GCC 4.6.x miscompiling arm-linux?

Mikael Pettersson mikpe at it.uu.se
Tue Sep 11 05:41:08 EDT 2012


David Jander writes:
 > 
 > Dear Mikael,
 > 
 > On Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:11:02 +0200
 > Mikael Pettersson <mikpe at it.uu.se> wrote:
 > 
 > > David Jander writes:
 > >  > 
 > >  > Hi Matt,
 > >  > 
 > >  > On Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:11:19 +0100
 > >  > Matthew Leach <matthew at mattleach.net> wrote:
 > >  > > David Jander <david.jander at protonic.nl> writes:
 > >  > > > ...
 > >  > > > 	.text
 > >  > > > 	.align	2
 > >  > > > 	.global	flexcan_chip_start
 > >  > > > 	.type	flexcan_chip_start, %function
 > >  > > > flexcan_chip_start:
 > >  > > > 	@ args = 0, pretend = 0, frame = 0
 > >  > > > 	@ frame_needed = 0, uses_anonymous_args = 0
 > >  > > > 	@ link register save eliminated.
 > >  > > > 	mov	r3, #0
 > >  > > > 	cmp	r0, #9
 > >  > > > 	str	r3, [r1, #0]
 > >  > > > 	ldrle	r3, [r1, #4]
 > >  > > > 	mov	r0, #0
 > >  > > > 	str	r3, [r1, #4]
 > >  > > > 	bx	lr
 > >  > > > 	.size	flexcan_chip_start, .-flexcan_chip_start
 > >  > > > 	.ident	"GCC: (OSELAS.Toolchain-2011.11.1) 4.6.2"
 > >  > > > 	.section	.note.GNU-stack,"",%progbits
 > >  > > >
 > >  > > 
 > >  > > This does indeed look wrong. I had a go at compile your code snippet the
 > >  > > following assembly was produced:
 > >  > > 
 > >  > >         .text
 > >  > >         .align  2
 > >  > >         .global flexcan_chip_start
 > >  > >         .type   flexcan_chip_start, %function
 > >  > > flexcan_chip_start:
 > >  > >         @ Function supports interworking.
 > >  > >         @ args = 0, pretend = 0, frame = 0
 > >  > >         @ frame_needed = 0, uses_anonymous_args = 0
 > >  > >         @ link register save eliminated.
 > >  > >         cmp     r0, #9
 > >  > >         mov     r3, #0
 > >  > >         str     r3, [r1, #0]
 > >  > >         mov     r0, #0
 > >  > >         strgt   r3, [r1, #4]
 > >  > >         bx      lr
 > >  > >         .size   flexcan_chip_start, .-flexcan_chip_start
 > >  > >         .ident  "GCC: (GNU) 4.3.3"
 > >  > >         .section        .note.GNU-stack,"",%progbits
 > >  > > 
 > >  > > I think this looks correct. Perhaps you could try the angstrom arm5te
 > >  > > toolchain and see if it's a toolchain issue?
 > >  > 
 > >  > Yes, this looks a lot better, and is exactly what I get when I compile this
 > >  > code with CodeSourcery GCC-4.4.1
 > >  > 
 > >  > I have tries building gcc-4.6.3 also with OSELAS/PTXdist, and it gives the
 > >  > same (wrong) result as with gcc-4.6.2
 > >  > 
 > >  > > I think this looks correct. Perhaps you could try the angstrom arm5te
 > >  > > toolchain and see if it's a toolchain issue?
 > >  > >
 > >  > > http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/toolchains/angstrom-2011.03-i686-linux-armv5te-linux-gnueabi-toolchain-qte-4.6.3.tar.bz2
 > >  > 
 > >  > This toolchain is a lot older:
 > >  > 
 > >  > $ ./usr/local/angstrom/arm/bin/arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-gcc --version
 > >  > arm-angstrom-linux-gnueabi-gcc (GCC) 4.3.3
 > >  > Copyright (C) 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 > >  > This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.  There is NO
 > >  > warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
 > >  > 
 > >  > The tar-ball says 4.6.3, but that is probably the version number of the qte
 > >  > library, not that of gcc, which is 4.3.3, It does indeed produce
 > >  > the same (correct) output as in your case.
 > >  > 
 > >  > The newest angstrom (next) toolchain has gcc version 4.5.3, and it produces
 > >  > this (correct) output:
 > >  > 
 > >  > flexcan_chip_start:
 > >  >         @ Function supports interworking.
 > >  >         @ args = 0, pretend = 0, frame = 0
 > >  >         @ frame_needed = 0, uses_anonymous_args = 0
 > >  >         @ link register save eliminated.
 > >  >         mov     r3, #0
 > >  >         cmp     r0, #9
 > >  >         str     r3, [r1, #0]
 > >  >         mov     r0, #0
 > >  >         strgt   r3, [r1, #4]
 > >  >         bx      lr
 > >  >         .size   flexcan_chip_start, .-flexcan_chip_start
 > >  >         .ident  "GCC: (GNU) 4.5.3 20110311 (prerelease)"
 > >  >         .section        .note.GNU-stack,"",%progbits
 > >  > 
 > >  > Anyone knows where I can download a pre-built toolchain for 32-bit linux that
 > >  > is based on gcc-4.6 and/or gcc-4.7 to try out?
 > >  > 
 > >  > I have quite a hard time believing this issue is a yet unknown bug in GCC...
 > >  > I'd rather believe that I lack sufficient GCC knowledge to know how to
 > >  > correctly tell the compiler that this is a memory-IO operation. Anyone knows
 > >  > how to do this correctly? Or to explain why the output of gcc-4.6 looks less
 > >  > optimal than the output of older versions of GCC?
 > > 
 > > Well, my toolchain generates:
 > > 
 > > flexcan_chip_start:
 > >         @ args = 0, pretend = 0, frame = 0
 > >         @ frame_needed = 0, uses_anonymous_args = 0
 > >         @ link register save eliminated.
 > >         mov     r3, #0
 > >         cmp     r0, #9
 > >         str     r3, [r1, #0]
 > >         mov     r0, #0
 > >         strgt   r3, [r1, #4]
 > >         bx      lr
 > >         .size   flexcan_chip_start, .-flexcan_chip_start
 > >         .ident  "GCC: (GNU) 4.6.3 20120706 (Brewer Linux 4.6.3-3)"
 > > 
 > > which looks correct.
 > 
 > This is indeed strange. I have tried with unpatched gcc-4.6.3,
 > OSELAS.Toolchain gcc 4.6.2 and linaro gcc 4.6.3 (see my previous e-mail to
 > the list), and they all produce wrong results.
 > Can you tell me where I can get your toolchain (Brewer Linux)? It also looks
 > like your version is patched somehow (version number ends in -3). What patches
 > are included in this version?

