[PATCH REPOST] ARM: Thumb-2: Relax relocation requirements for non-function symbols

[Dave Martin]

On Wed, Jun 01, 2011 at 10:27:14AM +0100, Catalin Marinas wrote:
> On 31 May 2011 17:27, Dave Martin <dave.martin at linaro.org> wrote:
> > The "Thumb bit" of a symbol is only really meaningful for function
> > symbols (STT_FUNC).
> >
> > However, sometimes a branch is relocated against a non-function
> > symbol; for example, PC-relative branches to anonymous assembler
> > local symbols are typically fixed up against the start-of-section
> > symbol, which is not a function symbol.  Some inline assembler
> > generates references of this type, such as fixup code generated by
> > macros in <asm/uaccess.h>.
> >
> > The existing relocation code for R_ARM_THM_CALL/R_ARM_THM_JUMP24
> > interprets this case as an error, because the target symbol appears
> > to be an ARM symbol; but this is really not the case, since the
> > target symbol is just a base in these cases.  The addend defines
> > the precise offset to the target location, but since the addend is
> > encoded in a non-interworking Thumb branch instruction, there is no
> > explicit Thumb bit in the addend.  Because these instructions never
> > interwork, the implied Thumb bit in the addend is 1, and the
> > destination is Thumb by definition.
> >
> > This patch removes the extraneous Thumb bit check for non-function
> > symbols, enabling modules containing the affected relocation types
> > to be loaded.  No modification to the actual relocation code is
> > required, since this code does not take bit[0] of the
> > location->destination offset into account in any case.
> >
> > Function symbols are always checked for interworking conflicts, as
> > before.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Dave Martin <dave.martin at linaro.org>
> 
> Acked-by: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas at arm.com>

Thanks
---Dave