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1 | 1. Preprocessor |
2 | ||
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3 | 1.1. Variadic macros |
4 | ||
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5 | For variadic macros, stick with this C99-like syntax: |
6 | ||
7 | #define DPRINTF(fmt, ...) \ | |
8 | do { printf("IRQ: " fmt, ## __VA_ARGS__); } while (0) | |
84174436 | 9 | |
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10 | 1.2. Include directives |
11 | ||
12 | Order include directives as follows: | |
13 | ||
14 | #include "qemu/osdep.h" /* Always first... */ | |
15 | #include <...> /* then system headers... */ | |
16 | #include "..." /* and finally QEMU headers. */ | |
17 | ||
18 | The "qemu/osdep.h" header contains preprocessor macros that affect the behavior | |
19 | of core system headers like <stdint.h>. It must be the first include so that | |
20 | core system headers included by external libraries get the preprocessor macros | |
21 | that QEMU depends on. | |
22 | ||
23 | Do not include "qemu/osdep.h" from header files since the .c file will have | |
24 | already included it. | |
25 | ||
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26 | 2. C types |
27 | ||
28 | It should be common sense to use the right type, but we have collected | |
29 | a few useful guidelines here. | |
30 | ||
31 | 2.1. Scalars | |
32 | ||
33 | If you're using "int" or "long", odds are good that there's a better type. | |
34 | If a variable is counting something, it should be declared with an | |
35 | unsigned type. | |
36 | ||
37 | If it's host memory-size related, size_t should be a good choice (use | |
38 | ssize_t only if required). Guest RAM memory offsets must use ram_addr_t, | |
39 | but only for RAM, it may not cover whole guest address space. | |
40 | ||
41 | If it's file-size related, use off_t. | |
42 | If it's file-offset related (i.e., signed), use off_t. | |
43 | If it's just counting small numbers use "unsigned int"; | |
44 | (on all but oddball embedded systems, you can assume that that | |
45 | type is at least four bytes wide). | |
46 | ||
47 | In the event that you require a specific width, use a standard type | |
48 | like int32_t, uint32_t, uint64_t, etc. The specific types are | |
49 | mandatory for VMState fields. | |
50 | ||
51 | Don't use Linux kernel internal types like u32, __u32 or __le32. | |
52 | ||
a8170e5e | 53 | Use hwaddr for guest physical addresses except pcibus_t |
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54 | for PCI addresses. In addition, ram_addr_t is a QEMU internal address |
55 | space that maps guest RAM physical addresses into an intermediate | |
56 | address space that can map to host virtual address spaces. Generally | |
57 | speaking, the size of guest memory can always fit into ram_addr_t but | |
58 | it would not be correct to store an actual guest physical address in a | |
59 | ram_addr_t. | |
60 | ||
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61 | For CPU virtual addresses there are several possible types. |
62 | vaddr is the best type to use to hold a CPU virtual address in | |
63 | target-independent code. It is guaranteed to be large enough to hold a | |
64 | virtual address for any target, and it does not change size from target | |
65 | to target. It is always unsigned. | |
66 | target_ulong is a type the size of a virtual address on the CPU; this means | |
67 | it may be 32 or 64 bits depending on which target is being built. It should | |
68 | therefore be used only in target-specific code, and in some | |
69 | performance-critical built-per-target core code such as the TLB code. | |
70 | There is also a signed version, target_long. | |
71 | abi_ulong is for the *-user targets, and represents a type the size of | |
72 | 'void *' in that target's ABI. (This may not be the same as the size of a | |
73 | full CPU virtual address in the case of target ABIs which use 32 bit pointers | |
74 | on 64 bit CPUs, like sparc32plus.) Definitions of structures that must match | |
75 | the target's ABI must use this type for anything that on the target is defined | |
76 | to be an 'unsigned long' or a pointer type. | |
77 | There is also a signed version, abi_long. | |
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78 | |
79 | Of course, take all of the above with a grain of salt. If you're about | |
80 | to use some system interface that requires a type like size_t, pid_t or | |
81 | off_t, use matching types for any corresponding variables. | |
82 | ||
