XACQUIRE/XRELEASE - Hardware Lock Elision Prefix Hints

Opcode/Instruction

64/32bit Mode Support

CPUID Feature Flag

Description

F2 XACQUIRE

V/V

HLE1

A hint used with an "XACQUIRE-enabled" instruction to start lock elision on the instruction memory operand address.

F3 XRELEASE

V/V

HLE

A hint used with an "XRELEASE-enabled" instruction to end lock elision on the instruction memory operand address.

NOTES:

1. Software is not required to check the HLE feature flag to use XACQUIRE or XRELEASE, as they are treated as regular prefix if HLE

feature flag reports 0.

Description

The XACQUIRE prefix is a hint to start lock elision on the memory address specified by the instruction and the XRELEASE prefix is a hint to end lock elision on the memory address specified by the instruction.

The XACQUIRE prefix hint can only be used with the following instructions (these instructions are also referred to as XACQUIRE-enabled when used with the XACQUIRE prefix):

The XRELEASE prefix hint can only be used with the following instructions (also referred to as XRELEASE-enabled when used with the XRELEASE prefix):

The lock variables must satisfy the guidelines described in Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual, Volume 1, Section 16.3.3, for elision to be successful, otherwise an HLE abort may be signaled.

If an encoded byte sequence that meets XACQUIRE/XRELEASE requirements includes both prefixes, then the HLE semantic is determined by the prefix byte that is placed closest to the instruction opcode. For example, an F3F2C6 will not be treated as a XRELEASE-enabled instruction since the F2H (XACQUIRE) is closest to the instruction opcode C6. Similarly, an F2F3F0 prefixed instruction will be treated as a XRELEASE-enabled instruction since F3H (XRELEASE) is closest to the instruction opcode.

Intel 64 and IA-32 Compatibility

The effect of the XACQUIRE/XRELEASE prefix hint is the same in non-64-bit modes and in 64-bit mode.

For instructions that do not support the XACQUIRE hint, the presence of the F2H prefix behaves the same way as prior hardware, according to

For instructions that do not support the XRELEASE hint, the presence of the F3H prefix behaves the same way as in prior hardware, according to

Operation

XACQUIRE

IF XACQUIRE-enabled instruction
   THEN
       IF (HLE_NEST_COUNT < MAX_HLE_NEST_COUNT) THEN
            HLE_NEST_COUNT++
            IF (HLE_NEST_COUNT = 1) THEN
                HLE_ACTIVE := 1
                IF 64-bit mode
                     THEN 
                         restartRIP := instruction pointer of the XACQUIRE-enabled instruction
                     ELSE
                         restartEIP := instruction pointer of the XACQUIRE-enabled instruction
                FI;
                Enter HLE Execution (* record register state, start tracking memory state *)
            FI; (* HLE_NEST_COUNT = 1*)
            IF ElisionBufferAvailable 
                THEN
                     Allocate elision buffer
                     Record address and data for forwarding and commit checking
                     Perform elision
                ELSE 
                     Perform lock acquire operation transactionally but without elision
            FI;
       ELSE (* HLE_NEST_COUNT = MAX_HLE_NEST_COUNT*)
                GOTO HLE_ABORT_PROCESSING
       FI;
   ELSE
       Treat instruction as non-XACQUIRE F2H prefixed legacy instruction
FI;

XRELEASE

IF XRELEASE-enabled instruction 
   THEN
       IF (HLE_NEST_COUNT > 0) 
            THEN
                HLE_NEST_COUNT--
                IF lock address matches in elision buffer THEN
                     IF lock satisfies address and value requirements THEN
                         Deallocate elision buffer
                     ELSE
                         GOTO HLE_ABORT_PROCESSING
                     FI;
                FI;
                IF (HLE_NEST_COUNT = 0) 
                     THEN
                         IF NoAllocatedElisionBuffer 
                              THEN
                                  Try to commit transactional execution
                                  IF fail to commit transactional execution 
                                       THEN
                                           GOTO HLE_ABORT_PROCESSING;
                                       ELSE (* commit success *)
                                           HLE_ACTIVE := 0
                                  FI;
                              ELSE
                                  GOTO HLE_ABORT_PROCESSING
                         FI;
                FI;
       FI; (* HLE_NEST_COUNT > 0 *)
   ELSE 
       Treat instruction as non-XRELEASE F3H prefixed legacy instruction
FI;
(* For any HLE abort condition encountered during HLE execution *)
HLE_ABORT_PROCESSING:
HLE_ACTIVE := 0 
   HLE_NEST_COUNT := 0
   Restore architectural register state
   Discard memory updates performed in transaction
   Free any allocated lock elision buffers
   IF 64-bit mode
       THEN 
            RIP := restartRIP
       ELSE
            EIP := restartEIP
   FI;
   Execute and retire instruction at RIP (or EIP) and ignore any HLE hint
END

SIMD Floating-Point Exceptions

None.

Other Exceptions

#GP(0)

If the use of prefix causes instruction length to exceed 15 bytes.