MISRA C deviations for Xen

The following is the list of MISRA C:2012 deviations for the Xen codebase that are not covered by a SAF-x-safe or SAF-x-false-positive-<tool> comment, as specified in docs/misra/documenting-violations.rst; the lack of such comments is usually due to the excessive clutter they would bring to the codebase or the impossibility to express such a deviation (e.g., if it's composed of several conditions).

1 Deviations related to MISRA C:2012 Directives:

Directive identifier Justification Notes
D4.3 Accepted for the ARM64 codebase Tagged as disapplied for ECLAIR on any other violation report.
D4.3 The inline asm in 'xen/arch/arm/arm64/lib/bitops.c' is tightly coupled with the surronding C code that acts as a wrapper, so it has been decided not to add an additional encapsulation layer. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.

2 Deviations related to MISRA C:2012 Rules:

Rule identifier Justification Notes
R2.1 The compiler implementation guarantees that the unreachable code is removed. Constant expressions and unreachable branches of if and switch statements are expected. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R2.1 Unreachability caused by calls to the following functions or macros is deliberate and there is no risk of code being unexpectedly left out.
Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR. Such macros are:
  • BUG
  • assert_failed
  • __builtin_unreachable
  • ASSERT_UNREACHABLE
R2.1 Pure declarations, that is, declarations without initializations are not executable, and therefore it is safe for them to be unreachable. The most notable example of such a pattern being used in the codebase is that of a variable declaration that should be available in all the clauses of a switch statement. ECLAIR has been configured to ignore those statements.
R2.1 The asm-offset files are not linked deliberately, since they are used to generate definitions for asm modules. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R2.2 Proving compliance with respect to Rule 2.2 is generally impossible: see https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.13933 for details. Moreover, peer review gives us confidence that no evidence of errors in the program's logic has been missed due to undetected violations of Rule 2.2, if any. Testing on time behavior gives us confidence on the fact that, should the program contain dead code that is not removed by the compiler, the resulting slowdown is negligible. Project-wide deviation, tagged as disapplied for ECLAIR.
R2.6 Labels deliberately marked as unused trough the pseudo-attribute __maybe_unused are either the result of them not being in certain build configurations, or as a deliberate practice (e.g., unimplemented_insn). Given that the compiler is then entitled to remove them, the presence of such labels poses no risks. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R3.1 Comments starting with '/*' and containing hyperlinks are safe as they are not instances of commented-out code. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R5.3 As specified in rules.rst, shadowing due to macros being used as macro arguments is allowed, as it's deemed not at risk of causing developer confusion.
Tagged as safe for ECLAIR. So far, the following macros are deviated:
  • READ_SYSREG and WRITE_SYSREG
  • max{t}? and min{t}?
  • read[bwlq] and read[bwlq]relaxed
  • per_cpu and this_cpu
  • __emulate_2op and __emulate_2op_nobyte
  • read_debugreg and write_debugreg
R5.5 Macros expanding to their own name are allowed. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R5.5 Clashes between names of function-like macros and identifiers of non-callable entities are allowed. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R5.5 Clashes between function names and macros are deliberate for string handling functions since some architectures may want to use their own arch-specific implementation. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R5.5 In libelf, clashes between macros and function names are deliberate and needed to prevent the use of undecorated versions of memcpy, memset and memmove. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R5.6 The type ret_t is deliberately defined multiple times depending on the type of guest to service. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R5.6 On X86, some types are deliberately defined multiple times, depending on the number of guest paging levels.
Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR. Such types are:
  • guest_intpte_t
  • guest_l[12]e_t
R5.6 Some files are not subject to respect MISRA rules at the moment, but, among these out-of-scope files, there are definitions of typedef names that are already defined within in-scope files and therefore, ECLAIR does report a violation since not all the files involved in the violation are excluded from the analysis.
Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR. Such excluded files are:
  • xen/include/efi/*
  • xen/arch//include/asm//efibind.h
R7.1 It is safe to use certain octal constants the way they are defined in specifications, manuals, and algorithm descriptions. Such places are marked safe with a /* octal-ok */ in-code comment. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R7.2 Violations caused by __HYPERVISOR_VIRT_START are related to the particular use of it done in xen_mk_ulong. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R7.4 Allow pointers of non-character type as long as the pointee is const-qualified. ECLAIR has been configured to ignore these assignments.
R8.3 The type ret_t is deliberately used and defined as int or long depending on the architecture. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R8.3 Some files are not subject to respect MISRA rules at the moment, but some entity from a file in scope is used; therefore ECLAIR does report a violation, since not all the files involved in the violation are excluded from the analysis.
Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR. Such excluded files are:
  • xen/arch/x86/time.c
  • xen/arch/x86/acpi/cpu_idle.c
  • xen/arch/x86/mpparse.c
  • xen/common/bunzip2.c
  • xen/common/unlz4.c
  • xen/common/unlzma.c
  • xen/common/unlzo.c
  • xen/common/unxz.c
  • xen/common/unzstd.c
