Documentation/bpf/bpf_design_QA.rst - linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf - Git at Google

 ==============
 BPF Design Q&A
 ==============

 BPF extensibility and applicability to networking, tracing, security
 in the linux kernel and several user space implementations of BPF
 virtual machine led to a number of misunderstanding on what BPF actually is.
 This short QA is an attempt to address that and outline a direction
 of where BPF is heading long term.

 .. contents::
     :local:
     :depth: 3

 Questions and Answers
 =====================

 Q: Is BPF a generic instruction set similar to x64 and arm64?
 -------------------------------------------------------------
 A: NO.

 Q: Is BPF a generic virtual machine ?
 -------------------------------------
 A: NO.

 BPF is generic instruction set *with* C calling convention.
 -----------------------------------------------------------

 Q: Why C calling convention was chosen?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 A: Because BPF programs are designed to run in the linux kernel
 which is written in C, hence BPF defines instruction set compatible
 with two most used architectures x64 and arm64 (and takes into
 consideration important quirks of other architectures) and
 defines calling convention that is compatible with C calling
 convention of the linux kernel on those architectures.

 Q: Can multiple return values be supported in the future?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: NO. BPF allows only register R0 to be used as return value.

 Q: Can more than 5 function arguments be supported in the future?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: NO. BPF calling convention only allows registers R1-R5 to be used
 as arguments. BPF is not a standalone instruction set.
 (unlike x64 ISA that allows msft, cdecl and other conventions)

 Q: Can BPF programs access instruction pointer or return address?
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
 A: NO.

 Q: Can BPF programs access stack pointer ?
 ------------------------------------------
 A: NO.

 Only frame pointer (register R10) is accessible.
 From compiler point of view it's necessary to have stack pointer.
 For example, LLVM defines register R11 as stack pointer in its
 BPF backend, but it makes sure that generated code never uses it.

 Q: Does C-calling convention diminishes possible use cases?
 -----------------------------------------------------------
 A: YES.

 BPF design forces addition of major functionality in the form
 of kernel helper functions and kernel objects like BPF maps with
 seamless interoperability between them. It lets kernel call into
 BPF programs and programs call kernel helpers with zero overhead,
 as all of them were native C code. That is particularly the case
 for JITed BPF programs that are indistinguishable from
 native kernel C code.

 Q: Does it mean that 'innovative' extensions to BPF code are disallowed?
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 A: Soft yes.

 At least for now, until BPF core has support for
 bpf-to-bpf calls, indirect calls, loops, global variables,
 jump tables, read-only sections, and all other normal constructs
 that C code can produce.

 Q: Can loops be supported in a safe way?
 ----------------------------------------
 A: It's not clear yet.

 BPF developers are trying to find a way to
 support bounded loops.

 Q: What are the verifier limits?
 --------------------------------
 A: The only limit known to the user space is BPF_MAXINSNS (4096).
 It's the maximum number of instructions that the unprivileged bpf
 program can have. The verifier has various internal limits.
 Like the maximum number of instructions that can be explored during
 program analysis. Currently, that limit is set to 1 million.
 Which essentially means that the largest program can consist
 of 1 million NOP instructions. There is a limit to the maximum number
 of subsequent branches, a limit to the number of nested bpf-to-bpf
 calls, a limit to the number of the verifier states per instruction,
 a limit to the number of maps used by the program.
 All these limits can be hit with a sufficiently complex program.
 There are also non-numerical limits that can cause the program
 to be rejected. The verifier used to recognize only pointer + constant
 expressions. Now it can recognize pointer + bounded_register.
 bpf_lookup_map_elem(key) had a requirement that 'key' must be
 a pointer to the stack. Now, 'key' can be a pointer to map value.
 The verifier is steadily getting 'smarter'. The limits are
 being removed. The only way to know that the program is going to
 be accepted by the verifier is to try to load it.
 The bpf development process guarantees that the future kernel
 versions will accept all bpf programs that were accepted by
 the earlier versions.


