<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en" class="light" dir="ltr">
<head>
<!-- Book generated using mdBook -->
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>arm64 - Notes</title>
<!-- Custom HTML head -->
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff">
<link rel="icon" href="../favicon.svg">
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="../favicon.png">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/variables.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/general.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/chrome.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../css/print.css" media="print">
<!-- Fonts -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../FontAwesome/css/font-awesome.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../fonts/fonts.css">
<!-- Highlight.js Stylesheets -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../highlight.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../tomorrow-night.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="../ayu-highlight.css">
<!-- Custom theme stylesheets -->
</head>
<body class="sidebar-visible no-js">
<div id="body-container">
<!-- Provide site root to javascript -->
<script>
var path_to_root = "../";
var default_theme = window.matchMedia("(prefers-color-scheme: dark)").matches ? "navy" : "light";
</script>
<!-- Work around some values being stored in localStorage wrapped in quotes -->
<script>
try {
var theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme');
var sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar');
if (theme.startsWith('"') && theme.endsWith('"')) {
localStorage.setItem('mdbook-theme', theme.slice(1, theme.length - 1));
}
if (sidebar.startsWith('"') && sidebar.endsWith('"')) {
localStorage.setItem('mdbook-sidebar', sidebar.slice(1, sidebar.length - 1));
}
} catch (e) { }
</script>
<!-- Set the theme before any content is loaded, prevents flash -->
<script>
var theme;
try { theme = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-theme'); } catch(e) { }
if (theme === null || theme === undefined) { theme = default_theme; }
var html = document.querySelector('html');
html.classList.remove('light')
html.classList.add(theme);
var body = document.querySelector('body');
body.classList.remove('no-js')
body.classList.add('js');
</script>
<input type="checkbox" id="sidebar-toggle-anchor" class="hidden">
<!-- Hide / unhide sidebar before it is displayed -->
<script>
var body = document.querySelector('body');
var sidebar = null;
var sidebar_toggle = document.getElementById("sidebar-toggle-anchor");
if (document.body.clientWidth >= 1080) {
try { sidebar = localStorage.getItem('mdbook-sidebar'); } catch(e) { }
sidebar = sidebar || 'visible';
} else {
sidebar = 'hidden';
}
sidebar_toggle.checked = sidebar === 'visible';
body.classList.remove('sidebar-visible');
body.classList.add("sidebar-" + sidebar);
</script>
<nav id="sidebar" class="sidebar" aria-label="Table of contents">
<div class="sidebar-scrollbox">
<ol class="chapter"><li class="chapter-item expanded affix "><a href="../intro.html">Introduction</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../shells/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.</strong> Shells</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../shells/zsh.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.1.</strong> zsh</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../shells/bash.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.2.</strong> bash</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../shells/fish.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">1.3.</strong> fish</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.</strong> CLI foo</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/awk.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.1.</strong> awk</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/sed.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.2.</strong> sed</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/column.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.3.</strong> column</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/sort.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.4.</strong> sort</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../cli/tr.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">2.5.</strong> tr</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.</strong> Tools</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/tmux.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.1.</strong> tmux</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/emacs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.2.</strong> emacs</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/gpg.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.3.</strong> gpg</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/radare2.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.4.</strong> radare2</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/qemu.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.5.</strong> qemu</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/pacman.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.6.</strong> pacman</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/dot.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.7.</strong> dot</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/ffmpeg.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.8.</strong> ffmpeg</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/gnuplot.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.9.</strong> gnuplot</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/restic.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.10.