linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] arm64/io: Remind compiler that there is a memory side effect

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Date:   Sun, 3 Apr 2022 09:47:47 +0200
From:   Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>
To:     Andrew Pinski <pinskia@...il.com>
Cc:     Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>,
        Jeremy Linton <jeremy.linton@....com>,
        GCC Mailing List <gcc@....gnu.org>, f.fainelli@...il.com,
        maz@...nel.org, marcan@...can.st,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>, opendmb@...il.com,
        Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>, will@...nel.org,
        linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] arm64/io: Remind compiler that there is a memory side effect

On Sun, 3 Apr 2022 at 09:47, Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org> wrote:
>
> On Sun, 3 Apr 2022 at 09:38, Andrew Pinski <pinskia@...il.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 1, 2022 at 10:24 AM Mark Rutland via Gcc <gcc@....gnu.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Jeremy,
> > >
> > > Thanks for raising this.
> > >
> > > On Fri, Apr 01, 2022 at 11:44:06AM -0500, Jeremy Linton wrote:
> > > > The relaxed variants of read/write macros are only declared
> > > > as `asm volatile()` which forces the compiler to generate the
> > > > instruction in the code path as intended. The only problem
> > > > is that it doesn't also tell the compiler that there may
> > > > be memory side effects. Meaning that if a function is comprised
> > > > entirely of relaxed io operations, the compiler may think that
> > > > it only has register side effects and doesn't need to be called.
> > >
> > > As I mentioned on a private mail, I don't think that reasoning above is
> > > correct, and I think this is a miscompilation (i.e. a compiler bug).
> > >
> > > The important thing is that any `asm volatile` may have a side effects
> > > generally outside of memory or GPRs, and whether the assembly contains a memory
> > > load/store is immaterial. We should not need to add a memory clobber in order
> > > to retain the volatile semantic.
> > >
> > > See:
> > >
> > >   https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Extended-Asm.html#Volatile
> > >
> > > ... and consider the x86 example that reads rdtsc, or an arm64 sequence like:
> > >
> > > | void do_sysreg_thing(void)
> > > | {
> > > |       unsigned long tmp;
> > > |
> > > |       tmp = read_sysreg(some_reg);
> > > |       tmp |= SOME_BIT;
> > > |       write_sysreg(some_reg);
> > > | }
> > >
> > > ... where there's no memory that we should need to hazard against.
> > >
> > > This patch might workaround the issue, but I don't believe it is a correct fix.
> >
> > It might not be the most restricted fix but it is a fix.
> > The best fix is to tell that you are writing to that location of memory.
> > volatile asm does not do what you think it does.
> > You didn't read further down about memory clobbers:
> > https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Extended-Asm.html#Clobbers-and-Scratch-Registers
> > Specifically this part:
> > The "memory" clobber tells the compiler that the assembly code
> > performs memory reads or writes to items other than those listed in
> > the input and output operands
> >
>
> So should we be using "m"(*addr) instead of "r"(addr) here?
>
> (along with the appropriately sized casts)

I mean "=m" not "m"