[PATCH v4 19/27] s390: Introduce Start Arm Execution instruction
Janosch Frank
frankja at linux.ibm.com
Mon Jul 6 04:17:02 PDT 2026
On 7/6/26 10:52, Steffen Eiden wrote:
> The Start Arm Execution (SAE) instruction is the centerpiece for
> executing arm64 (KVM) guests on s390. Its purpose is, similar to SIE, to
> enable accelerated execution of arm64 virtual machines. SAE expects the
> physical address of a control block as the only argument.
>
> The host is responsible to save & restore
> - GPRs 0-13
> - access register 0-15
> - breaking event register (BEAR)
> - vector/floating point registers
> between SAE executions to guarantee host consistency.
>
> GPRs and BEAR are save and restores in the asm functions. The other
> register are handled in within C code. Access registers are handled in a
> later patch and SVEs will be handled when they are introduced in a
> future series. Most arm64 registers are handled by a satellite block
> called save_area. Some registers, frequently used by hypervisors, are
> placed into the SAE control block itself.
>
> Enlighten asm/kvm_host_types.h for the new header variant. The new
> header is chosen instead of asm/kvm_host_s390_types.h if KVM_S390_ARM64
> is defined.
>
[...]
> + u64 gpr[31]; /* 0x0300 */
> + u64 _03f8; /* 0x03f8 */
> +
> + union {
> + u64 icptd[8]; /* 0x0400 */
> + /* validity-interception reason; icptr 0x01 */
> +#define SAE_VIR_UNKNOWN 0x00
> +#define SAE_VIR_UNSUPP_FORMAT 0x01
> +#define SAE_VIR_MSO_BOUNDS 0x02
> +#define SAE_VIR_MSLA 0x03
> +#define SAE_VIR_MGPAS 0x04
> +#define SAE_VIR_INVAL_SYSREG 0x05
> +#define SAE_VIR_HOST_CONTROL 0x06
> +#define SAE_VIR_SCA 0x07
> +#define SAE_VIR_MSO_ALIGN 0x08
> +#define SAE_VIR_HLC 0x09
> +#define SAE_VIR_IRPTC 0x0a
Will these ever be used for something?
> + u16 vir; /* 0x0400 */
> + /* host access interception details; icptr 0x02 */
> + struct {
> + u64 esr_elz; /* 0x0400 */
> + u8 _0408[6]; /* 0x0408 */
> + u16 pic; /* 0x040e */
> + union teid teid; /* 0x0410 */
> + gva_t far_elz; /* 0x0418 */
> + gva_t vaddr; /* 0x0420 */
> + u64 suppl; /* 0x0428 */
> + u8 gltl; /* 0x0430 */
> + u8 _0431[7]; /* 0x0431 */
> + u64 _0438; /* 0x0438 */
> + } hai;
> + /* exception-interception details; icptr 0x03 */
> + struct {
> + u64 esr_elz; /* 0x0400 */
> + u64 _0408[2]; /* 0x0408 */
> + gva_t far_elz; /* 0x0418 */
> + } trap;
> + /* timer-interception reason; icptr 0x04 */
> +#define SAE_IR_TIMER_ID_VIRT BIT(6)
> +#define SAE_IR_TIMER_ID_PHYS BIT(7)
> + u8 tir; /* 0x0400 */
> + };
> + u64 _0440[376]; /* 0x0440 */
> +} __packed __aligned(PAGE_SIZE);
> +static_assert(sizeof(struct kvm_sae_block) == PAGE_SIZE);
> +
[...]
> +#if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_KVM_ARM64)
> +/*
> + * __sae64a calling convention:
> + * %r2 pointer to sae control block physical address
> + */
> +SYM_FUNC_START(__sae64a)
> + stmg %r6,%r14,__SF_GPRS(%r15) # store kernel registers
> + STBEAR __SF_SAE_BEAR(%r15) # save breaking event address register
> + .insn rre,0xb9a50000,%r2,0 # Start Arm Execution
> +# Let the next instruction be NOP to avoid triggering a machine check
> +# and handling it in a guest as result of the instruction execution.
@Christian:
I have the feeling things got lost in translation when this comment was
written.
How would we trigger a MCHECK by having an instruction after SIE/SAE?
AFAIU this allows us to have a label which we can check in the mcheck
handler to decide who triggered the mcheck.
Without the label the comment and NOP are useless as far as I can see.
So we need to decide if this still applies and then either remove it or
add sae handling to mcck_int_handler and maybe other mcheck functions.
> + nopr 7
> + LBEAR __SF_SAE_BEAR(%r15) # restore breaking event address register
> + lmg %r6,%r14,__SF_GPRS(%r15) # restore kernel registers
> + xgr %r0,%r0 # clear guest registers to
> + xgr %r1,%r1 # prevent speculative use
> + xgr %r3,%r3
> + xgr %r2,%r2
> + xgr %r4,%r4
> + xgr %r5,%r5
> + BR_EX %r14
> +SYM_FUNC_END(__sae64a)
> +EXPORT_SYMBOL(__sae64a)
> +#endif
> +
> /*
> * SVC interrupt handler routine. System calls are synchronous events and
> * are entered with interrupts disabled.
> diff --git a/arch/s390/tools/opcodes.txt b/arch/s390/tools/opcodes.txt
> index def2659f6602..0e4773c94af0 100644
> --- a/arch/s390/tools/opcodes.txt
> +++ b/arch/s390/tools/opcodes.txt
> @@ -594,6 +594,9 @@ b9a0 clp RRF_U0RR
> b9a1 tpei RRE_RR
> b9a2 ptf RRE_R0
> b9a4 uvc RRF_URR
> +b9a5 sae RRE_R0
> +b9a6 lasrm RRE_R0
> +b9a7 stiasrm RRE_R0
> b9aa lptea RRF_RURR2
> b9ab essa RRF_U0RR
> b9ac irbm RRE_RR
More information about the linux-arm-kernel
mailing list