qemu+nvmm problem

netbsdnoob

Hello all, I am trying to install qemu and use nvmm to
virtualize a GNU/Linux environment but when I try to launch the related atf tests I get 2 failures.

Some information on my setup:
CPU: Intel 686-class (4) GPU: Mesa DRI Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
uname -a shows:

NetBSD T450s 9.3 NetBSD 9.3 (GENERIC) #0: Thu Aug  4 15:30:37 UTC 2022  mkrepro@mkrepro.NetBSD.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC amd64

After having done a:

doas pkgin in qemu

I read the MESSAGE which suggested to load the nvmm module (which I did)
and run the tests by executing:

atf-run | atf-report

Which reports this:

Tests root: /usr/tests/lib/libnvmm

t_io_assist (1/2): 1 test cases
    io_assist: [0.041984s] Failed: I/O Assist failed with errno 13
[0.042140s]

t_mem_assist (2/2): 1 test cases
    mem_assist: [0.034370s] Failed: Mem Assist failed with errno 13
[0.034520s]

Failed test cases:
    t_io_assist:io_assist, t_mem_assist:mem_assist

Summary for 2 test programs:
    0 passed test cases.
    2 failed test cases.
    0 expected failed test cases.
    0 skipped test cases.

So I stopped here and was wondering if anybody could help me understand what is the issue here
and how can I solve it.

Any idea?

dressupgeekout

It's entirely possible that there is a bug in the tests themselves. If QEMU with -accel nvmm works for you, then, well, you're good.

I bet the recommendation in the MESSAGE to run ATF tests comes from the days when NVMM was, like, super brand new and didn't work for everyone.

I think a more practical test to make sure things are properly configured would just be a simple nvmmctl list and/or nvmmctl identify. You'd get a very loud error message in case the virtualization features of your CPU aren't enabled in the BIOS.

TL;DR don't let that test output stop you from even trying to use QEMU.