xref: /qemu/docs/devel/loads-stores.rst (revision 92eecfff)
1..
2   Copyright (c) 2017 Linaro Limited
3   Written by Peter Maydell
4
5===================
6Load and Store APIs
7===================
8
9QEMU internally has multiple families of functions for performing
10loads and stores. This document attempts to enumerate them all
11and indicate when to use them. It does not provide detailed
12documentation of each API -- for that you should look at the
13documentation comments in the relevant header files.
14
15
16``ld*_p and st*_p``
17~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
18
19These functions operate on a host pointer, and should be used
20when you already have a pointer into host memory (corresponding
21to guest ram or a local buffer). They deal with doing accesses
22with the desired endianness and with correctly handling
23potentially unaligned pointer values.
24
25Function names follow the pattern:
26
27load: ``ld{type}{sign}{size}_{endian}_p(ptr)``
28
29store: ``st{type}{size}_{endian}_p(ptr, val)``
30
31``type``
32 - (empty) : integer access
33 - ``f`` : float access
34
35``sign``
36 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes (including floats and doubles)
37 - ``u`` : unsigned
38 - ``s`` : signed
39
40``size``
41 - ``b`` : 8 bits
42 - ``w`` : 16 bits
43 - ``l`` : 32 bits
44 - ``q`` : 64 bits
45
46``endian``
47 - ``he`` : host endian
48 - ``be`` : big endian
49 - ``le`` : little endian
50
51The ``_{endian}`` infix is omitted for target-endian accesses.
52
53The target endian accessors are only available to source
54files which are built per-target.
55
56There are also functions which take the size as an argument:
57
58load: ``ldn{endian}_p(ptr, sz)``
59
60which performs an unsigned load of ``sz`` bytes from ``ptr``
61as an ``{endian}`` order value and returns it in a uint64_t.
62
63store: ``stn{endian}_p(ptr, sz, val)``
64
65which stores ``val`` to ``ptr`` as an ``{endian}`` order value
66of size ``sz`` bytes.
67
68
69Regexes for git grep
70 - ``\<ldf\?[us]\?[bwlq]\(_[hbl]e\)\?_p\>``
71 - ``\<stf\?[bwlq]\(_[hbl]e\)\?_p\>``
72 - ``\<ldn_\([hbl]e\)?_p\>``
73 - ``\<stn_\([hbl]e\)?_p\>``
74
75``cpu_{ld,st}*_mmuidx_ra``
76~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
77
78These functions operate on a guest virtual address plus a context,
79known as a "mmu index" or ``mmuidx``, which controls how that virtual
80address is translated.  The meaning of the indexes are target specific,
81but specifying a particular index might be necessary if, for instance,
82the helper requires an "always as non-privileged" access rather that
83the default access for the current state of the guest CPU.
84
85These functions may cause a guest CPU exception to be taken
86(e.g. for an alignment fault or MMU fault) which will result in
87guest CPU state being updated and control longjmp'ing out of the
88function call.  They should therefore only be used in code that is
89implementing emulation of the guest CPU.
90
91The ``retaddr`` parameter is used to control unwinding of the
92guest CPU state in case of a guest CPU exception.  This is passed
93to ``cpu_restore_state()``.  Therefore the value should either be 0,
94to indicate that the guest CPU state is already synchronized, or
95the result of ``GETPC()`` from the top level ``HELPER(foo)``
96function, which is a return address into the generated code [#gpc]_.
97
98.. [#gpc] Note that ``GETPC()`` should be used with great care: calling
99          it in other functions that are *not* the top level
100          ``HELPER(foo)`` will cause unexpected behavior. Instead, the
101          value of ``GETPC()`` should be read from the helper and passed
102          if needed to the functions that the helper calls.
103
104Function names follow the pattern:
105
106load: ``cpu_ld{sign}{size}{end}_mmuidx_ra(env, ptr, mmuidx, retaddr)``
107
108store: ``cpu_st{size}{end}_mmuidx_ra(env, ptr, val, mmuidx, retaddr)``
109
110``sign``
111 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
112 - ``u`` : unsigned
113 - ``s`` : signed
114
115``size``
116 - ``b`` : 8 bits
117 - ``w`` : 16 bits
118 - ``l`` : 32 bits
119 - ``q`` : 64 bits
120
121``end``
122 - (empty) : for target endian, or 8 bit sizes
123 - ``_be`` : big endian
124 - ``_le`` : little endian
125
126Regexes for git grep:
127 - ``\<cpu_ld[us]\?[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_mmuidx_ra\>``
128 - ``\<cpu_st[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_mmuidx_ra\>``
129
130``cpu_{ld,st}*_data_ra``
131~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
132
133These functions work like the ``cpu_{ld,st}_mmuidx_ra`` functions
134except that the ``mmuidx`` parameter is taken from the current mode
135of the guest CPU, as determined by ``cpu_mmu_index(env, false)``.
