summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorDavid Vernet <void@manifault.com>2023-08-28 17:59:46 +0200
committerDaniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>2023-08-30 16:35:44 +0200
commitaee1720eeb87a3adc242eb07e5d4f7ba3eb8c736 (patch)
treec48a174f7c85b6b481d89468d4a3d4e5ec582c1e /Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst
parentbpf, sockmap: Fix preempt_rt splat when using raw_spin_lock_t (diff)
downloadlinux-aee1720eeb87a3adc242eb07e5d4f7ba3eb8c736.tar.xz
linux-aee1720eeb87a3adc242eb07e5d4f7ba3eb8c736.zip
bpf, docs: Move linux-notes.rst to root bpf docs tree
In commit 4d496be9ca05 ("bpf,docs: Create new standardization subdirectory"), I added a standardization/ directory to the BPF documentation, which will contain the docs that will be standardized as part of the effort with the IETF. I included linux-notes.rst in that directory, but I shouldn't have. It doesn't contain anything that will be standardized. Let's move it back to Documentation/bpf. Signed-off-by: David Vernet <void@manifault.com> Signed-off-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20230828155948.123405-2-void@manifault.com
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst84
1 files changed, 84 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst b/Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..00d2693de025
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/bpf/linux-notes.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+.. contents::
+.. sectnum::
+
+==========================
+Linux implementation notes
+==========================
+
+This document provides more details specific to the Linux kernel implementation of the eBPF instruction set.
+
+Byte swap instructions
+======================
+
+``BPF_FROM_LE`` and ``BPF_FROM_BE`` exist as aliases for ``BPF_TO_LE`` and ``BPF_TO_BE`` respectively.
+
+Jump instructions
+=================
+
+``BPF_CALL | BPF_X | BPF_JMP`` (0x8d), where the helper function
+integer would be read from a specified register, is not currently supported
+by the verifier. Any programs with this instruction will fail to load
+until such support is added.
+
+Maps
+====
+
+Linux only supports the 'map_val(map)' operation on array maps with a single element.
+
+Linux uses an fd_array to store maps associated with a BPF program. Thus,
+map_by_idx(imm) uses the fd at that index in the array.
+
+Variables
+=========
+
+The following 64-bit immediate instruction specifies that a variable address,
+which corresponds to some integer stored in the 'imm' field, should be loaded:
+
+========================= ====== === ========================================= =========== ==============
+opcode construction opcode src pseudocode imm type dst type
+========================= ====== === ========================================= =========== ==============
+BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD 0x18 0x3 dst = var_addr(imm) variable id data pointer
+========================= ====== === ========================================= =========== ==============
+
+On Linux, this integer is a BTF ID.
+
+Legacy BPF Packet access instructions
+=====================================
+
+As mentioned in the `ISA standard documentation
+<instruction-set.html#legacy-bpf-packet-access-instructions>`_,
+Linux has special eBPF instructions for access to packet data that have been
+carried over from classic BPF to retain the performance of legacy socket
+filters running in the eBPF interpreter.
+
+The instructions come in two forms: ``BPF_ABS | <size> | BPF_LD`` and
+``BPF_IND | <size> | BPF_LD``.
+
+These instructions are used to access packet data and can only be used when
+the program context is a pointer to a networking packet. ``BPF_ABS``
+accesses packet data at an absolute offset specified by the immediate data
+and ``BPF_IND`` access packet data at an offset that includes the value of
+a register in addition to the immediate data.
+
+These instructions have seven implicit operands:
+
+* Register R6 is an implicit input that must contain a pointer to a
+ struct sk_buff.
+* Register R0 is an implicit output which contains the data fetched from
+ the packet.
+* Registers R1-R5 are scratch registers that are clobbered by the
+ instruction.
+
+These instructions have an implicit program exit condition as well. If an
+eBPF program attempts access data beyond the packet boundary, the
+program execution will be aborted.
+
+``BPF_ABS | BPF_W | BPF_LD`` (0x20) means::
+
+ R0 = ntohl(*(u32 *) ((struct sk_buff *) R6->data + imm))
+
+where ``ntohl()`` converts a 32-bit value from network byte order to host byte order.
+
+``BPF_IND | BPF_W | BPF_LD`` (0x40) means::
+
+ R0 = ntohl(*(u32 *) ((struct sk_buff *) R6->data + src + imm))