linux/Documentation/arm64/legacy_instructions.txt
Punit Agrawal c852f32058 arm64: Emulate CP15 Barrier instructions
The CP15 barrier instructions (CP15ISB, CP15DSB and CP15DMB) are
deprecated in the ARMv7 architecture, superseded by ISB, DSB and DMB
instructions respectively. Some implementations may provide the
ability to disable the CP15 barriers by disabling the CP15BEN bit in
SCTLR_EL1. If not enabled, the encodings for these instructions become
undefined.

To support legacy software using these instructions, this patch
register hooks to -
* emulate CP15 barriers and warn the user about their use
* toggle CP15BEN in SCTLR_EL1

Signed-off-by: Punit Agrawal <punit.agrawal@arm.com>
Reviewed-by: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
Signed-off-by: Will Deacon <will.deacon@arm.com>
2014-11-20 16:34:48 +00:00

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Status: Obsolete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