[libvirt] running Libvirt from source code, IPC_LOCK and VFIO

[Yuval Shaia]

On Fri, Feb 01, 2019 at 07:40:36PM -0200, Daniel Henrique Barboza wrote:
> Update: I've figured it out.
> 
> The bug here was that, even running as root, I was getting errors like:
> 
> error : virQEMUCapsNewForBinaryInternal:4687 : internal error: Failed to
> probe QEMU binary with
> QMP: libvirt:  error : prctl failed to enable 'dac_override' in the AMBIENT
> set:
> Operation not permitted
> 
> The reason is that the host has libcap-ng installed. ./configure uses it if
> available,
> setting WITH_CAPNG in the code. I am unsure if this has something to do with
> the libcap-ng configuration in this system I'm using or if there is
> something
> missing in the Libvirt code, but the spawned QEMU process isn't inheriting
> the
> capabilities it should have.
> 
> Disabling support of this lib with "--with-capng=no" in autogen.sh and
> rebuilding Libvirt fixed the problem. I was even able to see more NUMA
> nodes than I was before using the system libvirt (which is the original
> bug I am/was investigating).
> 
> 
> Thanks!
> 

Hey Daniel,
I had the same problem with Mellanox RDMA device as backend for pvrdma
device where the mlx5 driver also enforces CAP_IPC_LOCK.

So at first i use this as a workaround but i knew that it is not a final
approach as it makes a wrong use of memory.
<memoryBacking>
  <locked/>
</memoryBacking>

Anyways, your tip helps so wanted to say thanks!

Yuval

> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2/1/19 4:04 PM, Daniel Henrique Barboza wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I'm facing a strange behavior when running Libvirt from source code,
> > latest upstream, on an Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS Power 9 server. My QEMU
> > guest - which is using VFIO and GPU passthrough - breaks on boot when
> > trying to allocate a DMA window inside KVM.
> > 
> > Debugging the code, I've found out that the problem is related to the
> > process
> > not having CAP_IPC_LOCK - at least from the host kernel perspective.
> > 
> > This is strange because:
> > 
> > - the same VM running directly from QEMU command line works
> > - the same VM running in the system Libvirt (v4.0.0, Ubuntu version)
> > also works
> > 
> > What am I missing? My understanding on Linux process is that a process
> > running as root should inherit the same capabilities of the user, which
> > includes
> > CAP_IPC_LOCK. Running Libvirt from source code should grant ipc_lock
> > to it ... right?
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Any help is appreciated. I can provide more details (VM XML for example)
> > if necessary.
> > 
> > 
> > Thanks!
> 

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