The toolchain isn't published anywhere, it's my private branch with lots
of backported upstream fixes. It's not based on Linaro/Ubuntu sources.

The "-3" in the version number is a package rev generated by the .src.rpm.

I can make the patches available if there's confirmation that a vanilla
upstream gcc-4.6.3 doesn't work.

 > > Your bug may be a consequence of using an antique gcc, how that gcc was
 > > configured, or "OSELAS/PTXdist" may have applied a broken patch to their
 > > gcc sources. When in doubt, _alway_ report suspected gcc problems to whoever
 > > supplied you with your gcc binaries.
 > 
 > Yes, the guys from OSELAS/Pengutronix are in CC (at least Sascha was from the
 > beginning). OSELAS is based on PTXdist, and as such does not distribute
 > binaries, but rather as build-scripts (recipes) a la gentoo.
 > 
 > > If you do decide to report this to gcc.gnu.org's bugzilla, be prepared to:
 > > 1: first reproduce the bug with a gcc built from unmodified gcc 4.6.3, 4.7.1,
 > >    or 4.8 sources -- older gccs are unmaintained and unsupported by upstream,
 > 
 > I think I already did. I just changed the version string in OSELAS.Toolchain
 > script from 4.6.2 to 4.6.3. AFAIK (Sascha may confirm) this should
 > automatically build an unpatched version of gcc-4.6.3, since the PTXdist patch
 > series exists only for gcc-4.6.2. It worked, and it produced wrong code.
 > Should I call the GCC police?

If you're sure no add-on patches were applied, then yes please do.

 > 
 > > 2: include the output of gcc -v which tells how that gcc was configured,
 > > 3: give the exact set of gcc options used then compiling the test case.
 > 
 > That should be easy.
 > 
 > > In this case the test case is so small it's not a problem, but in general
 > > self-contained executable tests that generate explicit runtime errors in
 > > case they were mis-compiled are preferred over tests that require a human
 > > to analyze the generated assembly code.
 > 
 > That's understandable, and probably a good explanation as of why this bug may
 > have slipped so far through in the first place: not enough people looking at
 > the assembly output generated by the compiler, and thus not noticing that it
 > produces code that is wrong but produces correct results if it can be executed
 > without bus-errors. It could get noticed in code-efficiency tests though,
 > since it is a tad less optimal than what both older and newer versions of GCC
 > produce :-)
 > 
 > Best regards,
 > 
 > -- 
 > David Jander
 > Protonic Holland.
 > 



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