 Instruction level questions
 ---------------------------

 Q: LD_ABS and LD_IND instructions vs C code
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Q: How come LD_ABS and LD_IND instruction are present in BPF whereas
 C code cannot express them and has to use builtin intrinsics?

 A: This is artifact of compatibility with classic BPF. Modern
 networking code in BPF performs better without them.
 See 'direct packet access'.

 Q: BPF instructions mapping not one-to-one to native CPU
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Q: It seems not all BPF instructions are one-to-one to native CPU.
 For example why BPF_JNE and other compare and jumps are not cpu-like?

 A: This was necessary to avoid introducing flags into ISA which are
 impossible to make generic and efficient across CPU architectures.

 Q: Why BPF_DIV instruction doesn't map to x64 div?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: Because if we picked one-to-one relationship to x64 it would have made
 it more complicated to support on arm64 and other archs. Also it
 needs div-by-zero runtime check.

 Q: Why there is no BPF_SDIV for signed divide operation?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: Because it would be rarely used. llvm errors in such case and
 prints a suggestion to use unsigned divide instead.

 Q: Why BPF has implicit prologue and epilogue?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: Because architectures like sparc have register windows and in general
 there are enough subtle differences between architectures, so naive
 store return address into stack won't work. Another reason is BPF has
 to be safe from division by zero (and legacy exception path
 of LD_ABS insn). Those instructions need to invoke epilogue and
 return implicitly.

 Q: Why BPF_JLT and BPF_JLE instructions were not introduced in the beginning?
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 A: Because classic BPF didn't have them and BPF authors felt that compiler
 workaround would be acceptable. Turned out that programs lose performance
 due to lack of these compare instructions and they were added.
 These two instructions is a perfect example what kind of new BPF
 instructions are acceptable and can be added in the future.
 These two already had equivalent instructions in native CPUs.
 New instructions that don't have one-to-one mapping to HW instructions
 will not be accepted.

 Q: BPF 32-bit subregister requirements
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Q: BPF 32-bit subregisters have a requirement to zero upper 32-bits of BPF
 registers which makes BPF inefficient virtual machine for 32-bit
 CPU architectures and 32-bit HW accelerators. Can true 32-bit registers
 be added to BPF in the future?

 A: NO.

 But some optimizations on zero-ing the upper 32 bits for BPF registers are
 available, and can be leveraged to improve the performance of JITed BPF
 programs for 32-bit architectures.

 Starting with version 7, LLVM is able to generate instructions that operate
 on 32-bit subregisters, provided the option -mattr=+alu32 is passed for
 compiling a program. Furthermore, the verifier can now mark the
 instructions for which zero-ing the upper bits of the destination register
 is required, and insert an explicit zero-extension (zext) instruction
 (a mov32 variant). This means that for architectures without zext hardware
 support, the JIT back-ends do not need to clear the upper bits for
 subregisters written by alu32 instructions or narrow loads. Instead, the
 back-ends simply need to support code generation for that mov32 variant,
 and to overwrite bpf_jit_needs_zext() to make it return "true" (in order to
 enable zext insertion in the verifier).

 Note that it is possible for a JIT back-end to have partial hardware
 support for zext. In that case, if verifier zext insertion is enabled,
 it could lead to the insertion of unnecessary zext instructions. Such
 instructions could be removed by creating a simple peephole inside the JIT
 back-end: if one instruction has hardware support for zext and if the next
 instruction is an explicit zext, then the latter can be skipped when doing
 the code generation.

 Q: Does BPF have a stable ABI?
 ------------------------------
 A: YES. BPF instructions, arguments to BPF programs, set of helper
 functions and their arguments, recognized return codes are all part
 of ABI. However there is one specific exception to tracing programs
 which are using helpers like bpf_probe_read() to walk kernel internal
 data structures and compile with kernel internal headers. Both of these
 kernel internals are subject to change and can break with newer kernels
 such that the program needs to be adapted accordingly.

