596 lines
22 KiB
ReStructuredText
596 lines
22 KiB
ReStructuredText
===================================================
|
|
Scalable Vector Extension support for AArch64 Linux
|
|
===================================================
|
|
|
|
Author: Dave Martin <Dave.Martin@arm.com>
|
|
|
|
Date: 4 August 2017
|
|
|
|
This document outlines briefly the interface provided to userspace by Linux in
|
|
order to support use of the ARM Scalable Vector Extension (SVE), including
|
|
interactions with Streaming SVE mode added by the Scalable Matrix Extension
|
|
(SME).
|
|
|
|
This is an outline of the most important features and issues only and not
|
|
intended to be exhaustive.
|
|
|
|
This document does not aim to describe the SVE architecture or programmer's
|
|
model. To aid understanding, a minimal description of relevant programmer's
|
|
model features for SVE is included in Appendix A.
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. General
|
|
-----------
|
|
|
|
* SVE registers Z0..Z31, P0..P15 and FFR and the current vector length VL, are
|
|
tracked per-thread.
|
|
|
|
* In streaming mode FFR is not accessible unless HWCAP2_SME_FA64 is present
|
|
in the system, when it is not supported and these interfaces are used to
|
|
access streaming mode FFR is read and written as zero.
|
|
|
|
* The presence of SVE is reported to userspace via HWCAP_SVE in the aux vector
|
|
AT_HWCAP entry. Presence of this flag implies the presence of the SVE
|
|
instructions and registers, and the Linux-specific system interfaces
|
|
described in this document. SVE is reported in /proc/cpuinfo as "sve".
|
|
|
|
* Support for the execution of SVE instructions in userspace can also be
|
|
detected by reading the CPU ID register ID_AA64PFR0_EL1 using an MRS
|
|
instruction, and checking that the value of the SVE field is nonzero. [3]
|
|
|
|
It does not guarantee the presence of the system interfaces described in the
|
|
following sections: software that needs to verify that those interfaces are
|
|
present must check for HWCAP_SVE instead.
|
|
|
|
* On hardware that supports the SVE2 extensions, HWCAP2_SVE2 will also
|
|
be reported in the AT_HWCAP2 aux vector entry. In addition to this,
|
|
optional extensions to SVE2 may be reported by the presence of:
|
|
|
|
HWCAP2_SVE2
|
|
HWCAP2_SVEAES
|
|
HWCAP2_SVEPMULL
|
|
HWCAP2_SVEBITPERM
|
|
HWCAP2_SVESHA3
|
|
HWCAP2_SVESM4
|
|
|
|
This list may be extended over time as the SVE architecture evolves.
|
|
|
|
These extensions are also reported via the CPU ID register ID_AA64ZFR0_EL1,
|
|
which userspace can read using an MRS instruction. See elf_hwcaps.txt and
|
|
cpu-feature-registers.txt for details.
|
|
|
|
* On hardware that supports the SME extensions, HWCAP2_SME will also be
|
|
reported in the AT_HWCAP2 aux vector entry. Among other things SME adds
|
|
streaming mode which provides a subset of the SVE feature set using a
|
|
separate SME vector length and the same Z/V registers. See sme.rst
|
|
for more details.
|
|
|
|
* Debuggers should restrict themselves to interacting with the target via the
|
|
NT_ARM_SVE regset. The recommended way of detecting support for this regset
|
|
is to connect to a target process first and then attempt a
|
|
ptrace(PTRACE_GETREGSET, pid, NT_ARM_SVE, &iov). Note that when SME is
|
|
present and streaming SVE mode is in use the FPSIMD subset of registers
|
|
will be read via NT_ARM_SVE and NT_ARM_SVE writes will exit streaming mode
|
|
in the target.
|
|
|
|
* Whenever SVE scalable register values (Zn, Pn, FFR) are exchanged in memory
|
|
between userspace and the kernel, the register value is encoded in memory in
|
|
an endianness-invariant layout, with bits [(8 * i + 7) : (8 * i)] encoded at
|
|
byte offset i from the start of the memory representation. This affects for
|
|
example the signal frame (struct sve_context) and ptrace interface
|
|
(struct user_sve_header) and associated data.
|
|
|
|
Beware that on big-endian systems this results in a different byte order than
|
|
for the FPSIMD V-registers, which are stored as single host-endian 128-bit
|
|
values, with bits [(127 - 8 * i) : (120 - 8 * i)] of the register encoded at
|
|
byte offset i. (struct fpsimd_context, struct user_fpsimd_state).
