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NAME | DESCRIPTION | EXAMPLE | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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SPUFS(7) Linux Programmer's Manual SPUFS(7)
spufs - SPU filesystem
The SPU filesystem is used on PowerPC machines that implement the
Cell Broadband Engine Architecture in order to access Synergistic
Processor Units (SPUs).
The filesystem provides a name space similar to POSIX shared memory
or message queues. Users that have write permissions on the
filesystem can use spu_create(2) to establish SPU contexts under the
spufs root directory.
Every SPU context is represented by a directory containing a
predefined set of files. These files can be used for manipulating
the state of the logical SPU. Users can change permissions on the
files, but can't add or remove files.
Mount options
uid=<uid>
Set the user owning the mount point; the default is 0 (root).
gid=<gid>
Set the group owning the mount point; the default is 0 (root).
mode=<mode>
Set the mode of the top-level directory in spufs, as an octal
mode string. The default is 0775.
Files
The files in spufs mostly follow the standard behavior for regular
system calls like read(2) or write(2), but often support only a
subset of the operations supported on regular filesystems. This list
details the supported operations and the deviations from the standard
behavior described in the respective man pages.
All files that support the read(2) operation also support readv(2)
and all files that support the write(2) operation also support
writev(2). All files support the access(2) and stat(2) family of
operations, but for the latter call, the only fields of the returned
stat structure that contain reliable information are st_mode,
st_nlink, st_uid, and st_gid.
All files support the chmod(2)/fchmod(2) and chown(2)/fchown(2)
operations, but will not be able to grant permissions that contradict
the possible operations (e.g., read access on the wbox file).
The current set of files is:
/capabilities
Contains a comma-delimited string representing the
capabilities of this SPU context. Possible capabilities are:
sched This context may be scheduled.
step This context can be run in single-step mode, for
debugging.
New capabilities flags may be added in the future.
/mem the contents of the local storage memory of the SPU. This can
be accessed like a regular shared memory file and contains
both code and data in the address space of the SPU. The
possible operations on an open mem file are:
read(2), pread(2), write(2), pwrite(2), lseek(2)
These operate as usual, with the exception that
lseek(2), write(2), and pwrite(2) are not supported
beyond the end of the file. The file size is the size
of the local storage of the SPU, which is normally 256
kilobytes.
mmap(2)
Mapping mem into the process address space provides
access to the SPU local storage within the process
address space. Only MAP_SHARED mappings are allowed.
/regs Contains the saved general-purpose registers of the SPU
context. This file contains the 128-bit values of each
register, from register 0 to register 127, in order. This
allows the general-purpose registers to be inspected for
debugging.
Reading to or writing from this file requires that the context
is scheduled out, so use of this file is not recommended in
normal program operation.
The regs file is not present on contexts that have been
created with the SPU_CREATE_NOSCHED flag.
/mbox The first SPU-to-CPU communication mailbox. This file is
read-only and can be read in units of 4 bytes. The file can
be used only in nonblocking mode - even poll(2) cannot be used
to block on this file. The only possible operation on an open
mbox file is:
read(2)
If count is smaller than four, read(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. If there is no data available in
the mailbox (i.e., the SPU has not sent a mailbox
message), the return value is set to -1 and errno is
set to EAGAIN. When data has been read successfully,
four bytes are placed in the data buffer and the value
four is returned.
/ibox The second SPU-to-CPU communication mailbox. This file is
similar to the first mailbox file, but can be read in blocking
I/O mode, thus calling read(2) on an open ibox file will block
until the SPU has written data to its interrupt mailbox
channel (unless the file has been opened with O_NONBLOCK, see
below). Also, poll(2) and similar system calls can be used to
monitor for the presence of mailbox data.
The possible operations on an open ibox file are:
read(2)
If count is smaller than four, read(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. If there is no data available in
the mailbox and the file descriptor has been opened
with O_NONBLOCK, the return value is set to -1 and
errno is set to EAGAIN.
If there is no data available in the mailbox and the
file descriptor has been opened without O_NONBLOCK, the
call will block until the SPU writes to its interrupt
mailbox channel. When data has been read successfully,
four bytes are placed in the data buffer and the value
four is returned.
poll(2)
Poll on the ibox file returns (POLLIN | POLLRDNORM)
whenever data is available for reading.
/wbox The CPU-to-SPU communication mailbox. It is write-only and
can be written in units of four bytes. If the mailbox is
full, write(2) will block, and poll(2) can be used to block
until the mailbox is available for writing again. The
possible operations on an open wbox file are:
write(2)
If count is smaller than four, write(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. If there is no space available
in the mailbox and the file descriptor has been opened
with O_NONBLOCK, the return value is set to -1 and
errno is set to EAGAIN.
