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[7/10] libc, sched: Resolve FDPIC descriptors at module callback entry points - #20130

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[7/10] libc, sched: Resolve FDPIC descriptors at module callback entry points#20130
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depends-on: [/pull/20089]

Summary

[5/10] #19942 and [5.5/10] #19940 are merged; [6/10] #20089 relocates an FDPIC object. This makes the firmware callable from one.

The base firmware and an FDPIC module disagree about what a function pointer is. Firmware is not built FDPIC, so to it a pointer is a code address and it branches there. A module passes the address of a two word descriptor instead, because its code and data are placed independently and a bare code address would leave the callee unable to find its own data. A firmware routine handed a module's callback therefore branches into the module's data segment and faults.

So the ten entry points that can be handed a callback resolve the descriptor before storing or branching to it: qsort, bsearch, pthread_create, signal, sigaction, task_create and task_create_with_stack, task_spawn, pthread_once, scandir, and mq_notify and timer_create with SIGEV_THREAD.

Which one resolves matters as much as that one does. Resolving twice would take an already resolved code address for a descriptor and read two words from the instruction stream, so each pointer is resolved exactly once, at the outermost point that sees it. signal() passes its argument through untouched because sigaction() and then nxsig_action() will resolve it, which also covers a module calling sigaction() directly. qsort() is split so the public entry resolves and the recursive implementation does not. scandir() resolves its filter but not its comparison function, which it hands to qsort().

Whether the caller is a module at all is asked of the PIC base register, which up_initial_state() sets only for a task that has a D-Space, so a plain kernel task reads zero and is left alone.

SIGEV_THREAD is the case the register cannot answer, because the callback runs later on a work queue worker carrying no module's base. The base is captured when the notification is registered, in the module's own context, and installed around the call.

Impact

All of it is behind CONFIG_FDPIC, which defaults off and is only selectable where ARCH_HAVE_ELF_FDPIC is set.

qsort() gains an internal split and scandir() a blank line; everything else is #ifdef'd. With the option off the entry points are what they were.

Testing

mps3-an547:picostest builds with CONFIG_FDPIC off and on.

tools/checkpatch.sh -c -u -m -g passes.

The run time evidence for the descriptors themselves is in [10/10], whose pimoroni-pico-2-plus:xipfs-fdpic carries apps/testing/fs/xipfs: it exercises qsort and SIGEV_THREAD callbacks from a loaded module, which is what this patch exists to make work.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added Arch: arm Issues related to ARM (32-bit) architecture Area: OS Components OS Components issues Size: L The size of the change in this PR is large labels Sep 13, 2026
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github-actions Bot commented Sep 13, 2026

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MemBrowse Memory Report

hifive1-revb

  • flash: .text +4 B (+0.0%, 83,728 B / 4,194,304 B, total: 2% used)

qemu-armv8a

  • Code: .text.qsort -896 B (+0.0%, 337,024 B)

qemu-intel64

  • Code: .text +16 B (+0.0%, 8,659,829 B)

s698pm-dkit

The base firmware and an FDPIC module disagree about what a function
pointer is.  Firmware is not built FDPIC, so to it a pointer is a code
address and it branches there.  A module passes the address of a two word
descriptor instead, because its code and data are placed independently and
a bare code address would leave the callee unable to find its own data.  A
firmware routine that takes a callback therefore branches into the
module's data segment and faults.

So the ten entry points that can be handed a callback by a module resolve
the descriptor before storing or branching to it: qsort, bsearch,
pthread_create, signal, sigaction, task_create and task_create_with_stack,
task_spawn, pthread_once, scandir, and mq_notify and timer_create with
SIGEV_THREAD.

Which one resolves matters as much as that one does.  Resolving twice would
take an already resolved code address for a descriptor and read two words
from the instruction stream, so each pointer is resolved exactly once, at
the outermost point that sees it.  signal() passes its argument through
untouched because sigaction() and then nxsig_action() will resolve it,
which covers a module calling sigaction() directly as well.  qsort() is
split so that the public entry resolves and the recursive implementation
does not.  scandir() resolves its filter but not its comparison function,
which it hands to qsort().

Whether a caller is a module at all is asked of the PIC base register,
which up_initial_state() sets only for a task that has a D-Space.  A plain
kernel task therefore reads zero and is left alone.

SIGEV_THREAD is the case the register cannot answer, because the callback
runs later on a work queue worker that carries no module's base at all.
The base is captured instead when the notification is registered, in the
module's own context, and installed around the call.

All of it is behind CONFIG_FDPIC, which defaults off.  Built for
mps3-an547:picostest both ways; with it off the entry points compile to
what they were.

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Marco Casaroli <marco.casaroli@gmail.com>
nxstyle wants a blank line between a declaration and the statements that
follow it.  The line is not new, but it sits within three lines of the
FDPIC change in this series, so CI reads it as part of the patch.

Assisted-by: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Marco Casaroli <marco.casaroli@gmail.com>
@github-actions github-actions Bot added Size: M The size of the change in this PR is medium and removed Arch: arm Issues related to ARM (32-bit) architecture Size: L The size of the change in this PR is large labels Sep 13, 2026
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🔗 Cross-repo PR dependencies

The read-only Build run reported the following dependent PR(s) and fetched head SHA(s):

CI run: https://github.com/apache/nuttx/actions/runs/34770810263

*/

ret->pt_work.got =
(fdpic_base() != 0 &&

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why not save fdpic_base directly


if (work->got != 0)
{
fdpic_invoke((uintptr_t)work->value.sival_ptr, (uintptr_t)work->func,

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why not call fdpic_callback to wrap the callback with got at register site?like other change?

Comment thread sched/mqueue/mq_notify.c

msgq->ntwork.got =
(fdpic_base() != 0 &&
(notification->sigev_notify & SIGEV_THREAD) != 0) ?

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remove all check

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