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Vector length terminology
|
|
-----------------------------
|
|
|
|
The size of an SVE vector (Z) register is referred to as the "vector length".
|
|
|
|
To avoid confusion about the units used to express vector length, the kernel
|
|
adopts the following conventions:
|
|
|
|
* Vector length (VL) = size of a Z-register in bytes
|
|
|
|
* Vector quadwords (VQ) = size of a Z-register in units of 128 bits
|
|
|
|
(So, VL = 16 * VQ.)
|
|
|
|
The VQ convention is used where the underlying granularity is important, such
|
|
as in data structure definitions. In most other situations, the VL convention
|
|
is used. This is consistent with the meaning of the "VL" pseudo-register in
|
|
the SVE instruction set architecture.
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. System call behaviour
|
|
-------------------------
|
|
|
|
* On syscall, V0..V31 are preserved (as without SVE). Thus, bits [127:0] of
|
|
Z0..Z31 are preserved. All other bits of Z0..Z31, and all of P0..P15 and FFR
|
|
become unspecified on return from a syscall.
|
|
|
|
* The SVE registers are not used to pass arguments to or receive results from
|
|
any syscall.
|
|
|
|
* In practice the affected registers/bits will be preserved or will be replaced
|
|
with zeros on return from a syscall, but userspace should not make
|
|
assumptions about this. The kernel behaviour may vary on a case-by-case
|
|
basis.
|
|
|
|
* All other SVE state of a thread, including the currently configured vector
|
|
length, the state of the PR_SVE_VL_INHERIT flag, and the deferred vector
|
|
length (if any), is preserved across all syscalls, subject to the specific
|
|
exceptions for execve() described in section 6.
|
|
|
|
In particular, on return from a fork() or clone(), the parent and new child
|
|
process or thread share identical SVE configuration, matching that of the
|
|
parent before the call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Signal handling
|
|
-------------------
|
|
|
|
* A new signal frame record sve_context encodes the SVE registers on signal
|
|
delivery. [1]
|
|
|
|
* This record is supplementary to fpsimd_context. The FPSR and FPCR registers
|
|
are only present in fpsimd_context. For convenience, the content of V0..V31
|
|
is duplicated between sve_context and fpsimd_context.
|
|
|
|
* The record contains a flag field which includes a flag SVE_SIG_FLAG_SM which
|
|
if set indicates that the thread is in streaming mode and the vector length
|
|
and register data (if present) describe the streaming SVE data and vector
|
|
length.
|
|
|
|
* The signal frame record for SVE always contains basic metadata, in particular
|
|
the thread's vector length (in sve_context.vl).
|
|
|
|
* The SVE registers may or may not be included in the record, depending on
|
|
whether the registers are live for the thread. The registers are present if
|
|
and only if:
|
|
sve_context.head.size >= SVE_SIG_CONTEXT_SIZE(sve_vq_from_vl(sve_context.vl)).
|
|
|
|
* If the registers are present, the remainder of the record has a vl-dependent
|
|
size and layout. Macros SVE_SIG_* are defined [1] to facilitate access to
|
|
the members.
|
|
|
|
* Each scalable register (Zn, Pn, FFR) is stored in an endianness-invariant
|
|
layout, with bits [(8 * i + 7) : (8 * i)] stored at byte offset i from the
|
|
start of the register's representation in memory.
|
|
|
|
* If the SVE context is too big to fit in sigcontext.__reserved[], then extra
|
|
space is allocated on the stack, an extra_context record is written in
|
|
__reserved[] referencing this space. sve_context is then written in the
|
|
extra space. Refer to [1] for further details about this mechanism.