83 | Also, if you try to use e.g., "unsigned int" as a type, and that | |
84 | conflicts with the signedness of a related variable, sometimes | |
85 | it's best just to use the *wrong* type, if "pulling the thread" | |
86 | and fixing all related variables would be too invasive. | |
87 | ||
88 | Finally, while using descriptive types is important, be careful not to | |
89 | go overboard. If whatever you're doing causes warnings, or requires | |
90 | casts, then reconsider or ask for help. | |
91 | ||
92 | 2.2. Pointers | |
93 | ||
94 | Ensure that all of your pointers are "const-correct". | |
95 | Unless a pointer is used to modify the pointed-to storage, | |
96 | give it the "const" attribute. That way, the reader knows | |
97 | up-front that this is a read-only pointer. Perhaps more | |
98 | importantly, if we're diligent about this, when you see a non-const | |
99 | pointer, you're guaranteed that it is used to modify the storage | |
100 | it points to, or it is aliased to another pointer that is. | |
101 | ||
102 | 2.3. Typedefs | |
103 | Typedefs are used to eliminate the redundant 'struct' keyword. | |
104 | ||
105 | 2.4. Reserved namespaces in C and POSIX | |
106 | Underscore capital, double underscore, and underscore 't' suffixes should be | |
107 | avoided. | |
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108 | |
109 | 3. Low level memory management | |
110 | ||
111 | Use of the malloc/free/realloc/calloc/valloc/memalign/posix_memalign | |
112 | APIs is not allowed in the QEMU codebase. Instead of these routines, | |
f603a687 | 113 | use the GLib memory allocation routines g_malloc/g_malloc0/g_new/ |
6eebf958 | 114 | g_new0/g_realloc/g_free or QEMU's qemu_memalign/qemu_blockalign/qemu_vfree |
f603a687 | 115 | APIs. |
54b2cc50 | 116 | |
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117 | Please note that g_malloc will exit on allocation failure, so there |
118 | is no need to test for failure (as you would have to with malloc). | |
119 | Calling g_malloc with a zero size is valid and will return NULL. | |
54b2cc50 | 120 | |
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121 | Prefer g_new(T, n) instead of g_malloc(sizeof(T) * n) for the following |
122 | reasons: | |
123 | ||
124 | a. It catches multiplication overflowing size_t; | |
125 | b. It returns T * instead of void *, letting compiler catch more type | |
126 | errors. | |
127 | ||
128 | Declarations like T *v = g_malloc(sizeof(*v)) are acceptable, though. | |
129 | ||
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130 | Memory allocated by qemu_memalign or qemu_blockalign must be freed with |
131 | qemu_vfree, since breaking this will cause problems on Win32. | |
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132 | |
133 | 4. String manipulation | |
134 | ||
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135 | Do not use the strncpy function. As mentioned in the man page, it does *not* |
136 | guarantee a NULL-terminated buffer, which makes it extremely dangerous to use. | |
137 | It also zeros trailing destination bytes out to the specified length. Instead, | |
138 | use this similar function when possible, but note its different signature: | |
139 | void pstrcpy(char *dest, int dest_buf_size, const char *src) | |
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140 | |
141 | Don't use strcat because it can't check for buffer overflows, but: | |
142 | char *pstrcat(char *buf, int buf_size, const char *s) | |
143 | ||
144 | The same limitation exists with sprintf and vsprintf, so use snprintf and | |
145 | vsnprintf. | |
146 | ||
147 | QEMU provides other useful string functions: | |
148 | int strstart(const char *str, const char *val, const char **ptr) | |
149 | int stristart(const char *str, const char *val, const char **ptr) | |
150 | int qemu_strnlen(const char *s, int max_len) | |
151 | ||
152 | There are also replacement character processing macros for isxyz and toxyz, | |
153 | so instead of e.g. isalnum you should use qemu_isalnum. | |
154 | ||
145e21db | 155 | Because of the memory management rules, you must use g_strdup/g_strndup |
d241f143 | 156 | instead of plain strdup/strndup. |
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157 | |
158 | 5. Printf-style functions | |
159 | ||
160 | Whenever you add a new printf-style function, i.e., one with a format | |
161 | string argument and following "..." in its prototype, be sure to use | |
162 | gcc's printf attribute directive in the prototype. | |
163 | ||
164 | This makes it so gcc's -Wformat and -Wformat-security options can do | |
