GCC Optimization for LoongArch Memory Accessing Instructions with Bound-Checking

Shu Yanjun; Zheng Xiangyu; Xu Chenghua; Huang Pei; Wang Yongqi; Zhou Fan; Zhang Zhan; Zuo Decheng

doi:10.7544/issn1000-1239.202440100

Journal of Computer Research and Development > 2025 > 62(5): 1136-1150. > DOI: 10.7544/issn1000-1239.202440100 CSTR: 32373.14.issn1000-1239.202440100

Shu Yanjun, Zheng Xiangyu, Xu Chenghua, Huang Pei, Wang Yongqi, Zhou Fan, Zhang Zhan, Zuo Decheng. GCC Optimization for LoongArch Memory Accessing Instructions with Bound-Checking[J]. Journal of Computer Research and Development, 2025, 62(5): 1136-1150. DOI: 10.7544/issn1000-1239.202440100

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GCC Optimization for LoongArch Memory Accessing Instructions with Bound-Checking

1.
Faculty of Computing, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001
2.
Loongson Technology Corporation Limited, Beijing 100095
3.
School of Computer Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026

Funds: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61202091, 62171155).

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Author Bio:
Shu Yanjun: born in 1981. PhD, associate professor. Member of CCF. Her main research interests include computer architecture, fault-tolerant computing, and high-performance computing

Zheng Xiangyu: born in 2001. Master candidate. His main research interests include computer architecture, and complier design and optimization

Xu Chenghua: born in 1989. PhD candidate. His main research interests include performance analysis of processor, and complier design and optimization

Huang Pei: born in 1983. Engineer. His main research interests include computer architecture and operating system

Wang Yongqi: born in 2001. Master candidate. His main research interests include performance analysis, operating system, and virtualization

Zhou Fan: born in 2001. Undergraduate. His main research interests include computer architecture, operating system, and virtualization

Zhang Zhan: born in 1978. PhD, professor. Senior member of CCF. His main research interests include computer architecture, edge computing, and mobile computing

Zuo Decheng: born in 1972. PhD, professor. Senior member of CCF. His main research interests include computer architecture, fault-tolerant computing, and high-performance computing
Received Date: February 20, 2024
Revised Date: August 11, 2024
Accepted Date: September 02, 2024
Available Online: September 12, 2024

Graphical Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

LoongArch ISA (instruction set architecture) introduces new memory accessing instructions with bound-checking to decrease the overhead of memory security check. However, as a new type of memory accessing instruction, the existing GCC (GNU compiler collection) compiler tools cannot support it and thus LoongArch based hardware remains underutilized. Therefore, in this paper, we revise the GCC compiler with the LoongArch memory accessing instructions to optimize the memory security check. Specifically, our work is divided into three parts: 1) designing built-in functions for the memory accessing instructions; 2) improving the RTL (register transfer language) optimizer of GCC to recognize two kinds of semantic patterns of memory accessing instructions with bound-checking, which are non-exception handling and exception handling; 3) implementing a new exception signal SIGBCE for the bound check exception BCE that is raised by CPU in Linux kernel, and implementing the corresponding signal handling function in glibc (GNU C library) to deal with the bound check exception. The experiments on GCC 12.2.0 and Loongson 3C5000L server show that the revised compiler is able to correctly employ the new memory accessing instructions and bring an acceleration of approximately 20% in some security routines. Our work improves the ecosystem of LoongArch and boosts the development of LoongArch ISA. It will also be referential to GCC optimization for the specialized instructions.
- compiler optimization,
- LoongArch,
- GCC,
- memory accessing with bound-checking,
- Loongson CPU,
- exception handling,
- memory security

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References (27)

References

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