</strong> restic</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../tools/qrencode.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">3.11.</strong> qrencode</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.</strong> Resource analysis & monitor</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/lsof.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.1.</strong> lsof</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/pidstat.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.2.</strong> pidstat</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/pgrep.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.3.</strong> pgrep</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/ps.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.4.</strong> ps</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/pmap.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.5.</strong> pmap</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../monitor/pstack.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">4.6.</strong> pstack</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.</strong> Trace and Profile</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/time.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.1.</strong> time</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/strace.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.2.</strong> strace</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/ltrace.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.3.</strong> ltrace</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/perf.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.4.</strong> perf</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/oprofile.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.5.</strong> OProfile</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../trace_profile/callgrind.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">5.6.</strong> callgrind</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../debug/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.</strong> Debug</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../debug/gdb.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.1.</strong> gdb</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../debug/gdbserver.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">6.2.</strong> gdbserver</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.</strong> Binary</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/od.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.1.</strong> od</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/xxd.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.2.</strong> xxd</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/readelf.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.3.</strong> readelf</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/objdump.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.4.</strong> objdump</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../binary/nm.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">7.5.</strong> nm</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.</strong> Development</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/c++filt.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.1.</strong> c++filt</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/c++.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.2.</strong> c++</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/glibc.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.3.</strong> glibc</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/gcc.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.4.</strong> gcc</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/git.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.5.</strong> git</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/cmake.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.6.</strong> cmake</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/make.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.7.</strong> make</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/ld.so.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.8.</strong> ld.so</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/symbolver.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.9.</strong> symbol versioning</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/python.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.10.</strong> python</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/gcov.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.11.</strong> gcov</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../development/pgo.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">8.12.</strong> pgo</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.</strong> Linux</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/systemd.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.1.</strong> systemd</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/coredump.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.2.</strong> coredump</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/ptrace_scope.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.3.</strong> ptrace_scope</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/cryptsetup.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.4.</strong> cryptsetup</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/swap.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.5.</strong> swap</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/input.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.6.</strong> input</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/acl.