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[ARMv6-M] initialize the LR register #293

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Sep 2, 2020
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[ARMv6-M] initialize the LR register #293

merged 1 commit into from
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@japaric japaric commented Sep 2, 2020

NOTE: same as PR #292

the ARMv6-M Architecture Reference Manual (ARM DDI 0419D) indicates in section
B1.5.5 "Reset behavior" that the LR (Link Register) starts in an unknown state
when the Reset handler is taken and that its "Value must be initialised by
software"

So this PR does that: it initializes the LR register to 0xFFFF_FFFF (-1) first
thing in the Reset handler (only for v6). The manual doesn't say which value to
use so I decided to use the value used by the ARMv7-M (v7 sets LR to 0xFFFF_FFFF
before invoking the Reset handler; see its Architecture Manual for details).

The values of LR (these are pushed onto the stack in function preludes) are used
to unwind the stack (e.g. GDB's backtrace or a future cortex_m_panic_unwind
handler). Having the initial stack frame use a known value on all Cortex-M
variants makes it easier to implement panic_unwind and avoids virtual
unwinders like GDB backtrace trying to unwind beyond the Reset handler

Note that this implementation uses a trampoline that runs before Reset to set
LR on v6. This is required because the prelude of the Reset routine will push
LR onto the stack; we want that LR value to be -1. Calling register::lr::write
from Reset would perform the write after LR has been pushed onto the stack and
that's too late

the ARMv6-M Architecture Reference Manual (ARM DDI 0419D) indicates in section
B1.5.5 "Reset behavior" that the LR (Link Register) starts in an unknown state
when the Reset handler is taken and that its "Value must be initialised by
software"

So this PR does that: it initializes the LR register to 0xFFFF_FFFF (-1) first
thing in the Reset handler (only for v6). The manual doesn't say which value to
use so I decided to use the value used by the ARMv7-M (v7 sets LR to 0xFFFF_FFFF
before invoking the Reset handler; see its Architecture Manual for details).

The values of LR (these are pushed onto the stack in function preludes) are used
to unwind the stack (e.g. GDB's `backtrace` or a future `cortex_m_panic_unwind`
handler). Having the initial stack frame use a known value on all Cortex-M
variants makes it easier to implement `panic_unwind` and avoids virtual
unwinders like GDB `backtrace` trying to unwind beyond the `Reset` handler

Note that this implementation uses a trampoline that runs before `Reset` to set
LR on v6. This is required because the prelude of the `Reset` routine will push
LR onto the stack; we want that LR value to be -1. Calling `register::lr::write`
from `Reset` would perform the write after LR has been pushed onto the stack and
that's too late
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r? @thalesfragoso

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LGTM, thanks!

bors r+

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bors bot commented Sep 2, 2020

@bors bors bot merged commit 427705f into master Sep 2, 2020
@bors bors bot deleted the v6-init-lr-main branch September 2, 2020 16:01
bors bot added a commit that referenced this pull request Nov 23, 2021
337: Fix unwinding through `Reset` r=thejpster a=jonas-schievink

Unwinders may detect the end of the program by seeing `0xFFFFFFFF` in `lr`, which is why code to ensure that it has that value was added in #293. However, the `bl main` overwrites that value with the current program counter. This PR saves the old `lr` value on the stack, and adds debuginfo entries to allow an external unwinder to restore the value.

This fixes knurling-rs/probe-run#277

Co-authored-by: Jonas Schievink <jonasschievink@gmail.com>
adamgreig pushed a commit to rust-embedded/cortex-m that referenced this pull request Jan 12, 2022
337: Fix unwinding through `Reset` r=thejpster a=jonas-schievink

Unwinders may detect the end of the program by seeing `0xFFFFFFFF` in `lr`, which is why code to ensure that it has that value was added in rust-embedded/cortex-m-rt#293. However, the `bl main` overwrites that value with the current program counter. This PR saves the old `lr` value on the stack, and adds debuginfo entries to allow an external unwinder to restore the value.

This fixes knurling-rs/probe-run#277

Co-authored-by: Jonas Schievink <jonasschievink@gmail.com>
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4 participants