On Tue, Oct 12, 2021 at 10:31:45AM -0700, Nadav Amit wrote: > > > > On Oct 12, 2021, at 3:16 AM, Peter Xu <peterx@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > On Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 01:54:22PM -0700, Nadav Amit wrote: > >> @@ -338,25 +344,25 @@ static unsigned long change_protection_range(struct vm_area_struct *vma, > >> struct mm_struct *mm = vma->vm_mm; > >> pgd_t *pgd; > >> unsigned long next; > >> - unsigned long start = addr; > >> unsigned long pages = 0; > >> + struct mmu_gather tlb; > >> > >> BUG_ON(addr >= end); > >> pgd = pgd_offset(mm, addr); > >> flush_cache_range(vma, addr, end); > >> inc_tlb_flush_pending(mm); > >> + tlb_gather_mmu(&tlb, mm); > >> + tlb_start_vma(&tlb, vma); > > > > Pure question: > > > > I actually have no idea why tlb_start_vma() is needed here, as protection range > > can be just a single page, but anyway.. I do see that tlb_start_vma() contains > > a whole-vma flush_cache_range() when the arch needs it, then does it mean that > > besides the inc_tlb_flush_pending() to be dropped, so as to the other call to > > flush_cache_range() above? > > Good point. > > tlb_start_vma() and tlb_end_vma() are required since some archs do not > batch TLB flushes across VMAs (e.g., ARM). Sorry I didn't follow here - as change_protection() is per-vma anyway, so I don't see why it needs to consider vma crossing. In all cases, it'll be great if you could add some explanation into commit message on why we need tlb_{start|end}_vma(), as I think it could not be obvious to all people. > I am not sure whether that’s the best behavior for all archs, but I do not > want to change it. > > Anyhow, you make a valid point that the flush_cache_range() should be > dropped as well. I will do so for next version. Thanks, -- Peter Xu