[PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary

Thomas Huth posted 5 patches 2 years, 11 months ago
There is a newer version of this series
[PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Thomas Huth 2 years, 11 months ago
Aside from not supporting KVM on 32-bit hosts, the qemu-system-x86_64
binary is a proper superset of the qemu-system-i386 binary. With the
32-bit host support being deprecated, it is now also possible to
deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary.

With regards to 32-bit KVM support in the x86 Linux kernel,
the developers confirmed that they do not need a recent
qemu-system-i386 binary here:

 https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/Y%2ffkTs5ajFy0hP1U@google.com/

Reviewed-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Wilfred Mallawa <wilfred.mallawa@wdc.com>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
---
 docs/about/deprecated.rst | 14 ++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
index 1ca9dc33d6..c4fcc6b33c 100644
--- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
+++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
@@ -34,6 +34,20 @@ deprecating the build option and no longer defend it in CI. The
 ``--enable-gcov`` build option remains for analysis test case
 coverage.
 
+``qemu-system-i386`` binary (since 8.0)
+'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+The ``qemu-system-i386`` binary was mainly useful for running with KVM
+on 32-bit x86 hosts, but most Linux distributions already removed their
+support for 32-bit x86 kernels, so hardly anybody still needs this. The
+``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary is a proper superset and can be used to
+run 32-bit guests by selecting a 32-bit CPU model, including KVM support
+on x86_64 hosts. Thus users are recommended to reconfigure their systems
+to use the ``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary instead. If a 32-bit CPU guest
+environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
+flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
+
+
 System emulator command line arguments
 --------------------------------------
 
-- 
2.31.1

Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Daniel P. Berrangé 2 years, 11 months ago
On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> Aside from not supporting KVM on 32-bit hosts, the qemu-system-x86_64
> binary is a proper superset of the qemu-system-i386 binary. With the
> 32-bit host support being deprecated, it is now also possible to
> deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary.
> 
> With regards to 32-bit KVM support in the x86 Linux kernel,
> the developers confirmed that they do not need a recent
> qemu-system-i386 binary here:
> 
>  https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/Y%2ffkTs5ajFy0hP1U@google.com/
> 
> Reviewed-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
> Reviewed-by: Wilfred Mallawa <wilfred.mallawa@wdc.com>
> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> ---
>  docs/about/deprecated.rst | 14 ++++++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> index 1ca9dc33d6..c4fcc6b33c 100644
> --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> @@ -34,6 +34,20 @@ deprecating the build option and no longer defend it in CI. The
>  ``--enable-gcov`` build option remains for analysis test case
>  coverage.
>  
> +``qemu-system-i386`` binary (since 8.0)
> +'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> +
> +The ``qemu-system-i386`` binary was mainly useful for running with KVM
> +on 32-bit x86 hosts, but most Linux distributions already removed their
> +support for 32-bit x86 kernels, so hardly anybody still needs this. The
> +``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary is a proper superset and can be used to
> +run 32-bit guests by selecting a 32-bit CPU model, including KVM support
> +on x86_64 hosts. Thus users are recommended to reconfigure their systems
> +to use the ``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary instead. If a 32-bit CPU guest
> +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
> +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.

I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
because we have code that changes the family/model/stepping for
'max' which is target dependent:

#ifdef TARGET_X86_64
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 15, &error_abort);
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 107, &error_abort);
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
#else
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 6, &error_abort);
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 6, &error_abort);
    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
#endif

The former is a 64-bit AMD model and the latter is a 32-bit model.

Seems LLVM was sensitive to this distinction to some extent:

   https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/191


A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
coming from in the code.

With regards,
Daniel
-- 
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Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Thomas Huth 2 years, 11 months ago
On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
>> +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
>> +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> 
> I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
[...]
> A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> coming from in the code.

