[PATCH -tip 0/3] x86/asm: Use generic asm operand modifiers instead of %P in asm templates

Uros Bizjak posted 3 patches 1 year, 10 months ago
arch/x86/boot/main.c                 |  4 ++--
arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h   | 22 +++++++++++-----------
arch/x86/include/asm/apic.h          |  2 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_32.h   |  2 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h    |  4 ++--
arch/x86/include/asm/irq_stack.h     |  2 +-
arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  6 +++---
arch/x86/include/asm/special_insns.h |  4 ++--
arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h       |  4 ++--
9 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)
[PATCH -tip 0/3] x86/asm: Use generic asm operand modifiers instead of %P in asm templates
Posted by Uros Bizjak 1 year, 10 months ago
The "P" asm operand modifier is a x86 target-specific modifier.

For x86_64, when used with a symbol reference, the "P" modifier
emits "sym" instead of "sym(%rip)". When used with a constant, the
"P" modifier emits "cst" instead of "$cst". This property is used to
emit bare symbol references and bare constants without all
syntax-specific prefixes.

The generic "c", "n" and "a" operand modifiers should be used instead.
The following table shows the modifiers supported by all targets and
their effects:

Modifier    Description
-----------------------------------------------------------
'c'         Require a constant operand and print the
            constant expression with no punctuation.
'n'         Like '%c' except that the value of the constant
            is negated before printing.
'a'         Substitute a memory reference, with the actual
            operand treated as the address.  This may be
            useful when outputting a "load address"
            instruction, because often the assembler syntax
            for such an instruction requires you to write
            the operand as if it were a memory reference.

Also note that unlike GCC, clang emits %rip-relative symbol
reference with "P" asm operand modifier, so the patch also unifies
symbol handling with both compilers.

No functional changes intended.

Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com>
Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>

Uros Bizjak (3):
  x86/asm: Remove %P operand modifier from altinstr asm templates
  x86/asm: Use %c/%n instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates
  x86/asm: Use %a instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates

 arch/x86/boot/main.c                 |  4 ++--
 arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h   | 22 +++++++++++-----------
 arch/x86/include/asm/apic.h          |  2 +-
 arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_32.h   |  2 +-
 arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h    |  4 ++--
 arch/x86/include/asm/irq_stack.h     |  2 +-
 arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  6 +++---
 arch/x86/include/asm/special_insns.h |  4 ++--
 arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h       |  4 ++--
 9 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)

-- 
2.44.0
Re: [PATCH -tip 0/3] x86/asm: Use generic asm operand modifiers instead of %P in asm templates
Posted by Brian Gerst 1 year, 10 months ago
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 6:44 AM Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The "P" asm operand modifier is a x86 target-specific modifier.
>
> For x86_64, when used with a symbol reference, the "P" modifier
> emits "sym" instead of "sym(%rip)". When used with a constant, the
> "P" modifier emits "cst" instead of "$cst". This property is used to
> emit bare symbol references and bare constants without all
> syntax-specific prefixes.
>
> The generic "c", "n" and "a" operand modifiers should be used instead.
> The following table shows the modifiers supported by all targets and
> their effects:
>
> Modifier    Description
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> 'c'         Require a constant operand and print the
>             constant expression with no punctuation.
> 'n'         Like '%c' except that the value of the constant
>             is negated before printing.
> 'a'         Substitute a memory reference, with the actual
>             operand treated as the address.  This may be
>             useful when outputting a "load address"
>             instruction, because often the assembler syntax
>             for such an instruction requires you to write
>             the operand as if it were a memory reference.
>
> Also note that unlike GCC, clang emits %rip-relative symbol
> reference with "P" asm operand modifier, so the patch also unifies
> symbol handling with both compilers.
>
> No functional changes intended.
>
> Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com>
> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
> Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com>
> Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com>
> Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
> Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
> Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
> Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
>
> Uros Bizjak (3):
>   x86/asm: Remove %P operand modifier from altinstr asm templates
>   x86/asm: Use %c/%n instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates
>   x86/asm: Use %a instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates
>
>  arch/x86/boot/main.c                 |  4 ++--
>  arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h   | 22 +++++++++++-----------
>  arch/x86/include/asm/apic.h          |  2 +-
>  arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_32.h   |  2 +-
>  arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h    |  4 ++--
>  arch/x86/include/asm/irq_stack.h     |  2 +-
>  arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  6 +++---
>  arch/x86/include/asm/special_insns.h |  4 ++--
>  arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h       |  4 ++--
>  9 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)
>
> --
> 2.44.0
>

My one concern is does this work with older compilers?  Technically,
GCC 5.1 is still supported.  I seem to recall some issues around these
modifiers in the past, but don't remember any details.  Otherwise,
it's a nice cleanup.