165 | their jobs and cross-check format strings with the number and types | |
166 | of arguments. | |
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167 | |
168 | 6. C standard, implementation defined and undefined behaviors | |
169 | ||
170 | C code in QEMU should be written to the C99 language specification. A copy | |
171 | of the final version of the C99 standard with corrigenda TC1, TC2, and TC3 | |
172 | included, formatted as a draft, can be downloaded from: | |
173 | http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/WG14/www/docs/n1256.pdf | |
174 | ||
175 | The C language specification defines regions of undefined behavior and | |
176 | implementation defined behavior (to give compiler authors enough leeway to | |
177 | produce better code). In general, code in QEMU should follow the language | |
178 | specification and avoid both undefined and implementation defined | |
179 | constructs. ("It works fine on the gcc I tested it with" is not a valid | |
180 | argument...) However there are a few areas where we allow ourselves to | |
181 | assume certain behaviors because in practice all the platforms we care about | |
182 | behave in the same way and writing strictly conformant code would be | |
183 | painful. These are: | |
184 | * you may assume that integers are 2s complement representation | |
185 | * you may assume that right shift of a signed integer duplicates | |
186 | the sign bit (ie it is an arithmetic shift, not a logical shift) | |
d76a3bf5 | 187 | |
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188 | In addition, QEMU assumes that the compiler does not use the latitude |
189 | given in C99 and C11 to treat aspects of signed '<<' as undefined, as | |
190 | documented in the GNU Compiler Collection manual starting at version 4.0. | |
191 | ||
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192 | 7. Error handling and reporting |
193 | ||
194 | 7.1 Reporting errors to the human user | |
195 | ||
196 | Do not use printf(), fprintf() or monitor_printf(). Instead, use | |
197 | error_report() or error_vreport() from error-report.h. This ensures the | |
198 | error is reported in the right place (current monitor or stderr), and in | |
199 | a uniform format. | |
200 | ||
201 | Use error_printf() & friends to print additional information. | |
202 | ||
203 | error_report() prints the current location. In certain common cases | |
204 | like command line parsing, the current location is tracked | |
205 | automatically. To manipulate it manually, use the loc_*() from | |
206 | error-report.h. | |
207 | ||
208 | 7.2 Propagating errors | |
209 | ||
210 | An error can't always be reported to the user right where it's detected, | |
211 | but often needs to be propagated up the call chain to a place that can | |
212 | handle it. This can be done in various ways. | |
213 | ||
214 | The most flexible one is Error objects. See error.h for usage | |
215 | information. | |
216 | ||
217 | Use the simplest suitable method to communicate success / failure to | |
218 | callers. Stick to common methods: non-negative on success / -1 on | |
219 | error, non-negative / -errno, non-null / null, or Error objects. | |
220 | ||
221 | Example: when a function returns a non-null pointer on success, and it | |
222 | can fail only in one way (as far as the caller is concerned), returning | |
223 | null on failure is just fine, and certainly simpler and a lot easier on | |
224 | the eyes than propagating an Error object through an Error ** parameter. | |
225 | ||
226 | Example: when a function's callers need to report details on failure | |
227 | only the function really knows, use Error **, and set suitable errors. | |
228 | ||
229 | Do not report an error to the user when you're also returning an error | |
230 | for somebody else to handle. Leave the reporting to the place that | |
231 | consumes the error returned. | |
232 | ||
233 | 7.3 Handling errors | |
234 | ||
235 | Calling exit() is fine when handling configuration errors during | |
236 | startup. It's problematic during normal operation. In particular, | |
237 | monitor commands should never exit(). | |
238 | ||
239 | Do not call exit() or abort() to handle an error that can be triggered | |
240 | by the guest (e.g., some unimplemented corner case in guest code | |
241 | translation or device emulation). Guests should not be able to | |
242 | terminate QEMU. | |
243 | ||
244 | Note that &error_fatal is just another way to exit(1), and &error_abort | |
245 | is just another way to abort(). |