Restricted instructions in transactional execution

• US 9,858,082 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2016
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Greiner, Dan F., Jacobi, Christian, Slegel, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): METZGER, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US15/238,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20160357553A1
• Time in Patent Office: 504 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3004 to perform operations on memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30087 Synchronisation or serialisation instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30098 Register arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3834 Maintaining memory consistency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3861 Recovery, e.g. branch miss-prediction, exception handling error detection or correction G06F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/467 Transactional memory G06F9/528 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/528 by using speculative mechanisms

Abstract

Restricted instructions are prohibited from execution within a transaction. There are classes of instructions that are restricted regardless of type of transaction: constrained or nonconstrained. There are instructions only restricted in constrained transactions, and there are instructions that are selectively restricted for given transactions based on controls specified on instructions used to initiate the transactions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of performing processing associated with transactional execution in a computing environment, the computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, by a processor, an instruction to be executed as part of a transaction;

computing one or more effective controls from one or more controls set by one or more transaction begin instructions, wherein the one or more effective controls comprises an effective allow access register modification control that indicates whether an access register is permitted to be modified, wherein the access register specifies an indirect specification of an address space control element;

determining by the processor whether the instruction is a selectively restricted instruction that is prohibited from execution within the transaction, the determining being based on the computed one or more effective controls; and

performing processing associated with the instruction based on whether the instruction is selectively restricted.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the performing comprises aborting the transaction based on the instruction being selectively restricted.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the performing further comprises based on aborting the transaction, storing an abort code in a transaction diagnostic block identified by one transaction begin instruction of the one or more transaction begin instructions and setting a condition code.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the performing comprises executing the instruction based on the determining indicating the instruction is not selectively restricted.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more effective controls further comprise an effective allow floating point operation control that indicates whether specified floating point instructions are permitted to be executed.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein based on the instruction being selectively restricted, the instruction is restricted for one transaction but not restricted for another transaction.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining another instruction to be executed in the transaction and checking whether the other instruction is a restricted instruction for transactional processing, wherein the performing processing aborts the transaction based on the other instruction being restricted.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether the transaction is a constrained transaction or a nonconstrained transaction, and wherein the checking whether the other instruction is restricted is based on whether the transaction is constrained or nonconstrained.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising executing the constrained transaction as a nonconstrained transaction based on the other instruction being restricted exclusively for constrained transactions.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the transaction is a constrained transaction or a nonconstrained transaction; and

providing an interrupt based on the transaction being a constrained transaction and the instruction being restricted.

11. A computer-implemented method of performing processing associated with transactional execution in a computing environment, the computer-implemented method comprising:

obtaining, by a processor, an instruction to be executed as part of a transaction;

computing one or more effective controls from one or more controls set by one or more transaction begin instructions, wherein the one or more effective controls comprises an effective allow floating point operation control that indicates whether specified floating point instructions are permitted to be executed;

determining by the processor whether the instruction is a selectively restricted instruction that is prohibited from execution within the transaction, the determining being based on the one or more effective controls computed from one or more controls set by one or more transaction begin instructions; and

performing processing associated with the instruction based on whether the instruction is selectively restricted.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the performing comprises aborting the transaction based on the instruction being selectively restricted.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the performing further comprises based on aborting the transaction, storing an abort code in a transaction diagnostic block identified by one transaction begin instruction of the one or more transaction begin instructions and setting a condition code.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising obtaining another instruction to be executed in the transaction and checking whether the other instruction is a restricted instruction for transactional processing, wherein the performing processing aborts the transaction based on the other instruction being restricted.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising determining whether the transaction is a constrained transaction or a nonconstrained transaction, and wherein the checking whether the other instruction is restricted is based on whether the transaction is constrained or nonconstrained.

16. A computer program product for performing processing associated with transactional execution in a computing environment, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising;

obtaining, by a processor, an instruction to be executed as part of a transaction;

computing one or more effective controls from one or more controls set by one or more transaction begin instructions, wherein the one or more effective controls comprises an effective allow floating point operation control that indicates whether specified floating point instructions are permitted to be executed;

determining by the processor whether the instruction is a selectively restricted instruction that is prohibited from execution within the transaction, the determining being based on the one or more effective controls computed from one or more controls set by one or more transaction begin instructions; and

performing processing associated with the instruction based on whether the instruction is selectively restricted.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the performing comprises aborting the transaction based on the instruction being selectively restricted.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the performing further comprises based on aborting the transaction, storing an abort code in a transaction diagnostic block identified by one transaction begin instruction of the one or more transaction begin instructions and setting a condition code.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises obtaining another instruction to be executed in the transaction and checking whether the other instruction is a restricted instruction for transactional processing, wherein the performing processing aborts the transaction based on the other instruction being restricted.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises determining whether the transaction is a constrained transaction or a nonconstrained transaction, and wherein the checking whether the other instruction is restricted is based on whether the transaction is constrained or nonconstrained.