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. Signal return
|
|
-----------------
|
|
|
|
When returning from a signal handler:
|
|
|
|
* If there is no sve_context record in the signal frame, or if the record is
|
|
present but contains no register data as desribed in the previous section,
|
|
then the SVE registers/bits become non-live and take unspecified values.
|
|
|
|
* If sve_context is present in the signal frame and contains full register
|
|
data, the SVE registers become live and are populated with the specified
|
|
data. However, for backward compatibility reasons, bits [127:0] of Z0..Z31
|
|
are always restored from the corresponding members of fpsimd_context.vregs[]
|
|
and not from sve_context. The remaining bits are restored from sve_context.
|
|
|
|
* Inclusion of fpsimd_context in the signal frame remains mandatory,
|
|
irrespective of whether sve_context is present or not.
|
|
|
|
* The vector length cannot be changed via signal return. If sve_context.vl in
|
|
the signal frame does not match the current vector length, the signal return
|
|
attempt is treated as illegal, resulting in a forced SIGSEGV.
|
|
|
|
* It is permitted to enter or leave streaming mode by setting or clearing
|
|
the SVE_SIG_FLAG_SM flag but applications should take care to ensure that
|
|
when doing so sve_context.vl and any register data are appropriate for the
|
|
vector length in the new mode.
|
|
|
|
|
|
6. prctl extensions
|
|
--------------------
|
|
|
|
Some new prctl() calls are added to allow programs to manage the SVE vector
|
|
length:
|
|
|
|
prctl(PR_SVE_SET_VL, unsigned long arg)
|
|
|
|
Sets the vector length of the calling thread and related flags, where
|
|
arg == vl | flags. Other threads of the calling process are unaffected.
|
|
|
|
vl is the desired vector length, where sve_vl_valid(vl) must be true.
|
|
|
|
flags:
|
|
|
|
PR_SVE_VL_INHERIT
|
|
|
|
Inherit the current vector length across execve(). Otherwise, the
|
|
vector length is reset to the system default at execve(). (See
|
|
Section 9.)
|
|
|
|
PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC
|
|
|
|
Defer the requested vector length change until the next execve()
|
|
performed by this thread.
|
|
|
|
The effect is equivalent to implicit exceution of the following
|
|
call immediately after the next execve() (if any) by the thread:
|
|
|
|
prctl(PR_SVE_SET_VL, arg & ~PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC)
|
|
|
|
This allows launching of a new program with a different vector
|
|
length, while avoiding runtime side effects in the caller.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Without PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC, the requested change takes effect
|
|
immediately.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Return value: a nonnegative on success, or a negative value on error:
|
|
EINVAL: SVE not supported, invalid vector length requested, or
|
|
invalid flags.
|
|
|
|
|
|
On success:
|
|
|
|
* Either the calling thread's vector length or the deferred vector length
|
|
to be applied at the next execve() by the thread (dependent on whether
|
|
PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC is present in arg), is set to the largest value
|
|
supported by the system that is less than or equal to vl. If vl ==
|
|
SVE_VL_MAX, the value set will be the largest value supported by the
|
|
system.
|
|
|
|
* Any previously outstanding deferred vector length change in the calling
|
|
thread is cancelled.
|
|
|
|
* The returned value describes the resulting configuration, encoded as for
|
|
PR_SVE_GET_VL. The vector length reported in this value is the new
|
|
current vector length for this thread if PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC was not
|
|
present in arg; otherwise, the reported vector length is the deferred
|
|
vector length that will be applied at the next execve() by the calling
|
|
thread.
|
|
|
|
* Changing the vector length causes all of P0..P15, FFR and all bits of
|
|
Z0..Z31 except for Z0 bits [127:0] .. Z31 bits [127:0] to become
|
|
unspecified. Calling PR_SVE_SET_VL with vl equal to the thread's current
|
|
vector length, or calling PR_SVE_SET_VL with the PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC
|
|
flag, does not constitute a change to the vector length for this purpose.
|
|
|
|
|
|
prctl(PR_SVE_GET_VL)
|
|
|
|
Gets the vector length of the calling thread.
|
|
|
|
The following flag may be OR-ed into the result:
|
|
|
|
PR_SVE_VL_INHERIT
|
|
|
|
Vector length will be inherited across execve().
