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    SubjectRe: [PATCH] Add I/O hypercalls for i386 paravirt
    On Tue, Aug 21, 2007 at 10:23:14PM -0700, Zachary Amsden wrote:
    > In general, I/O in a virtual guest is subject to performance problems.
    > The I/O can not be completed physically, but must be virtualized. This
    > means trapping and decoding port I/O instructions from the guest OS.
    > Not only is the trap for a #GP heavyweight, both in the processor and
    > the hypervisor (which usually has a complex #GP path), but this forces
    > the hypervisor to decode the individual instruction which has faulted.

    Is that really that expensive? Hard to imagine.

    e.g. you could always have a fast check for inb/outb at the beginning
    of the #GP handler. And is your initial #GP entry really more expensive
    than a hypercall?

    > Worse, even with hardware assist such as VT, the exit reason alone is
    > not sufficient to determine the true nature of the faulting instruction,
    > requiring a complex and costly instruction decode and simulation.

    It's unclear to me why that should be that costly.

    Worst case it's a switch()

    -Andi
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