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digitalmars.D - Why is the ABI for structs different between Linux and Windows?

reply Don <nospam nospam.com.au> writes:
 From the ABI page, there are 2 ABI differences between Windows and 
Linux. One is the amount of padding after a 'real'. That's 
understandable, because it's imposed by the OS. But the second 
difference relates to structs, and is non-obvious:



the most significant half.

is stored through a hidden pointer passed as an argument to the function.

Why the difference between Windows & Linux? Is there a good technical 
reason for it? Or is it a quirk that we might be able to get rid of 
eventually?

It particularly looks like a quirk because the section on parameters states:

#The last parameter is passed in EAX rather than being pushed on the 
stack if the following conditions are met:

     * It fits in EAX.
     * It is not a 3 byte struct.

which sounds as if 1,2 and 4 byte structs are placed in EAX for 
parameters, but not return values.

If it is a quirk that may be removed, I suggest an extra sentence:


is stored through a hidden pointer passed as an argument to the 
function. In the future, 1, 2, 4, and 8 byte structs on Linux may be 
returned using the same calling convention as for Windows.
May 16 2008
parent reply Walter Bright <newshound1 digitalmars.com> writes:
The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct behavior 
for the local C compiler.
May 16 2008
next sibling parent reply Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> writes:
Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct behavior 
 for the local C compiler.
Is it possible to just use this behavior for extern(C) structs while structs with D linkage use the Windows behavior on Linux, too?
May 17 2008
parent reply Walter Bright <newshound1 digitalmars.com> writes:
Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct behavior 
 for the local C compiler.
Is it possible to just use this behavior for extern(C) structs while structs with D linkage use the Windows behavior on Linux, too?
Why do that? You can control the layout with the align attribute, if need be.
May 17 2008
parent reply Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> writes:
Walter Bright wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct 
 behavior for the local C compiler.
Is it possible to just use this behavior for extern(C) structs while structs with D linkage use the Windows behavior on Linux, too?
Why do that? You can control the layout with the align attribute, if need be.
How would that allow an 8-byte struct to be passed in registers on Linux?
May 17 2008
parent reply Walter Bright <newshound1 digitalmars.com> writes:
Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct 
 behavior for the local C compiler.
Is it possible to just use this behavior for extern(C) structs while structs with D linkage use the Windows behavior on Linux, too?
Why do that? You can control the layout with the align attribute, if need be.
How would that allow an 8-byte struct to be passed in registers on Linux?
You can do that now if you use the D function calling convention. Using extern(C) gives you the C calling convention.
May 17 2008
parent Robert Fraser <fraserofthenight gmail.com> writes:
Walter Bright wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 Robert Fraser wrote:
 Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct 
 behavior for the local C compiler.
Is it possible to just use this behavior for extern(C) structs while structs with D linkage use the Windows behavior on Linux, too?
Why do that? You can control the layout with the align attribute, if need be.
How would that allow an 8-byte struct to be passed in registers on Linux?
You can do that now if you use the D function calling convention. Using extern(C) gives you the C calling convention.
*returned... Don's original question that started the topic.
May 17 2008
prev sibling parent Don <nospam nospam.com.au> writes:
Walter Bright wrote:
 The struct ABI is designed to be compatible with the C struct behavior 
 for the local C compiler.
That's clear enough for extern(C) ... but why does it need to be that way for extern(D) ? (or internal D functions, for that matter). Why not take the opportunity to standardize the D calling convention for a single CPU?
May 26 2008