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Oracle Solaris 11.1 Linkers and Libraries Guide     Oracle Solaris 11.1 Information Library
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Document Information

Preface

Part I Using the Link-Editor and Runtime Linker

1.  Introduction to the Oracle Solaris Link Editors

2.  Link-Editor

3.  Runtime Linker

4.  Shared Objects

Part II Quick Reference

5.  Link-Editor Quick Reference

Part III Advanced Topics

6.  Direct Bindings

7.  Building Objects to Optimize System Performance

8.  Mapfiles

9.  Interfaces and Versioning

10.  Establishing Dependencies with Dynamic String Tokens

11.  Extensibility Mechanisms

Part IV ELF Application Binary Interface

12.  Object File Format

13.  Program Loading and Dynamic Linking

14.  Thread-Local Storage

C/C++ Programming Interface

Thread-Local Storage Section

Runtime Allocation of Thread-Local Storage

Program Startup

Thread Creation

Post-Startup Dynamic Loading

Deferred Allocation of Thread-Local Storage Blocks

Thread-Local Storage Access Models

SPARC: Thread-Local Variable Access

SPARC: General Dynamic (GD)

SPARC: Local Dynamic (LD)

32-bit SPARC: Initial Executable (IE)

64-bit SPARC: Initial Executable (IE)

SPARC: Local Executable (LE)

SPARC: Thread-Local Storage Relocation Types

32-bit x86: Thread-Local Variable Access

32-bit x86: General Dynamic (GD)

x86: Local Dynamic (LD)

32-bit x86: Initial Executable (IE)

32-bit x86: Local Executable (LE)

32-bit x86: Thread-Local Storage Relocation Types

x64: Thread-Local Variable Access

x64: General Dynamic (GD)

x64: Local Dynamic (LD)

x64: Initial Executable (IE)

x64: Local Executable (LE)

x64: Thread-Local Storage Relocation Types

Part V Appendices

A.  Linker and Libraries Updates and New Features

B.  System V Release 4 (Version 1) Mapfiles

Index

Runtime Allocation of Thread-Local Storage

TLS is created at three occasions during the lifetime of a program.

Thread-local data storage is laid out at runtime as illustrated in Figure 14-1.

Figure 14-1 Runtime Storage Layout of Thread-Local Storage

image:Runtime Thread-Local Storage Layout

Program Startup

At program startup, the runtime system creates TLS for the main thread.

First, the runtime linker logically combines the TLS templates for all loaded dynamic objects, including the dynamic executable, into a single static template. Each dynamic objects's TLS template is assigned an offset within the combined template, tlsoffsetm, as follows.

tlssizem+1 and alignm+1 are the size and alignment, respectively, for the allocation template for dynamic object m. Where 1 <= m <= M, and M is the total number of loaded dynamic objects. The round(offset, align) function returns an offset rounded up to the next multiple of align.

Next, the runtime linker computes the allocation size that is required for the startup TLS, tlssizeS. This size is equal to tlsoffsetM, plus an additional 512 bytes. This addition provides a backup reservation for static TLS references. Shared objects that make static TLS references, and are loaded after process initialization, are assigned to this backup reservation. However, this reservation is a fixed, limited size. In addition, this reservation is only capable of providing storage for uninitialized TLS data items. For maximum flexibility, shared objects should reference thread-local variables using a dynamic TLS model.

The static TLS arena associated with the calculated TLS size tlssizeS, is placed immediately preceding the thread pointer tpt. Accesses to this TLS data is based off of subtractions from tpt.

The static TLS arena is associated with a linked list of initialization records. Each record in this list describes the TLS initialization image for one loaded dynamic object. Each record contains the following fields.

The thread library uses this information to allocate storage for the initial thread. This storage is initialized, and a dynamic TLS vector for the initial thread is created.

Thread Creation

For the initial thread, and for each new thread created, the thread library allocates a new TLS block for each loaded dynamic object. Blocks can be allocated separately, or as a single contiguous block.

Each thread t, has an associated thread pointer tpt, which points to the thread control block, TCB. The thread pointer, tp, always contains the value of tpt for the current running thread.

The thread library then creates a vector of pointers, dtvt, for the current thread t. The first element of each vector contains a generation number gent, which is used to determine when the vector needs to be extended. See Deferred Allocation of Thread-Local Storage Blocks.

Each element remaining in the vector dtvt,m, is a pointer to the block that is reserved for the TLS belonging to the dynamic object m.

For dynamically loaded, post-startup objects, the thread library defers the allocation of TLS blocks. Allocation occurs when the first reference is made to a TLS variable within the loaded object. For blocks whose allocation has been deferred, the pointer dtvt,m is set to an implementation-defined special value.


Note - The runtime linker can group TLS templates for all startup objects so as to share a single element in the vector, dtv t,1. This grouping does not affect the offset calculations described previously or the creation of the list of initialization records. For the following sections, however, the value of M, the total number of objects, start with the value of 1.


The thread library then copies the initialization images to the corresponding locations within the new block of storage.

Post-Startup Dynamic Loading

A shared object containing only dynamic TLS can be loaded following process startup without limitations. The runtime linker extends the list of initialization records to include the initialization template of the new object. The new object is given an index of m = M + 1. The counter M is incremented by 1. However, the allocation of new TLS blocks is deferred until the blocks are actually referenced.

When a shared object that contains only dynamic TLS is unloaded, the TLS blocks used by that shared object are freed.

A shared object containing static TLS can be loaded following process startup with limitations. Static TLS references can only be satisfied from any remaining backup TLS reservation. See Program Startup. This reservation is limited in size. In addition, this reservation can only provide storage for uninitialized TLS data items.

A shared object that contains static TLS is never unloaded. The shared object is tagged as non-deletable as a consequence of processing the static TLS.

Deferred Allocation of Thread-Local Storage Blocks

In a dynamic TLS model, when a thread t needs to access a TLS block for object m, the code updates the dtvt and performs the initial allocation of the TLS block. The thread library provides the following interface to provide for dynamic TLS allocation.

typedef struct {
    unsigned long ti_moduleid;
    unsigned long ti_tlsoffset;
} TLS_index;

extern void *__tls_get_addr(TLS_index *ti);     (SPARC and x64)
extern void *___tls_get_addr(TLS_index *ti);    (32–bit x86)

Note - The SPARC and 64–bit x86 definitions of this function have the same function signature. However, the 32–bit x86 version does not use the default calling convention of passing arguments on the stack. Instead, the 32–bit x86 version passes its arguments by means of the %eax register which is more efficient. To denote that this alternate calling method is used, the 32–bit x86 function name has three leading underscores in its name.


Both versions of tls_get_addr() check the per-thread generation counter, gent, to determine whether the vector needs to be updated. If the vector dtvt is out of date, the routine updates the vector, possibly reallocating the vector to make room for more entries. The routine then checks to see if the TLS block corresponding to dtvt,m has been allocated. If the vector has not been allocated, the routine allocates and initializes the block. The routine uses the information in the list of initialization records provided by the runtime linker. The pointer dtv t,m is set to point to the allocated block. The routine returns a pointer to the given offset within the block.