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27.\" $FreeBSD$
28.\"
29.Dd March 23, 2020
30.Dt ARCH 7
31.Os
32.Sh NAME
33.Nm arch
34.Nd Architecture-specific details
35.Sh DESCRIPTION
36Differences between CPU architectures and platforms supported by
37.Fx .
38.Ss Introduction
39This document is a quick reference of key ABI details of
40.Fx
41architecture ports.
42For full details consult the processor-specific ABI supplement
43documentation.
44.Pp
45If not explicitly mentioned, sizes are in bytes.
46The architecture details in this document apply to
47.Fx 11.0
48and later, unless otherwise noted.
49.Pp
50.Fx
51uses a flat address space.
52Variables of types
53.Vt unsigned long ,
54.Vt uintptr_t ,
55and
56.Vt size_t
57and pointers all have the same representation.
58.Pp
59In order to maximize compatibility with future pointer integrity mechanisms,
60manipulations of pointers as integers should be performed via
61.Vt uintptr_t
62or
63.Vt intptr_t
64and no other types.
65In particular,
66.Vt long
67and
68.Vt ptrdiff_t
69should be avoided.
70.Pp
71On some architectures, e.g.,
72.Dv powerpc
73and AIM variants of
74.Dv powerpc64 ,
75the kernel uses a separate address space.
76On other architectures, kernel and a user mode process share a
77single address space.
78The kernel is located at the highest addresses.
79.Pp
80On each architecture, the main user mode thread's stack starts near
81the highest user address and grows down.
82.Pp
83.Fx
84architecture support varies by release.
85This table shows the first
86.Fx
87release to support each architecture, and, for discontinued
88architectures, the final release.
89.Pp
90.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Initial Release" "Final Release"
91.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Initial Release Ta Sy Final Release
92.It aarch64     Ta 11.0
93.It alpha       Ta 3.2   Ta 6.4
94.It amd64       Ta 5.1
95.It arm         Ta 6.0   Ta 12.x
96.It armeb       Ta 8.0   Ta 11.x
97.It armv6       Ta 10.0
98.It armv7       Ta 12.0
99.It ia64        Ta 5.0   Ta 10.4
100.It i386        Ta 1.0
101.It mips        Ta 8.0
102.It mipsel      Ta 9.0
103.It mipselhf    Ta 12.0
104.It mipshf      Ta 12.0
105.It mipsn32     Ta 9.0
106.It mips64      Ta 9.0
107.It mips64el    Ta 9.0
108.It mips64elhf  Ta 12.0
109.It mips64hf    Ta 12.0
110.It pc98        Ta 2.2   Ta 11.x
111.It powerpc     Ta 6.0
112.It powerpcspe  Ta 12.0
113.It powerpc64   Ta 6.0
114.It riscv64     Ta 12.0
115.It riscv64sf   Ta 12.0
116.It sparc64     Ta 5.0   Ta 12.x
117.El
118.Ss Type sizes
119All
120.Fx
121architectures use some variant of the ELF (see
122.Xr elf 5 )
123.Sy Application Binary Interface
124(ABI) for the machine processor.
125All supported ABIs can be divided into two groups:
126.Bl -tag -width "Dv ILP32"
127.It Dv ILP32
128.Vt int ,
129.Vt long ,
130.Vt void *
131types machine representations all have 4-byte size.
132.It Dv LP64
133.Vt int
134type machine representation uses 4 bytes,
135while
136.Vt long
137and
138.Vt void *
139are 8 bytes.
140.El
141.Pp
142Some machines support more than one
143.Fx
144ABI.
145Typically these are 64-bit machines, where the
146.Dq native
147.Dv LP64
148execution environment is accompanied by the
149.Dq legacy
150.Dv ILP32
151environment, which was the historical 32-bit predecessor for 64-bit evolution.
152Examples are:
153.Bl -column -offset indent "powerpc64" "ILP32 counterpart"
154.It Sy LP64        Ta Sy ILP32 counterpart
155.It Dv amd64       Ta Dv i386
156.It Dv powerpc64   Ta Dv powerpc
157.It Dv mips64*     Ta Dv mips*
158.It Dv aarch64     Ta Dv armv6/armv7
159.El
160.Pp
161.Dv aarch64
162will support execution of
163.Dv armv6
164or
165.Dv armv7
166binaries if the CPU implements
167.Dv AArch32
168execution state, however
169.Dv armv5
170binaries aren't supported.
171.Pp
172On all supported architectures:
173.Bl -column -offset -indent "long long" "Size"
174.It Sy Type Ta Sy Size
175.It short Ta 2
176.It int Ta 4
177.It long Ta sizeof(void*)
178.It long long Ta 8
179.It float Ta 4
180.It double Ta 8
181.El
182.Pp
183Integers are represented in two's complement.
