Stack check for AP_STACK
This is a bug I uncovered in the interpreter, that I think is also present in the compiler.
When compiling code for a function or thunk, we aggregate the stack usage from case continuations up to the top of the function/thunk and perform a single stack check. This normally works fine: we know the maximum amount of stack that will be required in the evaluation of this function/thunk, and we check for it up front.
However, this goes wrong if the evaluation is suspended by an asynchronous exception: the stack is broken into chunks and stored in AP_STACK objects, which may later be resumed. On resumption, we might not have enough stack any more: the code might now be running on another stack entirely, even.
Our proposed solution is as follows:
-
Continuations that require more than a certain amount of stack (say 4k)
do their own stack checks.
-
an AP_STACK object records the amount of stack available at the time it
was suspended, if the amount is <4k. On resumption of an AP_STACK, we
ensure that at least this amount of stack is available. (there's a
spare half-word field in AP_STACK that we can use for this).
The 4k limit is important: it puts a bound on the amount of stack growth due to evaluating an AP_STACK. Essentially the 4k limit is large enough that it almost never happens.
Trac metadata
| Trac field | Value |
|---|---|
| Version | 6.6.1 |
| Type | Bug |
| TypeOfFailure | OtherFailure |
| Priority | normal |
| Resolution | Unresolved |
| Component | Runtime System |
| Test case | |
| Differential revisions | |
| BlockedBy | |
| Related | |
| Blocking | |
| CC | |
| Operating system | Unknown |
| Architecture | Unknown |