Currently, linux kernel has a __user attribute ([1]) defined as
__attribute__((noderef, address_space(__user)))
which is used by sparse tool ([2]) to do some
type checking of pointers to user space memory.
During normal compilation, __user will be defined
to nothing so it won't have an impact on compilation.
The btf_tag attribute, which is motivated by
carrying linux kernel annotations into dwarf/BTF,
is introduced in [3]. We intended to define __user as
__attribute__((btf_tag("user")))
so such information will be encoded in dwarf/BTF
and can be used later by bpf verification or other
tracing tools.
But linux kernel __user attribute is also used during
type conversion which btf_tag doesn't support ([4]) since
such type conversion is only used for compiler analysis
and not encoded in dwarf/btf. Theoretically, it is
possible for clang to understand these tags and
do a sparse-like type checking work. But I would like
to leave that to future work and for now suggest simply
ignore these btf_tag attributes if they are used
as type attributes.
[1] https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/include/linux/compiler_types.h#L10
[2] https://sparse.docs.kernel.org/en/latest/
[3] https://reviews.llvm.org/
D106614
[4] https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/fs/binfmt_flat.c#L135
Differential Revision: https://reviews.llvm.org/
D110116
let LangOpts = [COnly];
}
-def BTFTag : InheritableAttr {
+def BTFTag : DeclOrTypeAttr {
let Spellings = [Clang<"btf_tag">];
let Args = [StringArgument<"BTFTag">];
let Subjects = SubjectList<[Var, Function, Record, Field], ErrorDiag>;
function, function parameter or variable declaration. If -g is specified,
the ``ARGUMENT`` info will be preserved in IR and be emitted to dwarf.
For BPF targets, the ``ARGUMENT`` info will be emitted to .BTF ELF section too.
+
+The attribute can also be used as a type qualifier. Right now it is accepted
+and silently ignored in order to permit the linux kernel to build with the
+attribute.
}];
}
case attr::UPtr:
case attr::AddressSpace:
case attr::CmseNSCall:
+ case attr::BTFTag:
llvm_unreachable("This attribute should have been handled already");
case attr::NSReturnsRetained:
case ParsedAttr::IgnoredAttribute:
break;
+ case ParsedAttr::AT_BTFTag:
+ // FIXME: Linux kernel may also use this attribute for type casting check,
+ // which clang doesn's support for now. Let us ignore them so linux kernel
+ // build won't break.
+ attr.setUsedAsTypeAttr();
+ break;
case ParsedAttr::AT_MayAlias:
// FIXME: This attribute needs to actually be handled, but if we ignore
// it it breaks large amounts of Linux software.
int __tag1 foo(struct t1 *arg __tag1, struct t2 *arg2) {
return arg->a + arg2->a;
}
+
+void * convert(long arg) {
+ /* FIXME: the attribute __tag1 is accepted but didn't really do type conversion
+ * or enforce type checking. This is to permit linux kernel build with btf_tag
+ * attribute.
+ */
+ return (void __tag1 *)arg;
+}