If there is no space available in the mailbox and the
file descriptor has been opened without O_NONBLOCK, the
call will block until the SPU reads from its PPE
(PowerPC Processing Element) mailbox channel. When
data has been written successfully, the system call
returns four as its function result.
poll(2)
A poll on the wbox file returns (POLLOUT | POLLWRNORM)
whenever space is available for writing.
/mbox_stat, /ibox_stat, /wbox_stat
These are read-only files that contain the length of the
current queue of each mailbox—that is, how many words can be
read from mbox or ibox or how many words can be written to
wbox without blocking. The files can be read only in four-
byte units and return a big-endian binary integer number. The
only possible operation on an open *box_stat file is:
read(2)
If count is smaller than four, read(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four-byte value is
placed in the data buffer. This value is the number of
elements that can be read from (for mbox_stat and
ibox_stat) or written to (for wbox_stat) the respective
mailbox without blocking or returning an EAGAIN error.
/npc, /decr, /decr_status, /spu_tag_mask, /event_mask, /event_status,
/srr0, /lslr
Internal registers of the SPU. These files contain an ASCII
string representing the hex value of the specified register.
Reads and writes on these files (except for npc, see below)
require that the SPU context be scheduled out, so frequent
access to these files is not recommended for normal program
operation.
The contents of these files are:
npc Next Program Counter - valid only when the SPU
is in a stopped state.
decr SPU Decrementer
decr_status Decrementer Status
spu_tag_mask MFC tag mask for SPU DMA
event_mask Event mask for SPU interrupts
event_status Number of SPU events pending (read-only)
srr0 Interrupt Return address register
lslr Local Store Limit Register
The possible operations on these files are:
read(2)
Reads the current register value. If the register
value is larger than the buffer passed to the read(2)
system call, subsequent reads will continue reading
from the same buffer, until the end of the buffer is
reached.
When a complete string has been read, all subsequent
read operations will return zero bytes and a new file
descriptor needs to be opened to read a new value.
write(2)
A write(2) operation on the file sets the register to
the value given in the string. The string is parsed
from the beginning until the first nonnumeric character
or the end of the buffer. Subsequent writes to the
same file descriptor overwrite the previous setting.
Except for the npc file, these files are not present on
contexts that have been created with the
SPU_CREATE_NOSCHED flag.
/fpcr This file provides access to the Floating Point Status and
Control Register (fcpr) as a binary, four-byte file. The
operations on the fpcr file are:
read(2)
If count is smaller than four, read(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four-byte value is
placed in the data buffer; this is the current value of
the fpcr register.
write(2)
If count is smaller than four, write(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four-byte value is
copied from the data buffer, updating the value of the
fpcr register.
/signal1, /signal2
The files provide access to the two signal notification
channels of an SPU. These are read-write files that operate
on four-byte words. Writing to one of these files triggers an
interrupt on the SPU. The value written to the signal files
can be read from the SPU through a channel read or from host
user space through the file. After the value has been read by
the SPU, it is reset to zero. The possible operations on an
open signal1 or signal2 file are:
read(2)
If count is smaller than four, read(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four-byte value is
placed in the data buffer; this is the current value of
the specified signal notification register.
write(2)
If count is smaller than four, write(2) returns -1 and
sets errno to EINVAL. Otherwise, a four-byte value is
copied from the data buffer, updating the value of the
specified signal notification register. The signal
notification register will either be replaced with the
input data or will be updated to the bitwise OR
operation of the old value and the input data,
depending on the contents of the signal1_type or
signal2_type files respectively.
/signal1_type, /signal2_type
These two files change the behavior of the signal1 and signal2
notification files. They contain a numeric ASCII string which
is read as either "1" or "0". In mode 0 (overwrite), the
hardware replaces the contents of the signal channel with the
data that is written to it. In mode 1 (logical OR), the
hardware accumulates the bits that are subsequently written to
it. The possible operations on an open signal1_type or
signal2_type file are:
read(2)
When the count supplied to the read(2) call is shorter
than the required length for the digit (plus a newline
character), subsequent reads from the same file
descriptor will complete the string. When a complete
string has been read, all subsequent read operations
will return zero bytes and a new file descriptor needs
to be opened to read the value again.
write(2)
A write(2) operation on the file sets the register to
the value given in the string. The string is parsed
from the beginning until the first nonnumeric character
or the end of the buffer. Subsequent writes to the
same file descriptor overwrite the previous setting.
/mbox_info, /ibox_info, /wbox_info, /dma_into, /proxydma_info
Read-only files that contain the saved state of the SPU
mailboxes and DMA queues. This allows the SPU status to be
inspected, mainly for debugging. The mbox_info and ibox_info
files each contain the four-byte mailbox message that has been
written by the SPU. If no message has been written to these
mailboxes, then contents of these files is undefined. The
mbox_stat, ibox_stat and wbox_stat files contain the available
message count.