 Q: How much stack space a BPF program uses?
 -------------------------------------------
 A: Currently all program types are limited to 512 bytes of stack
 space, but the verifier computes the actual amount of stack used
 and both interpreter and most JITed code consume necessary amount.

 Q: Can BPF be offloaded to HW?
 ------------------------------
 A: YES. BPF HW offload is supported by NFP driver.

 Q: Does classic BPF interpreter still exist?
 --------------------------------------------
 A: NO. Classic BPF programs are converted into extend BPF instructions.

 Q: Can BPF call arbitrary kernel functions?
 -------------------------------------------
 A: NO. BPF programs can only call a set of helper functions which
 is defined for every program type.

 Q: Can BPF overwrite arbitrary kernel memory?
 ---------------------------------------------
 A: NO.

 Tracing bpf programs can *read* arbitrary memory with bpf_probe_read()
 and bpf_probe_read_str() helpers. Networking programs cannot read
 arbitrary memory, since they don't have access to these helpers.
 Programs can never read or write arbitrary memory directly.

 Q: Can BPF overwrite arbitrary user memory?
 -------------------------------------------
 A: Sort-of.

 Tracing BPF programs can overwrite the user memory
 of the current task with bpf_probe_write_user(). Every time such
 program is loaded the kernel will print warning message, so
 this helper is only useful for experiments and prototypes.
 Tracing BPF programs are root only.

 Q: bpf_trace_printk() helper warning
 ------------------------------------
 Q: When bpf_trace_printk() helper is used the kernel prints nasty
 warning message. Why is that?

 A: This is done to nudge program authors into better interfaces when
 programs need to pass data to user space. Like bpf_perf_event_output()
 can be used to efficiently stream data via perf ring buffer.
 BPF maps can be used for asynchronous data sharing between kernel
 and user space. bpf_trace_printk() should only be used for debugging.

 Q: New functionality via kernel modules?
 ----------------------------------------
 Q: Can BPF functionality such as new program or map types, new
 helpers, etc be added out of kernel module code?

 A: NO.
	==============
	BPF Design Q&A
	==============

	BPF extensibility and applicability to networking, tracing, security
	in the linux kernel and several user space implementations of BPF
	virtual machine led to a number of misunderstanding on what BPF actually is.
	This short QA is an attempt to address that and outline a direction
	of where BPF is heading long term.

	.. contents::
	:local:
	:depth: 3

	Questions and Answers
	=====================

	Q: Is BPF a generic instruction set similar to x64 and arm64?
	-------------------------------------------------------------
	A: NO.

	Q: Is BPF a generic virtual machine ?
	-------------------------------------
	A: NO.

	BPF is generic instruction set with C calling convention.
	-----------------------------------------------------------

	Q: Why C calling convention was chosen?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	A: Because BPF programs are designed to run in the linux kernel
	which is written in C, hence BPF defines instruction set compatible
	with two most used architectures x64 and arm64 (and takes into
	consideration important quirks of other architectures) and
	defines calling convention that is compatible with C calling
	convention of the linux kernel on those architectures.

	Q: Can multiple return values be supported in the future?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: NO. BPF allows only register R0 to be used as return value.

	Q: Can more than 5 function arguments be supported in the future?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: NO. BPF calling convention only allows registers R1-R5 to be used
	as arguments. BPF is not a standalone instruction set.
	(unlike x64 ISA that allows msft, cdecl and other conventions)

	Q: Can BPF programs access instruction pointer or return address?
	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	A: NO.

	Q: Can BPF programs access stack pointer ?
	------------------------------------------
	A: NO.

	Only frame pointer (register R10) is accessible.
	From compiler point of view it's necessary to have stack pointer.
	For example, LLVM defines register R11 as stack pointer in its
	BPF backend, but it makes sure that generated code never uses it.

	Q: Does C-calling convention diminishes possible use cases?
	-----------------------------------------------------------
	A: YES.

