* <https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=571>
* <https://llvm.org/devmtg/2016-11/Slides/Emerson-ScalableVectorizationinLLVMIR.pdf>
* <https://github.com/riscv/riscv-v-spec/blob/master/v-spec.adoc#vector-loads-and-stores>
+* [[simple_v_extension/specification/ld.x]]
+
+# Rationale
+
+All Vector ISAs dating back fifty years have extensive and comprehensive
+Load and Store operations that go far beyond the capabilities of Scalar
+RISC or CISC processors, yet at their heart on an individual element
+basis may be found to be no different from RISC Scalar equivalents.
+
+The resource savings from Vector LD/ST are significant and stem from
+the fact that one single instruction can trigger a dozen (or in some
+microarchitectures such as Cray or NEC SX Aurora) hundreds of element-level Memory accesses.
+
+Additionally, and simply: if the Arithmetic side of an ISA supports
+Vector Operations, then in order to keep the ALUs 100% occupied the
+Memory infrastructure (and the ISA itself) correspondingly needs Vector
+Memory Operations as well.
+
+Vectorised Load and Store also presents an extra dimension (literally)
+which creates scenarios unique to Vector applications, that a Scalar
+(and even a SIMD) ISA simply never encounters. SVP64 endeavours to
+add such modes without changing the behaviour of the underlying Base
+(Scalar) v3.0B operations.
+
+# Modes overview
Vectorisation of Load and Store requires creation, from scalar operations,
a number of different modes:
-* fixed stride (contiguous sequence with no gaps)
+* fixed stride (contiguous sequence with no gaps) aka "unit" stride
* element strided (sequential but regularly offset, with gaps)
* vector indexed (vector of base addresses and vector of offsets)
-* fail-first on the same (where it makes sense to do so)
+* Speculative fail-first (where it makes sense to do so)
* Structure Packing (covered in SV by [[sv/remap]]).
+Also included in SVP64 LD/ST is both signed and unsigned Saturation,
+as well as Element-width overrides and Twin-Predication.
+
+# Vectorisation of Scalar Power ISA v3.0B
+
OpenPOWER Load/Store operations may be seen from [[isa/fixedload]] and
[[isa/fixedstore]] pseudocode to be of the form:
# LD not VLD! format - ldop RT, immed(RA)
# op_width: lb=1, lh=2, lw=4, ld=8
- op_load(RT, RA, op_width, immed, svctx, RAupdate):
+ op_load(RT, RA, RC, op_width, immed, svctx, RAupdate):
ps = get_pred_val(FALSE, RA); # predication on src
pd = get_pred_val(FALSE, RT); # ... AND on dest
for (i=0, j=0, u=0; i < VL && j < VL;):
if (RA.isvec) while (!(ps & 1<<i)) i++;
if (RAupdate.isvec) while (!(ps & 1<<u)) u++;
if (RT.isvec) while (!(pd & 1<<j)) j++;
- if svctx.ldstmode == elementstride:
+ if svctx.ldstmode == shifted: # for FFT/DCT
+ # FFT/DCT shifted mode
+ if (RA.isvec)
+ srcbase = ireg[RA+i]
+ else
+ srcbase = ireg[RA]
+ offs = (i * immed) << RC
+ elif svctx.ldstmode == elementstride:
# element stride mode
srcbase = ireg[RA]
- offs = i * immed
+ offs = i * immed # j*immed for a ST
elif svctx.ldstmode == unitstride:
# unit stride mode
srcbase = ireg[RA]
- offs = i * op_width
+ offs = immed + (i * op_width) # j*op_width for ST
elif RA.isvec:
# quirky Vector indexed mode but with an immediate
srcbase = ireg[RA+i]
if (RAupdate.isvec) u++;
if (RT.isvec) j++;
+ # reverses the bitorder up to "width" bits
+ def bitrev(val, VL):
+ width = log2(VL)
+ result = 0
+ for _ in range(width):
+ result = (result << 1) | (val & 1)
+ val >>= 1
+ return result
+
Indexed LD is:
# format: ldop RT, RA, RB
if (RAupdate.isvec) while (!(ps & 1<<u)) u++;
if (RB.isvec) while (!(ps & 1<<k)) k++;
if (RT.isvec) while (!(pd & 1<<j)) j++;
- EA = ireg[RA+i] + ireg[RB+k] # indexed address
+ if svctx.ldstmode == elementstride:
+ EA = ireg[RA] + ireg[RB]*j # register-strided
+ else
+ EA = ireg[RA+i] + ireg[RB+k] # indexed address
if RAupdate: ireg[RAupdate+u] = EA
ireg[RT+j] <= MEM[EA];
if (!RT.isvec)
break # destination scalar, end immediately
- if (!RA.isvec && !RB.isvec)
- break # scalar-scalar
+ if svctx.ldstmode != elementstride:
+ if (!RA.isvec && !RB.isvec)
+ break # scalar-scalar
if (RA.isvec) i++;
if (RAupdate.isvec) u++;
if (RB.isvec) k++;
A minor complication (caused by the retro-fitting of modern Vector
features to a Scalar ISA) is that certain features do not exactly make
sense or are considered a security risk. Fail-first on Vector Indexed
-allows attackers to probe large numbers of pages from userspace, where
+would allow attackers to probe large numbers of pages from userspace, where
strided fail-first (by creating contiguous sequential LDs) does not.
