have_const_cap() with
alternative_has_cap_unlikely(), which will avoid generating code to test
the system_cpucaps bitmap and should be better for all subsequent calls
at runtime.

Signed-off-by: Mark Rutland <[e-mail]>
Cc: Catalin Marinas <[e-mail]>
Cc: Marc Zyngier <[e-mail]>
Cc: Suzuki K Poulose <[e-mail]>
Cc: Will Deacon <[e-mail]>
---
 arch/arm64/kernel/process.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Patch

diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
index 0fcc4eb1a7abc..657ea273c0f9b 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/process.c
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@  static void ssbs_thread_switch(struct task_struct *next)
 	 * If all CPUs implement the SSBS extension, then we just need to
 	 * context-switch the PSTATE field.
 	 */
-	if (cpus_have_const_cap(ARM64_SSBS))
+	if (alternative_has_cap_unlikely(ARM64_SSBS))
 		return;
 
 	spectre_v4_enable_task_mitigation(next);