R8.3 Parameter name "unused" (with an optional numeric suffix) is deliberate and makes explicit the intention of not using such parameter within the function. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R8.4 The definitions present in the files 'asm-offsets.c' for any architecture are used to generate definitions for asm modules, and are not called by C code. Therefore the absence of prior declarations is safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R8.4 The functions defined in the file xen/common/coverage/gcov_base.c are meant to be called from gcc-generated code in a non-release build configuration. Therefore, the absence of prior declarations is safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R8.4 Functions and variables used only by asm modules are marked with the asmlinkage macro. Existing code may use a SAF-1-safe textual deviation (see safe.json), but new code should not use it. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R8.4 Some functions are excluded from non-debug build, therefore the absence of declaration is safe.
Tagged as safe for ECLAIR, such functions are:
  • apei_read_mce()
  • apei_check_mce()
  • apei_clear_mce()
R8.4 Given that bsearch and sort are defined with the attribute 'gnu_inline', it's deliberate not to have a prior declaration. See Section "6.33.1 Common Function Attributes" of "GCC_MANUAL" for a full explanation of gnu_inline. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R8.4 first_valid_mfn is defined in this way because the current lack of NUMA support in Arm and PPC requires it. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R8.6 The following variables are compiled in multiple translation units belonging to different executables and therefore are safe.
  • current_stack_pointer
  • bsearch
  • sort
 Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R8.6 Declarations without definitions are allowed (specifically when the definition is compiled-out or optimized-out by the compiler). Tagged as deliberate in ECLAIR.
R8.6 The search procedure for Unix linkers is well defined, see ld(1) manual: "The linker will search an archive only once, at the location where it is specified on the command line. If the archive defines a symbol which was undefined in some object which appeared before the archive on the command line, the linker will include the appropriate file(s) from the archive". In Xen, thanks to the order in which file names appear in the build commands, if arch-specific definitions are present, they get always linked in before searching in the lib.a archive resulting from xen/lib. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R8.10 The gnu_inline attribute without static is deliberately allowed. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R9.5 The possibility of committing mistakes by specifying an explicit dimension is higher than omitting the dimension, therefore all such instances of violations are deviated. Project-wide deviation, tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R10.1, R10.3, R10.4 The value-preserving conversions of integer constants are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 Shifting non-negative integers to the right is safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 Shifting non-negative integers to the left is safe if the result is still non-negative. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 Bitwise logical operations on non-negative integers are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 The implicit conversion to Boolean for logical operator arguments is well-known to all Xen developers to be a comparison with 0. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 Xen only supports architectures where signed integers are representend using two's complement and all the Xen developers are aware of this. For this reason, bitwise operations are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 Given the assumptions on the toolchain detailed in docs/misra/C-language-toolchain.rst and the build flags used by the project, it is deemed safe to use bitwise shift operators. See automation/eclair_analysis/deviations.ecl for the full explanation. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R10.1 The macro ISOLATE_LSB encapsulates the well-known pattern (x & -x) applied to unsigned integer values on 2's complement architectures (i.e., all architectures supported by Xen), used to obtain a mask where just the least significant nonzero bit of x is set. If no bits are set, 0 is returned. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.1 The conversion from a function pointer to unsigned long or (void *) does not lose any information, provided that the target type has enough bits to store it. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.1 The conversion from a function pointer to a boolean has a well-known semantics that do not lead to unexpected behaviour. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.2 The conversion from a pointer to an incomplete type to unsigned long does not lose any information, provided that the target type has enough bits to store it. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.3 Conversions to object pointers that have a pointee type with a smaller (i.e., less strict) alignment requirement are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.6 Conversions from and to integral types are safe, in the assumption that the target type has enough bits to store the value. See also Section "4.7 Arrays and Pointers" of "GCC_MANUAL" Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.6 The conversion from a pointer to a boolean has a well-known semantics that do not lead to unexpected behaviour. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.8 Violations caused by container_of are due to pointer arithmetic operations with the provided offset. The resulting pointer is then immediately cast back to its original type, which preserves the qualifier. This use is deemed safe. Fixing this violation would require to increase code complexity and lower readability. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R11.9 __ACCESS_ONCE uses an integer, which happens to be zero, as a compile time check. The typecheck uses a cast. The usage of zero or other integers for this purpose is allowed. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R13.5 All developers and reviewers can be safely assumed to be well aware of the short-circuit evaluation strategy for logical operators. Project-wide deviation; tagged as disapplied for ECLAIR.
R13.6 On x86, macros alternative_v?call[0-9] use sizeof and typeof to check that the argument types match the corresponding parameter ones. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R13.6 Anything, no matter how complicated, inside the BUILD_BUG_ON macro is subject to a compile-time evaluation without relevant side effects." Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R14.2 The severe restrictions imposed by this rule on the use of 'for' statements are not counterbalanced by the presumed facilitation of the peer review activity. Project-wide deviation; tagged as disapplied for ECLAIR.
R14.3 The Xen team relies on the fact that invariant conditions of 'if' statements and conditional operators are deliberate. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R14.3 Switches having a 'sizeof' operator as the condition are deliberate and have limited scope. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R14.3 The use of an invariant size argument in {put,get}_unsafe_size and array_access_ok, as defined in arch/x86(_64)?/include/asm/uaccess.h is deliberate and is deemed safe. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R14.4 A controlling expression of 'if' and iteration statements having integer, character or pointer type has a semantics that is well-known to all Xen developers. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R14.4 The XEN team relies on the fact that the enum is_dying has the constant with assigned value 0 act as false and the other ones as true, therefore have the same behavior of a boolean. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R16.2 Complying with the Rule would entail a lot of code duplication in the implementation of the x86 emulator, therefore it is deemed better to leave such files as is. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R16.3 Switch clauses ending with continue, goto, return statements are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R16.3 Switch clauses ending with a call to a function that does not give the control back (i.e., a function with attribute noreturn) are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R16.3 Switch clauses ending with pseudo-keyword "fallthrough" are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R16.3 Switch clauses ending with failure method "BUG()" are safe. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R16.3 Existing switch clauses not ending with the break statement are safe if an explicit comment indicating the fallthrough intention is present. However, the use of such comments in new code is deprecated: the pseudo-keyword "fallthrough" shall be used.
Tagged as safe for ECLAIR. The accepted comments are:
  • /* fall through */
  • /* fall through. */
  • /* fallthrough */
  • /* fallthrough. */
  • /* Fall through */
  • /* Fall through. */
  • /* Fallthrough */
  • /* Fallthrough. */
R16.4 Switch statements having a controlling expression of enum type deliberately do not have a default case: gcc -Wall enables -Wswitch which warns (and breaks the build as we use -Werror) if one of the enum labels is missing from the switch. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R16.4 A switch statement with a single switch clause and no default label may be used in place of an equivalent if statement if it is considered to improve readability. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R16.6 A switch statement with a single switch clause and no default label may be used in place of an equivalent if statement if it is considered to improve readability. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R17.1 printf()-like functions are allowed to use the variadic features provided by stdarg.h. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R17.7 Not using the return value of a function does not endanger safety if it coincides with an actual argument.
Tagged as safe for ECLAIR. Such functions are:
  • __builtin_memcpy()
  • __builtin_memmove()
  • __builtin_memset()
  • cpumask_check()
R20.4 The override of the keyword "inline" in xen/compiler.h is present so that section contents checks pass when the compiler chooses not to inline a particular function. Comment-based deviation.
R20.7 Code violating Rule 20.7 is safe when macro parameters are used:
  1. as function arguments;
  2. as macro arguments;
  3. as array indices;
  4. as lhs in assignments;
  5. as initializers, possibly designated, in initalizer lists;
  6. as constant expressions of switch case labels.
 Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R20.7 Violations due to the use of macros defined in files that are not in scope for compliance are allowed, as that is imported code. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R20.7 To avoid compromising readability, the macros alternative_(v)?call[0-9] are allowed not to parenthesize their arguments, as there are already sanity checks in place. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R20.7 The macro count_args_ is not compliant with the rule, but is not likely to incur in the risk of being misused or lead to developer confusion, and refactoring it to add parentheses breaks its functionality. Tagged as safe for ECLAIR.
R20.12 Variadic macros that use token pasting often employ the gcc extension ext_paste_comma, as detailed in C-language-toolchain.rst, which is not easily replaceable; macros that in addition perform regular argument expansion on the same argument subject to the # or ## operators violate the Rule if the argument is a macro. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R20.12 Macros that are used for runtime or build-time assertions contain deliberate uses of an argument as both a regular argument and a stringification token, to provide useful diagnostic messages. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R20.12 GENERATE_CASE is a local helper macro that allows some selected switch statements to be more compact and readable. As such, the risk of developer confusion in using such macro is deemed negligible. This construct is deviated only in Translation Units that present a violation of the Rule due to uses of this macro. Tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R21.9 Xen does not use the bsearch and qsort functions provided by the C Standard Library, but provides in source form its own implementation, therefore any unspecified or undefined behavior associated to the functions provided by the Standard Library does not apply. Any such behavior that may exist in such functions is therefore under the jurisdiction of other MISRA C rules. Project-wide deviation, tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.
R21.10 Xen does not use the facilities provided by the <time.h> provided by the C Standard Library, but provides in source form its own implementation, therefore any unspecified, undefined or implementation-defined behavior associated to the functions provided by the Standard Library does not apply. Any such behavior that may exist in such functions is therefore under the jurisdiction of other MISRA C rules. Project-wide deviation, tagged as deliberate for ECLAIR.

3 Other deviations:

Deviation Justification
do-while-0 and do-while-1 loops The do-while-0 and do-while-1 loops are well-recognized loop idioms used by the Xen community and can therefore be used, even though they would cause a number of violations in some instances.
while-0 and while-1 loops while-0 and while-1 are well-recognized loop idioms used by the Xen community and can therefore be used, even though they would cause a number of violations in some instances.