In addition, reduce mode makes no sense, and for LD/ST with immediates
- Vector source RA makes no sense either. Realistically we need
+ Vector source RA makes no sense either (or, is a quirk). Realistically we need
an alternative table meaning for [[sv/svp64]] mode. The following modes make sense:
* saturation
* predicate-result (mostly for cache-inhibited LD/ST)
* normal
-* fail-first, where vector source on RA or RB is banned
-
-The table for [[sv/svp64]] for immed(RA) is:
-
-| 0-1 | 2 | 3 4 | description |
-| --- | --- |---------|-------------------------- |
-| 00 | str | sz dz | normal mode |
-| 01 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: ffirst CR sel |
-| 01 | inv | els RC1 | Rc=0: ffirst z/nonz |
-| 10 | N | sz str | sat mode: N=0/1 u/s |
-| 11 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: pred-result CR sel |
-| 11 | inv | els RC1 | Rc=0: pred-result z/nonz |
+* fail-first (where Vector Indexed is banned)
+* Signed Effective Address computation (Vector Indexed only)
+
+Also, given that FFT, DCT and other related algorithms
+are of such high importance in so many areas of Computer
+Science, a special "shift" mode has been added which
+allows part of the immediate to be used instead as RC, a register
+which shifts the immediate `DS << GPR(RC)`.
+
+The table for [[sv/svp64]] for `immed(RA)` is:
+
+| 0-1 | 2 | 3 4 | description |
+| --- | --- |---------|--------------------------- |
+| 00 | 0 | zz els | normal mode |
+| 00 | 1 | zz shf | shift mode |
+| 01 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: ffirst CR sel |
+| 01 | inv | els RC1 | Rc=0: ffirst z/nonz |
+| 10 | N | zz els | sat mode: N=0/1 u/s |
+| 11 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: pred-result CR sel |
+| 11 | inv | els RC1 | Rc=0: pred-result z/nonz |
The `els` bit is only relevant when `RA.isvec` is clear: this indicates
whether stride is unit or element:
- if RA.isvec:
+ if bitreversed:
+ svctx.ldstmode = bitreversed
+ elif RA.isvec:
svctx.ldstmode = indexed
elif els == 0:
svctx.ldstmode = unitstride
- else:
+ elif immediate != 0:
svctx.ldstmode = elementstride
-The modes for RA+RB indexed version are slightly different:
+An immediate of zero is a safety-valve to allow `LD-VSPLAT`:
+in effect the multiplication of the immediate-offset by zero results
+in reading from the exact same memory location.
+
+For `LD-VSPLAT`, on non-cache-inhibited Loads, the read can occur
+just the once and be copied, rather than hitting the Data Cache
+multiple times with the same memory read at the same location.
+This would allow for memory-mapped peripherals to have multiple
+data values read in quick succession and stored in sequentially
+numbered registers.
+
+For non-cache-inhibited ST from a vector source onto a scalar
+destination: with the Vector
+loop effectively creating multiple memory writes to the same location,
+we can deduce that the last of these will be the "successful" one. Thus,
+implementations are free and clear to optimise out the overwriting STs,
+leaving just the last one as the "winner". Bear in mind that predicate
+masks will skip some elements (in source non-zeroing mode).
+Cache-inhibited ST operations on the other hand **MUST** write out
+a Vector source multiple successive times to the exact same Scalar
+destination.
+
+Note that there are no immediate versions of cache-inhibited LD/ST.