I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
around line 637:

#ifdef TARGET_X86_64
#define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
#else
#define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
#endif

  Thomas

Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Daniel P. Berrangé 2 years, 11 months ago
On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:48:16PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
> > > +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
> > > +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> > 
> > I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
> [...]
> > A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> > the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> > coming from in the code.
> 
> I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
> around line 637:
> 
> #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
> #else
> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
> #endif

Hmm, so right now the difference between qemu-system-i386 and
qemu-system-x86_64 is based on compile time conditionals. So we
have the burden of building everything twice and also a burden
of testing everything twice.

If we eliminate qemu-system-i386 we get rid of our own burden,
but users/mgmt apps need to adapt to force qemu-system-x86_64
to present a 32-bit system.

What about if we had qemu-system-i386 be a hardlink to
qemu-system-x86_64, and then changed behaviour based off the
executed binary name ?

ie if running qemu-system-i386, we could present a 32-bit CPU by
default. We eliminate all of our double compilation burden still.
We still have extra testing burden, but it is in a fairly narrow
area, so does not imply x2 the testing burden just $small-percentage
extra testing ?  That would means apps/users would not need to change
at all, but we still get most of the win we're after on the
QEMU side 

Essentially #ifdef TARGET_X86_64  would be change  'if (is_64bit) {...}'
in a handful of places, with 'bool is_64bit' initialized in main() from
argv[0] ?

With regards,
Daniel
-- 
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|: https://libvirt.org         -o-            https://fstop138.berrange.com :|
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Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Philippe Mathieu-Daudé 2 years, 11 months ago
On 6/3/23 15:06, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:48:16PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
>>> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>>>> [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
>>>> +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
>>>> +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
>>>
>>> I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
>> [...]
>>> A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
>>> the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
>>> coming from in the code.
>>
>> I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
>> around line 637:
>>
>> #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
>> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
>> #else
>> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
>> #endif
> 
> Hmm, so right now the difference between qemu-system-i386 and
> qemu-system-x86_64 is based on compile time conditionals. So we
> have the burden of building everything twice and also a burden
> of testing everything twice.
> 
> If we eliminate qemu-system-i386 we get rid of our own burden,
> but users/mgmt apps need to adapt to force qemu-system-x86_64
> to present a 32-bit system.
> 
> What about if we had qemu-system-i386 be a hardlink to
> qemu-system-x86_64, and then changed behaviour based off the
> executed binary name ?
> 
> ie if running qemu-system-i386, we could present a 32-bit CPU by
> default. We eliminate all of our double compilation burden still.
> We still have extra testing burden, but it is in a fairly narrow
> area, so does not imply x2 the testing burden just $small-percentage
> extra testing ?  That would means apps/users would not need to change
> at all, but we still get most of the win we're after on the
> QEMU side
> 
> Essentially #ifdef TARGET_X86_64  would be change  'if (is_64bit) {...}'
> in a handful of places, with 'bool is_64bit' initialized in main() from
> argv[0] ?

That is what Alex suggested me to do with ARM binaries as a prototype
of unifying 32/64-bit binaries, avoiding to break users scripts.

Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Thomas Huth 2 years, 11 months ago
On 06/03/2023 15.06, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:48:16PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
>>> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>>>> [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
>>>> +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
>>>> +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
>>>
>>> I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
>> [...]
>>> A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
>>> the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
>>> coming from in the code.
>>
>> I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
>> around line 637:
>>
>> #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
>> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
>> #else
>> #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
>> #endif
> 
> Hmm, so right now the difference between qemu-system-i386 and
> qemu-system-x86_64 is based on compile time conditionals. So we
> have the burden of building everything twice and also a burden
> of testing everything twice.
> 
> If we eliminate qemu-system-i386 we get rid of our own burden,
> but users/mgmt apps need to adapt to force qemu-system-x86_64
> to present a 32-bit system.
> 
> What about if we had qemu-system-i386 be a hardlink to
> qemu-system-x86_64, and then changed behaviour based off the
> executed binary name ?

We could also simply provide a shell script that runs:

  qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu qemu32 $*

... that'd sounds like the simplest solution to me.

