/* DWARF2 Abbreviation Glossary:
CFA = Canonical Frame Address
- stack address identifying a stack call frame; its value is
- the value of the stack pointer just before the call to the
- current function
- CFI = Canonical Frame Instruction
- information describing entries in a stack call frame, e.g.,
- CIE and FDE
+ an abstract idea representing a fixed stack address
+ identifying a stack call frame. The CFA register and
+ offset, whose value may change, keeps track of its value at
+ runtime.
+ CFI = Call Frame Instruction
+ an instruction for the DWARF2 abstract machine
CIE = Common Information Entry
information describing information common to one or more FDEs
DIE = Debugging Information Entry
cfa, cfa_store, and cfa_temp.reg. We describe these rules so
users need not read the source code.
+ The High-Level Picture
+
+ Changes in the register we use to calculate the CFA: Currently we
+ assume that if you copy the CFA register into another register, we
+ should take the other one as the new CFA register; this seems to
+ work pretty well. If it's wrong for some target, it's simple
+ enough not to set RTX_FRAME_RELATED_P on the insn in question.
+
+ Changes in the register we use for saving registers to the stack:
+ This is usually SP, but not always. Again, we deduce that if you
+ copy SP into another register (and SP is not the CFA register),
+ then the new register is the one we will be using for register
+ saves. This also seems to work.
+
+ Register saves: There's not much guesswork about this one; if
+ RTX_FRAME_RELATED_P is set on an insn which modifies memory, it's a
+ register save, and the register used to calculate the destination
+ had better be the one we think we're using for this purpose.
+
+ Except: If the register being saved is the CFA register, and the
+ offset is non-zero, we are saving the CFA, so we assume we have to
+ use DW_CFA_def_cfa_expression. If the offset is 0, we assume that
+ the intent is to save the value of SP from the previous frame.
+
Invariants / Summaries of Rules
- cfa current register used to calculate the DWARF2 canonical
- frame address register and offset
+ cfa current rule for calculating the CFA. It usually
+ consists of a register and an offset.
cfa_store register used by prologue code to save things to the stack
cfa_store.offset is the offset from the value of
cfa_store.reg to the actual CFA
Rule 5: Create a new register cfa_store used to save items to the
stack.
- Rules 10-13: Save a register to the stack. Record the location in
- cfa_store.offset. Define offset as the difference of
- the original location and cfa_store's location.
+ Rules 10-13: Save a register to the stack. Define offset as the
+ difference of the original location and cfa_store's
+ location.
The Rules