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x86/pat: Document the PAT initialization sequence

Update PAT documentation to describe how PAT is initialized under
various configurations.

Signed-off-by: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@hpe.com>
Reviewed-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>
Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com>
Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Luis R. Rodriguez <mcgrof@suse.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Toshi Kani <toshi.kani@hp.com>
Cc: elliott@hpe.com
Cc: konrad.wilk@oracle.com
Cc: paul.gortmaker@windriver.com
Cc: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1458769323-24491-8-git-send-email-toshi.kani@hpe.com
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Toshi Kani 9 years ago
parent
commit
b6350c21cf
1 changed files with 32 additions and 0 deletions
  1. 32 0
      Documentation/x86/pat.txt

+ 32 - 0
Documentation/x86/pat.txt

@@ -196,3 +196,35 @@ Another, more verbose way of getting PAT related debug messages is with
 "debugpat" boot parameter. With this parameter, various debug messages are
 "debugpat" boot parameter. With this parameter, various debug messages are
 printed to dmesg log.
 printed to dmesg log.
 
 
+PAT Initialization
+------------------
+
+The following table describes how PAT is initialized under various
+configurations. The PAT MSR must be updated by Linux in order to support WC
+and WT attributes. Otherwise, the PAT MSR has the value programmed in it
+by the firmware. Note, Xen enables WC attribute in the PAT MSR for guests.
+
+ MTRR PAT   Call Sequence               PAT State  PAT MSR
+ =========================================================
+ E    E     MTRR -> PAT init            Enabled    OS
+ E    D     MTRR -> PAT init            Disabled    -
+ D    E     MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ D    D     MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled    -
+ -    np/E  PAT  -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ -    np/D  PAT  -> PAT disable         Disabled    -
+ E    !P/E  MTRR -> PAT init            Disabled   BIOS
+ D    !P/E  MTRR -> PAT disable         Disabled   BIOS
+ !M   !P/E  MTRR stub -> PAT disable    Disabled   BIOS
+
+ Legend
+ ------------------------------------------------
+ E         Feature enabled in CPU
+ D	   Feature disabled/unsupported in CPU
+ np	   "nopat" boot option specified
+ !P	   CONFIG_X86_PAT option unset
+ !M	   CONFIG_MTRR option unset
+ Enabled   PAT state set to enabled
+ Disabled  PAT state set to disabled
+ OS        PAT initializes PAT MSR with OS setting
+ BIOS      PAT keeps PAT MSR with BIOS setting
+