a89dfde3dc
This ensures that a NOP is a NOP and not a random other instruction that is also a NOP. It allows simplification of dynamic code patching that wants to verify existing code before writing new instructions (ftrace, jump_label, static_call, etc..). Differentiating on NOPs is not a feature. This pessimises 32bit (DONTCARE) and 32bit on 64bit CPUs (CARELESS). 32bit is not a performance target. Everything x86_64 since AMD K10 (2007) and Intel IvyBridge (2012) is fine with using NOPL (as opposed to prefix NOP). And per FEATURE_NOPL being required for x86_64, all x86_64 CPUs can use NOPL. So stop caring about NOPs, simplify things and get on with life. [ The problem seems to be that some uarchs can only decode NOPL on a single front-end port while others have severe decode penalties for excessive prefixes. All modern uarchs can handle both, except Atom, which has prefix penalties. ] [ Also, much doubt you can actually measure any of this on normal workloads. ] After this, FEATURE_NOPL is unused except for required-features for x86_64. FEATURE_K8 is only used for PTI. [ bp: Kernel build measurements showed ~0.3s slowdown on Sandybridge which is hardly a slowdown. Get rid of X86_FEATURE_K7, while at it. ] Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de> Acked-by: Alexei Starovoitov <alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com> # bpf Acked-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linuxfoundation.org> Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20210312115749.065275711@infradead.org
Linux kernel
============
There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.
In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``. The formatted documentation can also be read online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/
There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.