  Thomas


Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Daniel P. Berrangé 2 years, 11 months ago
On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 03:18:23PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 06/03/2023 15.06, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:48:16PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > > > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > > > [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
> > > > > +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
> > > > > +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> > > > 
> > > > I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
> > > [...]
> > > > A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> > > > the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> > > > coming from in the code.
> > > 
> > > I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
> > > around line 637:
> > > 
> > > #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
> > > #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
> > > #else
> > > #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
> > > #endif
> > 
> > Hmm, so right now the difference between qemu-system-i386 and
> > qemu-system-x86_64 is based on compile time conditionals. So we
> > have the burden of building everything twice and also a burden
> > of testing everything twice.
> > 
> > If we eliminate qemu-system-i386 we get rid of our own burden,
> > but users/mgmt apps need to adapt to force qemu-system-x86_64
> > to present a 32-bit system.
> > 
> > What about if we had qemu-system-i386 be a hardlink to
> > qemu-system-x86_64, and then changed behaviour based off the
> > executed binary name ?
> 
> We could also simply provide a shell script that runs:
> 
>  qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu qemu32 $*
> 
> ... that'd sounds like the simplest solution to me.

That woudn't do the right thing if the user ran 'qemu-system-i386 -cpu max'
because their '-cpu max' would override the -cpu arg in the shell script
that forced 32-bit mode.


With regards,
Daniel
-- 
|: https://berrange.com      -o-    https://www.flickr.com/photos/dberrange :|
|: https://libvirt.org         -o-            https://fstop138.berrange.com :|
|: https://entangle-photo.org    -o-    https://www.instagram.com/dberrange :|

Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Daniel P. Berrangé 2 years, 11 months ago
On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:25:46PM +0000, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 03:18:23PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > On 06/03/2023 15.06, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 02:48:16PM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > > On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > > > > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > > > > [...] If a 32-bit CPU guest
> > > > > > +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
> > > > > > +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
> > > > [...]
> > > > > A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> > > > > the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> > > > > coming from in the code.
> > > > 
> > > > I think I just spotted this by accident in target/i386/cpu.c
> > > > around line 637:
> > > > 
> > > > #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
> > > > #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES (CPUID_EXT2_SYSCALL | CPUID_EXT2_LM)
> > > > #else
> > > > #define TCG_EXT2_X86_64_FEATURES 0
> > > > #endif
> > > 
> > > Hmm, so right now the difference between qemu-system-i386 and
> > > qemu-system-x86_64 is based on compile time conditionals. So we
> > > have the burden of building everything twice and also a burden
> > > of testing everything twice.
> > > 
> > > If we eliminate qemu-system-i386 we get rid of our own burden,
> > > but users/mgmt apps need to adapt to force qemu-system-x86_64
> > > to present a 32-bit system.
> > > 
> > > What about if we had qemu-system-i386 be a hardlink to
> > > qemu-system-x86_64, and then changed behaviour based off the
> > > executed binary name ?
> > 
> > We could also simply provide a shell script that runs:
> > 
> >  qemu-system-x86_64 -cpu qemu32 $*
> > 
> > ... that'd sounds like the simplest solution to me.
> 
> That woudn't do the right thing if the user ran 'qemu-system-i386 -cpu max'
> because their '-cpu max' would override the -cpu arg in the shell script
> that forced 32-bit mode.

It would also fail to work with SELinux, because policy restrictions
doesn't allow for an intermediate wrapper script to exec binaries.

