2014-11-18 11:41:24 +00:00
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The arm64 port of the Linux kernel provides infrastructure to support
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emulation of instructions which have been deprecated, or obsoleted in
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the architecture. The infrastructure code uses undefined instruction
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hooks to support emulation. Where available it also allows turning on
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the instruction execution in hardware.
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The emulation mode can be controlled by writing to sysctl nodes
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(/proc/sys/abi). The following explains the different execution
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behaviours and the corresponding values of the sysctl nodes -
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* Undef
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Value: 0
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Generates undefined instruction abort. Default for instructions that
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have been obsoleted in the architecture, e.g., SWP
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* Emulate
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Value: 1
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Uses software emulation. To aid migration of software, in this mode
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usage of emulated instruction is traced as well as rate limited
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warnings are issued. This is the default for deprecated
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instructions, .e.g., CP15 barriers
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* Hardware Execution
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Value: 2
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Although marked as deprecated, some implementations may support the
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enabling/disabling of hardware support for the execution of these
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instructions. Using hardware execution generally provides better
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performance, but at the loss of ability to gather runtime statistics
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about the use of the deprecated instructions.
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The default mode depends on the status of the instruction in the
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architecture. Deprecated instructions should default to emulation
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while obsolete instructions must be undefined by default.
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2014-11-18 11:41:25 +00:00
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Supported legacy instructions
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-----------------------------
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* SWP{B}
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Node: /proc/sys/abi/swp
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Status: Obsolete
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Default: Undef (0)
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2014-11-18 11:41:26 +00:00
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* CP15 Barriers
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Node: /proc/sys/abi/cp15_barrier
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Status: Deprecated
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Default: Emulate (1)
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