Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v3 3/4] target-ppc: ppc can be either endian

[Greg Kurz]

On Wed, 7 May 2014 11:41:10 +0200
Alexander Graf <address@hidden> wrote:

> 
> 
> > Am 07.05.2014 um 11:26 schrieb Peter Maydell <address@hidden>:
> > 
> >> On 7 May 2014 10:09, Alexander Graf <address@hidden> wrote:
> >> I don't think we should overengineer hacks for legacy virtio.
> > 
> > Agreed. So what's our final conclusion: virtio endianness
> > is the endianness of the guest kernel at the point where
> > it triggers a reset of the virtio device, yes?
> 
> I just realized we're talking about virtio in a non-virtio thread. This patch 
> set is about core dump support which is different from virtio bi-endian 
> support. While both may end up at the same logic, I don't like the idea to 
> mix them. This function is PPC internal.
> 
> Alex
> 

Correct and now I have this feeling about using LPCR_ILE versus MSR_LE...

LPCR_ILE reflects the interrupt vector endianness. It is set during early boot
by the guest kernel according to the desired endianness. MSR_LE gives the
current endian mode for the cpu.

The idea is that you need to rely on LPCR_ILE when you peek from the host
because you lack context and MSR_LE may be have been temporarily changed.
This is clearly the case for dump support.

Now when it comes to virtio, we cache the endianness at device reset time: 
MSR_LE from
current_cpu should reflect the guest kernel endianness, no ?

In this case we could end up like what's being currently discussed with ARM:

http://www.spinics.net/lists/kvm-arm/msg09099.html
http://www.spinics.net/lists/kvm-arm/msg09091.html

Alex,

If we agree that current_cpu->MSR_LE does the job when the guest kernel resets
the device, then I guess we don't even need this patch...

-- 
Gregory Kurz                                     address@hidden
                                                 address@hidden
Software Engineer @ IBM/Meiosys                  http://www.ibm.com
Tel +33 (0)562 165 496

"Anarchy is about taking complete responsibility for yourself."
        Alan Moore.