Am Dienstag, dem 12.05.2026 um 10:35 +0200 schrieb Peter Zijlstra:
> On Tue, May 12, 2026 at 10:13:42AM +0200, Martin Uecker wrote:
> > Am Montag, dem 11.05.2026 um 13:41 -0700 schrieb Kees Cook:
> > > On Mon, May 11, 2026 at 10:08:06PM +0200, Martin Uecker wrote:
> > > > Am Montag, dem 11.05.2026 um 12:48 -0700 schrieb Kees Cook:
> > > > > To support the KCFI typeid and future type-based allocators, which 
> > > > > need
> > > > > to convert unique types into unique 32-bit values, add a mangling 
> > > > > system
> > > > > based on the Itanium C++ mangling ABI, adapted for C types. Introduce
> > > > > __builtin_typeinfo_hash for the hash, and __builtin_typeinfo_name for
> > > > > testing and debugging (to see the human-readable mangling form). Add
> > > > > tests for typeinfo validation and error handling.
> > > > > 
> > > > > This ABI needs to match what is used by LLVM Rust (which matches the 
> > > > > Clang
> > > > > ABI) so that KCFI can work on mixed GCC with LLVM-Rust kernel builds.
> > > > > Instead of inventing a new ABI, all use the existing Itanium C++ 
> > > > > mangling
> > > > > which matches KCFI's needs.
> > > > > 
> > > > > An important aspect of the C++ typeinfo behavior that is retained here
> > > > > is that typedefs are treated as pass-through except when the 
> > > > > underlying
> > > > > type lacks a tag (i.e. anonymous struct, union, or enum). This 
> > > > > provides a
> > > > > distinction between those typedefs and typedefs used to provide 
> > > > > _aliases_
> > > > > (u8, uint16_t).
> > > > > 
> > > > > In the future, an additional "strict mode" builtin helper pair could
> > > > > also be added to follow strict ISO C type equivalency instead of the
> > > > > existing typeinfo used here, but that is out of scope for this patch.
> > > > 
> > > > Note that ISO C would require *less* strict rules, so the current
> > > > mangling would reject compliant code.
> > > > 
> > > > These ABI issues were recently discussed also on the rust side.
> > > > 
> > > > I now worry that it might actually be a mistake to enshrine
> > > > the wrong rules into the ABI, creating language interoperability
> > > > issues which might then plague us for years.
> > > 
> > > Well, this matches what we've already created (and have been using for
> > > years) on the Clang side. I'm happy to rename this to whatever you want
> > > to avoid confusion, but I don't really want to change the rules of this
> > > ABI. I'd rather get it working as-is, and then if we want to make
> > > mangling changes, do that simultaneously between GCC and Clang.
> > > 
> > > And this is totally do-able, e.g. I've already created the transition
> > > path on the Clang side for changing the hashing algo. For KCFI, we don't
> > > need to worry about cross-ABI-version compatibility: the kernel is built
> > > as one binary, effectively. We just need to worry about GCC/Clang
> > > compatibilities given the Rust side of things.
> > 
> > I think with the generic names (__builtin_typeinfo_hash) users would
> > start to use this for all kinds of things (because it is useful more
> > genrally!) and then run quickly into trouble.
> > 
> > So I think one should either have less generic names, or probably better,
> > some kind of ABI argument. An ideally, we would then provide a
> > standard-compliant and future-proof mode out-of-the-box (I can help
> > with this). If the kernel then opts into a stricter mode this would
> > not be problematic.
> 
> From the kernel PoV, GCC has been lagging behind horribly on this, and
> the sooner this gets merged the better. If Kees were to rename these
> intrinsics to __builtin_kcfi_*(), to make them really specific and free
> up the namespace for the more generic one that should be good enough,
> no?

>From my side, more specific names would be ok, but I can't give
approval anyway.  But if anybody wants to design a hash that is
compatible with C's type system, then I am happy to help.

Martin


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