With regards,
Daniel
-- 
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Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Thomas Huth 2 years, 11 months ago
On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
>> Aside from not supporting KVM on 32-bit hosts, the qemu-system-x86_64
>> binary is a proper superset of the qemu-system-i386 binary. With the
>> 32-bit host support being deprecated, it is now also possible to
>> deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary.
>>
>> With regards to 32-bit KVM support in the x86 Linux kernel,
>> the developers confirmed that they do not need a recent
>> qemu-system-i386 binary here:
>>
>>   https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/Y%2ffkTs5ajFy0hP1U@google.com/
>>
>> Reviewed-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
>> Reviewed-by: Wilfred Mallawa <wilfred.mallawa@wdc.com>
>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
>> ---
>>   docs/about/deprecated.rst | 14 ++++++++++++++
>>   1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)
>>
>> diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
>> index 1ca9dc33d6..c4fcc6b33c 100644
>> --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
>> +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
>> @@ -34,6 +34,20 @@ deprecating the build option and no longer defend it in CI. The
>>   ``--enable-gcov`` build option remains for analysis test case
>>   coverage.
>>   
>> +``qemu-system-i386`` binary (since 8.0)
>> +'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
>> +
>> +The ``qemu-system-i386`` binary was mainly useful for running with KVM
>> +on 32-bit x86 hosts, but most Linux distributions already removed their
>> +support for 32-bit x86 kernels, so hardly anybody still needs this. The
>> +``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary is a proper superset and can be used to
>> +run 32-bit guests by selecting a 32-bit CPU model, including KVM support
>> +on x86_64 hosts. Thus users are recommended to reconfigure their systems
>> +to use the ``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary instead. If a 32-bit CPU guest
>> +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
>> +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> 
> I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
> because we have code that changes the family/model/stepping for
> 'max' which is target dependent:
> 
> #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 15, &error_abort);
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 107, &error_abort);
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
> #else
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 6, &error_abort);
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 6, &error_abort);
>      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
> #endif
> 
> The former is a 64-bit AMD model and the latter is a 32-bit model.
> 
> Seems LLVM was sensitive to this distinction to some extent:
> 
>     https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/191
> 
> A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> coming from in the code.

Ugh, ok. I gave it a quick try with a patch like this:

diff --git a/target/i386/cpu.c b/target/i386/cpu.c
--- a/target/i386/cpu.c
+++ b/target/i386/cpu.c
@@ -4344,15 +4344,15 @@ static void max_x86_cpu_initfn(Object *obj)
       */
      object_property_set_str(OBJECT(cpu), "vendor", CPUID_VENDOR_AMD,
                              &error_abort);
-#ifdef TARGET_X86_64
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 15, &error_abort);
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 107, &error_abort);
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
-#else
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 6, &error_abort);
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 6, &error_abort);
-    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
-#endif
+    if (object_property_get_bool(obj, "lm", &error_abort)) {
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "family", 15, &error_abort);
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "model", 107, &error_abort);
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
+    } else {
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "family", 6, &error_abort);
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "model", 6, &error_abort);
+        object_property_set_int(obj, "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
+    }
      object_property_set_str(OBJECT(cpu), "model-id",
                              "QEMU TCG CPU version " QEMU_HW_VERSION,
                              &error_abort);

... but it seems like the "lm" property is not initialized
there yet, so this does not work... :-/

Giving that we have soft-freeze tomorrow, let's ignore this patch
for now and revisit this topic during the 8.1 cycle. But I'll
queue the other 4 patches to get some pressure out of our CI
during the freeze time.