Brian Gerst
Re: [PATCH -tip 0/3] x86/asm: Use generic asm operand modifiers instead of %P in asm templates
Posted by Uros Bizjak 1 year, 10 months ago
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 2:10 PM Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 6:44 AM Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > The "P" asm operand modifier is a x86 target-specific modifier.
> >
> > For x86_64, when used with a symbol reference, the "P" modifier
> > emits "sym" instead of "sym(%rip)". When used with a constant, the
> > "P" modifier emits "cst" instead of "$cst". This property is used to
> > emit bare symbol references and bare constants without all
> > syntax-specific prefixes.
> >
> > The generic "c", "n" and "a" operand modifiers should be used instead.
> > The following table shows the modifiers supported by all targets and
> > their effects:
> >
> > Modifier    Description
> > -----------------------------------------------------------
> > 'c'         Require a constant operand and print the
> >             constant expression with no punctuation.
> > 'n'         Like '%c' except that the value of the constant
> >             is negated before printing.
> > 'a'         Substitute a memory reference, with the actual
> >             operand treated as the address.  This may be
> >             useful when outputting a "load address"
> >             instruction, because often the assembler syntax
> >             for such an instruction requires you to write
> >             the operand as if it were a memory reference.
> >
> > Also note that unlike GCC, clang emits %rip-relative symbol
> > reference with "P" asm operand modifier, so the patch also unifies
> > symbol handling with both compilers.
> >
> > No functional changes intended.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com>
> > Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
> > Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com>
> > Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com>
> > Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
> > Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
> > Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
> > Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
> > Cc: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
> >
> > Uros Bizjak (3):
> >   x86/asm: Remove %P operand modifier from altinstr asm templates
> >   x86/asm: Use %c/%n instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates
> >   x86/asm: Use %a instead of %P operand modifier in asm templates
> >
> >  arch/x86/boot/main.c                 |  4 ++--
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/alternative.h   | 22 +++++++++++-----------
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/apic.h          |  2 +-
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_32.h   |  2 +-
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/cpufeature.h    |  4 ++--
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/irq_stack.h     |  2 +-
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h     |  6 +++---
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/special_insns.h |  4 ++--
> >  arch/x86/include/asm/uaccess.h       |  4 ++--
> >  9 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 25 deletions(-)
> >
> > --
> > 2.44.0
> >
>
> My one concern is does this work with older compilers?  Technically,
> GCC 5.1 is still supported.  I seem to recall some issues around these
> modifiers in the past, but don't remember any details.  Otherwise,
> it's a nice cleanup.

It will work. Please see [1] for a testcase.

[1] https://godbolt.org/z/eb6rcz8YW

Uros.
Re: [PATCH -tip 0/3] x86/asm: Use generic asm operand modifiers instead of %P in asm templates
Posted by Borislav Petkov 1 year, 10 months ago
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 11:40:11AM +0100, Uros Bizjak wrote:
> The "P" asm operand modifier is a x86 target-specific modifier.
> 
> For x86_64, when used with a symbol reference, the "P" modifier
> emits "sym" instead of "sym(%rip)". When used with a constant, the
> "P" modifier emits "cst" instead of "$cst". This property is used to
> emit bare symbol references and bare constants without all
> syntax-specific prefixes.
> 
> The generic "c", "n" and "a" operand modifiers should be used instead.
> The following table shows the modifiers supported by all targets and
> their effects:
> 
> Modifier    Description
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> 'c'         Require a constant operand and print the
>             constant expression with no punctuation.
> 'n'         Like '%c' except that the value of the constant
>             is negated before printing.
> 'a'         Substitute a memory reference, with the actual
>             operand treated as the address.  This may be
>             useful when outputting a "load address"
>             instruction, because often the assembler syntax
>             for such an instruction requires you to write
>             the operand as if it were a memory reference.
> 
> Also note that unlike GCC, clang emits %rip-relative symbol
> reference with "P" asm operand modifier, so the patch also unifies
> symbol handling with both compilers.

FTR, I really appreciate the clear explanations of the operand modifiers
along with an example in the commit messages. What they really do and
what they mean have caused some serious head-scratching in the past, up
to the point where I went through gcc sources with Matz' help to figure
out what some of them do.

So thanks!

:-)

-- 
Regards/Gruss,
    Boris.

https://people.kernel.org/tglx/notes-about-netiquette