--- /dev/null
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+Using FS and GS segments in user space applications
+===================================================
+
+The x86 architecture supports segmentation. Instructions which access
+memory can use segment register based addressing mode. The following
+notation is used to address a byte within a segment:
+
+ Segment-register:Byte-address
+
+The segment base address is added to the Byte-address to compute the
+resulting virtual address which is accessed. This allows to access multiple
+instances of data with the identical Byte-address, i.e. the same code. The
+selection of a particular instance is purely based on the base-address in
+the segment register.
+
+In 32-bit mode the CPU provides 6 segments, which also support segment
+limits. The limits can be used to enforce address space protections.
+
+In 64-bit mode the CS/SS/DS/ES segments are ignored and the base address is
+always 0 to provide a full 64bit address space. The FS and GS segments are
+still functional in 64-bit mode.
+
+Common FS and GS usage
+------------------------------
+
+The FS segment is commonly used to address Thread Local Storage (TLS). FS
+is usually managed by runtime code or a threading library. Variables
+declared with the '__thread' storage class specifier are instantiated per
+thread and the compiler emits the FS: address prefix for accesses to these
+variables. Each thread has its own FS base address so common code can be
+used without complex address offset calculations to access the per thread
+instances. Applications should not use FS for other purposes when they use
+runtimes or threading libraries which manage the per thread FS.
+
+The GS segment has no common use and can be used freely by
+applications. GCC and Clang support GS based addressing via address space
+identifiers.
+
+Reading and writing the FS/GS base address
+------------------------------------------
+
+There exist two mechanisms to read and write the FS/FS base address:
+
+ - the arch_prctl() system call
+
+ - the FSGSBASE instruction family
+
+Accessing FS/GS base with arch_prctl()
+--------------------------------------
+
+ The arch_prctl(2) based mechanism is available on all 64bit CPUs and all
+ kernel versions.
+
+ Reading the base:
+
+ arch_prctl(ARCH_GET_FS, &fsbase);
+ arch_prctl(ARCH_GET_GS, &gsbase);
+
+ Writing the base:
+
+ arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, fsbase);
+ arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_GS, gsbase);
+
+ The ARCH_SET_GS prctl may be disabled depending on kernel configuration
+ and security settings.
+
+Accessing FS/GS base with the FSGSBASE instructions
+---------------------------------------------------
+
+ With the Ivy Bridge CPU generation Intel introduced a new set of
+ instructions to access the FS and GS base registers directly from user
+ space. These instructions are also supported on AMD Family 17H CPUs. The
+ following instructions are available:
+
+ =============== ===========================
+ RDFSBASE %reg Read the FS base register
+ RDGSBASE %reg Read the GS base register
+ WRFSBASE %reg Write the FS base register
+ WRGSBASE %reg Write the GS base register
+ =============== ===========================
+
+ The instructions avoid the overhead of the arch_prctl() syscall and allow
+ more flexible usage of the FS/GS addressing modes in user space
+ applications. This does not prevent conflicts between threading libraries
+ and runtimes which utilize FS and applications which want to use it for
+ their own purpose.
+
+FSGSBASE instructions enablement
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+ The instructions are enumerated in CPUID leaf 7, bit 0 of EBX. If
+ available /proc/cpuinfo shows 'fsgsbase' in the flag entry of the CPUs.
+
+ The availability of the instructions does not enable them
+ automatically. The kernel has to enable them explicitly in CR4. The
+ reason for this is that older kernels make assumptions about the values in
+ the GS register and enforce them when GS base is set via
+ arch_prctl(). Allowing user space to write arbitrary values to GS base
+ would violate these assumptions and cause malfunction.
+
+ On kernels which do not enable FSGSBASE the execution of the FSGSBASE
+ instructions will fault with a #UD exception.
+
+ The kernel provides reliable information about the enabled state in the
+ ELF AUX vector. If the HWCAP2_FSGSBASE bit is set in the AUX vector, the
+ kernel has FSGSBASE instructions enabled and applications can use them.
+ The following code example shows how this detection works::
+
+ #include <sys/auxv.h>
+ #include <elf.h>
+
+ /* Will be eventually in asm/hwcap.h */
+ #ifndef HWCAP2_FSGSBASE
+ #define HWCAP2_FSGSBASE (1 << 1)
+ #endif
+
+ ....
+
+ unsigned val = getauxval(AT_HWCAP2);
+
+ if (val & HWCAP2_FSGSBASE)
+ printf("FSGSBASE enabled\n");
+
+FSGSBASE instructions compiler support
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+GCC version 4.6.4 and newer provide instrinsics for the FSGSBASE
+instructions. Clang supports them as well.
+
+ =================== ===========================
+ _readfsbase_u64() Read the FS base register
+ _readfsbase_u64() Read the GS base register
+ _writefsbase_u64() Write the FS base register
+ _writegsbase_u64() Write the GS base register
+ =================== ===========================
+
+To utilize these instrinsics <immintrin.h> must be included in the source
+code and the compiler option -mfsgsbase has to be added.
+
+Compiler support for FS/GS based addressing
+-------------------------------------------
+
+GCC version 6 and newer provide support for FS/GS based addressing via
+Named Address Spaces. GCC implements the following address space
+identifiers for x86:
+
+ ========= ====================================
+ __seg_fs Variable is addressed relative to FS
+ __seg_gs Variable is addressed relative to GS
+ ========= ====================================
+
+The preprocessor symbols __SEG_FS and __SEG_GS are defined when these
+address spaces are supported. Code which implements fallback modes should
+check whether these symbols are defined. Usage example::
+
+ #ifdef __SEG_GS
+
+ long data0 = 0;
+ long data1 = 1;
+
+ long __seg_gs *ptr;
+
+ /* Check whether FSGSBASE is enabled by the kernel (HWCAP2_FSGSBASE) */
+ ....
+
+ /* Set GS to point to data0 */
+ _writegsbase_u64(&data0);
+
+ /* Access offset 0 of GS */
+ ptr = 0;
+ printf("data0 = %ld\n", *ptr);
+
+ /* Set GS to point to data1 */
+ _writegsbase_u64(&data1);
+ /* ptr still addresses offset 0! */
+ printf("data1 = %ld\n", *ptr);
+
+
+Clang does not provide the GCC address space identifiers, but it provides
+address spaces via an attribute based mechanism in Clang 5 and newer
+versions:
+
+ ==================================== =====================================
+ __attribute__((address_space(256)) Variable is addressed relative to GS
+ __attribute__((address_space(257)) Variable is addressed relative to FS
+ ==================================== =====================================
+
+FS/GS based addressing with inline assembly
+-------------------------------------------
+
+In case the compiler does not support address spaces, inline assembly can
+be used for FS/GS based addressing mode::
+
+ mov %fs:offset, %reg
+ mov %gs:offset, %reg
+
+ mov %reg, %fs:offset
+ mov %reg, %gs:offset
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