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cacheattr

Updated: April 19, 2023

Information about the on-chip and off-chip cache system configuration

In addition to storing information about the configuration of the on-chip and off-chip cache system, the cacheattr area contains the control() kernel callout used for cache control operations.

The system page cacheattr_entry structure is filled by the following startup library functions:
Each entry in the cacheattr area consists of the following:
next
Index to next lower level entry
line_size
Size of cache line, in bytes
num_lines
Number of cache lines
flags
The cache capabilities; see “flags” below.
control
Kernel callout supplied by the startup code (see “Cache control” in the Kernel Callouts chapter).
Note: The structure is used for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

The total number of bytes described by a particular cacheattr entry is defined by line_size × num_lines.

flags

The flags parameter is a bitmapped variable whose bits include the following:
This constant: Means that the cache:
CACHE_FLAG_INSTR Holds instructions
CACHE_FLAG_DATA Holds data
CACHE_FLAG_UNIFIED Holds both instructions and data
CACHE_FLAG_SHARED Is shared between multiple processors in an SMP system
CACHE_FLAG_SNOOPED Implements a bus-snooping protocol
CACHE_FLAG_VIRT_TAG Is virtually tagged
CACHE_FLAG_VIRTUAL Contains virtual addresses
CACHE_FLAG_WRITEBACK Does write-back, not write-through
CACHE_FLAG_CTRL_PHYS Takes physical addresses via its control() function
CACHE_FLAG_SUBSET Obeys the subset property. This means that if something is in a given cache level, it will also be in all lower-level caches. This impacts cache flushing operations because a “subsetted” level can be effectively ignored by the control() function, which knows that the operation will be performed on the lower-level caches.
CACHE_FLAG_NONCOHERENT Is noncoherent on SMP
CACHE_FLAG_NONISA Doesn't obey ISA cache instructions
CACHE_FLAG_NOBROADCAST Has operations that aren't broadcast on the bus for SMP
CACHE_FLAG_VIRT_IDX Is virtually indexed
CACHE_FLAG_CTRL_PHYS64 Control function takes 64-bit paddr (see “Cache control” and “Patcher routines”)

Organization of cacheattr entries

The cacheattr entries are organized in a linked list, with the next member indicating the index of the next lower cache entry. Some architectures have separate instruction and data caches at one level but a unified cache at another level. This linking of entries allows the system page to efficiently contain information for different cache levels.

The cpuinfo area's ins_cache and data_cache members provide index pointers to cacheattr tables that store details about the instruction cache and data cache.

Because the cpuinfo structure is an array that is indexed by CPU number for SMP systems, it is possible to construct a description of caches for CPUs with different cache architectures. Below is a diagram showing a two-processor system, with separate L1 instruction and data caches and a unified L2 cache:


Figure 1. Two-processor system with separate L1 instruction and data caches and a unified L2 cache
Given the memory layout in the diagram above, the cpuinfo and cacheattr fields look like this: 
/* CPUINFO */
cpuinfo [0].ins_cache  = 0;
cpuinfo [0].data_cache = 1;

cpuinfo [1].ins_cache  = 0;
cpuinfo [1].data_cache = 1;

/* CACHEATTR */
cacheattr [0].next = 2;
cacheattr [0].linesize = linesize;
cacheattr [0].numlines = numlines;
cacheattr [0].flags = CACHE_FLAG_INSTR;

cacheattr [1].next = 2;
cacheattr [1].linesize = linesize;
cacheattr [1].numlines = numlines;
cacheattr [1].flags = CACHE_FLAG_DATA;

cacheattr [2].next = CACHE_LIST_END;
cacheattr [2].linesize = linesize;
cacheattr [2].numlines = numlines;
cacheattr [2].flags = CACHE_FLAG_UNIFIED;
Note: The values chosen for linesize and numlines depend on the actual configuration of the caches present on the system.
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