linux/Documentation/frv/kernel-ABI.txt
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   1                        =================================
   2                        INTERNAL KERNEL ABI FOR FR-V ARCH
   3                        =================================
   4
   5The internal FRV kernel ABI is not quite the same as the userspace ABI. A
   6number of the registers are used for special purposed, and the ABI is not
   7consistent between modules vs core, and MMU vs no-MMU.
   8
   9This partly stems from the fact that FRV CPUs do not have a separate
  10supervisor stack pointer, and most of them do not have any scratch
  11registers, thus requiring at least one general purpose register to be
  12clobbered in such an event. Also, within the kernel core, it is possible to
  13simply jump or call directly between functions using a relative offset.
  14This cannot be extended to modules for the displacement is likely to be too
  15far. Thus in modules the address of a function to call must be calculated
  16in a register and then used, requiring two extra instructions.
  17
  18This document has the following sections:
  19
  20 (*) System call register ABI
  21 (*) CPU operating modes
  22 (*) Internal kernel-mode register ABI
  23 (*) Internal debug-mode register ABI
  24 (*) Virtual interrupt handling
  25
  26
  27========================
  28SYSTEM CALL REGISTER ABI
  29========================
  30
  31When a system call is made, the following registers are effective:
  32
  33        REGISTERS       CALL                    RETURN
  34        =============== ======================= =======================
  35        GR7             System call number      Preserved
  36        GR8             Syscall arg #1          Return value
  37        GR9-GR13        Syscall arg #2-6        Preserved
  38
  39
  40===================
  41CPU OPERATING MODES
  42===================
  43
  44The FR-V CPU has three basic operating modes. In order of increasing
  45capability:
  46
  47  (1) User mode.
  48
  49      Basic userspace running mode.
  50
  51  (2) Kernel mode.
  52
  53      Normal kernel mode. There are many additional control registers
  54      available that may be accessed in this mode, in addition to all the
  55      stuff available to user mode. This has two submodes:
  56
  57      (a) Exceptions enabled (PSR.T == 1).
  58
  59          Exceptions will invoke the appropriate normal kernel mode
  60          handler. On entry to the handler, the PSR.T bit will be cleared.
  61
  62      (b) Exceptions disabled (PSR.T == 0).
  63
  64          No exceptions or interrupts may happen. Any mandatory exceptions
  65          will cause the CPU to halt unless the CPU is told to jump into
  66          debug mode instead.
  67
  68  (3) Debug mode.
  69
  70      No exceptions may happen in this mode. Memory protection and
  71      management exceptions will be flagged for later consideration, but
  72      the exception handler won't be invoked. Debugging traps such as
  73      hardware breakpoints and watchpoints will be ignored. This mode is
  74      entered only by debugging events obtained from the other two modes.
  75
  76      All kernel mode registers may be accessed, plus a few extra debugging
  77      specific registers.
  78
  79
  80=================================
  81INTERNAL KERNEL-MODE REGISTER ABI
  82=================================
  83
  84There are a number of permanent register assignments that are set up by
  85entry.S in the exception prologue. Note that there is a complete set of
  86exception prologues for each of user->kernel transition and kernel->kernel
  87transition. There are also user->debug and kernel->debug mode transition
  88prologues.
  89
  90
  91        REGISTER        FLAVOUR USE
  92        =============== ======= ==============================================
  93        GR1                     Supervisor stack pointer
  94        GR15                    Current thread info pointer
  95        GR16                    GP-Rel base register for small data
  96        GR28                    Current exception frame pointer (__frame)
  97        GR29                    Current task pointer (current)
  98        GR30                    Destroyed by kernel mode entry
  99        GR31            NOMMU   Destroyed by debug mode entry
 100        GR31            MMU     Destroyed by TLB miss kernel mode entry
 101        CCR.ICC2                Virtual interrupt disablement tracking
 102        CCCR.CC3                Cleared by exception prologue 
 103                                (atomic op emulation)
 104        SCR0            MMU     See mmu-layout.txt.
 105        SCR1            MMU     See mmu-layout.txt.
 106        SCR2            MMU     Save for EAR0 (destroyed by icache insns 
 107                                               in debug mode)
 108        SCR3            MMU     Save for GR31 during debug exceptions
 109        DAMR/IAMR       NOMMU   Fixed memory protection layout.
 110        DAMR/IAMR       MMU     See mmu-layout.txt.
 111
 112
 113Certain registers are also used or modified across function calls:
 114
 115        REGISTER        CALL                            RETURN
 116        =============== =============================== ======================
 117        GR0             Fixed Zero                      -
 118        GR2             Function call frame pointer
 119        GR3             Special                         Preserved
 120        GR3-GR7         -                               Clobbered
 121        GR8             Function call arg #1            Return value 
 122                                                        (or clobbered)
 123        GR9             Function call arg #2            Return value MSW 
 124                                                        (or clobbered)
 125        GR10-GR13       Function call arg #3-#6         Clobbered
 126        GR14            -                               Clobbered
 127        GR15-GR16       Special                         Preserved
 128        GR17-GR27       -                               Preserved
 129        GR28-GR31       Special                         Only accessed 
 130                                                        explicitly
 131        LR              Return address after CALL       Clobbered
 132        CCR/CCCR        -                               Mostly Clobbered
 133
 134
 135================================
 136INTERNAL DEBUG-MODE REGISTER ABI
 137================================
 138
 139This is the same as the kernel-mode register ABI for functions calls. The
 140difference is that in debug-mode there's a different stack and a different
 141exception frame. Almost all the global registers from kernel-mode
 142(including the stack pointer) may be changed.
