Re: thread-ready ABIs

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On Mon, 21 Jan 2002, Kevin D. Kissell wrote:

> If anything, assuming that k0 or k1 are sane in
> compiler-generated code is more of a violation
> of the ABI than imposing an optional use of s7.
> Sony's use in libraries is somewhat less intrusive.

 Hmm, it's a glibc/kernel internal implementation detail.  I don't think
this is an ABI violation, as from a program's point of view k0/k1 are
still "undefined -- do not use".

> It's a common technique to bind a static register
> to a global variable.  Linking to libraries with no
> knowledge of this variable breaks nothing, since
> by the ABI, all use of "s" registers requires that
> they be preserved and returned intact to the caller.
> It seems to me to be quite straightforward to apply
> this technique to the thread register.  The *only*
> issue I see is that of performance, and it is by
> no means clear how severe this would be.

 The k0/k1 approach is a performance hit as well.  Possibly a worse one,
as you lose a few cycles unconditionally every exception, while having one
static register less in the code can be dealt with by a compiler in a more
flexible way.  

> In the compiled code that I have examined
> for compiler efficiency in the past, it's pretty
> rare that *all* static registers are actually used.

 Even with one register less there are still eight remaining, indeed.

-- 
+  Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland   +
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
+        e-mail: macro@ds2.pg.gda.pl, PGP key available        +


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