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x86, mpx: Update documentation

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I was writing some MPX test programs and realized that the
current design makes it tricky.  I did something like:

	bndcfgu |= bnd_dir | BNDCFGU_ENABLE;
	xrstor();
	printf("xrstor done");
	// #BR bounds exception here
	prctl(MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT);

and then compiled the app with "-fcheck-pointer-bounds -mmpx"
to enable MPX instrumentation.

The problem is that there is MPX instrumentation inserted in
to the area of the printf().  The kernel gets a bounds exception
and since management isn't yet enabled, it SIGSEGV's.

Add a bit to the documentation to explain a way around this and
where apps need to be careful.

Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave@sr71.net>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/20141212183835.8C581B3E@viggo.jf.intel.com
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
This commit is contained in:
Dave Hansen 2014-12-12 10:38:35 -08:00 committed by Thomas Gleixner
parent e10abb2f77
commit 010e593b14
1 changed files with 9 additions and 3 deletions
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12
Documentation/x86/intel_mpx.txt
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@ -30,9 +30,15 @@ is how we expect the compiler, application and kernel to work together.
instrumentation as well as some setup code called early after the app
starts. New instruction prefixes are noops for old CPUs.
2) That setup code allocates (virtual) space for the "bounds directory",
points the "bndcfgu" register to the directory and notifies the kernel
(via the new prctl(PR_MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT)) that the app will be using
MPX.
points the "bndcfgu" register to the directory (must also set the valid
bit) and notifies the kernel (via the new prctl(PR_MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT))
that the app will be using MPX. The app must be careful not to access
the bounds tables between the time when it populates "bndcfgu" and
when it calls the prctl(). This might be hard to guarantee if the app
is compiled with MPX. You can add "__attribute__((bnd_legacy))" to
the function to disable MPX instrumentation to help guarantee this.
Also be careful not to call out to any other code which might be
MPX-instrumented.
3) The kernel detects that the CPU has MPX, allows the new prctl() to
succeed, and notes the location of the bounds directory. Userspace is
expected to keep the bounds directory at that locationWe note it