|
|
|
|
There is no way to determine whether there is an outstanding deferred
|
|
vector length change (which would only normally be the case between a
|
|
fork() or vfork() and the corresponding execve() in typical use).
|
|
|
|
To extract the vector length from the result, bitwise and it with
|
|
PR_SVE_VL_LEN_MASK.
|
|
|
|
Return value: a nonnegative value on success, or a negative value on error:
|
|
EINVAL: SVE not supported.
|
|
|
|
|
|
7. ptrace extensions
|
|
---------------------
|
|
|
|
* New regsets NT_ARM_SVE and NT_ARM_SSVE are defined for use with
|
|
PTRACE_GETREGSET and PTRACE_SETREGSET. NT_ARM_SSVE describes the
|
|
streaming mode SVE registers and NT_ARM_SVE describes the
|
|
non-streaming mode SVE registers.
|
|
|
|
In this description a register set is referred to as being "live" when
|
|
the target is in the appropriate streaming or non-streaming mode and is
|
|
using data beyond the subset shared with the FPSIMD Vn registers.
|
|
|
|
Refer to [2] for definitions.
|
|
|
|
The regset data starts with struct user_sve_header, containing:
|
|
|
|
size
|
|
|
|
Size of the complete regset, in bytes.
|
|
This depends on vl and possibly on other things in the future.
|
|
|
|
If a call to PTRACE_GETREGSET requests less data than the value of
|
|
size, the caller can allocate a larger buffer and retry in order to
|
|
read the complete regset.
|
|
|
|
max_size
|
|
|
|
Maximum size in bytes that the regset can grow to for the target
|
|
thread. The regset won't grow bigger than this even if the target
|
|
thread changes its vector length etc.
|
|
|
|
vl
|
|
|
|
Target thread's current vector length, in bytes.
|
|
|
|
max_vl
|
|
|
|
Maximum possible vector length for the target thread.
|
|
|
|
flags
|
|
|
|
at most one of
|
|
|
|
SVE_PT_REGS_FPSIMD
|
|
|
|
SVE registers are not live (GETREGSET) or are to be made
|
|
non-live (SETREGSET).
|
|
|
|
The payload is of type struct user_fpsimd_state, with the same
|
|
meaning as for NT_PRFPREG, starting at offset
|
|
SVE_PT_FPSIMD_OFFSET from the start of user_sve_header.
|
|
|
|
Extra data might be appended in the future: the size of the
|
|
payload should be obtained using SVE_PT_FPSIMD_SIZE(vq, flags).
|
|
|
|
vq should be obtained using sve_vq_from_vl(vl).
|
|
|
|
or
|
|
|
|
SVE_PT_REGS_SVE
|
|
|
|
SVE registers are live (GETREGSET) or are to be made live
|
|
(SETREGSET).
|
|
|
|
The payload contains the SVE register data, starting at offset
|
|
SVE_PT_SVE_OFFSET from the start of user_sve_header, and with
|
|
size SVE_PT_SVE_SIZE(vq, flags);
|
|
|
|
... OR-ed with zero or more of the following flags, which have the same
|
|
meaning and behaviour as the corresponding PR_SET_VL_* flags:
|
|
|
|
SVE_PT_VL_INHERIT
|
|
|
|
SVE_PT_VL_ONEXEC (SETREGSET only).
|
|
|
|
If neither FPSIMD nor SVE flags are provided then no register
|
|
payload is available, this is only possible when SME is implemented.
|
|
|
|
|
|
* The effects of changing the vector length and/or flags are equivalent to
|
|
those documented for PR_SVE_SET_VL.
|
|
|
|
The caller must make a further GETREGSET call if it needs to know what VL is
|
|
actually set by SETREGSET, unless is it known in advance that the requested
|
|
VL is supported.
|
|
|
|
* In the SVE_PT_REGS_SVE case, the size and layout of the payload depends on
|
|
the header fields. The SVE_PT_SVE_*() macros are provided to facilitate
|
|
access to the members.
|
|
|
|
* In either case, for SETREGSET it is permissible to omit the payload, in which
|
|
case only the vector length and flags are changed (along with any
|
|
consequences of those changes).
