kvm: Add support for thread-specific instruction events

Instruction events are currently ignored when executing in KVM. This
changeset adds support for triggering KVM exits based on instruction
counts using hardware performance counters. Depending on the
underlying performance counter implementation, there might be some
inaccuracies due to instructions being counted in the host kernel when
entering/exiting KVM.

Due to limitations/bugs in Linux's performance counter interface, we
can't reliably change the period of an overflow counter. We work
around this issue by detaching and reattaching the counter if we need
to reconfigure it.

1 files changed, 54 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/src/cpu/kvm/base.hh b/src/cpu/kvm/base.hh
index 3c299ce4e..103808365 100644
--- a/src/cpu/kvm/base.hh
+++ b/src/cpu/kvm/base.hh
@@ -53,6 +53,9 @@
 /** Signal to use to trigger time-based exits from KVM */
 #define KVM_TIMER_SIGNAL SIGRTMIN
 
+/** Signal to use to trigger instruction-based exits from KVM */
+#define KVM_INST_SIGNAL (SIGRTMIN+1)
+
 // forward declarations
 class ThreadContext;
 struct BaseKvmCPUParams;
@@ -615,9 +618,6 @@ class BaseKvmCPU : public BaseCPU
      */
     bool discardPendingSignal(int signum) const;
 
-    /** Setup hardware performance counters */
-    void setupCounters();
-
     /** Try to drain the CPU if a drain is pending */
     bool tryDrain();
 
@@ -647,11 +647,59 @@ class BaseKvmCPU : public BaseCPU
 
     TickEvent tickEvent;
 
+    /**
+     * Setup an instruction break if there is one pending.
+     *
+     * Check if there are pending instruction breaks in the CPU's
+     * instruction event queue and schedule an instruction break using
+     * PerfEvent.
+     *
+     * @note This method doesn't currently handle the main system
+     * instruction event queue.
+     */
+    void setupInstStop();
+
     /** @{ */
-    /** Guest performance counters */
+    /** Setup hardware performance counters */
+    void setupCounters();
+
+    /**
+     * Setup the guest instruction counter.
+     *
+     * Setup the guest instruction counter and optionally request a
+     * signal every N instructions executed by the guest. This method
+     * will re-attach the counter if the counter has already been
+     * attached and its sampling settings have changed.
+     *
+     * @param period Signal period, set to 0 to disable signaling.
+     */
+    void setupInstCounter(uint64_t period = 0);
+
+    /** Currently active instruction count breakpoint */
+    uint64_t activeInstPeriod;
+
+    /**
+     * Guest cycle counter.
+     *
+     * This is the group leader of all performance counters measuring
+     * the guest system. It can be used in conjunction with the
+     * PerfKvmTimer (see perfControlledByTimer) to trigger exits from
+     * KVM.
+     */
     PerfKvmCounter hwCycles;
+
+    /**
+     * Guest instruction counter.
+     *
+     * This counter is typically only used to measure the number of
+     * instructions executed by the guest. However, it can also be
+     * used to trigger exits from KVM if the configuration script
+     * requests an exit after a certain number of instructions.
+     *
+     * @see setupInstBreak
+     * @see scheduleInstStop
+     */
     PerfKvmCounter hwInstructions;
-    /** @} */
 
     /**
      * Does the runTimer control the performance counters?
@@ -661,6 +709,7 @@ class BaseKvmCPU : public BaseCPU
      * exits.
      */
     bool perfControlledByTimer;
+    /** @} */
 
     /**
      * Timer used to force execution into the monitor after a