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SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +================= +x86 Feature Flags +================= + +Introduction +============ + +The list of feature flags in /proc/cpuinfo is not complete and +represents an ill-fated attempt from long time ago to put feature flags +in an easy to find place for userspace. + +However, the number of feature flags is growing with each CPU generation, +leading to unparseable and unwieldy /proc/cpuinfo. + +What is more, those feature flags do not even need to be in that file +because userspace doesn't care about them - glibc et al already use +CPUID to find out what the target machine supports and what not. + +And even if it doesn't show a particular feature flag - although the CPU +still does have support for the respective hardware functionality and +said CPU supports CPUID faulting - userspace can simply probe for the +feature and figure out if it is supported or not, regardless of whether +it is being advertised somewhere. + +Furthermore, those flag strings become an ABI the moment they appear +there and maintaining them forever when nothing even uses them is a lot +of wasted effort. + +So, the current use of /proc/cpuinfo is to show features which the +kernel has *enabled* and *supports*. As in: the CPUID feature flag is +there, there's an additional setup which the kernel has done while +booting and the functionality is ready to use. A perfect example for +that is "user_shstk" where additional code enablement is present in the +kernel to support shadow stack for user programs. + +So, if users want to know if a feature is available on a given system, +they try to find the flag in /proc/cpuinfo. If a given flag is present, +it means that + +* the kernel knows about the feature enough to have an X86_FEATURE bit + +* the kernel supports it and is currently making it available either to + userspace or some other part of the kernel + +* if the flag represents a hardware feature the hardware supports it. + +The absence of a flag in /proc/cpuinfo by itself means almost nothing to +an end user. + +On the one hand, a feature like "vaes" might be fully available to user +applications on a kernel that has not defined X86_FEATURE_VAES and thus +there is no "vaes" in /proc/cpuinfo. + +On the other hand, a new kernel running on non-VAES hardware would also +have no "vaes" in /proc/cpuinfo. There's no way for an application or +user to tell the difference. + +The end result is that the flags field in /proc/cpuinfo is marginally +useful for kernel debugging, but not really for anything else. +Applications should instead use things like the glibc facilities for +querying CPU support. Users should rely on tools like +tools/arch/x86/kcpuid and cpuid(1). + +Regarding implementation, flags appearing in /proc/cpuinfo have an +X86_FEATURE definition in arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h. These flags +represent hardware features as well as software features. + +If the kernel cares about a feature or KVM want to expose the feature to +a KVM guest, it should only then expose it to the guest when the guest +needs to parse /proc/cpuinfo. Which, as mentioned above, is highly +unlikely. KVM can synthesize the CPUID bit and the KVM guest can simply +query CPUID and figure out what the hypervisor supports and what not. As +already stated, /proc/cpuinfo is not a dumping ground for useless +feature flags. + + +How are feature flags created? +============================== + +Feature flags can be derived from the contents of CPUID leaves +-------------------------------------------------------------- + +These feature definitions are organized mirroring the layout of CPUID +leaves and grouped in words with offsets as mapped in enum cpuid_leafs +in cpufeatures.h (see arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h for details). +If a feature is defined with a X86_FEATURE_<name> definition in +cpufeatures.h, and if it is detected at run time, the flags will be +displayed accordingly in /proc/cpuinfo. For example, the flag "avx2" +comes from X86_FEATURE_AVX2 in cpufeatures.h. + +Flags can be from scattered CPUID-based features +------------------------------------------------ + +Hardware features enumerated in sparsely populated CPUID leaves get +software-defined values. Still, CPUID needs to be queried to determine +if a given feature is present. This is done in init_scattered_cpuid_features(). +For instance, X86_FEATURE_CQM_LLC is defined as 11*32 + 0 and its presence is +checked at runtime in the respective CPUID leaf [EAX=f, ECX=0] bit EDX[1]. + +The intent of scattering CPUID leaves is to not bloat struct +cpuinfo_x86.x86_capability[] unnecessarily. For instance, the CPUID leaf +[EAX=7, ECX=0] has 30 features and is dense, but the CPUID leaf [EAX=7, EAX=1] +has