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diff --git a/docs/devel/replay.rst b/docs/devel/replay.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd8bf3b --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/devel/replay.rst @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +.. + Copyright (c) 2022, ISP RAS + Written by Pavel Dovgalyuk + +======================= +Execution Record/Replay +======================= + +Record/replay mechanism, that could be enabled through icount mode, expects +the virtual devices to satisfy the following requirements. + +The main idea behind this document is that everything that affects +the guest state during execution in icount mode should be deterministic. + +Timers +------ + +All virtual devices should use virtual clock for timers that change the guest +state. Virtual clock is deterministic, therefore such timers are deterministic +too. + +Virtual devices can also use realtime clock for the events that do not change +the guest state directly. When the clock ticking should depend on VM execution +speed, use virtual clock with EXTERNAL attribute. It is not deterministic, +but its speed depends on the guest execution. This clock is used by +the virtual devices (e.g., slirp routing device) that lie outside the +replayed guest. + +Bottom halves +------------- + +Bottom half callbacks, that affect the guest state, should be invoked through +replay_bh_schedule_event or replay_bh_schedule_oneshot_event functions. +Their invocations are saved in record mode and synchronized with the existing +log in replay mode. + +Saving/restoring the VM state +----------------------------- + +All fields in the device state structure (including virtual timers) +should be restored by loadvm to the same values they had before savevm. + +Avoid accessing other devices' state, because the order of saving/restoring +is not defined. It means that you should not call functions like +'update_irq' in post_load callback. Save everything explicitly to avoid +the dependencies that may make restoring the VM state non-deterministic. + +Stopping the VM +--------------- + +Stopping the guest should not interfere with its state (with the exception +of the network connections, that could be broken by the remote timeouts). +VM can be stopped at any moment of replay by the user. Restarting the VM +after that stop should not break the replay by the unneeded guest state change. |