Re: sys_mmap2 on different architectures

[H. Peter Anvin]

Paul Mackerras wrote:
> > I've looked through the code for sys_mmap2 on several architectures, and 
> > it looks like some architectures plays by the "shift is always 12" rule, 
> >  e.g. SPARC, and some expect userspace to actually obtain the page 
> > size, e.g. PowerPC and MIPS.  On some architectures, e.g. x86 and ARM, 
> > the point is moot since PAGE_SIZE is always 2^12.
> >
> > a. Is this correct, or have I misunderstood the code?
>
> PowerPC always uses 12, even if PAGE_SHIFT is 16 (i.e. for 64k
> pages).

ACK on that.  I was looking at old kernel sources (2.6.14-rc timeframe), 
and I guess that one only supported 4K pages.

> > b. If so, is this right, or is this a bug?  Right now both klibc and 
> > µClibc consider the latter a bug.
>
> Glibc seems to expect it to always be 12, according to this excerpt
> from sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/mmap64.c:

That's what I thought, too, but it doesn't seem to match reality.

This is what I've found so far: (64-bit architectures excluded)

	arm		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	arm26		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == 12
	cris		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == PAGE_SHIFT (13)
	frv		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == 12
	h8300		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	i386		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	m32r		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	m68k		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == PAGE_SHIFT (variable)
	mips		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == PAGE_SHIFT (variable)
	parisc		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == 12
	ppc		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == 12
	s390		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	sh		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	sparc		- MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT == 12
	v850		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)
	xtensa		- N/A (PAGE_SHIFT == 12)

So, excluding 64-bit architectures, we have 3 architectures which expect 
getpagesize() to be used, 5 which expect the constant value 12, and 8 
which get the same result either way.  In effect, we have a system call 
with subtly different semantics across architectures, and there isn't 
any clear distinction each way.

This is something I don't enjoy about Linux :-/
	
> /* This is always 12, even on architectures where PAGE_SHIFT != 12.  */
> # ifndef MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT
> #  define MMAP2_PAGE_SHIFT 12
> # endif
>
> I would be very reluctant to change the shift to be PAGE_SHIFT, since
> that would be a change in the user/kernel ABI.  Of course, userspace
> is still expected to make sure addresses and offsets are multiples of
> the page size (and thus the offset argument to mmap2 has to be a
> multiple of 16 if the page size is 64k).

Changing the user-kernel ABI is bad.  I'm just trying to get to the 
bottom with what the API actually *IS*.

	-hpa
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