XACQUIRE/XRELEASE — Hardware Lock Elision Prefix Hints

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