On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 12:26:17PM -0400, Peter Xu wrote: > On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 08:42:16AM -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote: > > > > Regarding the HVA, it's a bit confusing saying that it's guaranteed to be > > > > valid, and then contradicting that in the second clause. Maybe something > > > > like this to explain the GPA->HVA is guaranteed to be valid, but the > > > > HVA->HPA is not. > > > > > > > > /* > > > > * before use. Note, KVM internal memory slots are guaranteed to remain valid > > > > * and unchanged until the VM is destroyed, i.e. the GPA->HVA translation will > > > > * not change. However, the HVA is a user address, i.e. its accessibility is > > > > * not guaranteed, and must be accessed via __copy_{to,from}_user(). > > > > */ > > > > > > Sure I can switch to this, though note that I still think the GPA->HVA > > > is not guaranteed logically because the userspace can unmap any HVA it > > > wants.. > > > > You're conflating the GPA->HVA translation with the validity of the HVA, > > i.e. the HVA->HPA and/or HVA->VMA translation/association. GPA->HVA is > > guaranteed because userspace doesn't have access to the memslot which > > defines that transation. > > Yes I completely agree if you mean the pure mapping of GPA->HVA. > > I think it's a matter of how to define the "valid" when you say > "guaranteed to remain valid", because I don't think the mapping is > still valid from the most strict sense if e.g. the backing HVA does > not exist any more for that GPA->HVA mapping, then the memslot won't > be anything useful. Yes. That's why my proposed comment is worded to state that the _memslot_ will remain valid. It deliberately avoids mentioning "valid HVA".