LIBUNWIND-IA64(3) Programming Library LIBUNWIND-IA64(3)
NAME
libunwind-ia64 -- IA-64-specific support in libunwind
INTRODUCTION
The IA-64 version of libunwind uses a platform-string of ia64 and, at
least in theory, should be able to support all operating systems adher-
ing to the processor-specific ABI defined for the Itanium Processor
Family. This includes both little-endian Linux and big-endian HP-UX.
Furthermore, to make it possible for a single library to unwind both
32- and 64-bit targets, the type unw_word_t is always defined to be 64
bits wide (independent of the natural word-size of the host). Having
said that, the current implementation has been tested only with IA-64
Linux.
When targeting IA-64, the libunwind header file defines the macro
UNW_TARGET_IA64 as 1 and the macro UNW_TARGET as ``ia64'' (without the
quotation marks). The former makes it possible for platform-dependent
unwind code to use conditional-compilation to select an appropriate im-
plementation. The latter is useful for stringification purposes and to
construct target-platform-specific symbols.
One special feature of IA-64 is the use of NaT bits to support specula-
tive execution. Often, NaT bits are thought of as the ``65-th bit'' of
a general register. However, to make everything fit into 64-bit wide
unw_word_t values, libunwind treats the NaT-bits like separate boolean
registers, whose 64-bit value is either TRUE (non-zero) or FALSE
(zero).
MACHINE-STATE
The machine-state (set of registers) that is accessible through libun-
wind depends on the type of stack frame that a cursor points to. For
normal frames, all ``preserved'' (callee-saved) registers are accessi-
ble. For signal-trampoline frames, all registers (including ``scratch''
(caller-saved) registers) are accessible. Most applications do not have
to worry a-priori about which registers are accessible when. In case of
doubt, it is always safe to try to access a register (via unw_get_reg()
or unw_get_fpreg()) and if the register isn't accessible, the call will
fail with a return-value of -UNW_EBADREG.
As a special exception to the above general rule, scratch registers
r15-r18 are always accessible, even in normal frames. This makes it
possible to pass arguments, e.g., to exception handlers.
For a detailed description of the IA-64 register usage convention,
please see the ``Itanium Software Conventions and Runtime Architecture
Guide'', available at:
http://www.intel.com/design/itanium/downloads/245358.htm
REGISTER NAMES
The IA-64-version of libunwind defines three kinds of register name
macros: frame-register macros, normal register macros, and convenience
macros. Below, we describe each kind in turn:
FRAME-REGISTER MACROS
Frame-registers are special (pseudo) registers because they always have
a valid value, even though sometimes they do not get saved explicitly
(e.g., if a memory stack frame is 16 bytes in size, the previous
stack-pointer value can be calculated simply as sp+16, so there is no
need to save the stack-pointer explicitly). Moreover, the set of frame
register values uniquely identifies a stack frame. The IA-64 architec-
ture defines two stacks (a memory and a register stack). Including the
instruction-pointer (IP), this means there are three frame registers:
UNW_IA64_IP:
Contains the instruction pointer (IP, or ``program counter'')
of the current stack frame. Given this value, the remaining ma-
chine-state corresponds to the register-values that were present
in the CPU when it was just about to execute the instruction
pointed to by UNW_IA64_IP. Bits 0 and 1 of this frame-register
encode the slot number of the instruction. Note: Due to the way
the call instruction works on IA-64, the slot number is usually
zero, but can be non-zero, e.g., in the stack-frame of a sig-
nal-handler trampoline.
UNW_IA64_SP:
Contains the (memory) stack-pointer value (SP).
UNW_IA64_BSP:
Contains the register backing-store pointer (BSP). Note: the
value in this register is equal to the contents of register
ar.bsp at the time the instruction at UNW_IA64_IP was about to
begin execution.
NORMAL REGISTER MACROS
The following normal register name macros are available:
UNW_IA64_GR:
The base-index for general (integer) registers. Add an index in
the range from 0..127 to get a particular general register. For
example, to access r4, the index UNW_IA64_GR+4 should be used.
