Minimum version of binutils required to compile the kernel is 2.25.
This version correctly handles the "rep" prefixes, so it is possible
to remove the semicolon, which was used to support ancient versions
of GNU as.
Due to the semicolon, the compiler considers "rep; insn" (or its
alternate "rep\n\tinsn" form) as two separate instructions. Removing
the semicolon makes asm length calculations more accurate, consequently
making scheduling and inlining decisions of the compiler more accurate.
Removing the semicolon also enables assembler checks involving "rep"
prefixes. Trying to assemble e.g. "rep addl %eax, %ebx" results in:
Error: invalid instruction `add' after `rep'
Signed-off-by: Uros Bizjak <ubizjak@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com>
Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Martin Mares <mj@ucw.cz>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250418071437.4144391-1-ubizjak@gmail.com
This reverts commit 28b48688 ("x86, boot: use .code16gcc instead
of .code16").
Versions of binutils older than 2.16 are already not working, so this
workaround is no longer necessary either. At the same time, some of
the transformations that .code16gcc does can be *extremely*
counterintuitive to a human programmer.
[ hpa: folded ret -> retl and call -> calll fixes from followup patch ]
Signed-off-by: David Woodhouse <David.Woodhouse@intel.com>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1388788242.2391.75.camel@shinybook.infradead.org
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@linux.intel.com>