The wbox_info file contains an array of four-byte mailbox
messages, which have been sent to the SPU. With current CBEA
machines, the array is four items in length, so up to 4 * 4 =
16 bytes can be read from this file. If any mailbox queue
entry is empty, then the bytes read at the corresponding
location are undefined.
The dma_info file contains the contents of the SPU MFC DMA
queue, represented as the following structure:
struct spu_dma_info {
uint64_t dma_info_type;
uint64_t dma_info_mask;
uint64_t dma_info_status;
uint64_t dma_info_stall_and_notify;
uint64_t dma_info_atomic_command_status;
struct mfc_cq_sr dma_info_command_data[16];
};
The last member of this data structure is the actual DMA
queue, containing 16 entries. The mfc_cq_sr structure is
defined as:
struct mfc_cq_sr {
uint64_t mfc_cq_data0_RW;
uint64_t mfc_cq_data1_RW;
uint64_t mfc_cq_data2_RW;
uint64_t mfc_cq_data3_RW;
};
The proxydma_info file contains similar information, but
describes the proxy DMA queue (i.e., DMAs initiated by enti‐
ties outside the SPU) instead. The file is in the following
format:
struct spu_proxydma_info {
uint64_t proxydma_info_type;
uint64_t proxydma_info_mask;
uint64_t proxydma_info_status;
struct mfc_cq_sr proxydma_info_command_data[8];
};
Accessing these files requires that the SPU context is sched‐
uled out - frequent use can be inefficient. These files
should not be used for normal program operation.
These files are not present on contexts that have been created
with the SPU_CREATE_NOSCHED flag.
/cntl This file provides access to the SPU Run Control and SPU sta‐
tus registers, as an ASCII string. The following operations
are supported:
read(2)
Reads from the cntl file will return an ASCII string
with the hex value of the SPU Status register.
write(2)
Writes to the cntl file will set the context's SPU Run
Control register.
/mfc Provides access to the Memory Flow Controller of the SPU.
Reading from the file returns the contents of the SPU's MFC
Tag Status register, and writing to the file initiates a DMA
from the MFC. The following operations are supported:
write(2)
Writes to this file need to be in the format of a MFC
DMA command, defined as follows:
struct mfc_dma_command {
int32_t pad; /* reserved */
uint32_t lsa; /* local storage address */
uint64_t ea; /* effective address */
uint16_t size; /* transfer size */
uint16_t tag; /* command tag */
uint16_t class; /* class ID */
uint16_t cmd; /* command opcode */
};
Writes are required to be exactly sizeof(struct
mfc_dma_command) bytes in size. The command will be
sent to the SPU's MFC proxy queue, and the tag stored
in the kernel (see below).
read(2)
Reads the contents of the tag status register. If the
file is opened in blocking mode (i.e., without O_NON‐
BLOCK), then the read will block until a DMA tag (as
performed by a previous write) is complete. In non‐
blocking mode, the MFC tag status register will be
returned without waiting.
poll(2)
Calling poll(2) on the mfc file will block until a new
DMA can be started (by checking for POLLOUT) or until a
previously started DMA (by checking for POLLIN) has
been completed.
/mss Provides access to the MFC MultiSource Synchro‐
nization (MSS) facility. By mmap(2)-ing this file,
processes can access the MSS area of the SPU.
The following operations are supported:
mmap(2)
Mapping mss into the process address space gives access
to the SPU MSS area within the process address space.
Only MAP_SHARED mappings are allowed.
/psmap Provides access to the whole problem-state mapping of the SPU.
Applications can use this area to interface to the SPU, rather
than writing to individual register files in spufs.
The following operations are supported:
mmap(2)
Mapping psmap gives a process a direct map of the SPU
problem state area. Only MAP_SHARED mappings are sup‐
ported.
/phys-id
Read-only file containing the physical SPU number that the SPU
context is running on. When the context is not running, this
file contains the string "-1".
The physical SPU number is given by an ASCII hex string.
/object-id
Allows applications to store (or retrieve) a single 64-bit ID
into the context. This ID is later used by profiling tools to
uniquely identify the context.
write(2)
By writing an ASCII hex value into this file, applica‐
tions can set the object ID of the SPU context. Any
previous value of the object ID is overwritten.
read(2)
Reading this file gives an ASCII hex string represent‐
ing the object ID for this SPU context.
/etc/fstab entry
none /spu spufs gid=spu 0 0
close(2), spu_create(2), spu_run(2), capabilities(7)
The Cell Broadband Engine Architecture (CBEA) specification
This page is part of release 4.15 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
latest version of this page, can be found at
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2017-09-15 SPUFS(7)
Pages that refer to this page: spu_create(2), spu_run(2)
Copyright and license for this manual page
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