 143
 144        REGISTER        FLAVOUR USE
 145        =============== ======= ==============================================
 146        GR1                     Debug stack pointer
 147        GR16                    GP-Rel base register for small data
 148        GR31                    Current debug exception frame pointer 
 149                                (__debug_frame)
 150        SCR3            MMU     Saved value of GR31
 151
 152
 153Note that debug mode is able to interfere with the kernel's emulated atomic
 154ops, so it must be exceedingly careful not to do any that would interact
 155with the main kernel in this regard. Hence the debug mode code (gdbstub) is
 156almost completely self-contained. The only external code used is the
 157sprintf family of functions.
 158
 159Furthermore, break.S is so complicated because single-step mode does not
 160switch off on entry to an exception. That means unless manually disabled,
 161single-stepping will blithely go on stepping into things like interrupts.
 162See gdbstub.txt for more information.
 163
 164
 165==========================
 166VIRTUAL INTERRUPT HANDLING
 167==========================
 168
 169Because accesses to the PSR is so slow, and to disable interrupts we have
 170to access it twice (once to read and once to write), we don't actually
 171disable interrupts at all if we don't have to. What we do instead is use
 172the ICC2 condition code flags to note virtual disablement, such that if we
 173then do take an interrupt, we note the flag, really disable interrupts, set
 174another flag and resume execution at the point the interrupt happened.
 175Setting condition flags as a side effect of an arithmetic or logical
 176instruction is really fast. This use of the ICC2 only occurs within the
 177kernel - it does not affect userspace.
 178
 179The flags we use are:
 180
 181 (*) CCR.ICC2.Z [Zero flag]
 182
 183     Set to virtually disable interrupts, clear when interrupts are
 184     virtually enabled. Can be modified by logical instructions without
 185     affecting the Carry flag.
 186
 187 (*) CCR.ICC2.C [Carry flag]
 188
 189     Clear to indicate hardware interrupts are really disabled, set otherwise.
 190
 191
 192What happens is this:
 193
 194 (1) Normal kernel-mode operation.
 195
 196        ICC2.Z is 0, ICC2.C is 1.
 197
 198 (2) An interrupt occurs. The exception prologue examines ICC2.Z and
 199     determines that nothing needs doing. This is done simply with an
 200     unlikely BEQ instruction.
 201
 202 (3) The interrupts are disabled (local_irq_disable)
 203
 204        ICC2.Z is set to 1.
 205
 206 (4) If interrupts were then re-enabled (local_irq_enable):
 207
 208        ICC2.Z would be set to 0.
 209
 210     A TIHI #2 instruction (trap #2 if condition HI - Z==0 && C==0) would
 211     be used to trap if interrupts were now virtually enabled, but
 212     physically disabled - which they're not, so the trap isn't taken. The
 213     kernel would then be back to state (1).
 214
 215 (5) An interrupt occurs. The exception prologue examines ICC2.Z and
 216     determines that the interrupt shouldn't actually have happened. It
 217     jumps aside, and there disabled interrupts by setting PSR.PIL to 14
 218     and then it clears ICC2.C.
 219
 220 (6) If interrupts were then saved and disabled again (local_irq_save):
 221
 222        ICC2.Z would be shifted into the save variable and masked off 
 223        (giving a 1).
 224
 225        ICC2.Z would then be set to 1 (thus unchanged), and ICC2.C would be
 226        unaffected (ie: 0).
 227
 228 (7) If interrupts were then restored from state (6) (local_irq_restore):
 229
 230        ICC2.Z would be set to indicate the result of XOR'ing the saved
 231        value (ie: 1) with 1, which gives a result of 0 - thus leaving
 232        ICC2.Z set.
 233
 234        ICC2.C would remain unaffected (ie: 0).
 235
 236     A TIHI #2 instruction would be used to again assay the current state,
 237     but this would do nothing as Z==1.
 238
 239 (8) If interrupts were then enabled (local_irq_enable):
 240
 241        ICC2.Z would be cleared. ICC2.C would be left unaffected. Both
 242        flags would now be 0.
 243
 244     A TIHI #2 instruction again issued to assay the current state would
 245     then trap as both Z==0 [interrupts virtually enabled] and C==0
 246     [interrupts really disabled] would then be true.
 247
 248 (9) The trap #2 handler would simply enable hardware interrupts 
 249     (set PSR.PIL to 0), set ICC2.C to 1 and return.
 250
 251(10) Immediately upon returning, the pending interrupt would be taken.
 252
 253(11) The interrupt handler would take the path of actually processing the
 254     interrupt (ICC2.Z is clear, BEQ fails as per step (2)).
 255
 256(12) The interrupt handler would then set ICC2.C to 1 since hardware
 257     interrupts are definitely enabled - or else the kernel wouldn't be here.
 258
 259(13) On return from the interrupt handler, things would be back to state (1).
 260
 261This trap (#2) is only available in kernel mode. In user mode it will
 262result in SIGILL.
 263