Re: Bug#164766: Problem with VIA C3 chip and libcrypto
On Monday 13 January 2003 10:44, Christoph Martin wrote:
> David Goodenough schrieb:
> > On Tuesday 05 November 2002 14:27, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
> >>On Tue, Nov 05, 2002 at 02:17:40PM +0000, David Goodenough wrote:
> >>>On Tuesday 05 November 2002 13:04, Christoph Martin wrote:
> >>>>Am Die, 2002-11-05 um 01.34 schrieb GOTO Masanori:
> >>>>>At Mon, 4 Nov 2002 11:07:56 +0100,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Oliver M. Bolzer <oliver@gol.com> wrote:
> >>>>>>On Mon, Nov 04, 2002 at 09:23:16AM +0000, Ricardo Javier Cardenes
> >>>>>>Medina <rcardenes@debian.org> wrote...
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>On Sun, Nov 03, 2002 at 12:13:07PM +0100, Michael Karcher wrote:
> >>>>>>>>take profit of these instructions, but It seems likely. Is
> >>>>>>>>there any way to select libraries based on 'instruction set'
> >>>>>>>>instead of architecture, so the VIA C3 could get code 'without
> >>>>>>>>cmov', the PII 'with cmov and MMX', the PIII 'with cmov, MMX
> >>>>>>>>and SSE' and an Athlon processor 'with cmov, MMX and 3D now!',
> >>>>>>>>although they all are 'family: 6'.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>See at the end of /proc/cpuinfo. The "flags" field. For my Duron:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge
> >>>>>>>mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>The problem with OpenSSL is, that it is hand-assembly. The author
> >>>>>>is using the cmov instruction for an i686-optimized routine, though
> >>>>>>that instruction is not guranteed to be available.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I could not find which source cmov is used, could you tell me?
> >>>>>If it's the fact, openssl should be fixed in #164766.
> >>>>
> >>>>openssl does not use explicitly cmov. On all processors which are
> >>>>detected as i686 by the linker a library is used which is optimized via
> >>>>gcc and the -mcpu=i686 flag. This flag brings the cmov in I suspect.
> >>>>
> >>>>>>As another C3 user who has to keep libssl on hold for now, I'd
> >>>>>>suggest that the i686-optimized version be replaced with a version
> >>>>>>that runs on all i686-family processors.
> >>>>>>Another option would be to do runtime detection and choose
> >>>>>>according to that, but that would be without the current
> >>>>>>convenience that the linker chooses the right lib. As long as the
> >>>>>>linker only decids on the general processor type, the code for a
> >>>>>>specific processor type should match the least common denominator.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>Yes. It's insane option that linker selects i586 library in only the
> >>>>>case of "flags: cmov" is detected on VIA C3. It means that linker
> >>>>>consider "C3 is i586". So, if kernel detects VIA C3, then it's
> >>>>>natural to be treated with i586 straightforwardly (thus /proc/cpuinfo
> >>>>>prints processor family: i586).
> >>>>
> >>>>This is what I said. The linker (glibc) should fix this.
> >>>>
> >>>>Christoph
> >>>
> >>>Christoph
> >>>
> >>>The linker can not fix this. The C3 is a legitimate 686, it just does
> >>>not have the OPTIONAL cmov instruction. The kernel therefore correctly
> >>>shows this as a 686, and the linker tries the i686 directory (I
> >>> presume). The linker has no way of knowing whether the code in the i686
> >>> directory uses this optional instruction or not and loads it blindly,
> >>> hence the problem.
> >>>
> >>>I am told (by Alan Cox) that GCC originally uses cmov for 686, before it
> >>>was realised that it was optional. However looking through google I
> >>> have not been able to establish when gcc fixed it, and if this fix is
> >>> present in any 2.9x gcc or only in 3.x. Maybe the maintainer of gcc
> >>> would know and he may also be able to backfit this fix if it is not in
> >>> 2.9x
> >>
> >>GCC 3.2 still uses CMOVE instructions on -march=i686.
> >>
> >>On the other hand:
> >> {"c3", PROCESSOR_I486, PTA_MMX | PTA_3DNOW},
> >>GCC disagrees with you that the C3 is an i686.
> >
> > Well we have a disagreement between the kernel (which when you specify
> > C3 actually compiles everything march=i586) which reports in
> > /proc/cpuinfo that family = 6, and gcc. From all I can find out cmove is
> > an optional instruction for the 686, and if cmove was not used the code
> > would run on a C3. So either this is a kernel problem, and the C3 should
> > be reported as a 586, or it is a gcc problem for generating the wrong
> > code. Whoever is wrong, the end result is that libssl will not work as
> > shipped on any machine with a C3 in it - someone needs to fix it.
> >
> > I really do not care which package fixes it, as long as it gets fixed.
> > If we can get agreement on which package should fix it I am happy to see
> > if I can fix it, and I am quite prepared to test any fix, but I would
> > rather get agreement as to where the fix should be before I start, as at
> > the moment everyone is saying it is someone else's fault.
>
> Can we please come to a consense who is going to fix this!
>
> The VIA C3 is an official i686 and the kernel detects it as this. So it
> should be legitimate to compile it with -march=i686. But with
> -march=i686 gcc unconditionally includes CMOV commands which are
> optional in i686 per specification.
>
> So we have three possibilities
>
> - gcc stops using CMOV with i686 or includes a flag which turns of CMOV
> usage.
> - The kernel detects i686 processors as the C3 which do not support CMOV
> as i586
> - The linker detects i686 processors as the C3 which do not support CMOV
> as i586
> - libssl drops i686 optimisation and uses i586 for all i686 processors.
>
> If the kernel would change it we would have difficulties in specifying
> the dependencies correctly so that the users get not confused if they
> use an upstream kernel. So this is deprecated.
> Changing gcc in one of the ways would only require a Build-Depends on a
> special gcc version.
> Changing the linker would require a Depends on a special libc6 for i686.
>
> Cheers
> Christoph
There have been some changes (I believe) in the kernel, at least on
Alan Cox's version - I am unsure whether it has made the official
2.4 tree. It would be worth checking exactly what got changed and
which official kernel it comes with before making a decision on how
we close this bug.
David
Reply to: