Linux kernel mirror (for testing) git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
kernel os linux

mips: Add __attribute_const__ to ffs()-family implementations

While tracking down a problem where constant expressions used by
BUILD_BUG_ON() suddenly stopped working[1], we found that an added static
initializer was convincing the compiler that it couldn't track the state
of the prior statically initialized value. Tracing this down found that
ffs() was used in the initializer macro, but since it wasn't marked with
__attribute__const__, the compiler had to assume the function might
change variable states as a side-effect (which is not true for ffs(),
which provides deterministic math results).

Add missing __attribute_const__ annotations to MIPS's implementations of
ffs(), __ffs(), fls(), and __fls() functions. These are pure mathematical
functions that always return the same result for the same input with no
side effects, making them eligible for compiler optimization.

Build tested ARCH=mips defconfig with GCC mipsel-linux-gnu 14.2.0.

Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/364 [1]
Acked-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250804164417.1612371-12-kees@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>

Kees Cook 32913fe7 50c869a6

+4 -4
+4 -4
arch/mips/include/asm/bitops.h
··· 327 327 * Return the bit position (0..63) of the most significant 1 bit in a word 328 328 * Returns -1 if no 1 bit exists 329 329 */ 330 - static __always_inline unsigned long __fls(unsigned long word) 330 + static __always_inline __attribute_const__ unsigned long __fls(unsigned long word) 331 331 { 332 332 int num; 333 333 ··· 393 393 * Returns 0..SZLONG-1 394 394 * Undefined if no bit exists, so code should check against 0 first. 395 395 */ 396 - static __always_inline unsigned long __ffs(unsigned long word) 396 + static __always_inline __attribute_const__ unsigned long __ffs(unsigned long word) 397 397 { 398 398 return __fls(word & -word); 399 399 } ··· 405 405 * This is defined the same way as ffs. 406 406 * Note fls(0) = 0, fls(1) = 1, fls(0x80000000) = 32. 407 407 */ 408 - static inline int fls(unsigned int x) 408 + static inline __attribute_const__ int fls(unsigned int x) 409 409 { 410 410 int r; 411 411 ··· 458 458 * the libc and compiler builtin ffs routines, therefore 459 459 * differs in spirit from the below ffz (man ffs). 460 460 */ 461 - static inline int ffs(int word) 461 + static inline __attribute_const__ int ffs(int word) 462 462 { 463 463 if (!word) 464 464 return 0;