only one feature and would waste 31 bits of space in the x86_capability[] +array. Since there is a struct cpuinfo_x86 for each possible CPU, the wasted +memory is not trivial. + +Flags can be created synthetically under certain conditions for hardware features +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Examples of conditions include whether certain features are present in +MSR_IA32_CORE_CAPS or specific CPU models are identified. If the needed +conditions are met, the features are enabled by the set_cpu_cap or +setup_force_cpu_cap macros. For example, if bit 5 is set in MSR_IA32_CORE_CAPS, +the feature X86_FEATURE_SPLIT_LOCK_DETECT will be enabled and +"split_lock_detect" will be displayed. The flag "ring3mwait" will be +displayed only when running on INTEL_XEON_PHI_[KNL|KNM] processors. + +Flags can represent purely software features +-------------------------------------------- +These flags do not represent hardware features. Instead, they represent a +software feature implemented in the kernel. For example, Kernel Page Table +Isolation is purely software feature and its feature flag X86_FEATURE_PTI is +also defined in cpufeatures.h. + +Naming of Flags +=============== + +The script arch/x86/kernel/cpu/mkcapflags.sh processes the +#define X86_FEATURE_<name> from cpufeatures.h and generates the +x86_cap/bug_flags[] arrays in kernel/cpu/capflags.c. The names in the +resulting x86_cap/bug_flags[] are used to populate /proc/cpuinfo. The naming +of flags in the x86_cap/bug_flags[] are as follows: + +Flags do not appear by default in /proc/cpuinfo +----------------------------------------------- + +Feature flags are omitted by default from /proc/cpuinfo as it does not make +sense for the feature to be exposed to userspace in most cases. For example, +X86_FEATURE_ALWAYS is defined in cpufeatures.h but that flag is an internal +kernel feature used in the alternative runtime patching functionality. So the +flag does not appear in /proc/cpuinfo. + +Specify a flag name if absolutely needed +---------------------------------------- + +If the comment on the line for the #define X86_FEATURE_* starts with a +double-quote character (""), the string inside the double-quote characters +will be the name of the flags. For example, the flag "sse4_1" comes from +the comment "sse4_1" following the X86_FEATURE_XMM4_1 definition. + +There are situations in which overriding the displayed name of the flag is +needed. For instance, /proc/cpuinfo is a userspace interface and must remain +constant. If, for some reason, the naming of X86_FEATURE_<name> changes, one +shall override the new naming with the name already used in /proc/cpuinfo. + +Flags are missing when one or more of these happen +================================================== + +The hardware does not enumerate support for it +---------------------------------------------- + +For example, when a new kernel is running on old hardware or the feature is +not enabled by boot firmware. Even if the hardware is new, there might be a +problem enabling the feature at run time, the flag will not be displayed. + +The kernel does not know about the flag +--------------------------------------- + +For example, when an old kernel is running on new hardware. + +The kernel disabled support for it at compile-time +-------------------------------------------------- + +For example, if Linear Address Masking (LAM) is not enabled when building (i.e., +CONFIG_ADDRESS_MASKING is not selected) the flag "lam" will not show up. +Even though the feature will still be detected via CPUID, the kernel disables +it by clearing via setup_clear_cpu_cap(X86_FEATURE_LAM). + +The feature is disabled at boot-time +------------------------------------ +A feature can be disabled either using a command-line parameter or because +it failed to be enabled. The command-line parameter clearcpuid= can be used +to disable features using the feature number as defined in +/arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeatures.h. For instance, User Mode Instruction +Protection can be disabled using clearcpuid=514. The number 514 is calculated +from #define X86_FEATURE_UMIP (16*32 + 2). + +In addition, there exists a variety of custom command-line parameters that +disable specific features. The list of parameters includes, but is not limited +to, nofsgsbase, nosgx, noxsave, etc. 5-level paging can also be disabled using +"no5lvl". + +The feature was known to be non-functional +------------------------------------------ + +The feature was known to be non-functional because a dependency was +missing at runtime. For example, AVX flags will not show up if XSAVE feature +is disabled since they depend on XSAVE feature. Another example would be broken +CPUs and them missing microcode patches. Due to that, the kernel decides not to +enable a feature. |