Using as: CFI directives

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### 7.10 CFI directives

#### 7.10.1 `.cfi_sections section_list`

`.cfi_sections` may be used to specify whether CFI directives should emit `.eh_frame` section and/or `.debug_frame` section. If section_list is `.eh_frame`, `.eh_frame` is emitted, if section_list is `.debug_frame`, `.debug_frame` is emitted. To emit both use `.eh_frame, .debug_frame`. The default if this directive is not used is `.cfi_sections .eh_frame`.

On targets that support compact unwinding tables these can be generated by specifying `.eh_frame_entry` instead of `.eh_frame`.

Some targets may support an additional name, such as `.c6xabi.exidx` which is used by the target.

The `.cfi_sections` directive can be repeated, with the same or different arguments, provided that CFI generation has not yet started. Once CFI generation has started however the section list is fixed and any attempts to redefine it will result in an error.

#### 7.10.2 `.cfi_startproc [simple]`

`.cfi_startproc` is used at the beginning of each function that should have an entry in `.eh_frame`. It initializes some internal data structures. Don’t forget to close the function by `.cfi_endproc`.

Unless `.cfi_startproc` is used along with parameter `simple` it also emits some architecture dependent initial CFI instructions.

#### 7.10.3 `.cfi_endproc`

`.cfi_endproc` is used at the end of a function where it closes its unwind entry previously opened by `.cfi_startproc`, and emits it to `.eh_frame`.

#### 7.10.4 `.cfi_personality encoding [, exp]`

`.cfi_personality` defines personality routine and its encoding. encoding must be a constant determining how the personality should be encoded. If it is 255 (`DW_EH_PE_omit`), second argument is not present, otherwise second argument should be a constant or a symbol name. When using indirect encodings, the symbol provided should be the location where personality can be loaded from, not the personality routine itself. The default after `.cfi_startproc` is `.cfi_personality 0xff`, no personality routine.

#### 7.10.5 `.cfi_personality_id id`

`cfi_personality_id` defines a personality routine by its index as defined in a compact unwinding format. Only valid when generating compact EH frames (i.e. with `.cfi_sections eh_frame_entry`.

#### 7.10.6 `.cfi_fde_data [opcode1 [, …]]`

`cfi_fde_data` is used to describe the compact unwind opcodes to be used for the current function. These are emitted inline in the `.eh_frame_entry` section if small enough and there is no LSDA, or in the `.gnu.extab` section otherwise. Only valid when generating compact EH frames (i.e. with `.cfi_sections eh_frame_entry`.

#### 7.10.7 `.cfi_lsda encoding [, exp]`

`.cfi_lsda` defines LSDA and its encoding. encoding must be a constant determining how the LSDA should be encoded. If it is 255 (`DW_EH_PE_omit`), the second argument is not present, otherwise the second argument should be a constant or a symbol name. The default after `.cfi_startproc` is `.cfi_lsda 0xff`, meaning that no LSDA is present.

#### 7.10.8 `.cfi_inline_lsda` [align]

`.cfi_inline_lsda` marks the start of a LSDA data section and switches to the corresponding `.gnu.extab` section. Must be preceded by a CFI block containing a `.cfi_lsda` directive. Only valid when generating compact EH frames (i.e. with `.cfi_sections eh_frame_entry`.

The table header and unwinding opcodes will be generated at this point, so that they are immediately followed by the LSDA data. The symbol referenced by the `.cfi_lsda` directive should still be defined in case a fallback FDE based encoding is used. The LSDA data is terminated by a section directive.

The optional align argument specifies the alignment required. The alignment is specified as a power of two, as with the `.p2align` directive.

#### 7.10.9 `.cfi_def_cfa register, offset`

`.cfi_def_cfa` defines a rule for computing CFA as: take address from register and add offset to it.

#### 7.10.10 `.cfi_def_cfa_register register`

`.cfi_def_cfa_register` modifies a rule for computing CFA. From now on register will be used instead of the old one. Offset remains the same.

#### 7.10.11 `.cfi_def_cfa_offset offset`

`.cfi_def_cfa_offset` modifies a rule for computing CFA. Register remains the same, but offset is new. Note that it is the absolute offset that will be added to a defined register to compute CFA address.

#### 7.10.12 `.cfi_adjust_cfa_offset offset`

Same as `.cfi_def_cfa_offset` but offset is a relative value that is added/substracted from the previous offset.

#### 7.10.13 `.cfi_offset register, offset`

Previous value of register is saved at offset offset from CFA.

#### 7.10.14 `.cfi_val_offset register, offset`

Previous value of register is CFA + offset.

#### 7.10.15 `.cfi_rel_offset register, offset`

Previous value of register is saved at offset offset from the current CFA register. This is transformed to `.cfi_offset` using the known displacement of the CFA register from the CFA. This is often easier to use, because the number will match the code it’s annotating.

#### 7.10.16 `.cfi_register register1, register2`

Previous value of register1 is saved in register register2.

#### 7.10.17 `.cfi_restore register`

`.cfi_restore` says that the rule for register is now the same as it was at the beginning of the function, after all initial instruction added by `.cfi_startproc` were executed.

#### 7.10.18 `.cfi_undefined register`

From now on the previous value of register can’t be restored anymore.

#### 7.10.19 `.cfi_same_value register`

Current value of register is the same like in the previous frame, i.e. no restoration needed.

#### 7.10.20 `.cfi_remember_state` and `.cfi_restore_state`

`.cfi_remember_state` pushes the set of rules for every register onto an implicit stack, while `.cfi_restore_state` pops them off the stack and places them in the current row. This is useful for situations where you have multiple `.cfi_*` directives that need to be undone due to the control flow of the program. For example, we could have something like this (assuming the CFA is the value of `rbp`):

            je label
            popq %rbx
            .cfi_restore %rbx
            popq %r12
            .cfi_restore %r12
            popq %rbp
            .cfi_restore %rbp
            .cfi_def_cfa %rsp, 8
            ret
    label:
            /* Do something else */

Here, we want the `.cfi` directives to affect only the rows corresponding to the instructions before `label`. This means we’d have to add multiple `.cfi` directives after `label` to recreate the original save locations of the registers, as well as setting the CFA back to the value of `rbp`. This would be clumsy, and result in a larger binary size. Instead, we can write:

            je label
            popq %rbx
            .cfi_remember_state
            .cfi_restore %rbx
            popq %r12
            .cfi_restore %r12
            popq %rbp
            .cfi_restore %rbp
            .cfi_def_cfa %rsp, 8
            ret
    label:
            .cfi_restore_state
            /* Do something else */

That way, the rules for the instructions after `label` will be the same as before the first `.cfi_restore` without having to use multiple `.cfi` directives.

#### 7.10.21 `.cfi_return_column register`

Change return column register, i.e. the return address is either directly in register or can be accessed by rules for register.

#### 7.10.22 `.cfi_signal_frame`

Mark current function as signal trampoline.

#### 7.10.23 `.cfi_window_save`

SPARC register window has been saved.

#### 7.10.24 `.cfi_escape` expression[, …]

Allows the user to add arbitrary bytes to the unwind info. One might use this to add OS-specific CFI opcodes, or generic CFI opcodes that GAS does not yet support.

#### 7.10.25 `.cfi_val_encoded_addr register, encoding, label`

The current value of register is label. The value of label will be encoded in the output file according to encoding; see the description of `.cfi_personality` for details on this encoding.

The usefulness of equating a register to a fixed label is probably limited to the return address register. Here, it can be useful to mark a code segment that has only one return address which is reached by a direct branch and no copy of the return address exists in memory or another register.

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