[3.16.y-ckt stable] Patch "ARM: 8429/1: disable GCC SRA optimization" has been added to staging queue

[Kamal Mostafa]

This is a note to let you know that I have just added a patch titled

    ARM: 8429/1: disable GCC SRA optimization

to the linux-3.16.y-queue branch of the 3.16.y-ckt extended stable tree 
which can be found at:

    http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git/ubuntu/linux.git/log/?h=linux-3.16.y-queue

This patch is scheduled to be released in version 3.19.8-ckt9.

If you, or anyone else, feels it should not be added to this tree, please 
reply to this email.

For more information about the 3.16.y-ckt tree, see
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Dev/ExtendedStable

Thanks.
-Kamal

------

>From 6d81ea7ff936347eadbf1c7b7a563fca1755e427 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel at linaro.org>
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 13:24:40 +0100
Subject: ARM: 8429/1: disable GCC SRA optimization

commit a077224fd35b2f7fbc93f14cf67074fc792fbac2 upstream.

While working on the 32-bit ARM port of UEFI, I noticed a strange
corruption in the kernel log. The following snprintf() statement
(in drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c:efi_md_typeattr_format())

	snprintf(pos, size, "|%3s|%2s|%2s|%2s|%3s|%2s|%2s|%2s|%2s]",

was producing the following output in the log:

	|    |   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]
	|    |   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]
	|    |   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]
	|RUN|   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]*
	|RUN|   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]*
	|    |   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]
	|RUN|   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]*
	|    |   |   |   |    |WB|WT|WC|UC]
	|RUN|   |   |   |    |   |   |   |UC]
	|RUN|   |   |   |    |   |   |   |UC]

As it turns out, this is caused by incorrect code being emitted for
the string() function in lib/vsprintf.c. The following code

	if (!(spec.flags & LEFT)) {
		while (len < spec.field_width--) {
			if (buf < end)
				*buf = ' ';
			++buf;
		}
	}
	for (i = 0; i < len; ++i) {
		if (buf < end)
			*buf = *s;
		++buf; ++s;
	}
	while (len < spec.field_width--) {
		if (buf < end)
			*buf = ' ';
		++buf;
	}

when called with len == 0, triggers an issue in the GCC SRA optimization
pass (Scalar Replacement of Aggregates), which handles promotion of signed
struct members incorrectly. This is a known but as yet unresolved issue.
(https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=65932). In this particular
case, it is causing the second while loop to be executed erroneously a
single time, causing the additional space characters to be printed.

So disable the optimization by passing -fno-ipa-sra.

Acked-by: Nicolas Pitre <nico at linaro.org>
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel at linaro.org>
Signed-off-by: Russell King <rmk+kernel at arm.linux.org.uk>
Signed-off-by: Kamal Mostafa <kamal at canonical.com>
---
 arch/arm/Makefile | 8 ++++++++
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/arm/Makefile b/arch/arm/Makefile
index c1785ee..8e78ed5 100644
--- a/arch/arm/Makefile
+++ b/arch/arm/Makefile
@@ -50,6 +50,14 @@ AS		+= -EL
 LD		+= -EL
 endif

+#
+# The Scalar Replacement of Aggregates (SRA) optimization pass in GCC 4.9 and
+# later may result in code being generated that handles signed short and signed
+# char struct members incorrectly. So disable it.
+# (https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=65932)
+#
+KBUILD_CFLAGS	+= $(call cc-option,-fno-ipa-sra)
+
 # This selects which instruction set is used.
 # Note that GCC does not numerically define an architecture version
 # macro, but instead defines a whole series of macros which makes
--
1.9.1