|
|
|
|
* In systems supporting SME when in streaming mode a GETREGSET for
|
|
NT_REG_SVE will return only the user_sve_header with no register data,
|
|
similarly a GETREGSET for NT_REG_SSVE will not return any register data
|
|
when not in streaming mode.
|
|
|
|
* A GETREGSET for NT_ARM_SSVE will never return SVE_PT_REGS_FPSIMD.
|
|
|
|
* For SETREGSET, if an SVE_PT_REGS_SVE payload is present and the
|
|
requested VL is not supported, the effect will be the same as if the
|
|
payload were omitted, except that an EIO error is reported. No
|
|
attempt is made to translate the payload data to the correct layout
|
|
for the vector length actually set. The thread's FPSIMD state is
|
|
preserved, but the remaining bits of the SVE registers become
|
|
unspecified. It is up to the caller to translate the payload layout
|
|
for the actual VL and retry.
|
|
|
|
* Where SME is implemented it is not possible to GETREGSET the register
|
|
state for normal SVE when in streaming mode, nor the streaming mode
|
|
register state when in normal mode, regardless of the implementation defined
|
|
behaviour of the hardware for sharing data between the two modes.
|
|
|
|
* Any SETREGSET of NT_ARM_SVE will exit streaming mode if the target was in
|
|
streaming mode and any SETREGSET of NT_ARM_SSVE will enter streaming mode
|
|
if the target was not in streaming mode.
|
|
|
|
* The effect of writing a partial, incomplete payload is unspecified.
|
|
|
|
|
|
8. ELF coredump extensions
|
|
---------------------------
|
|
|
|
* NT_ARM_SVE and NT_ARM_SSVE notes will be added to each coredump for
|
|
each thread of the dumped process. The contents will be equivalent to the
|
|
data that would have been read if a PTRACE_GETREGSET of the corresponding
|
|
type were executed for each thread when the coredump was generated.
|
|
|
|
9. System runtime configuration
|
|
--------------------------------
|
|
|
|
* To mitigate the ABI impact of expansion of the signal frame, a policy
|
|
mechanism is provided for administrators, distro maintainers and developers
|
|
to set the default vector length for userspace processes:
|
|
|
|
/proc/sys/abi/sve_default_vector_length
|
|
|
|
Writing the text representation of an integer to this file sets the system
|
|
default vector length to the specified value, unless the value is greater
|
|
than the maximum vector length supported by the system in which case the
|
|
default vector length is set to that maximum.
|
|
|
|
The result can be determined by reopening the file and reading its
|
|
contents.
|
|
|
|
At boot, the default vector length is initially set to 64 or the maximum
|
|
supported vector length, whichever is smaller. This determines the initial
|
|
vector length of the init process (PID 1).
|
|
|
|
Reading this file returns the current system default vector length.
|
|
|
|
* At every execve() call, the new vector length of the new process is set to
|
|
the system default vector length, unless
|
|
|
|
* PR_SVE_VL_INHERIT (or equivalently SVE_PT_VL_INHERIT) is set for the
|
|
calling thread, or
|
|
|
|
* a deferred vector length change is pending, established via the
|
|
PR_SVE_SET_VL_ONEXEC flag (or SVE_PT_VL_ONEXEC).
|
|
|
|
* Modifying the system default vector length does not affect the vector length
|
|
of any existing process or thread that does not make an execve() call.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appendix A. SVE programmer's model (informative)
|
|
=================================================
|
|
|
|
This section provides a minimal description of the additions made by SVE to the
|
|
ARMv8-A programmer's model that are relevant to this document.
|
|
|
|
Note: This section is for information only and not intended to be complete or
|
|
to replace any architectural specification.
|
|
|
|
A.1. Registers
|
|
---------------
|
|
|
|
In A64 state, SVE adds the following:
|
|
|
|
* 32 8VL-bit vector registers Z0..Z31
|
|
For each Zn, Zn bits [127:0] alias the ARMv8-A vector register Vn.
|
|
|
|
A register write using a Vn register name zeros all bits of the corresponding
|
|
Zn except for bits [127:0].
