On 04/04/2013 11:16 AM, Jakub Jelinek wrote:
On Thu, Apr 04, 2013 at 10:59:41AM +0200, Florian Weimer wrote:
On 04/04/2013 10:42 AM, Jakub Jelinek wrote:
I think a similar optimization would be possible for access to global variables because ld could compute the final layout of all global variables in the binary itself, just as in the non-PIE case.
Nope. The thing is, depending on if the variable is known to bind locally (for PIC that is essentially static or hidden visibility, for PIE you can add to that global vars defined in the current CU), you either emit code that avoids the indirection (say %rip addressing, GOTOFF etc.),
Even in PIE mode, it is possible to bind all global variables locally. Even if the variable is defined in a DSO, we can allocate space for it in the main program and arrange for the GOT indirection in the DSO to point there. The DSO would use the indirection, but the main program wouldn't.
It's slightly backwards, but isn't this how variables in DSOs are referenced from position-dependent code?
That requires copy relocations being used even for PIEs, so you'd need to change the whole toolchain for that, and somehow deal with the new dependencies (as in, PIE code with modified GCC would have to be linked with a new linker, otherwise it wouldn't work).
Sriraman Tallam has written a GCC patch which does this:
https://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2014-05/msg01215.html
Related patches to binutils have already been committed.