#ifndef _GPXE_TABLES_H #define _GPXE_TABLES_H /** @page ifdef_harmful #ifdef considered harmful * * Overuse of @c #ifdef has long been a problem in Etherboot. * Etherboot provides a rich array of features, but all these features * take up valuable space in a ROM image. The traditional solution to * this problem has been for each feature to have its own @c #ifdef * option, allowing the feature to be compiled in only if desired. * * The problem with this is that it becomes impossible to compile, let * alone test, all possible versions of Etherboot. Code that is not * typically used tends to suffer from bit-rot over time. It becomes * extremely difficult to predict which combinations of compile-time * options will result in code that can even compile and link * correctly. * * To solve this problem, we have adopted a new approach from * Etherboot 5.5 onwards. @c #ifdef is now "considered harmful", and * its use should be minimised. Separate features should be * implemented in separate @c .c files, and should \b always be * compiled (i.e. they should \b not be guarded with a @c #ifdef @c * MY_PET_FEATURE statement). By making (almost) all code always * compile, we avoid the problem of bit-rot in rarely-used code. * * The file config.h, in combination with the @c make command line, * specifies the objects that will be included in any particular build * of Etherboot. For example, suppose that config.h includes the line * * @code * * #define CONSOLE_SERIAL * #define DOWNLOAD_PROTO_TFTP * * @endcode * * When a particular Etherboot image (e.g. @c bin/rtl8139.zdsk) is * built, the options specified in config.h are used to drag in the * relevant objects at link-time. For the above example, serial.o and * tftp.o would be linked in. * * There remains one problem to solve: how do these objects get used? * Traditionally, we had code such as * * @code * * #ifdef CONSOLE_SERIAL * serial_init(); * #endif * * @endcode * * in main.c, but this reintroduces @c #ifdef and so is a Bad Idea. * We cannot simply remove the @c #ifdef and make it * * @code * * serial_init(); * * @endcode * * because then serial.o would end up always being linked in. * * The solution is to use @link tables.h linker tables @endlink. * */ /** @file * * Linker tables * * Read @ref ifdef_harmful first for some background on the motivation * for using linker tables. * * This file provides macros for dealing with linker-generated tables * of fixed-size symbols. We make fairly extensive use of these in * order to avoid @c #ifdef spaghetti and/or linker symbol pollution. * For example, instead of having code such as * * @code * * #ifdef CONSOLE_SERIAL * serial_init(); * #endif * * @endcode * * we make serial.c generate an entry in the initialisation function * table, and then have a function call_init_fns() that simply calls * all functions present in this table. If and only if serial.o gets * linked in, then its initialisation function will be called. We * avoid linker symbol pollution (i.e. always dragging in serial.o * just because of a call to serial_init()) and we also avoid @c * #ifdef spaghetti (having to conditionalise every reference to * functions in serial.c). * * The linker script takes care of assembling the tables for us. All * our table sections have names of the format @c .tbl.NAME.NN where * @c NAME designates the data structure stored in the table (e.g. @c * init_fn) and @c NN is a two-digit decimal number used to impose an * ordering upon the tables if required. @c NN=00 is reserved for the * symbol indicating "table start", and @c NN=99 is reserved for the * symbol indicating "table end". * * As an example, suppose that we want to create a "frobnicator" * feature framework, and allow for several independent modules to * provide frobnicating services. Then we would create a frob.h * header file containing e.g. * * @code * * struct frobnicator { * const char *name; // Name of the frobnicator * void ( *frob ) ( void ); // The frobnicating function itself * }; * * #define __frobnicator __table ( frobnicators, 01 ) * * @endcode * * Any module providing frobnicating services would look something * like * * @code * * #include "frob.h" * * static void my_frob ( void ) { * // Do my frobnicating * ... * } * * struct frob my_frobnicator __frobnicator = { * .name = "my_frob", * .frob = my_frob, * }; * * @endcode * * The central frobnicator code (frob.c) would use the frobnicating * modules as follows * * @code * * #include "frob.h" * * static struct frob frob_start[0] __table_start ( frobnicators ); * static struct frob frob_end[0] __table_end ( frobnicators ); * * // Call all linked-in frobnicators * void frob_all ( void ) { * struct frob *frob; * * for ( frob = frob_start ; frob < frob_end ; frob++ ) { * printf ( "Calling frobnicator \"%s\"\n", frob->name ); * frob->frob (); * } * } * * @endcode * * See init.h and init.c for a real-life example. * */ #ifdef DOXYGEN #define __attribute__( x ) #endif #define __table_str( x ) #x #define __table_section( table, idx ) \ __section__ ( ".tbl." __table_str ( table ) "." __table_str ( idx ) ) #define __table_section_start( table ) __table_section ( table, 00 ) #define __table_section_end( table ) __table_section ( table, 99 ) #define __natural_alignment( type ) __aligned__ ( __alignof__ ( type ) ) /** * Linker table entry. * * Declares a data structure to be part of a linker table. Use as * e.g. * * @code * * struct my_foo __table ( foo, 01 ) = { * ... * }; * * @endcode * */ #define __table( type, table, idx ) \ __attribute__ (( __table_section ( table, idx ), \ __natural_alignment ( type ) )) /** * Linker table start marker. * * Declares a data structure (usually an empty data structure) to be * the start of a linker table. Use as e.g. * * @code * * static struct foo_start[0] __table_start ( foo ); * * @endcode * */ #define __table_start( type, table ) __table ( type, table, 00 ) /** * Linker table end marker. * * Declares a data structure (usually an empty data structure) to be * the end of a linker table. Use as e.g. * * @code * * static struct foo_end[0] __table_end ( foo ); * * @endcode * */ #define __table_end( type, table ) __table ( type, table, 99 ) #endif /* _GPXE_TABLES_H */