The bulk of the iPXE binary (the .textdata section) is physically
relocated at runtime to the top of the 32-bit address space in order
to allow space for an OS to be loaded. The relocation is achieved
with the assistance of segmentation: we adjust the code and data
segment bases so that the link-time addresses remain valid.
Segmentation is not available (for normal code and data segments) in
long mode. We choose to compile the C code with -mcmodel=kernel and
use a link-time address of 0xffffffffeb000000. This choice allows us
to identity-map the entirety of the 32-bit address space, and to alias
our chosen link-time address to the physical location of our .textdata
section. (This requires the .textdata section to always be aligned to
a page boundary.)
We simultaneously choose to set the 32-bit virtual address segment
bases such that the link-time addresses may simply be truncated to 32
bits in order to generate a valid 32-bit virtual address. This allows
symbols in .textdata to be trivially accessed by both 32-bit and
64-bit code.
There is no (sensible) way in 32-bit assembly code to generate the
required R_X86_64_32S relocation records for these truncated symbols.
However, subtracting the fixed constant 0xffffffff00000000 has the
same effect as truncation, and can be represented in a standard
R_X86_64_32 relocation record. We define the VIRTUAL() macro to
abstract away this truncation operation, and apply it to all
references by 32-bit (or 16-bit) assembly code to any symbols within
the .textdata section.
We define "virt_offset" for a 64-bit build as "the value to be added
to an address within .textdata in order to obtain its physical
address". With this definition, the low 32 bits of "virt_offset" can
be treated by 32-bit code as functionally equivalent to "virt_offset"
in a 32-bit build.
We define "text16" and "data16" for a 64-bit build as the physical
addresses of the .text16 and .data16 sections. Since a physical
address within the 32-bit address space may be used directly as a
64-bit virtual address (thanks to the identity map), this definition
provides the most natural access to variables in .text16 and .data16.
Note that this requires a minor adjustment in prot_to_real(), which
accesses .text16 using 32-bit virtual addresses.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Transition to protected mode within init_librm()
Long-mode operation will require page tables, which are too large to
sensibly fit in our .data16 segment in base memory.
Add a portion of init_librm() running in 32-bit protected mode to
provide access to high memory. Use this portion of init_librm() to
initialise the .textdata variables "virt_offset", "text16", and
"data16", eliminating the redundant (re)initialisation currently
performed on every mode transition as part of real_to_prot().
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
Move most arch/i386 files to arch/x86, and adjust the contents of the
Makefiles and the include/bits/*.h headers to reflect the new
locations.
This patch makes no substantive code changes, as can be seen using a
rename-aware diff (e.g. "git show -M5").
This patch does not make the pcbios platform functional for x86_64; it
merely allows it to compile without errors.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[legal] Relicense files under GPL2_OR_LATER_OR_UBDL
These files cannot be automatically relicensed by util/relicense.pl
since they either contain unusual but trivial contributions (such as
the addition of __nonnull function attributes), or contain lines
dating back to the initial git revision (and so require manual
knowledge of the code's origin).
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
When making a call from real mode to protected mode, we save and
restore the global and interrupt descriptor table registers. The
restore currently takes place after returning to real mode, which
generates two EXCEPTION_NMIs and corresponding VM exits when running
under KVM on an Intel CPU.
Avoid the VM exits by restoring the descriptor table registers inside
prot_to_real, while still running in protected mode.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Speed up real-to-protected mode transition under KVM
Ensure that all segment registers have zero in the low two bits before
transitioning to protected mode. This allows the CPU state to
immediately be deemed to be "valid", and eliminates the need for any
further emulated instructions.
Load the protected-mode interrupt descriptor table after switching to
protected mode, since this avoids triggering an EXCEPTION_NMI and
corresponding VM exit.
This reduces the time taken by real_to_prot under KVM by around 50%.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Speed up protected-to-real mode transition under KVM
On an Intel CPU supporting VMX, KVM will emulate instructions while
the CPU state remains "invalid". In real mode, the CPU state is
defined to be "invalid" if any segment register has a base which is
not equal to (sreg<<4) or a limit which is not equal to 64kB.
We don't actually use the base stored in the REAL_DS descriptor for
any significant purpose. Change the base stored in this descriptor to
be equal to (REAL_DS<<4). A segment register loaded with REAL_DS is
then automatically valid in both real and protected modes. This
allows KVM to stop emulating instructions much sooner.
The only use of REAL_DS for memory accesses currently occurs in the
indirect ljmp within prot_to_real. Change this to a direct ljmp,
storing rm_cs in .text16 as part of the ljmp instruction. This
removes the only memory access via REAL_DS (thereby allowing for the
above descriptor base address hack), and also simplifies the ljmp
instruction (which will still have to be emulated).