|
|
|
|
* 16 VL-bit predicate registers P0..P15
|
|
|
|
* 1 VL-bit special-purpose predicate register FFR (the "first-fault register")
|
|
|
|
* a VL "pseudo-register" that determines the size of each vector register
|
|
|
|
The SVE instruction set architecture provides no way to write VL directly.
|
|
Instead, it can be modified only by EL1 and above, by writing appropriate
|
|
system registers.
|
|
|
|
* The value of VL can be configured at runtime by EL1 and above:
|
|
16 <= VL <= VLmax, where VL must be a multiple of 16.
|
|
|
|
* The maximum vector length is determined by the hardware:
|
|
16 <= VLmax <= 256.
|
|
|
|
(The SVE architecture specifies 256, but permits future architecture
|
|
revisions to raise this limit.)
|
|
|
|
* FPSR and FPCR are retained from ARMv8-A, and interact with SVE floating-point
|
|
operations in a similar way to the way in which they interact with ARMv8
|
|
floating-point operations::
|
|
|
|
8VL-1 128 0 bit index
|
|
+---- //// -----------------+
|
|
Z0 | : V0 |
|
|
: :
|
|
Z7 | : V7 |
|
|
Z8 | : * V8 |
|
|
: : :
|
|
Z15 | : *V15 |
|
|
Z16 | : V16 |
|
|
: :
|
|
Z31 | : V31 |
|
|
+---- //// -----------------+
|
|
31 0
|
|
VL-1 0 +-------+
|
|
+---- //// --+ FPSR | |
|
|
P0 | | +-------+
|
|
: | | *FPCR | |
|
|
P15 | | +-------+
|
|
+---- //// --+
|
|
FFR | | +-----+
|
|
+---- //// --+ VL | |
|
|
+-----+
|
|
|
|
(*) callee-save:
|
|
This only applies to bits [63:0] of Z-/V-registers.
|
|
FPCR contains callee-save and caller-save bits. See [4] for details.
|
|
|
|
|
|
A.2. Procedure call standard
|
|
-----------------------------
|
|
|
|
The ARMv8-A base procedure call standard is extended as follows with respect to
|
|
the additional SVE register state:
|
|
|
|
* All SVE register bits that are not shared with FP/SIMD are caller-save.
|
|
|
|
* Z8 bits [63:0] .. Z15 bits [63:0] are callee-save.
|
|
|
|
This follows from the way these bits are mapped to V8..V15, which are caller-
|
|
save in the base procedure call standard.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appendix B. ARMv8-A FP/SIMD programmer's model
|
|
===============================================
|
|
|
|
Note: This section is for information only and not intended to be complete or
|
|
to replace any architectural specification.
|
|
|
|
Refer to [4] for more information.
|
|
|
|
ARMv8-A defines the following floating-point / SIMD register state:
|
|
|
|
* 32 128-bit vector registers V0..V31
|
|
* 2 32-bit status/control registers FPSR, FPCR
|
|
|
|
::
|
|
|
|
127 0 bit index
|
|
+---------------+
|
|
V0 | |
|
|
: : :
|
|
V7 | |
|
|
* V8 | |
|
|
: : : :
|
|
*V15 | |
|
|
V16 | |
|
|
: : :
|
|
V31 | |
|
|
+---------------+
|
|
|
|
31 0
|
|
+-------+
|
|
FPSR | |
|
|
+-------+
|
|
*FPCR | |
|
|
+-------+
|
|
|
|
(*) callee-save:
|
|
This only applies to bits [63:0] of V-registers.
|
|
FPCR contains a mixture of callee-save and caller-save bits.
|
|
|
|
|
|
References
|
|
==========
|
|
|
|
[1] arch/arm64/include/uapi/asm/sigcontext.h
|
|
AArch64 Linux signal ABI definitions
|
|
|
|
[2] arch/arm64/include/uapi/asm/ptrace.h
|
|
AArch64 Linux ptrace ABI definitions
|
|
|
|
[3] Documentation/arm64/cpu-feature-registers.rst
|
|
|
|
[4] ARM IHI0055C
|
|
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ihi0055c/IHI0055C_beta_aapcs64.pdf
|
|
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.subset.swdev.abi/index.html
|
|
Procedure Call Standard for the ARM 64-bit Architecture (AArch64)
|