136
137These are generally the preferred way to do accesses by guest
138virtual address from helper functions, unless the access should
139be performed with a context other than the default.
140
141Function names follow the pattern:
142
143load: ``cpu_ld{sign}{size}{end}_data_ra(env, ptr, ra)``
144
145store: ``cpu_st{size}{end}_data_ra(env, ptr, val, ra)``
146
147``sign``
148 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
149 - ``u`` : unsigned
150 - ``s`` : signed
151
152``size``
153 - ``b`` : 8 bits
154 - ``w`` : 16 bits
155 - ``l`` : 32 bits
156 - ``q`` : 64 bits
157
158``end``
159 - (empty) : for target endian, or 8 bit sizes
160 - ``_be`` : big endian
161 - ``_le`` : little endian
162
163Regexes for git grep:
164 - ``\<cpu_ld[us]\?[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_data_ra\>``
165 - ``\<cpu_st[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_data_ra\>``
166
167``cpu_{ld,st}*_data``
168~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
169
170These functions work like the ``cpu_{ld,st}_data_ra`` functions
171except that the ``retaddr`` parameter is 0, and thus does not
172unwind guest CPU state.
173
174This means they must only be used from helper functions where the
175translator has saved all necessary CPU state.  These functions are
176the right choice for calls made from hooks like the CPU ``do_interrupt``
177hook or when you know for certain that the translator had to save all
178the CPU state anyway.
179
180Function names follow the pattern:
181
182load: ``cpu_ld{sign}{size}{end}_data(env, ptr)``
183
184store: ``cpu_st{size}{end}_data(env, ptr, val)``
185
186``sign``
187 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
188 - ``u`` : unsigned
189 - ``s`` : signed
190
191``size``
192 - ``b`` : 8 bits
193 - ``w`` : 16 bits
194 - ``l`` : 32 bits
195 - ``q`` : 64 bits
196
197``end``
198 - (empty) : for target endian, or 8 bit sizes
199 - ``_be`` : big endian
200 - ``_le`` : little endian
201
202Regexes for git grep
203 - ``\<cpu_ld[us]\?[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_data\>``
204 - ``\<cpu_st[bwlq](_[bl]e)\?_data\+\>``
205
206``cpu_ld*_code``
207~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
208
209These functions perform a read for instruction execution.  The ``mmuidx``
210parameter is taken from the current mode of the guest CPU, as determined
211by ``cpu_mmu_index(env, true)``.  The ``retaddr`` parameter is 0, and
212thus does not unwind guest CPU state, because CPU state is always
213synchronized while translating instructions.  Any guest CPU exception
214that is raised will indicate an instruction execution fault rather than
215a data read fault.
216
217In general these functions should not be used directly during translation.
218There are wrapper functions that are to be used which also take care of
219plugins for tracing.
220
221Function names follow the pattern:
222
223load: ``cpu_ld{sign}{size}_code(env, ptr)``
224
225``sign``
226 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
227 - ``u`` : unsigned
228 - ``s`` : signed
229
230``size``
231 - ``b`` : 8 bits
232 - ``w`` : 16 bits
233 - ``l`` : 32 bits
234 - ``q`` : 64 bits
235
236Regexes for git grep:
237 - ``\<cpu_ld[us]\?[bwlq]_code\>``
238
239``translator_ld*``
240~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
241
242These functions are a wrapper for ``cpu_ld*_code`` which also perform
243any actions required by any tracing plugins.  They are only to be
244called during the translator callback ``translate_insn``.
245
246There is a set of functions ending in ``_swap`` which, if the parameter
247is true, returns the value in the endianness that is the reverse of
248the guest native endianness, as determined by ``TARGET_WORDS_BIGENDIAN``.
