Hi,
TCG uses a fixed global register (AREG0) to which points to currently
used CPUState, also known as 'env'. Using a fixed register has the
downsides that the register must be reserved by TCG for generated code
and by the compiler for compiling a few critical files (op_helper.c
etc.). The latter also means that any calls to C library may be unsafe
from those files.
Here are my sketches about transition to AREG0-less world.
TCG the generator backend
-AREG0 is used for qemu_ld/st ops for TLB access. It should be
possible for the translators to pass instead a pointer to either
CPUState or directly to the TLB. New qemu_ld/st ops are needed for all
TCG targets.
-TCG temps are stored in CPUState field temp_buf[], accessed via
AREG0. Maybe a regular stack frame should be allocated instead?
-A generator can support translators with and without AREG0 without
performance impact and minor #ifdeffery.
Translators/op helpers
-Op helpers should not use global 'env' but take a CPUState or more
specific pointer instead. The converted helpers should be moved from
op_helper.c to helper.c. As Paul suggested, a new TCG_CALL_TYPE could
be added.
-cpu_env: still needed. Maybe a new TCG temp type should be added?
Special magic temp set up by prologue?
-New qemu_ld/st ops must be used. This breaks the translator when used
with the TCG backends that aren't yet converted, except with heavy
#ifdeffery.
-When a translator is completely AREG0 free, the register can be freed
for normal allocations.
-Performance will degrade until AREG0 usage is eliminated, then
performance should be better than now.
Other TCG execution loop (cpu-exec.c)
-Convert global 'env' use.
-It may be a bit tricky (some #ifdeffery) to support simultaneously
targets that use AREG0 and those that don't.
-Performance may degrade for the QEMU targets that still use AREG0.
Staging
-Ideally generators should be converted first to avoid breakages.
-In practice, breakages and performance regressions will be hard to avoid.
Cleanups
-HELPER_CFLAGS will be eliminated.
-All of QEMU will be plain ordinary C code for easier portability.
-Buggy C libraries (Sparc glibc longjmp destroying %g registers...)
won't be able to mess with global registers, no restrictions about C
library calls from op helpers are needed.
-dyngen_exec.h can be finally eliminated.
-Since qemu_ld/st uses need fixing anyway, the ops can be refactored
as well, for example taking Aurelien's constant patches into account.
-Generic softfloat and other common ops could be added, called
directly without a helper.
History
-In dyngen times, there used to be three global registers, AREG0 to
AREG2 (even more were defined, but not used).
-AREG1 and AREG2 were known as T1 and T2. Dyngen ops used these directly.
Comments? There are a few blank spots too.