Registers r0 and r1 (gp) are read-only, and any attempt to write
them will result in an error (-UNW_EREADONLYREG). Even though
r1 is read-only, libunwind will automatically adjust its value
if the instruction-pointer (UNW_IA64_IP) is modified. For exam-
ple, if UNW_IA64_IP is set to a value inside a function func(),
then reading UNW_IA64_GR+1 will return the global-pointer value
for this function.
UNW_IA64_NAT:
The base-index for the NaT bits of the general (integer) regis-
ters. A non-zero value in these registers corresponds to a set
NaT-bit. Add an index in the range from 0..127 to get a particu-
lar NaT-bit register. For example, to access the NaT bit of r4,
the index UNW_IA64_NAT+4 should be used.
UNW_IA64_FR:
The base-index for floating-point registers. Add an index in
the range from 0..127 to get a particular floating-point regis-
ter. For example, to access f2, the index UNW_IA64_FR+2 should
be used. Registers f0 and f1 are read-only, and any attempt to
write to indices UNW_IA64_FR+0 or UNW_IA64_FR+1 will result in
an error (-UNW_EREADONLYREG).
UNW_IA64_AR:
The base-index for application registers. Add an index in the
range from 0..127 to get a particular application register. For
example, to access ar40, the index UNW_IA64_AR+40 should be
used. The IA-64 architecture defines several application regis-
ters as ``reserved for future use''. Attempting to access such
registers results in an error (-UNW_EBADREG).
UNW_IA64_BR:
The base-index for branch registers. Add an index in the range
from 0..7 to get a particular branch register. For example, to
access b6, the index UNW_IA64_BR+6 should be used.
UNW_IA64_PR:
Contains the set of predicate registers. This 64-bit wide reg-
ister contains registers p0 through p63 in the ``broad-side''
format. Just like with the ``move predicates'' instruction, the
registers are mapped as if CFM.rrb.pr were set to 0. Thus, in
general the value of predicate register pN with N>=16 can be
found in bit 16 + ((N-16)+CFM.rrb.pr) % 48.
UNW_IA64_CFM:
Contains the current-frame-mask register.
CONVENIENCE MACROS
Convenience macros are simply aliases for certain frequently used reg-
isters:
UNW_IA64_GP:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+1, the global-pointer register.
UNW_IA64_TP:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+13, the thread-pointer register.
UNW_IA64_AR_RSC:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+16, the register-stack configuration reg-
ister.
UNW_IA64_AR_BSP:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+17. This register index accesses the
value of register ar.bsp as of the time it was last saved ex-
plicitly. This is rarely what you want. Normally, you'll want to
use UNW_IA64_BSP instead.
UNW_IA64_AR_BSPSTORE:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+18, the register-backing store write
pointer.
UNW_IA64_AR_RNAT:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+19, the register-backing store NaT-col-
lection register.
UNW_IA64_AR_CCV:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+32, the compare-and-swap value register.
UNW_IA64_AR_CSD:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+25, the compare-and-swap-data register
(used by 16-byte atomic operations).
UNW_IA64_AR_UNAT:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+36, the user NaT-collection register.
UNW_IA64_AR_FPSR:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+40, the floating-point status (and con-
trol) register.
UNW_IA64_AR_PFS:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+64, the previous frame-state register.
UNW_IA64_AR_LC:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+65 the loop-count register.
UNW_IA64_AR_EC:
Alias for UNW_IA64_GR+66, the epilogue-count register.
THE UNWIND-CONTEXT TYPE
On IA-64, unw_context_t is simply an alias for ucontext_t (as defined
by the Single UNIX Spec). This implies that it is possible to initial-
ize a value of this type not just with unw_getcontext(), but also with
getcontext(), for example. However, since this is an IA-64-specific ex-
tension to libunwind, portable code should not rely on this equiva-
lence.
SEE ALSO
libunwind(3)
AUTHOR
David Mosberger-Tang
Email: dmosberger@gmail.com
WWW: http://www.nongnu.org/libunwind/.
Programming Library 16 August 2007 LIBUNWIND-IA64(3)
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