  Thomas

Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] docs/about/deprecated: Deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary
Posted by Daniel P. Berrangé 2 years, 11 months ago
On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 10:54:15AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> On 06/03/2023 10.27, Daniel P. Berrangé wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:46:55AM +0100, Thomas Huth wrote:
> > > Aside from not supporting KVM on 32-bit hosts, the qemu-system-x86_64
> > > binary is a proper superset of the qemu-system-i386 binary. With the
> > > 32-bit host support being deprecated, it is now also possible to
> > > deprecate the qemu-system-i386 binary.
> > > 
> > > With regards to 32-bit KVM support in the x86 Linux kernel,
> > > the developers confirmed that they do not need a recent
> > > qemu-system-i386 binary here:
> > > 
> > >   https://lore.kernel.org/kvm/Y%2ffkTs5ajFy0hP1U@google.com/
> > > 
> > > Reviewed-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
> > > Reviewed-by: Wilfred Mallawa <wilfred.mallawa@wdc.com>
> > > Signed-off-by: Thomas Huth <thuth@redhat.com>
> > > ---
> > >   docs/about/deprecated.rst | 14 ++++++++++++++
> > >   1 file changed, 14 insertions(+)
> > > 
> > > diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> > > index 1ca9dc33d6..c4fcc6b33c 100644
> > > --- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> > > +++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
> > > @@ -34,6 +34,20 @@ deprecating the build option and no longer defend it in CI. The
> > >   ``--enable-gcov`` build option remains for analysis test case
> > >   coverage.
> > > +``qemu-system-i386`` binary (since 8.0)
> > > +'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
> > > +
> > > +The ``qemu-system-i386`` binary was mainly useful for running with KVM
> > > +on 32-bit x86 hosts, but most Linux distributions already removed their
> > > +support for 32-bit x86 kernels, so hardly anybody still needs this. The
> > > +``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary is a proper superset and can be used to
> > > +run 32-bit guests by selecting a 32-bit CPU model, including KVM support
> > > +on x86_64 hosts. Thus users are recommended to reconfigure their systems
> > > +to use the ``qemu-system-x86_64`` binary instead. If a 32-bit CPU guest
> > > +environment should be enforced, you can switch off the "long mode" CPU
> > > +flag, e.g. with ``-cpu max,lm=off``.
> > 
> > I had the idea to check this today and this is not quite sufficient,
> > because we have code that changes the family/model/stepping for
> > 'max' which is target dependent:
> > 
> > #ifdef TARGET_X86_64
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 15, &error_abort);
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 107, &error_abort);
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
> > #else
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 6, &error_abort);
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 6, &error_abort);
> >      object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
> > #endif
> > 
> > The former is a 64-bit AMD model and the latter is a 32-bit model.
> > 
> > Seems LLVM was sensitive to this distinction to some extent:
> > 
> >     https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu/-/issues/191
> > 
> > A further difference is that qemy-system-i686 does not appear to enable
> > the 'syscall' flag, but I've not figured out where that difference is
> > coming from in the code.
> 
> Ugh, ok. I gave it a quick try with a patch like this:
> 
> diff --git a/target/i386/cpu.c b/target/i386/cpu.c
> --- a/target/i386/cpu.c
> +++ b/target/i386/cpu.c
> @@ -4344,15 +4344,15 @@ static void max_x86_cpu_initfn(Object *obj)
>       */
>      object_property_set_str(OBJECT(cpu), "vendor", CPUID_VENDOR_AMD,
>                              &error_abort);
> -#ifdef TARGET_X86_64
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 15, &error_abort);
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 107, &error_abort);
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
> -#else
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "family", 6, &error_abort);
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "model", 6, &error_abort);
> -    object_property_set_int(OBJECT(cpu), "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
> -#endif
> +    if (object_property_get_bool(obj, "lm", &error_abort)) {
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "family", 15, &error_abort);
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "model", 107, &error_abort);
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "stepping", 1, &error_abort);
> +    } else {
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "family", 6, &error_abort);
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "model", 6, &error_abort);
> +        object_property_set_int(obj, "stepping", 3, &error_abort);
> +    }
>      object_property_set_str(OBJECT(cpu), "model-id",
>                              "QEMU TCG CPU version " QEMU_HW_VERSION,
>                              &error_abort);
> 
> ... but it seems like the "lm" property is not initialized
> there yet, so this does not work... :-/
> 
> Giving that we have soft-freeze tomorrow, let's ignore this patch
> for now and revisit this topic during the 8.1 cycle. But I'll
> queue the other 4 patches to get some pressure out of our CI
> during the freeze time.

Yep, makes sense.

More generally the whole impl of the 'max' CPU feels somewhat
questionable even for qemu-system-i386. It exposes all features
that TCG supports. A large set of these features never existed
on *any* 32-bit silicon. Hands up who has seen 32-bit silicon
with AVX2 support ? From a correctness POV we should have
capped CPU features in some manner. Given the lack of interest
in 32-bit though, we've ignored the problem and it likely does
not affect apps anyway as they're not likely to be looking for
newish features.

With regards,
Daniel
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