	BPF design forces addition of major functionality in the form
	of kernel helper functions and kernel objects like BPF maps with
	seamless interoperability between them. It lets kernel call into
	BPF programs and programs call kernel helpers with zero overhead,
	as all of them were native C code. That is particularly the case
	for JITed BPF programs that are indistinguishable from
	native kernel C code.

	Q: Does it mean that 'innovative' extensions to BPF code are disallowed?
	------------------------------------------------------------------------
	A: Soft yes.

	At least for now, until BPF core has support for
	bpf-to-bpf calls, indirect calls, loops, global variables,
	jump tables, read-only sections, and all other normal constructs
	that C code can produce.

	Q: Can loops be supported in a safe way?
	----------------------------------------
	A: It's not clear yet.

	BPF developers are trying to find a way to
	support bounded loops.

	Q: What are the verifier limits?
	--------------------------------
	A: The only limit known to the user space is BPF_MAXINSNS (4096).
	It's the maximum number of instructions that the unprivileged bpf
	program can have. The verifier has various internal limits.
	Like the maximum number of instructions that can be explored during
	program analysis. Currently, that limit is set to 1 million.
	Which essentially means that the largest program can consist
	of 1 million NOP instructions. There is a limit to the maximum number
	of subsequent branches, a limit to the number of nested bpf-to-bpf
	calls, a limit to the number of the verifier states per instruction,
	a limit to the number of maps used by the program.
	All these limits can be hit with a sufficiently complex program.
	There are also non-numerical limits that can cause the program
	to be rejected. The verifier used to recognize only pointer + constant
	expressions. Now it can recognize pointer + bounded_register.
	bpf_lookup_map_elem(key) had a requirement that 'key' must be
	a pointer to the stack. Now, 'key' can be a pointer to map value.
	The verifier is steadily getting 'smarter'. The limits are
	being removed. The only way to know that the program is going to
	be accepted by the verifier is to try to load it.
	The bpf development process guarantees that the future kernel
	versions will accept all bpf programs that were accepted by
	the earlier versions.


	Instruction level questions
	---------------------------

	Q: LD_ABS and LD_IND instructions vs C code
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Q: How come LD_ABS and LD_IND instruction are present in BPF whereas
	C code cannot express them and has to use builtin intrinsics?

	A: This is artifact of compatibility with classic BPF. Modern
	networking code in BPF performs better without them.
	See 'direct packet access'.

	Q: BPF instructions mapping not one-to-one to native CPU
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Q: It seems not all BPF instructions are one-to-one to native CPU.
	For example why BPF_JNE and other compare and jumps are not cpu-like?

	A: This was necessary to avoid introducing flags into ISA which are
	impossible to make generic and efficient across CPU architectures.

	Q: Why BPF_DIV instruction doesn't map to x64 div?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: Because if we picked one-to-one relationship to x64 it would have made
	it more complicated to support on arm64 and other archs. Also it
	needs div-by-zero runtime check.

	Q: Why there is no BPF_SDIV for signed divide operation?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: Because it would be rarely used. llvm errors in such case and
	prints a suggestion to use unsigned divide instead.

	Q: Why BPF has implicit prologue and epilogue?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: Because architectures like sparc have register windows and in general
	there are enough subtle differences between architectures, so naive
	store return address into stack won't work. Another reason is BPF has
	to be safe from division by zero (and legacy exception path
	of LD_ABS insn). Those instructions need to invoke epilogue and
	return implicitly.

	Q: Why BPF_JLT and BPF_JLE instructions were not introduced in the beginning?
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	A: Because classic BPF didn't have them and BPF authors felt that compiler
	workaround would be acceptable. Turned out that programs lose performance
	due to lack of these compare instructions and they were added.
	These two instructions is a perfect example what kind of new BPF
	instructions are acceptable and can be added in the future.
	These two already had equivalent instructions in native CPUs.
	New instructions that don't have one-to-one mapping to HW instructions
	will not be accepted.