+
+The modes for `RA+RB` indexed version are slightly different:
| 0-1 | 2 | 3 4 | description |
| --- | --- |---------|-------------------------- |
-| 00 | 0 | sz dz | normal mode |
-| 00 | rsv | rsvd | reserved |
-| 01 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: ffirst CR sel |
-| 01 | inv | sz RC1 | Rc=0: ffirst z/nonz |
-| 10 | N | sz dz | sat mode: N=0/1 u/s |
+| 00 | SEA | dz sz | normal mode |
+| 01 | SEA | dz sz | Strided (scalar only source) |
+| 10 | N | dz sz | sat mode: N=0/1 u/s |
| 11 | inv | CR-bit | Rc=1: pred-result CR sel |
-| 11 | inv | sz RC1 | Rc=0: pred-result z/nonz |
+| 11 | inv | zz RC1 | Rc=0: pred-result z/nonz |
+
+Vector Indexed Strided Mode is qualified as follows:
+
+ if mode = 0b01 and !RA.isvec and !RB.isvec:
+ svctx.ldstmode = elementstride
A summary of the effect of Vectorisation of src or dest:
imm(RA) RT.v RA.v no stride allowed
- imm(RA) RY.s RA.v no stride allowed
- imm(RA) RT.v RA.s stride-select needed
+ imm(RA) RT.s RA.v no stride allowed
+ imm(RA) RT.v RA.s stride-select allowed
imm(RA) RT.s RA.s not vectorised
- RA,RB RT.v RA/RB.v ffirst banned
- RA,RB RT.s RA/RB.v ffirst banned
- RA,RB RT.v RA/RB.s VSPLAT possible
- RA,RB RT.s RA/RB.s not vectorised
+ RA,RB RT.v {RA|RB}.v UNDEFINED
+ RA,RB RT.s {RA|RB}.v UNDEFINED
+ RA,RB RT.v {RA&RB}.s VSPLAT possible. stride selectable
+ RA,RB RT.s {RA&RB}.s not vectorised
+
+Signed Effective Address computation is only relevant for
+Vector Indexed Mode, when elwidth overrides are applied.
+The source override applies to RB, and before adding to
+RA in order to calculate the Effective Address, if SEA is
+set RB is sign-extended from elwidth bits to the full 64
+bits. For other Modes (ffirst, saturate),
+all EA computation with elwidth overrides is unsigned.
Note that cache-inhibited LD/ST (`ldcix`) when VSPLAT is activated will perform **multiple** LD/ST operations, sequentially. `ldcix` even with scalar src will read the same memory location *multiple times*, storing the result in successive Vector destination registers. This because the cache-inhibit instructions are used to read and write memory-mapped peripherals.
-If a genuine VSPLAT is required then a scalar cache-inhibited LD should be performed, followed by a VSPLAT-augmented mv.
-
-# LOAD/STORE Elwidths <a name="ldst"></a>
+If a genuine cache-inhibited LD-VSPLAT is required then a *scalar*
+cache-inhibited LD should be performed, followed by a VSPLAT-augmented mv.
+
+## LD/ST ffirst
+
+LD/ST ffirst treats the first LD/ST in a vector (element 0) as an
+ordinary one. Exceptions occur "as normal". However for elements 1
+and above, if an exception would occur, then VL is **truncated** to the
+previous element: the exception is **not** then raised because the
+LD/ST was effectively speculative.
+
+ffirst LD/ST to multiple pages via a Vectorised Index base is considered a security risk due to the abuse of probing multiple pages in rapid succession and getting feedback on which pages would fail. Therefore Vector Indexed LD/ST is prohibited entirely, and the Mode bit instead used for element-strided LD/ST. See <https://bugs.libre-soc.org/show_bug.cgi?id=561>
+
+ for(i = 0; i < VL; i++)
+ reg[rt + i] = mem[reg[ra] + i * reg[rb]];
+
+High security implementations where any kind of speculative probing
+of memory pages is considered a risk should take advantage of the fact that
+implementations may truncate VL at any point, without requiring software
+to be rewritten and made non-portable. Such implementations may choose
+to *always* set VL=1 which will have the effect of terminating any
+speculative probing (and also adversely affect performance), but will
+at least not require applications to be rewritten.
+
+Low-performance simpler hardware implementations may
+choose (always) to also set VL=1 as the bare minimum compliant implementation of
+LD/ST Fail-First. It is however critically important to remember that
+the first element LD/ST **MUST** be treated as an ordinary LD/ST, i.e.
+**MUST** raise exceptions exactly like an ordinary LD/ST.
+
+For ffirst LD/STs, VL may be truncated arbitrarily to a nonzero value for any implementation-specific reason. For example: it is perfectly reasonable for implementations to alter VL when ffirst LD or ST operations are initiated on a nonaligned boundary, such that within a loop the subsequent iteration of that loop begins subsequent ffirst LD/ST operations on an aligned boundary
+such as the beginning of a cache line, or beginning of a Virtual Memory
+page. Likewise, to reduce workloads or balance resources.
+
+Vertical-First Mode is slightly strange in that only one element
+at a time is ever executed anyway. Given that programmers may
+legitimately choose to alter srcstep and dststep in non-sequential
+order as part of explicit loops, it is neither possible nor
+safe to make speculative assumptions about future LD/STs.