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.7.</strong> acl</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../linux/zfs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">9.8.</strong> zfs</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.</strong> Network</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/ss.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.1.</strong> ss</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/tcpdump.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.2.</strong> tcpdump</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/tshark.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.3.</strong> tshark</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/firewall-cmd.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.4.</strong> firewall-cmd</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../network/nftables.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">10.5.</strong> nftables</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../web/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.</strong> Web</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../web/html.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.1.</strong> html</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../web/css.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.2.</strong> css</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../web/chartjs.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">11.3.</strong> chartjs</a></li></ol></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/index.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.</strong> Arch</a></li><li><ol class="section"><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/x86_64.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.1.</strong> x86_64</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/armv8.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.2.</strong> armv8</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/arm64.html" class="active"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.3.</strong> arm64</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/armv7.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.4.</strong> armv7</a></li><li class="chapter-item expanded "><a href="../arch/riscv.html"><strong aria-hidden="true">12.5.</strong> riscv</a></li></ol></li></ol>
</div>
<div id="sidebar-resize-handle" class="sidebar-resize-handle">
<div class="sidebar-resize-indicator"></div>
</div>
</nav>
<!-- Track and set sidebar scroll position -->
<script>
var sidebarScrollbox = document.querySelector('#sidebar .sidebar-scrollbox');
sidebarScrollbox.addEventListener('click', function(e) {
if (e.target.tagName === 'A') {
sessionStorage.setItem('sidebar-scroll', sidebarScrollbox.scrollTop);
}
}, { passive: true });
var sidebarScrollTop = sessionStorage.getItem('sidebar-scroll');
sessionStorage.removeItem('sidebar-scroll');
if (sidebarScrollTop) {
// preserve sidebar scroll position when navigating via links within sidebar
sidebarScrollbox.scrollTop = sidebarScrollTop;
} else {
// scroll sidebar to current active section when navigating via "next/previous chapter" buttons
var activeSection = document.querySelector('#sidebar .active');
if (activeSection) {
activeSection.scrollIntoView({ block: 'center' });
}
}
</script>
<div id="page-wrapper" class="page-wrapper">
<div class="page">
<div id="menu-bar-hover-placeholder"></div>
<div id="menu-bar" class="menu-bar sticky">
<div class="left-buttons">
<label id="sidebar-toggle" class="icon-button" for="sidebar-toggle-anchor" title="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-label="Toggle Table of Contents" aria-controls="sidebar">
<i class="fa fa-bars"></i>
</label>
<button id="theme-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Change theme" aria-label="Change theme" aria-haspopup="true" aria-expanded="false" aria-controls="theme-list">
<i class="fa fa-paint-brush"></i>
</button>
<ul id="theme-list" class="theme-popup" aria-label="Themes" role="menu">
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="light">Light</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="rust">Rust</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="coal">Coal</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="navy">Navy</button></li>
<li role="none"><button role="menuitem" class="theme" id="ayu">Ayu</button></li>
</ul>
<button id="search-toggle" class="icon-button" type="button" title="Search. (Shortkey: s)" aria-label="Toggle Searchbar" aria-expanded="false" aria-keyshortcuts="S" aria-controls="searchbar">
<i class="fa fa-search"></i>
</button>
</div>
<h1 class="menu-title">Notes</h1>
<div class="right-buttons">
<a href="../print.html" title="Print this book" aria-label="Print this book">
<i id="print-button" class="fa fa-print"></i>
</a>
<a href="https://github.com/johannst/notes" title="Git repository" aria-label="Git repository">
<i id="git-repository-button" class="fa fa-github"></i>
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div id="search-wrapper" class="hidden">
<form id="searchbar-outer" class="searchbar-outer">
<input type="search" id="searchbar" name="searchbar" placeholder="Search this book ..." aria-controls="searchresults-outer" aria-describedby="searchresults-header">
</form>
<div id="searchresults-outer" class="searchresults-outer hidden">
<div id="searchresults-header" class="searchresults-header"></div>
<ul id="searchresults">
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<!-- Apply ARIA attributes after the sidebar and the sidebar toggle button are added to the DOM -->
<script>
document.getElementById('sidebar-toggle').setAttribute('aria-expanded', sidebar === 'visible');
document.getElementById('sidebar').setAttribute('aria-hidden', sidebar !== 'visible');
Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('#sidebar a')).forEach(function(link) {
link.setAttribute('tabIndex', sidebar === 'visible' ? 0 : -1);
});
</script>
<div id="content" class="content">
<main>
<h1 id="arm64"><a class="header" href="#arm64">arm64</a></h1>
<blockquote>
<p>This page only talks about the 64 bit part of the <code>armv8</code> architecture. For
an overview see <a href="./armv8.html"><code>armv8</code></a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>keywords: arm64, aarch64, abi</p>
<ul>
<li>64bit synonyms: <code>arm64</code>, <code>aarch64</code></li>
<li>ISA type: <code>RISC</code></li>
<li>Endianness: <code>little</code>, <code>big</code></li>
</ul>
<h2 id="registers"><a class="header" href="#registers">Registers</a></h2>
<h3 id="general-purpose-registers"><a class="header" href="#general-purpose-registers">General purpose registers</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-markdown">bytes
[7:0] [3:0] desc
---------------------------------------------
x0-x28 w0-w28 general purpose registers
x29 w29 frame pointer (FP)
x30 w30 link register (LR)
sp wsp stack pointer (SP)
pc program counter (PC)
xzr wzr zero register
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>Write to <code>wN</code> register clears upper 32bit.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="special-registers-per-el"><a class="header" href="#special-registers-per-el">Special registers per EL</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-markdown">bytes
[7:0] desc
---------------------------------------------
sp_el0 stack pointer EL0
sp_el1 stack pointer EL1
elr_el1 exception link register EL1
spsr_el1 saved process status register EL1
sp_el2 stack pointer EL2
elr_el2 exception link register EL2
spsr_el2 saved process status register EL2
sp_el3 stack pointer EL3
elr_el3 exception link register EL3
spsr_el3 saved process status register EL3
</code></pre>
<h2 id="instructions-cheatsheet"><a class="header" href="#instructions-cheatsheet">Instructions cheatsheet</a></h2>
<h3 id="accessing-system-registers"><a class="header" href="#accessing-system-registers">Accessing system registers</a></h3>
<p>Reading from system registers:</p>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">mrs x0, vbar_el1 // move vbar_el1 into x0
</code></pre>
<p>Writing to system registers:</p>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">msr vbar_el1, x0 // move x0 into vbar_el1
</code></pre>
<h3 id="control-flow"><a class="header" href="#control-flow">Control Flow</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">b <offset> // relative forward/back branch
br <Xn> // absolute branch to address in register Xn
// branch & link, store return address in X30 (LR)
bl <offset> // relative forward/back branch
blr <Xn> // absolute branch to address in register Xn
ret {Xn} // return to address in X30, or Xn if supplied
</code></pre>
<h2 id="addressing"><a class="header" href="#addressing">Addressing</a></h2>
<h3 id="offset"><a class="header" href="#offset">Offset</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">ldr x0, [x1] // x0 = [x1]
ldr x0, [x1, 8] // x0 = [x1 + 8]
ldr x0, [x1, x2, lsl #3] // x0 = [x1 + (x2<<3)]
ldr x0, [x1, w2, stxw] // x0 = [x1 + sign_ext(w2)]
ldr x0, [x1, w2, stxw #3] // x0 = [x1 + (sign_ext(w2)<<3)]
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>Shift amount can either be <code>0</code> or <code>log2(access_size_bytes)</code>. Eg for 8byte
access it can either be <code>{0, 3}</code>.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3 id="index"><a class="header" href="#index">Index</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">ldr x0, [x1, 8]! // pre-inc : x1+=8; x0 = [x1]
ldr x0, [x1], 8 // post-inc: x0 = [x1]; x1+=8
</code></pre>
<h3 id="pair-access"><a class="header" href="#pair-access">Pair access</a></h3>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">ldp x1, x2, [x0] // x1 = [x0]; x2 = [x0 + 8]
stp x1, x2, [x0] // [x0] = x1; [x0 + 8] = x2
</code></pre>
<h2 id="procedure-call-standard-arm64-aapcs64"><a class="header" href="#procedure-call-standard-arm64-aapcs64">Procedure Call Standard ARM64 (<a href="https://github.com/ARM-software/abi-aa/blob/master/aapcs64/aapcs64.rst"><code>aapcs64</code></a>)</a></h2>
<h3 id="passing-arguments-to-functions"><a class="header" href="#passing-arguments-to-functions">Passing arguments to functions</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>Integer/Pointer arguments
<pre><code class="language-markdown">reg arg
-----------
x0 1
.. ..
x7 8
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>Additional arguments are passed on the stack. Arguments are pushed
<code>right-to-left (RTL)</code>, meaning next arguments are closer to current <code>sp</code>.
<pre><code class="language-markdown">void take(..., int a9, int a10);
| | | ... | Hi
| +-->| a10 | |
+---------->| a9 | <-SP |
+-----+ v
| ... | Lo
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="return-values-from-functions"><a class="header" href="#return-values-from-functions">Return values from functions</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>Integer/Pointer return values
<pre><code class="language-markdown">reg size
-----------------
x0 64 bit
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="callee-saved-registers"><a class="header" href="#callee-saved-registers">Callee saved registers</a></h3>
<ul>
<li><code>x19</code> - <code>x28</code></li>
<li><code>SP</code></li>
</ul>
<h3 id="stack"><a class="header" href="#stack">Stack</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>full descending
<ul>
<li>full: <code>sp</code> points to the last used location (valid item)</li>
