[lldb-dev] Emulating load/restore register instructions in MIPS assembly profiler

[Greg Clayton]

> On Mar 9, 2015, at 4:18 AM, Bhushan Attarde <bhushan.attarde at imgtec.com> wrote:
> 
> I am working on assembly profiler for MIPS using EmulateInstruction.
>  
> I have set the ContextType to eContextPopRegisterOffStack in the function which emulates  “ld    ra,40(sp)”
> (i.e. load/restore ra from stack) instruction.
>  
> 0xffffffff802009a4 <bar>:
> 0xffffffff802009a4:  67bdffd0   daddiu     sp,sp,-48
> 0xffffffff802009a8:  ffbf0028   sd   ra,40(sp)    -----> store return address
> 0xffffffff802009ac:  ffbe0020   sd   s8,32(sp)
> 0xffffffff802009b0:  03a0f02d   move s8,sp
> <..end of prologue...>
> <..some other instructions...>
> <..start of epilogue...>
> 0xffffffff802009f4:  03c0e82d   move sp,s8
> 0xffffffff802009f8:  dfbf0028   ld   ra,40(sp)    ------> restore return address
> 0xffffffff802009fc:  dfbe0020   ld   s8,32(sp)
> 0xffffffff80200a00:  67bd0030   daddiu     sp,sp,48
> 0xffffffff80200a04:  03e00008   jr   ra
> 0xffffffff80200a08:  00000000   nop
>  
> With this setting, the unwinder fails when we try to unwind from  0xffffffff802009fc.
> The call sequence is main()->foo()->bar() however,  backtrace displays only current frame.
> ----------------------------------------
> (lldb) bt
> * thread #1: tid = 0x0001, 0xffffffff802009fc a.out_64`bar(p=4) + 88 at a.c:30, stop reason = breakpoint 1.1
>   * frame #0: 0xffffffff802009fc a.out_64`bar(p=4) + 88 at a.c:30
> ---------------------------------------
>  
> Below is a part of generated log:
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> th1/fr0 0xffffffff802009fc: CFA=sp+48 => fp=[CFA-16] ra= <same> pc=[CFA-8]
>  
> th1/fr0 CFA is 0xffffffff800fff60: Register sp (29) contents are 0xffffffff800fff30, offset is 48
> th1/fr0 initialized frame current pc is 0xffffffff802009fc cfa is 0xffffffff800fff60 using EmulateInstructionMIPS64 UnwindPlan
> th1/fr0 requested caller's saved PC but this UnwindPlan uses a RA reg; getting ra (31) instead
> th1/fr0 supplying caller's saved ra (31)'s location using EmulateInstructionMIPS64 UnwindPlan
> th1/fr0 could not supply caller's ra (31) location, IsSame
> th1/fr1 could not get pc value
> Frame 1 invalid RegisterContext for this frame, stopping stack walk
> th1 Unwind of this thread is complete.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> Here we just need to tell the unwinder that the register has been restored and take this register from live register context.
> Which ContextType to use in such case?
>  

It seems like this is what is being done in UnwindAssemblyInstEmulation::WriteRegister (...):


        case EmulateInstruction::eContextPopRegisterOffStack:
            {
                const uint32_t reg_num = reg_info->kinds[m_unwind_plan_ptr->GetRegisterKind()];
                if (reg_num != LLDB_INVALID_REGNUM)
                {
                    m_curr_row->SetRegisterLocationToSame (reg_num, must_replace);
                    m_curr_row_modified = true;
                    m_curr_insn_restored_a_register = true;
                }
            }
            break;



> 1. There exists similar ContextType - eContextRegisterLoad, but it is unimplemented (just breaks out and does nothing) in UnwindAssemblyInstEmulation::WriteRegister().
>    So will it be a good option to implement eContextRegisterLoad and set the register location to itself using SetRegisterLocationToRegister (reg_num, reg_num, true)
>    OR
> 2. Add new ContextType say eContextRegisterRestore to EmulateInstruction class and implement it in UnwindAssemblyInstEmulation::WriteRegister().
>    
> Also, consider location of pc if we are restoring the return address register.
> This is similar to how eContextPushRegisterOnStack handles return address register in UnwindAssemblyInstEmulation::WriteMemory().


If all goes well it seems like he code in UnwindAssemblyInstEmulation::WriteRegister() should be setting the register to be in the register itself. Can you step through this code and make sure we are happy with all of the register numbers?

Greg