slow hashing (sha256) on uboot 2009 (iMX25 processor)

Below calculation is done with uboot (2009 an older version) on iMX25 processor. I am running sha256_process() function (sha256.c) under uboot to process 50Mbytes of data to get the hash. It takes more than 100sec to complete the calculation. While the same hashing takes no time if run with openssl under Ubuntu (same processor).

Cross Compiler: arm-none-linux-gnueabi-gcc 4.4.1.

Need some input on what can possibly be the problem.

Tried another arm toolchain with improvement, but still not as expected.

---sha256 code.

static void sha256_process(sha256_context *ctx, const uint8_t data[64])
{
    uint32_t temp1, temp2;
    uint32_t W[64];
    uint32_t A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H;

    GET_UINT32_BE(W[0], data, 0);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[1], data, 4);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[2], data, 8);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[3], data, 12);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[4], data, 16);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[5], data, 20);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[6], data, 24);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[7], data, 28);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[8], data, 32);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[9], data, 36);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[10], data, 40);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[11], data, 44);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[12], data, 48);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[13], data, 52);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[14], data, 56);
    GET_UINT32_BE(W[15], data, 60);

#define SHR(x,n) ((x & 0xFFFFFFFF) >> n)
#define ROTR(x,n) (SHR(x,n) | (x << (32 - n)))

#define S0(x) (ROTR(x, 7) ^ ROTR(x,18) ^ SHR(x, 3))
#define S1(x) (ROTR(x,17) ^ ROTR(x,19) ^ SHR(x,10))

#define S2(x) (ROTR(x, 2) ^ ROTR(x,13) ^ ROTR(x,22))
#define S3(x) (ROTR(x, 6) ^ ROTR(x,11) ^ ROTR(x,25))

#define F0(x,y,z) ((x & y) | (z & (x | y)))
#define F1(x,y,z) (z ^ (x & (y ^ z)))

#define R(t)                    \
(                       \
    W[t] = S1(W[t - 2]) + W[t - 7] +    \
        S0(W[t - 15]) + W[t - 16]   \
)

#define P(a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,x,K) {        \
    temp1 = h + S3(e) + F1(e,f,g) + K + x;  \
    temp2 = S2(a) + F0(a,b,c);      \
    d += temp1; h = temp1 + temp2;      \
}

    A = ctx->state[0];
    B = ctx->state[1];
    C = ctx->state[2];
    D = ctx->state[3];
    E = ctx->state[4];
    F = ctx->state[5];
    G = ctx->state[6];
    H = ctx->state[7];

    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, W[0], 0x428A2F98);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, W[1], 0x71374491);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, W[2], 0xB5C0FBCF);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, W[3], 0xE9B5DBA5);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, W[4], 0x3956C25B);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, W[5], 0x59F111F1);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, W[6], 0x923F82A4);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, W[7], 0xAB1C5ED5);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, W[8], 0xD807AA98);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, W[9], 0x12835B01);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, W[10], 0x243185BE);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, W[11], 0x550C7DC3);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, W[12], 0x72BE5D74);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, W[13], 0x80DEB1FE);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, W[14], 0x9BDC06A7);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, W[15], 0xC19BF174);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(16), 0xE49B69C1);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(17), 0xEFBE4786);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(18), 0x0FC19DC6);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(19), 0x240CA1CC);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(20), 0x2DE92C6F);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(21), 0x4A7484AA);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(22), 0x5CB0A9DC);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(23), 0x76F988DA);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(24), 0x983E5152);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(25), 0xA831C66D);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(26), 0xB00327C8);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(27), 0xBF597FC7);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(28), 0xC6E00BF3);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(29), 0xD5A79147);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(30), 0x06CA6351);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(31), 0x14292967);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(32), 0x27B70A85);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(33), 0x2E1B2138);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(34), 0x4D2C6DFC);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(35), 0x53380D13);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(36), 0x650A7354);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(37), 0x766A0ABB);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(38), 0x81C2C92E);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(39), 0x92722C85);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(40), 0xA2BFE8A1);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(41), 0xA81A664B);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(42), 0xC24B8B70);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(43), 0xC76C51A3);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(44), 0xD192E819);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(45), 0xD6990624);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(46), 0xF40E3585);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(47), 0x106AA070);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(48), 0x19A4C116);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(49), 0x1E376C08);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(50), 0x2748774C);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(51), 0x34B0BCB5);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(52), 0x391C0CB3);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(53), 0x4ED8AA4A);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(54), 0x5B9CCA4F);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(55), 0x682E6FF3);
    P(A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, R(56), 0x748F82EE);
    P(H, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, R(57), 0x78A5636F);
    P(G, H, A, B, C, D, E, F, R(58), 0x84C87814);
    P(F, G, H, A, B, C, D, E, R(59), 0x8CC70208);
    P(E, F, G, H, A, B, C, D, R(60), 0x90BEFFFA);
    P(D, E, F, G, H, A, B, C, R(61), 0xA4506CEB);
    P(C, D, E, F, G, H, A, B, R(62), 0xBEF9A3F7);
    P(B, C, D, E, F, G, H, A, R(63), 0xC67178F2);

    ctx->state[0] += A;
    ctx->state[1] += B;
    ctx->state[2] += C;
    ctx->state[3] += D;
    ctx->state[4] += E;
    ctx->state[5] += F;
    ctx->state[6] += G;
    ctx->state[7] += H;
}

Expect the hashing time to be withing a few seconds, not 100sec.

The difference in performance you did notice may be caused by one of both of the CPU Instructions/Data caches being disabled.

You can enable/disable both caches from u-boot provided that it was compiled with the icache/dcache commands.

If your u-boot does not already include the icache/dcache commands, you may have to re-compile it after having added the following line to the configuration file: CONFIG_CMD_CACHE=y.

Another option would be to enable it in your code programmatically prior to start computing the hash.