	Q: BPF 32-bit subregister requirements
	~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
	Q: BPF 32-bit subregisters have a requirement to zero upper 32-bits of BPF
	registers which makes BPF inefficient virtual machine for 32-bit
	CPU architectures and 32-bit HW accelerators. Can true 32-bit registers
	be added to BPF in the future?

	A: NO.

	But some optimizations on zero-ing the upper 32 bits for BPF registers are
	available, and can be leveraged to improve the performance of JITed BPF
	programs for 32-bit architectures.

	Starting with version 7, LLVM is able to generate instructions that operate
	on 32-bit subregisters, provided the option -mattr=+alu32 is passed for
	compiling a program. Furthermore, the verifier can now mark the
	instructions for which zero-ing the upper bits of the destination register
	is required, and insert an explicit zero-extension (zext) instruction
	(a mov32 variant). This means that for architectures without zext hardware
	support, the JIT back-ends do not need to clear the upper bits for
	subregisters written by alu32 instructions or narrow loads. Instead, the
	back-ends simply need to support code generation for that mov32 variant,
	and to overwrite bpf_jit_needs_zext() to make it return "true" (in order to
	enable zext insertion in the verifier).

	Note that it is possible for a JIT back-end to have partial hardware
	support for zext. In that case, if verifier zext insertion is enabled,
	it could lead to the insertion of unnecessary zext instructions. Such
	instructions could be removed by creating a simple peephole inside the JIT
	back-end: if one instruction has hardware support for zext and if the next
	instruction is an explicit zext, then the latter can be skipped when doing
	the code generation.

	Q: Does BPF have a stable ABI?
	------------------------------
	A: YES. BPF instructions, arguments to BPF programs, set of helper
	functions and their arguments, recognized return codes are all part
	of ABI. However there is one specific exception to tracing programs
	which are using helpers like bpf_probe_read() to walk kernel internal
	data structures and compile with kernel internal headers. Both of these
	kernel internals are subject to change and can break with newer kernels
	such that the program needs to be adapted accordingly.

	Q: How much stack space a BPF program uses?
	-------------------------------------------
	A: Currently all program types are limited to 512 bytes of stack
	space, but the verifier computes the actual amount of stack used
	and both interpreter and most JITed code consume necessary amount.

	Q: Can BPF be offloaded to HW?
	------------------------------
	A: YES. BPF HW offload is supported by NFP driver.

	Q: Does classic BPF interpreter still exist?
	--------------------------------------------
	A: NO. Classic BPF programs are converted into extend BPF instructions.

	Q: Can BPF call arbitrary kernel functions?
	-------------------------------------------
	A: NO. BPF programs can only call a set of helper functions which
	is defined for every program type.

	Q: Can BPF overwrite arbitrary kernel memory?
	---------------------------------------------
	A: NO.

	Tracing bpf programs can read arbitrary memory with bpf_probe_read()
	and bpf_probe_read_str() helpers. Networking programs cannot read
	arbitrary memory, since they don't have access to these helpers.
	Programs can never read or write arbitrary memory directly.

	Q: Can BPF overwrite arbitrary user memory?
	-------------------------------------------
	A: Sort-of.

	Tracing BPF programs can overwrite the user memory
	of the current task with bpf_probe_write_user(). Every time such
	program is loaded the kernel will print warning message, so
	this helper is only useful for experiments and prototypes.
	Tracing BPF programs are root only.

	Q: bpf_trace_printk() helper warning
	------------------------------------
	Q: When bpf_trace_printk() helper is used the kernel prints nasty
	warning message. Why is that?

	A: This is done to nudge program authors into better interfaces when
	programs need to pass data to user space. Like bpf_perf_event_output()
	can be used to efficiently stream data via perf ring buffer.
	BPF maps can be used for asynchronous data sharing between kernel
	and user space. bpf_trace_printk() should only be used for debugging.

	Q: New functionality via kernel modules?
	----------------------------------------
	Q: Can BPF functionality such as new program or map types, new
	helpers, etc be added out of kernel module code?

	A: NO.