[Bug 535373] [NEW] kvm disabled-by-bios flag should be displayed in /proc/cpuinfo

[Dustin Kirkland]

Public bug reported:

The kvm-ok utility helps users determine if their hardware is capable of
running hardware accelerated KVM virtual machines.

The easy part of the check is looking for (vmx|svm) in /proc/cpuinfo.

This is not entirely sufficient, however, as users (or OEMs) can disable
VT arbitrarily in BIOS, rendering VT unusable.  However, the kernel
continues printing (vmx|svm) to /proc/cpuinfo's flags.

The kvm module detects this, though, on module load, and adds a printk
to dmesg:

[   15.147129] kvm: disabled by bios

The dmesg log is not ideal, obviously, as these logs roll eventually.

Furthermore, the story in /proc/cpuinfo is clearly not the full picture.

What is needed, then, is the display of an additional flag in
/proc/cpuinfo, noting that svm_disabled|vmx_disabled, when the kernel
determines that this is so.

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Wishlist
         Status: Triaged

** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided => Wishlist

** Changed in: linux (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Triaged

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kvm disabled-by-bios flag should be displayed in /proc/cpuinfo
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/535373
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