Load the real-mode interrupt descriptor table register before
switching to real mode, since this avoids triggering an EXCEPTION_NMI
and corresponding VM exit.
This reduces the time taken by prot_to_real under KVM by around 65%.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
The mode-transition code involves paths which switch back and forth
between the .text and .text16 sections. At present, only the start of
each function is labelled, which makes it difficult to decode
addresses within the parts of the function existing in a different
section.
Add explicit labels at the start of each section change, so that
addresses can be meaningfully decoded to the nearest label.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
When running in a virtual machine, switching to real mode may be
expensive. Allow interrupts to be enabled while in protected mode and
reflected down to the real-mode interrupt handlers.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Use genuine real mode to accelerate operation in virtual machines
We currently use flat real mode wherever real mode is required. This
guarantees that we will not surprise some unsuspecting external caller
which has carefully set up flat real mode by suddenly reducing the
segment limits to 64kB.
However, operating in flat real mode imposes a severe performance
penalty in some virtualisation environments, since some CPUs cannot
fully virtualise flat real mode and so the hypervisor must fall back
to emulation. In particular, operating under KVM on a pre-Westmere
Intel CPU will be at least an order of magnitude slower, to the point
that there is a visible teletype effect when printing anything to the
BIOS console. (Older versions of KVM used to cheat and ignore the
"flat" part of flat real mode, which masked the problem.)
Switch (back) to using genuine real mode with 64kB segment limits
instead of flat real mode. Hopefully this won't break anything.
Add an explicit switch to flat real mode before returning to the BIOS
from the ROM prefix, since we know that a PMM BIOS will call the ROM
initialisation point (and potentially the BEV) in flat real mode.
As noted in previous commit messages, it is not possible to restore
the real-mode segment limits after a transition to protected mode,
since there is no way to know which protected-mode segment descriptor
was originally used to initialise the limit portion of the segment
register.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Avoid (harmless) collisions with linker symbols
The symbol_text16 is defined globally by the linker. Use rm_text16
instead of _text16 for the local variable within librm.S to avoid
confusion when reading linker maps.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[librm] Use libflat to enable A20 line on each real-to-protected transition
Use the shared code in libflat to perform the A20 transitions
automatically on each transition from real to protected mode. This
allows us to remove all explicit calls to gateA20_set().
The old warnings about avoiding automatically enabling A20 are
essentially redundant; they date back to the time when we would always
start hammering the keyboard controller without first checking to see
if gate A20 was already enabled (which it almost always is).
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
When returning to real mode, set 4GB segment limits instead of 64kB
limits. This change improves our chances of successfully returning to
a PMM-capable BIOS aftering entering iPXE during POST; the BIOS will
have set up flat real mode before calling our initialisation point,
and may be disconcerted if we then return in genuine real mode.
This change is unlikely to break anything, since any code that might
potentially access beyond 64kB must use addr32 prefixes to do so; if
this is the case then it is almost certainly code written to expect
flat real mode anyway.
Note that it is not possible to restore the real-mode segment limits
to their original values, since it is not possible to know which
protected-mode segment descriptor was originally used to initialise
the limit portion of the segment register.
Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30@ipxe.org>
[i386] Add data32 prefixes to all lgdt/lidt instructions
With a 16-bit operand, lgdt/lidt will load only a 24-bit base address,
ignoring the high-order bits. This meant that we could fail to fully
restore the GDT across a call into gPXE, if the GDT happened to be
located above the 16MB mark.
Not all of our lgdt/lidt instructions require a data32 prefix (for
example, reloading the real-mode IDT can never require a 32-bit base
address), but by adding them everywhere we will hopefully not forget
the necessary ones in future.
Leave protected-mode return address on PM stack when issuing a
real_call(), rather than moving it to the RM stack and back again.
This allows the real-mode function to completely destroy the stack
contents, provided that it manages to return to real_call().
Use .text16.data section with "aw" attributes, to avoid section type
conflicts when placing both code and data into .text16.
Add __from_{text16,data16}.
Preserve the whole of %esp across prot_call(). We have to split this
between the low half stored in the static variable rm_sp, and the high
half stored on the prot_call() stack, because:
Just using the stack would screw up when a prot_call()ed routine
executes a real_call(); it would have no way to find the current top of
the RM stack.
Extending rm_sp to rm_esp would not be safe, because the guarantee that
rm_sp must return to the correct value by the time an external
real-mode call returns applies only to %sp, not to %esp.
Add infrastructure to support access to .data16 (and .text16) variables
from protected-mode code.
Set up %ds to point to .data16 in prot_to_real, so that code specified
via REAL_EXEC() and friends can access variables in .data16.
Move most real-mode librm variables from .text16 to .data16.
Michael Brown