184Alignment of integer and pointer types is natural, that is,
185the address of the variable must be congruent to zero modulo the type size.
186Most ILP32 ABIs, except
187.Dv arm ,
188require only 4-byte alignment for 64-bit integers.
189.Pp
190Machine-dependent type sizes:
191.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "void *" "long double" "time_t"
192.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy void * Ta Sy long double Ta Sy time_t
193.It aarch64     Ta 8 Ta 16 Ta 8
194.It amd64       Ta 8 Ta 16 Ta 8
195.It armv6       Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
196.It armv7       Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
197.It i386        Ta 4 Ta 12 Ta 4
198.It mips        Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
199.It mipsel      Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
200.It mipselhf    Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
201.It mipshf      Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
202.It mipsn32     Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
203.It mips64      Ta 8 Ta  8 Ta 8
204.It mips64el    Ta 8 Ta  8 Ta 8
205.It mips64elhf  Ta 8 Ta  8 Ta 8
206.It mips64hf    Ta 8 Ta  8 Ta 8
207.It powerpc     Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
208.It powerpcspe  Ta 4 Ta  8 Ta 8
209.It powerpc64   Ta 8 Ta  8 Ta 8
210.It riscv64     Ta 8 Ta 16 Ta 8
211.It riscv64sf   Ta 8 Ta 16 Ta 8
212.El
213.Pp
214.Sy time_t
215is 8 bytes on all supported architectures except i386.
216.Ss Endianness and Char Signedness
217.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Endianness" "char Signedness"
218.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Endianness Ta Sy char Signedness
219.It aarch64     Ta little Ta unsigned
220.It amd64       Ta little Ta   signed
221.It armv6       Ta little Ta unsigned
222.It armv7       Ta little Ta unsigned
223.It i386        Ta little Ta   signed
224.It mips        Ta big    Ta   signed
225.It mipsel      Ta little Ta   signed
226.It mipselhf    Ta little Ta   signed
227.It mipshf      Ta big    Ta   signed
228.It mipsn32     Ta big    Ta   signed
229.It mips64      Ta big    Ta   signed
230.It mips64el    Ta little Ta   signed
231.It mips64elhf  Ta little Ta   signed
232.It mips64hf    Ta big    Ta   signed
233.It powerpc     Ta big    Ta unsigned
234.It powerpcspe  Ta big    Ta unsigned
235.It powerpc64   Ta big    Ta unsigned
236.It riscv64     Ta little Ta   signed
237.It riscv64sf   Ta little Ta   signed
238.El
239.Ss Page Size
240.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Page Sizes"
241.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Page Sizes
242.It aarch64     Ta 4K, 2M, 1G
243.It amd64       Ta 4K, 2M, 1G
244.It armv6       Ta 4K, 1M
245.It armv7       Ta 4K, 1M
246.It i386        Ta 4K, 2M (PAE), 4M
247.It mips        Ta 4K
248.It mipsel      Ta 4K
249.It mipselhf    Ta 4K
250.It mipshf      Ta 4K
251.It mipsn32     Ta 4K
252.It mips64      Ta 4K
253.It mips64el    Ta 4K
254.It mips64elhf  Ta 4K
255.It mips64hf    Ta 4K
256.It powerpc     Ta 4K
257.It powerpcspe  Ta 4K
258.It powerpc64   Ta 4K
259.It riscv64     Ta 4K
260.It riscv64sf   Ta 4K
261.El
262.Ss Floating Point
263.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "float, double" "long double"
264.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy float, double Ta Sy long double
265.It aarch64     Ta hard Ta soft, quad precision
266.It amd64       Ta hard Ta hard, 80 bit
267.It armv6       Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
268.It armv7       Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
269.It i386        Ta hard Ta hard, 80 bit
270.It mips        Ta soft Ta identical to double
271.It mipsel      Ta soft Ta identical to double
272.It mipselhf    Ta hard Ta identical to double
273.It mipshf      Ta hard Ta identical to double
274.It mipsn32     Ta soft Ta identical to double
275.It mips64      Ta soft Ta identical to double
276.It mips64el    Ta soft Ta identical to double
277.It mips64elhf  Ta hard Ta identical to double
278.It mips64hf    Ta hard Ta identical to double
279.It powerpc     Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
280.It powerpcspe  Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
281.It powerpc64   Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
282.It riscv64     Ta hard Ta hard, double precision
283.It riscv64sf   Ta soft Ta soft, double precision
284.El
285.Ss Default Tool Chain
286.Fx
287uses
288.Xr clang 1
289as the default compiler on all supported CPU architectures,
290as well as ELF Tool Chain binary utilities such as
291.Xr objcopy 1
292and
293.Xr readelf 1 .
