diff mbox

[v2,3/3] Documentation for the GCC plugin infrastructure

Message ID 20160211234301.84a5ff8e513f5d5f78478283@gmail.com (mailing list archive)
State New, archived
Headers show

Commit Message

Emese Revfy Feb. 11, 2016, 10:43 p.m. UTC
This is the GCC infrastructure documentation about its operation, how to add
and use a new plugin with an example.
---
 Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt | 68 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 arch/Kconfig                  |  2 ++
 2 files changed, 70 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt

Comments

Kees Cook Feb. 18, 2016, 12:35 a.m. UTC | #1
On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 2:43 PM, Emese Revfy <re.emese@gmail.com> wrote:
> This is the GCC infrastructure documentation about its operation, how to add
> and use a new plugin with an example.
> ---
>  Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt | 68 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  arch/Kconfig                  |  2 ++
>  2 files changed, 70 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt b/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000..e1171c2
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt
> @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
> +GCC plugin infrastructure
> +=========================
> +
> +
> +1. Introduction
> +===============
> +
> +GCC plugins are loadable modules that provide extra features to the
> +compiler [1]. They are useful for runtime instrumentation and static analysis.
> +We can analyse, change and add further code during compilation via
> +callbacks [2], GIMPLE [3], IPA [4] and RTL passes [5].
> +
> +The GCC plugin infrastructure of the kernel supports all gcc versions from
> +4.5 to 6.0, building out-of-tree modules, cross-compilation and building in a
> +separate directory.
> +
> +Currently the GCC plugin infrastructure supports only the x86 architecture.

What's needed to support other architectures?

> +
> +This infrastructure was ported from grsecurity [6] and PaX [7].
> +
> +--
> +[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Plugins.html
> +[2] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Plugin-API.html#Plugin-API
> +[3] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/GIMPLE.html
> +[4] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/IPA.html
> +[5] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/RTL.html
> +[6] https://grsecurity.net/
> +[7] https://pax.grsecurity.net/
> +
> +
> +2. Files
> +========
> +
> +$(src)/tools/gcc
> +       This is the directory of the GCC plugins.
> +
> +$(src)/tools/gcc/gcc-common.h
> +       This is a compatibility header for GCC plugins.
> +       It should be always included instead of individual gcc headers.
> +
> +$(src)/scripts/gcc-plugin.sh
> +       This script checks the availability of the included headers in
> +       gcc-common.h and chooses the proper host compiler to build the plugins
> +       (gcc-4.7 can be built by either gcc or g++).

The part about the proper host compiler isn't clear to me. It looks
like each of three compilers are examined:
$CC for the header location
$HOSTCC for actually doing the build, or
$HOSTCXX for doing the plugin build?

Shouldn't the headers be coming from the compiler that is actually
going to be used to build the .so file?

> +
> +
> +3. Usage
> +========
> +
> +Enable a GCC plugin based feature in the kernel config:
> +
> +       CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY = y
> +
> +To compile only the plugin(s):
> +
> +       make gcc-plugins
> +
> +or just run the kernel make and compile the whole kernel with
> +the cyclomatic complexity GCC plugin.
> +
> +
> +4. How to add a new GCC plugin
> +==============================
> +
> +The GCC plugins are in $(src)/tools/gcc/. You can use a file or a directory
> +here. It must be added to $(src)/tools/gcc/Makefile,
> +$(src)/scripts/Makefile.gcc-plugins and $(src)/arch/Kconfig.
> +See the cyc_complexity_plugin.c (CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY) GCC plugin.
> diff --git a/arch/Kconfig b/arch/Kconfig
> index a558ecb..38964dd 100644
> --- a/arch/Kconfig
> +++ b/arch/Kconfig
> @@ -377,6 +377,8 @@ config GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY
>           N = the number of nodes
>           P = the number of connected components (exit nodes).
>
> +         See Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt for details.
> +
>  endmenu # "GCC plugins"
>
>  config HAVE_CC_STACKPROTECTOR
> --
> 2.4.1

Thanks! I'm looking forward to more plugins. :)

-Kees
Emese Revfy Feb. 18, 2016, 10:13 p.m. UTC | #2
On Wed, 17 Feb 2016 16:35:15 -0800
Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> wrote:

> > +Currently the GCC plugin infrastructure supports only the x86 architecture.
> 
> What's needed to support other architectures?