+Therefore, Fail-First LD/ST in Vertical-First is `UNDEFINED`.
+This is very different from Arithmetic (Data-dependent) FFirst
+where Vertical-First Mode is deterministic, not speculative.
+
+# LOAD/STORE Elwidths <a name="elwidth"></a>
Loads and Stores are almost unique in that the OpenPOWER Scalar ISA
provides a width for the operation (lb, lh, lw, ld). Only `extsb` and
augmentation. This is primarily down to quirks surrounding LE/BE and
byte-reversal in OpenPOWER.
+It is unfortunately possible to request an elwidth override on the memory side which
+does not mesh with the operation width: these result in `UNDEFINED`
+behaviour. The reason is that the effect of attempting a 64-bit `sv.ld`
+operation with a source elwidth override of 8/16/32 would result in
+overlapping memory requests, particularly on unit and element strided
+operations. Thus it is `UNDEFINED` when the elwidth is smaller than
+the memory operation width. Examples include `sv.lw/sw=16/els` which
+requests (overlapping) 4-byte memory reads offset from
+each other at 2-byte intervals. Store likewise is also `UNDEFINED`
+where the dest elwidth override is less than the operation width.
+
Note the following regarding the pseudocode to follow:
* `scalar identity behaviour` SV Context parameter conditions turn this
if (bytereverse):
memread = byteswap(memread, op_width)
-
# check saturation.
if svpctx.saturation_mode:
... saturation adjustment...
# notes from lxo
+this section covers assembly notation for the immediate and indexed LD/ST.
+the summary is that in immediate mode for LD it is not clear that if the
+destination register is Vectorised `RT.v` but the source `imm(RA)` is scalar
+the memory being read is *still a vector load*, known as "unit or element strides".
+
+This anomaly is made clear with the following notation:
+
+ sv.ld RT.v, imm(RA).v
+
+The following notation, although technically correct due to being implicitly identical to the above, is prohibited and is a syntax error:
+
+ sv.ld RT.v, imm(RA)
+
+Notes taken from IRC conversation
+
<lxo> sv.ld r#.v, ofst(r#).v -> the whole vector is at ofst+r#
<lxo> sv.ld r#.v, ofst(r#.v) -> r# is a vector of addresses
<lxo> similarly sv.ldx r#.v, r#, r#.v -> whole vector at r#+r#
permutations of vector selection, to identify above asm-syntax:
- imm(RA) RT.v RA.v no stride allowed
+ imm(RA) RT.v RA.v nonstrided
sv.ld r#.v, ofst(r#2.v) -> r#2 is a vector of addresses
- imm(RA) RT.s RA.v no stride allowed
+ mem@ 0+r#2 offs+(r#2+1) offs+(r#2+2)
+ destreg r# r#+1 r#+2
+ imm(RA) RT.s RA.v nonstrided
sv.ld r#, ofst(r#2.v) -> r#2 is a vector of addresses
- imm(RA) RT.v RA.s stride-select needed
- sv.ld r#.v, ofst(r#2).v -> the whole vector is at ofst+r#2
+ (dest r# is scalar) -> VSELECT mode
+ imm(RA) RT.v RA.s fixed stride: unit or element
+ sv.ld r#.v, ofst(r#2).v -> whole vector is at ofst+r#2
+ mem@r#2 +0 +1 +2
+ destreg r# r#+1 r#+2
+ sv.ld/els r#.v, ofst(r#2).v -> vector at ofst*elidx+r#2
+ mem@r#2 +0 ... +offs ... +offs*2
+ destreg r# r#+1 r#+2
imm(RA) RT.s RA.s not vectorised
sv.ld r#, ofst(r#2)
-TODO: indexed mode
-
- RA,RB RT.v RA/RB.v ffirst banned
- RA,RB RT.s RA/RB.v ffirst banned
- RA,RB RT.v RA/RB.s VSPLAT possible
- RA,RB RT.s RA/RB.s not vectorised
+indexed mode:
+
+ RA,RB RT.v RA.v RB.v
+ sv.ldx r#.v, r#2, r#3.v -> whole vector at r#2+r#3
+ RA,RB RT.v RA.s RB.v
+ sv.ldx r#.v, r#2.v, r#3.v -> whole vector at r#2+r#3
+ RA,RB RT.v RA.v RB.s
+ sv.ldx r#.v, r#2.v, r#3 -> vector of addresses
+ RA,RB RT.v RA.s RB.s
+ sv.ldx r#.v, r#2, r#3 -> VSPLAT mode
+ RA,RB RT.s RA.v RB.v
+ RA,RB RT.s RA.s RB.v
+ RA,RB RT.s RA.v RB.s
+ RA,RB RT.s RA.s RB.s not vectorised