294Most supported CPU architectures also use LLVM's
295.Xr ld.lld 1
296as the linker.
297This table shows the default tool chain for each architecture.
298.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Compiler" "Linker"
299.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Compiler Ta Sy Linker
300.It aarch64     Ta Clang     Ta lld
301.It amd64       Ta Clang     Ta lld
302.It armv6       Ta Clang     Ta lld
303.It armv7       Ta Clang     Ta lld
304.It i386        Ta Clang     Ta lld
305.It mips        Ta Clang     Ta lld
306.It mipsel      Ta Clang     Ta lld
307.It mipselhf    Ta Clang     Ta lld
308.It mipshf      Ta Clang     Ta lld
309.It mipsn32     Ta Clang     Ta lld
310.It mips64      Ta Clang     Ta lld
311.It mips64el    Ta Clang     Ta lld
312.It mips64elhf  Ta Clang     Ta lld
313.It mips64hf    Ta Clang     Ta lld
314.It powerpc     Ta Clang     Ta GNU ld 2.17.50
315.It powerpcspe  Ta Clang     Ta GNU ld 2.17.50
316.It powerpc64   Ta Clang     Ta lld
317.It riscv64     Ta Clang     Ta lld
318.It riscv64sf   Ta Clang     Ta lld
319.El
320.Ss MACHINE_ARCH vs MACHINE_CPUARCH vs MACHINE
321.Dv MACHINE_CPUARCH
322should be preferred in Makefiles when the generic
323architecture is being tested.
324.Dv MACHINE_ARCH
325should be preferred when there is something specific to a particular type of
326architecture where there is a choice of many, or could be a choice of many.
327Use
328.Dv MACHINE
329when referring to the kernel, interfaces dependent on a specific type of kernel
330or similar things like boot sequences.
331.Bl -column -offset indent "Dv MACHINE" "Dv MACHINE_CPUARCH" "Dv MACHINE_ARCH"
332.It Dv MACHINE Ta Dv MACHINE_CPUARCH Ta Dv MACHINE_ARCH
333.It arm64 Ta aarch64 Ta aarch64
334.It amd64 Ta amd64 Ta amd64
335.It arm Ta arm Ta armv6, armv7
336.It i386 Ta i386 Ta i386
337.It mips Ta mips Ta mips, mipsel, mips64, mips64el, mipshf, mipselhf, mips64elhf, mipsn32
338.It powerpc Ta powerpc Ta powerpc, powerpcspe, powerpc64
339.It riscv Ta riscv Ta riscv64, riscv64sf
340.El
341.Ss Predefined Macros
342The compiler provides a number of predefined macros.
343Some of these provide architecture-specific details and are explained below.
344Other macros, including those required by the language standard, are not
345included here.
346.Pp
347The full set of predefined macros can be obtained with this command:
348.Bd -literal -offset indent
349cc -x c -dM -E /dev/null
350.Ed
351.Pp
352Common type size and endianness macros:
353.Bl -column -offset indent "BYTE_ORDER" "Meaning"
354.It Sy Macro Ta Sy Meaning
355.It Dv __LP64__ Ta 64-bit (8-byte) long and pointer, 32-bit (4-byte) int
356.It Dv __ILP32__ Ta 32-bit (4-byte) int, long and pointer
357.It Dv BYTE_ORDER Ta Either Dv BIG_ENDIAN or Dv LITTLE_ENDIAN .
358.Dv PDP11_ENDIAN
359is not used on
360.Fx .
361.El
362.Pp
363Architecture-specific macros:
364.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Predefined macros"
365.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Predefined macros
366.It aarch64     Ta Dv __aarch64__
367.It amd64       Ta Dv __amd64__, Dv __x86_64__
368.It armv6       Ta Dv __arm__, Dv __ARM_ARCH >= 6
369.It armv7       Ta Dv __arm__, Dv __ARM_ARCH >= 7
370.It i386        Ta Dv __i386__
371.It mips        Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __MIPSEB__, Dv __mips_o32
372.It mipsel      Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __mips_o32
373.It mipselhf    Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __mips_o32
374.It mipshf      Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __MIPSEB__, Dv __mips_o32
375.It mipsn32     Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __MIPSEB__, Dv __mips_n32
376.It mips64      Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __MIPSEB__, Dv __mips_n64
377.It mips64el    Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __mips_n64
378.It mips64elhf  Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __mips_n64
379.It mips64hf    Ta Dv __mips__, Dv __MIPSEB__, Dv __mips_n64
380.It powerpc     Ta Dv __powerpc__
381.It powerpcspe  Ta Dv __powerpc__, Dv __SPE__
382.It powerpc64   Ta Dv __powerpc__, Dv __powerpc64__
383.It riscv64     Ta Dv __riscv, Dv __riscv_xlen == 64
384.It riscv64sf   Ta Dv __riscv, Dv __riscv_xlen == 64
385.El
386.Pp
387Compilers may define additional variants of architecture-specific macros.