249
250Function names follow the pattern:
251
252load: ``translator_ld{sign}{size}(env, ptr)``
253
254swap: ``translator_ld{sign}{size}_swap(env, ptr, swap)``
255
256``sign``
257 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
258 - ``u`` : unsigned
259 - ``s`` : signed
260
261``size``
262 - ``b`` : 8 bits
263 - ``w`` : 16 bits
264 - ``l`` : 32 bits
265 - ``q`` : 64 bits
266
267Regexes for git grep
268 - ``\<translator_ld[us]\?[bwlq]\(_swap\)\?\>``
269
270``helper_*_{ld,st}*_mmu``
271~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
272
273These functions are intended primarily to be called by the code
274generated by the TCG backend. They may also be called by target
275CPU helper function code. Like the ``cpu_{ld,st}_mmuidx_ra`` functions
276they perform accesses by guest virtual address, with a given ``mmuidx``.
277
278These functions specify an ``opindex`` parameter which encodes
279(among other things) the mmu index to use for the access.  This parameter
280should be created by calling ``make_memop_idx()``.
281
282The ``retaddr`` parameter should be the result of GETPC() called directly
283from the top level HELPER(foo) function (or 0 if no guest CPU state
284unwinding is required).
285
286**TODO** The names of these functions are a bit odd for historical
287reasons because they were originally expected to be called only from
288within generated code. We should rename them to bring them more in
289line with the other memory access functions. The explicit endianness
290is the only feature they have beyond ``*_mmuidx_ra``.
291
292load: ``helper_{endian}_ld{sign}{size}_mmu(env, addr, opindex, retaddr)``
293
294store: ``helper_{endian}_st{size}_mmu(env, addr, val, opindex, retaddr)``
295
296``sign``
297 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
298 - ``u`` : unsigned
299 - ``s`` : signed
300
301``size``
302 - ``b`` : 8 bits
303 - ``w`` : 16 bits
304 - ``l`` : 32 bits
305 - ``q`` : 64 bits
306
307``endian``
308 - ``le`` : little endian
309 - ``be`` : big endian
310 - ``ret`` : target endianness
311
312Regexes for git grep
313 - ``\<helper_\(le\|be\|ret\)_ld[us]\?[bwlq]_mmu\>``
314 - ``\<helper_\(le\|be\|ret\)_st[bwlq]_mmu\>``
315
316``address_space_*``
317~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
318
319These functions are the primary ones to use when emulating CPU
320or device memory accesses. They take an AddressSpace, which is the
321way QEMU defines the view of memory that a device or CPU has.
322(They generally correspond to being the "master" end of a hardware bus
323or bus fabric.)
324
325Each CPU has an AddressSpace. Some kinds of CPU have more than
326one AddressSpace (for instance Arm guest CPUs have an AddressSpace
327for the Secure world and one for NonSecure if they implement TrustZone).
328Devices which can do DMA-type operations should generally have an
329AddressSpace. There is also a "system address space" which typically
330has all the devices and memory that all CPUs can see. (Some older
331device models use the "system address space" rather than properly
332modelling that they have an AddressSpace of their own.)
333
334Functions are provided for doing byte-buffer reads and writes,
335and also for doing one-data-item loads and stores.
336
337In all cases the caller provides a MemTxAttrs to specify bus
338transaction attributes, and can check whether the memory transaction
339succeeded using a MemTxResult return code.
340
341``address_space_read(address_space, addr, attrs, buf, len)``
342
343``address_space_write(address_space, addr, attrs, buf, len)``
344
345``address_space_rw(address_space, addr, attrs, buf, len, is_write)``
346
347``address_space_ld{sign}{size}_{endian}(address_space, addr, attrs, txresult)``
348
349``address_space_st{size}_{endian}(address_space, addr, val, attrs, txresult)``
350
351``sign``
352 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
353 - ``u`` : unsigned
354
355(No signed load operations are provided.)
356
357``size``
358 - ``b`` : 8 bits
359 - ``w`` : 16 bits
360 - ``l`` : 32 bits
361 - ``q`` : 64 bits
362
363``endian``
364 - ``le`` : little endian
365 - ``be`` : big endian
366
367The ``_{endian}`` suffix is omitted for byte accesses.
368
369Regexes for git grep
370 - ``\<address_space_\(read\|write\|rw\)\>``
371 - ``\<address_space_ldu\?[bwql]\(_[lb]e\)\?\>``
372 - ``\<address_space_st[bwql]\(_[lb]e\)\?\>``
373
374``address_space_write_rom``
375~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
376
377This function performs a write by physical address like
378``address_space_write``, except that if the write is to a ROM then
379the ROM contents will be modified, even though a write by the guest
380CPU to the ROM would be ignored. This is used for non-guest writes
381like writes from the gdb debug stub or initial loading of ROM contents.
