Problems of using APU/FPU under linux

[John Bonesio]

Hi Shan,

It's not clear exactly what you are experiencing. What do you see in your user application, "Illegal instruction" ?

In arch/powerpc/kernel/head_booke.h, there's #define FP_UNAVAILABLE_EXCEPTION. This defines the FPU unavailable exception. Is the code getting there? You should see the call to load_up_fpu in there, which is defined in arch/powerpc/kernel/fpu.S

What exception is being generated? It looks like you're getting SIGTRAP in your application which is the debug exception, which doesn't seem related to how the kernel sets up the fpu.

I believe the 2 bits you mentioned just have to do with with how the fpu behaves. The kernel code doesn't use those for the fpu context switching. It uses the Floating-Point Available bit in the MSR.

Definitely check the errata and other information about the FPU you are using. As Steve mentioned, you should use the Xilinx gcc tools with the Xilinx FPU.

- John

On Monday 14 April 2008 13:46, Shanyuan Gao wrote:
> Thank you very much, Steve and John!
> 
> My advisor and I discussed how Linux works with APU/FPU a few days  
> ago. And he had the same thoughts with John. My naive guess was it  
> would automatically decode FP operations and mask the trap. Now it  
> answers my second question. I will try it later.
> 
> But for my first question, I searched all (almost all) the files,  
> such as head.S, entry.S, head_4xx.S, etc. And added following three  
> lines before mtmsr or MTMSRD  are used
> 
> ori        r10, r10, 1<<13  /* enable fpu */
> oris      r10, r10, 1<<9    /* enable apu */
> oris      r10, r10, 1<<3    /* enable apu exception */
> 
> However the MSR in trap prompts keeps the same (2d030) before and  
> after I added those lines.
> 
> [   31.819079] Bad trap at PC: 10000458, MSR: 2d030, vector=800     
> Not tainted
> [   31.887027]   Signal: 5
> [   31.887042]   Code:   0
> [   31.887058]   Addr:   0
> Trace/breakpoint trap
> 
> I guess there must be some places, like some interrupts that changed  
> the MSR that I didn't know.
> 
> And for FP exceptions, it has two bits (two modes) in MSR. I think  
> they are for such exceptions like divided by zero. Do I need to set  
> them also?
> 
> In my previous build, I also added PPC_FPU under config 40x in arch/ 
> ppc/Kconfig. It compiled arch/powerpc/kernel/fpu.S in, but didn't  
> help. I will try CONFIG_PPC_FPU later.
> 
> 
> Shan
> 
> On Apr 14, 2008, at 2:32 PM, John Bonesio wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > The Linux kernel itself doesn't issue floating point instructions  
> > other than to save and restore the fpu state when necessary.
> >
> > In Linux, the way it saves and restores the fpu state is to make  
> > use of the trap. When the trap (fpu unavailable) occurs, it loads  
> > the fpu state for the current task, sets up the MSR, and returns to  
> > re-try the instruction.
> >
> > So, getting the trap is normal. If the FPU is not being set up  
> > correctly, then there may be a problem with the restoring of the  
> > state.
> >
> > When you guild the Linux kernel, you need to have CONFIG_PPC_FPU  
> > enabled. Otherwise the kernel does not setup the fpu exception  
> > handling.
> >
> > - John
> >
> >
> > On Monday 14 April 2008 10:35, Stephen Neuendorffer wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm not sure exactly what's going on here.  Generally speaking, if  
> >> you
> >> have the FPU instantiated in the design and enable the APU in the  
> >> msr,
> >> then the processor should decode FP instructions and send them  
> >> directly
> >> to the APU with no trap.  I haven't done this myself, or I could
> >> probably give you some better help...
> >>
> >> One thing you should be aware of is that the there are gcc compiler
> >> patches which are necessary to get the FPU working properly.   
> >> However, I
> >> don't think the failure mode that these patches workaround would  
> >> cause a
> >> trap, so my guess is that there is still something else wrong.
> >>
> >> Steve
> >>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: linuxppc-embedded-bounces+stephen=neuendorffer.name at ozlabs.org
> >> [mailto:linuxppc-embedded-
> >>> bounces+stephen=neuendorffer.name at ozlabs.org] On Behalf Of Shanyuan
> >> Gao
> >>> Sent: Monday, April 14, 2008 9:18 AM
> >>> To: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> >>> Subject: Problems of using APU/FPU under linux
> >>>
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> Recently I was trying to make APU/FPU working under Linux on Xilinx
> >>> ML410. The standalone programs work perfectly. However under Linux,
> >>> when I try to use a floating point operation, like *fmuls*, it will
> >>> give me a *trap*.
> >>>
> >>> By studying the user guide from Xilinx and dumping the object files,
> >>> I know I need to change the corresponding bits (APU enable, FP
> >>> enable, maybe APU Exception enable) in Machine State Register. I
> >>> guess I need to enable the bits whenever before the kernel uses
> >>> *mtmsr*. However, it doesn't work. I got the same trap with the same
> >>> MSR, as I had no APU/FPU before. I also tried to add the FPU.S to  
> >>> ppc
> >>> tree, but it doesn't work either.
> >>>
> >>> The questions are
> >>> 1. I guess there might be some place that changed MSR after all my
> >>> changes. But I don't know where. And can I write a kernel module to
> >>> change the MSR after booting in Linux? (well, it's hard for me  
> >>> though)
> >>>
> >>> 2. Does it have any exception/interrupt mechanism to direct FP
> >>> operation to APU/FPU? Or after enabling APU/FPU it will mask the
> >>> exception/interrupt and decode FP operation by itself?
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Any ideas are appreciated. Thank you very much!
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Shan
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Linuxppc-embedded mailing list
> >>> Linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> >>> https://ozlabs.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxppc-embedded
> >>
> >>
> >
> 
>