The decoder is responsible for splitting instructions in micro
operations (uops). Given that different micro architectures may split
operations differently, this patch allows to specify which micro
architecture each isa implements, so different cores in the system can
split instructions differently, also decoupling uop splitting
(microArch) from ISA (Arch). This is done making the decodification
calls templates that receive a type 'DecoderFlavour' that maps the
name of the operation to the class that implements it. This way there
is only one selection point (converting the command line enum to the
appropriate DecodeFeatures object). In addition, there is no explicit
code replication: template instantiation hides that, and the compiler
should be able to resolve a number of things at compile-time.
We currently don't handle unaligned PCs correctly. There is one check
for unaligned PCs in the TLB when running in aarch64 mode, but this
check does not cover cases where the CPU does not do a TLB lookup when
decoding an instruction (e.g., a branch stays within the same cache
line). Additionally, the Decoder class sometimes throws an assertion
for unaligned PCs which breaks speculation.
This changeset introduces a decoder fault bit field in the ExtMachInst
structure. This field can be used to signal a decoder failure. If set,
the decoder generates an internal gem5fault instruction instead of a
normal instruction. This instruction in turns either panics (fault
type PANIC), returns an PCAlignmentFault (fault type UNALIGNED,
aarch64) or PrefetchAbort (fault type UNALIGNED, aarch32).
The patch causes minor changes to the realview64 regressions, and a
stats bump will follow.
Note: AArch64 and AArch32 interworking is not supported. If you use an AArch64
kernel you are restricted to AArch64 user-mode binaries. This will be addressed
in a later patch.
Note: Virtualization is only supported in AArch32 mode. This will also be fixed
in a later patch.
Contributors:
Giacomo Gabrielli (TrustZone, LPAE, system-level AArch64, AArch64 NEON, validation)
Thomas Grocutt (AArch32 Virtualization, AArch64 FP, validation)
Mbou Eyole (AArch64 NEON, validation)
Ali Saidi (AArch64 Linux support, code integration, validation)
Edmund Grimley-Evans (AArch64 FP)
William Wang (AArch64 Linux support)
Rene De Jong (AArch64 Linux support, performance opt.)
Matt Horsnell (AArch64 MP, validation)
Matt Evans (device models, code integration, validation)
Chris Adeniyi-Jones (AArch64 syscall-emulation)
Prakash Ramrakhyani (validation)
Dam Sunwoo (validation)
Chander Sudanthi (validation)
Stephan Diestelhorst (validation)
Andreas Hansson (code integration, performance opt.)
Eric Van Hensbergen (performance opt.)
Gabe Black
This interface is no longer used, and getting rid of it simplifies the
decoders and code that sets up the decoders. The thread context had been used
to read architectural state which was used to contextualize the instruction
memory as it came in. That was changed so that the state is now sent to the
decoders to keep locally if/when it changes. That's significantly more
efficient.
Committed by: Nilay Vaish <nilay@cs.wisc.edu>
Avoid reading them every instruction, and also eliminate the last use of the
thread context in the decoders.
Committed by: Nilay Vaish <nilay@cs.wisc.edu>
This will allow it to be specialized by the ISAs. The existing caching scheme
is provided by the BasicDecodeCache in the GenericISA namespace and is built
from the generalized components.
--HG--
rename : src/cpu/decode_cache.cc => src/arch/generic/decode_cache.cc
These classes are always used together, and merging them will give the ISAs
more flexibility in how they cache things and manage the process.
--HG--
rename : src/arch/x86/predecoder_tables.cc => src/arch/x86/decoder_tables.cc