382
383Note that portions of the write which attempt to write data to a
384device will be silently ignored -- only real RAM and ROM will
385be written to.
386
387Regexes for git grep
388 - ``address_space_write_rom``
389
390``{ld,st}*_phys``
391~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
392
393These are functions which are identical to
394``address_space_{ld,st}*``, except that they always pass
395``MEMTXATTRS_UNSPECIFIED`` for the transaction attributes, and ignore
396whether the transaction succeeded or failed.
397
398The fact that they ignore whether the transaction succeeded means
399they should not be used in new code, unless you know for certain
400that your code will only be used in a context where the CPU or
401device doing the access has no way to report such an error.
402
403``load: ld{sign}{size}_{endian}_phys``
404
405``store: st{size}_{endian}_phys``
406
407``sign``
408 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
409 - ``u`` : unsigned
410
411(No signed load operations are provided.)
412
413``size``
414 - ``b`` : 8 bits
415 - ``w`` : 16 bits
416 - ``l`` : 32 bits
417 - ``q`` : 64 bits
418
419``endian``
420 - ``le`` : little endian
421 - ``be`` : big endian
422
423The ``_{endian}_`` infix is omitted for byte accesses.
424
425Regexes for git grep
426 - ``\<ldu\?[bwlq]\(_[bl]e\)\?_phys\>``
427 - ``\<st[bwlq]\(_[bl]e\)\?_phys\>``
428
429``cpu_physical_memory_*``
430~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
431
432These are convenience functions which are identical to
433``address_space_*`` but operate specifically on the system address space,
434always pass a ``MEMTXATTRS_UNSPECIFIED`` set of memory attributes and
435ignore whether the memory transaction succeeded or failed.
436For new code they are better avoided:
437
438* there is likely to be behaviour you need to model correctly for a
439  failed read or write operation
440* a device should usually perform operations on its own AddressSpace
441  rather than using the system address space
442
443``cpu_physical_memory_read``
444
445``cpu_physical_memory_write``
446
447``cpu_physical_memory_rw``
448
449Regexes for git grep
450 - ``\<cpu_physical_memory_\(read\|write\|rw\)\>``
451
452``cpu_memory_rw_debug``
453~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
454
455Access CPU memory by virtual address for debug purposes.
456
457This function is intended for use by the GDB stub and similar code.
458It takes a virtual address, converts it to a physical address via
459an MMU lookup using the current settings of the specified CPU,
460and then performs the access (using ``address_space_rw`` for
461reads or ``cpu_physical_memory_write_rom`` for writes).
462This means that if the access is a write to a ROM then this
463function will modify the contents (whereas a normal guest CPU access
464would ignore the write attempt).
465
466``cpu_memory_rw_debug``
467
468``dma_memory_*``
469~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
470
471These behave like ``address_space_*``, except that they perform a DMA
472barrier operation first.
473
474**TODO**: We should provide guidance on when you need the DMA
475barrier operation and when it's OK to use ``address_space_*``, and
476make sure our existing code is doing things correctly.
477
478``dma_memory_read``
479
480``dma_memory_write``
481
482``dma_memory_rw``
483
484Regexes for git grep
485 - ``\<dma_memory_\(read\|write\|rw\)\>``
486
487``pci_dma_*`` and ``{ld,st}*_pci_dma``
488~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
489
490These functions are specifically for PCI device models which need to
491perform accesses where the PCI device is a bus master. You pass them a
492``PCIDevice *`` and they will do ``dma_memory_*`` operations on the
493correct address space for that device.
494
495``pci_dma_read``
496
497``pci_dma_write``
498
499``pci_dma_rw``
500
501``load: ld{sign}{size}_{endian}_pci_dma``
502
503``store: st{size}_{endian}_pci_dma``
504
505``sign``
506 - (empty) : for 32 or 64 bit sizes
507 - ``u`` : unsigned
508
509(No signed load operations are provided.)
510
511``size``
512 - ``b`` : 8 bits
513 - ``w`` : 16 bits
514 - ``l`` : 32 bits
515 - ``q`` : 64 bits
516
517``endian``
518 - ``le`` : little endian
519 - ``be`` : big endian
520
521The ``_{endian}_`` infix is omitted for byte accesses.
522
523Regexes for git grep
524 - ``\<pci_dma_\(read\|write\|rw\)\>``
525 - ``\<ldu\?[bwlq]\(_[bl]e\)\?_pci_dma\>``
526 - ``\<st[bwlq]\(_[bl]e\)\?_pci_dma\>``
527