Sadly gcc doesn't always install all necessary plugin headers (moreover some headers
come from the build tree). The gcc developers don't test gcc with installed headers
so they don't see these bugs.
I think arm support would be good. I can test it easily because I know what headers are
missing there but I don't know if it is acceptable for the vanilla kernel (installing
the headers by hand isn't too nice and user friendly).

> The part about the proper host compiler isn't clear to me. It looks
> like each of three compilers are examined:
> $CC for the header location
> $HOSTCC for actually doing the build, or
> $HOSTCXX for doing the plugin build?

$HOSTCC and $HOSTCXX are used for building a plugin. Their use depends on which gcc version
(c or c++ based) you use.

> Shouldn't the headers be coming from the compiler that is actually
> going to be used to build the .so file?

No, they have to come from the compiler that will load the plugin (the plugin itself
could even be compiled by clang for example).
diff mbox

Patch

diff --git a/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt b/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1171c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ 
+GCC plugin infrastructure
+=========================
+
+
+1. Introduction
+===============
+
+GCC plugins are loadable modules that provide extra features to the
+compiler [1]. They are useful for runtime instrumentation and static analysis.
+We can analyse, change and add further code during compilation via
+callbacks [2], GIMPLE [3], IPA [4] and RTL passes [5].
+
+The GCC plugin infrastructure of the kernel supports all gcc versions from
+4.5 to 6.0, building out-of-tree modules, cross-compilation and building in a
+separate directory.
+
+Currently the GCC plugin infrastructure supports only the x86 architecture.
+
+This infrastructure was ported from grsecurity [6] and PaX [7].
+
+--
+[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Plugins.html
+[2] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/Plugin-API.html#Plugin-API
+[3] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/GIMPLE.html
+[4] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/IPA.html
+[5] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gccint/RTL.html
+[6] https://grsecurity.net/
+[7] https://pax.grsecurity.net/
+
+
+2. Files
+========
+
+$(src)/tools/gcc
+	This is the directory of the GCC plugins.
+
+$(src)/tools/gcc/gcc-common.h
+	This is a compatibility header for GCC plugins.
+	It should be always included instead of individual gcc headers.
+
+$(src)/scripts/gcc-plugin.sh
+	This script checks the availability of the included headers in
+	gcc-common.h and chooses the proper host compiler to build the plugins
+	(gcc-4.7 can be built by either gcc or g++).
+
+
+3. Usage
+========
+
+Enable a GCC plugin based feature in the kernel config:
+
+	CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY = y
+
+To compile only the plugin(s):
+
+	make gcc-plugins
+
+or just run the kernel make and compile the whole kernel with
+the cyclomatic complexity GCC plugin.
+
+
+4. How to add a new GCC plugin
+==============================
+
+The GCC plugins are in $(src)/tools/gcc/. You can use a file or a directory
+here. It must be added to $(src)/tools/gcc/Makefile,
+$(src)/scripts/Makefile.gcc-plugins and $(src)/arch/Kconfig.
+See the cyc_complexity_plugin.c (CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY) GCC plugin.
diff --git a/arch/Kconfig b/arch/Kconfig
index a558ecb..38964dd 100644
--- a/arch/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/Kconfig
@@ -377,6 +377,8 @@  config GCC_PLUGIN_CYC_COMPLEXITY
 	  N = the number of nodes
 	  P = the number of connected components (exit nodes).
 
+	  See Documentation/gcc-plugins.txt for details.
+
 endmenu # "GCC plugins"
 
 config HAVE_CC_STACKPROTECTOR