388The macros above are preferred for use in
389.Fx .
390.Ss Important Xr make 1 variables
391Most of the externally settable variables are defined in the
392.Xr build 7
393man page.
394These variables are not otherwise documented and are used extensively
395in the build system.
396.Bl -tag -width "MACHINE_CPUARCH"
397.It Dv MACHINE
398Represents the hardware platform.
399This is the same as the native platform's
400.Xr uname 1
401.Fl m
402output.
403It defines both the userland / kernel interface, as well as the
404bootloader / kernel interface.
405It should only be used in these contexts.
406Each CPU architecture may have multiple hardware platforms it supports
407where
408.Dv MACHINE
409differs among them.
410It is used to collect together all the files from
411.Xr config 8
412to build the kernel.
413It is often the same as
414.Dv MACHINE_ARCH
415just as one CPU architecture can be implemented by many different
416hardware platforms, one hardware platform may support multiple CPU
417architecture family members, though with different binaries.
418For example,
419.Dv MACHINE
420of i386 supported the IBM-AT hardware platform while the
421.Dv MACHINE
422of pc98 supported the Japanese company NEC's PC-9801 and PC-9821
423hardware platforms.
424Both of these hardware platforms supported only the
425.Dv MACHINE_ARCH
426of i386 where they shared a common ABI, except for certain kernel /
427userland interfaces relating to underlying hardware platform
428differences in bus architecture, device enumeration and boot interface.
429Generally,
430.Dv MACHINE
431should only be used in src/sys and src/stand or in system imagers or
432installers.
433.It Dv MACHINE_ARCH
434Represents the CPU processor architecture.
435This is the same as the native platforms
436.Xr uname 1
437.Fl p
438output.
439It defines the CPU instruction family supported.
440It may also encode a variation in the byte ordering of multi-byte
441integers (endian).
442It may also encode a variation in the size of the integer or pointer.
443It may also encode a ISA revision.
444It may also encode hard versus soft floating point ABI and usage.
445It may also encode a variant ABI when the other factors do not
446uniquely define the ABI (e.g., MIPS' n32 ABI).
447It, along with
448.Dv MACHINE ,
449defines the ABI used by the system.
450For example, the MIPS CPU processor family supports 9 different
451combinations encoding pointer size, endian and hard versus soft float (for
4528 combinations) as well as N32 (which only ever had one variation of
453all these).
454Generally, the plain CPU name specifies the most common (or at least
455first) variant of the CPU.
456This is why mips and mips64 imply 'big endian' while 'armv6' and 'armv7'
457imply little endian.
458If we ever were to support the so-called x32 ABI (using 32-bit
459pointers on the amd64 architecture), it would most likely be encoded
460as amd64-x32.
461It is unfortunate that amd64 specifies the 64-bit evolution of the x86
462platform (it matches the 'first rule') as everybody else uses x86_64.
463There is no standard name for the processor: each OS selects its own
464conventions.
465.It Dv MACHINE_CPUARCH
466Represents the source location for a given
467.Dv MACHINE_ARCH .
468It is generally the common prefix for all the MACHINE_ARCH that
469share the same implementation, though 'riscv' breaks this rule.
470For example,
471.Dv MACHINE_CPUARCH
472is defined to be mips for all the flavors of mips that we support
473since we support them all with a shared set of sources.
474While amd64 and i386 are closely related, MACHINE_CPUARCH is not x86
475for them.
476The FreeBSD source base supports amd64 and i386 with two
477distinct source bases living in subdirectories named amd64 and i386
478(though behind the scenes there's some sharing that fits into this
479framework).
480.It Dv CPUTYPE
481Sets the flavor of
482.Dv MACHINE_ARCH
483to build.
484It is used to optimize the build for a specific CPU / core that the
485binaries run on.
486Generally, this does not change the ABI, though it can be a fine line
487between optimization for specific cases.
488.It Dv TARGET
489Used to set
490.Dv MACHINE
491in the top level Makefile for cross building.
492Unused outside of that scope.
493It is not passed down to the rest of the build.
494Makefiles outside of the top level should not use it at all (though
495some have their own private copy for hysterical raisons).
496.It Dv TARGET_ARCH
497Used to set
498.Dv MACHINE_ARCH
499by the top level Makefile for cross building.
500Like
501.Dv TARGET ,
502it is unused outside of that scope.
503.El
504.Sh SEE ALSO
505.Xr src.conf 5 ,
506.Xr build 7
507.Sh HISTORY
508An
509.Nm
510manual page appeared in
511.Fx 11.1 .
512