x86/pgtable: explain constant sign extension problem

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When the _PAGE_FOO constants are defined as (1ul << _PAGE_BIT_FOO), they
become unsigned longs.  In 32-bit PAE mode, these end up being
implicitly cast to 64-bit types when used to manipulate a pte, and
because they're unsigned the top 32-bits are 0, destroying the upper
bits of the pte.

When _PAGE_FOO constants are given a signed integer type, the cast to
64-bits will sign-extend so that the upper bits are all ones,
preserving the upper pte bits in manipulations.

Explain this in a prominent place.

Signed-off-by: Jeremy Fitzhardinge <jeremy@xensource.com>
Cc: Andi Kleen <ak@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>

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Jeremy Fitzhardinge 2008-01-30 13:32:59 +01:00 • committed by Ingo Molnar

parent 015c8dd0cb

commit f29192320f

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include/asm-x86/pgtable.h

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