<li>descending: stack grows downwards</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>sp</code> must be 16byte aligned when used to access memory for r/w</li>
<li><code>sp</code> must be 16byte aligned on public interface interfaces</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="frame-chain"><a class="header" href="#frame-chain">Frame chain</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>linked list of stack-frames</li>
<li>each frame links to the frame of its caller by a <code>frame record</code>
<ul>
<li>a frame record is described as a <code>(FP,LR)</code> pair</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><code>x29 (FP)</code> must point to the frame record of the current stack-frame
<pre><code class="language-markdown"> +------+ Hi
| 0 | frame0 |
+->| 0 | |
| | ... | |
| +------+ |
| | LR | frame1 |
+--| FP |<-+ |
| ... | | |
+------+ | |
| LR | | current |
x29 ->| FP |--+ frame v
| ... | Lo
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>end of the frame chain is indicated by following frame record <code>(0,-)</code></li>
<li>location of the frame record in the stack frame is not specified</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="function-prologue--epilogue"><a class="header" href="#function-prologue--epilogue">Function prologue & epilogue</a></h3>
<ul>
<li>prologue
<pre><code class="language-armasm">sub sp, sp, 16
stp x29, x30, [sp] // [sp] = x29; [sp + 8] = x30
mov x29, sp // FP points to frame record
</code></pre>
</li>
<li>epilogue
<pre><code class="language-armasm">ldp x29, x30, [sp] // x29 = [sp]; x30 = [sp + 8]
add sp, sp, 16
ret
</code></pre>
</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="asm-skeleton"><a class="header" href="#asm-skeleton">ASM skeleton</a></h2>
<p>Small assembler skeleton, ready to use with following properties:</p>
<ul>
<li>use raw Linux syscalls (<code>man 2 syscall</code> for ABI)</li>
<li>no <code>C runtime (crt)</code></li>
<li>gnu assembler <a href="https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/as"><code>gas</code></a></li>
</ul>
<pre><code class="language-armasm">// file: greet.S
#include <asm/unistd.h> // syscall NRs
.arch armv8-a
.section .text, "ax", @progbits
.balign 4 // align code on 4byte boundary
.global _start
_start:
mov x0, 2 // fd
ldr x1, =greeting // buf
ldr x2, =greeting_len // &len
ldr x2, [x2] // len
mov w8, __NR_write // write(2) syscall
svc 0
mov x0, 0 // exit code
mov w8, __NR_exit // exit(2) syscall
svc 0
.balign 8 // align data on 8byte boundary
.section .rodata, "a", @progbits
greeting:
.asciz "Hi ASM-World!\n"
greeting_len:
.int .-greeting
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>man gcc: <code>file.S</code> assembler code that must be preprocessed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To cross-compile and run:</p>
<pre><code class="language-bash">> aarch64-linux-gnu-g++ -o greet greet.S -nostartfiles -nostdlib \
-Wl,--dynamic-linker=/usr/aarch64-linux-gnu/lib/ld-linux-aarch64.so.1 \
&& qemu-aarch64 ./greet
Hi ASM-World!
</code></pre>
<blockquote>
<p>Cross-compiling on <code>Ubuntu 20.04 (x86_64)</code>, paths might differ on other
distributions. Explicitly specifying the dynamic linker should not be
required when compiling natively on arm64.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="references"><a class="header" href="#references">References</a></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ARM-software/abi-aa/blob/master/aapcs64/aapcs64.rst">Procedure Call Standard ARM64</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.arm.com/documentation/den0024/latest">ARMv8-A Programmer's Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ddi0487/latest">ARMv8-A Architecture Reference Manual</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.arm.com/documentation/dai0527/latest">AppNote: ARMv8 Bare-metal boot code</a></li>
<li><a href="https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/as">GNU Assembler</a></li>
<li><a href="https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/as/Pseudo-Ops.html#Pseudo-Ops">GNU Assembler Directives</a></li>
<li><a href="https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/as/AArch64_002dDependent.html">GNU Assembler <code>AArch64</code> dependent features</a></li>
<li><a href="https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ddi0602/latest/Base-Instructions">ARM64-A Instruction Browser</a></li>
</ul>
</main>
<nav class="nav-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation">
<!-- Mobile navigation buttons -->
<a rel="prev" href="../arch/armv8.html" class="mobile-nav-chapters previous" title="Previous chapter" aria-label="Previous chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Left">
<i class="fa fa-angle-left"></i>
</a>
<a rel="next prefetch" href="../arch/armv7.html" class="mobile-nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right">
<i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i>
</a>
<div style="clear: both"></div>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
<nav class="nav-wide-wrapper" aria-label="Page navigation">
<a rel="prev" href="../arch/armv8.html" class="nav-chapters previous" title="Previous chapter" aria-label="Previous chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Left">
<i class="fa fa-angle-left"></i>
</a>
<a rel="next prefetch" href="../arch/armv7.html" class="nav-chapters next" title="Next chapter" aria-label="Next chapter" aria-keyshortcuts="Right">
<i class="fa fa-angle-right"></i>
</a>
</nav>
</div>
<script>
window.playground_copyable = true;
</script>
<script src="../elasticlunr.min.js"></script>
<script src="../mark.min.js"></script>
<script src="../searcher.js"></script>
<script src="../clipboard.min.js"></script>
<script src="../highlight.js"></script>
<script src="../book.js"></script>
<!-- Custom JS scripts -->
</div>
</body>
</html>
