I'm learning x32 ARM assembly on RaspberryPi with Raspbian. I wrote the following code:
@ Define my Raspberry Pi
.cpu cortex-a53
.fpu neon-fp-armv8
.syntax unified @ modern syntax
.text
.align 2
.global main
.type main, %function
main:
mov r0, 1 @ line added only for breakpoint purposes
sub sp, sp, 8 @ space for fp, lr
str fp, [sp, 0] @ save fp
str lr, [sp, 4] @ and lr
add fp, sp, 4 @ set our frame pointer
Build with gcc:
gcc -g test.s -o test
Use gdb
to check values of fp
and sp
in lines 13 and 16 and
dereference them:
$ gdb ./test
(gdb) break 13
Breakpoint 3 at 0x103d4: file test.s, line 13.
(gdb) break 16
Breakpoint 4 at 0x103e0: file test.s, line 16.
(gdb) run
Starting program: /home/pi/assembly/nine/bob/test
Breakpoint 3, main () at test.s:13
13 sub sp, sp, 8 @ space for fp, lr
(gdb) print {$sp, $fp}
$1 = {0x7efffae8, 0x7efffae8}
(gdb) x $sp
0x7efffae8: 0x76f9e000
(gdb) x $fp
0x7efffae8: 0x76f9e000
(gdb) continue
Continuing.
Breakpoint 4, main () at test.s:16
16 add fp, sp, 4 @ set our frame pointer
(gdb) print {$sp, $fp}
$2 = {0x7efffae0, 0x7efffae0}
(gdb) x $sp
0x7efffae0: 0x00000000
(gdb) x $fp
0x7efffae0: 0x00000000
As you see fp
is equal to sp
at startup and non-zero:
(gdb) print {$sp, $fp}
$1 = {0x7efffae8, 0x7efffae8}
(gdb) x $sp
0x7efffae8: 0x76f9e000
(gdb) x $fp
0x7efffae8: 0x76f9e000
but when copied onto the enlarged stack it changes to zero
(gdb) x $fp
0x7efffae0: 0x00000000
Why does it change to zero? Why does it change value at all? Is
underlying implementation somehow linking values of fp
and sp
so
that when sp
is moved down to the initialized memory that might be
all zeroes fp
is changed as well? I only found
this:
fp Is the frame pointer register. In the obsolete APCS variants that use fp, this register contains either zero, or a pointer to the most recently created stack backtrace data structure. As with the stack pointer, the frame pointer must be preserved, but in handwritten code it does not need to be available at every instant. However, it must be valid whenever any strictly conforming function is called. fp must always be preserved.
This
comment
says that lr
is stored as the first element on the stack but it's
definitely not - it stays the same and is not zero:
(gdb) print {$sp, $fp, $lr}
$1 = {0x7efffae8, 0x7efffae8, 0x76e6b718 <__libc_start_main+268>}
and after sp
changes:
(gdb) x/2xw $sp
0x7efffae0: 0x00000000 0x76e6b718
Ok, I'm answering myself - this happens in gdb/arm-tdep.c
in GDB source code:
/* The frame size is just the distance from the frame register
to the original stack pointer. */
if (pv_is_register (regs[ARM_FP_REGNUM], ARM_SP_REGNUM))
{
/* Frame pointer is fp. */
framereg = ARM_FP_REGNUM;
framesize = -regs[ARM_FP_REGNUM].k;
}
else
{
/* Try the stack pointer... this is a bit desperate. */
framereg = ARM_SP_REGNUM;
framesize = -regs[ARM_SP_REGNUM].k;
}
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