[coreboot] Incorrect casting in romcc.

Mats Erik Andersson mats.andersson at gisladisker.se
Fri Sep 12 14:30:45 CEST 2008


Hello all,

after much backtracking I have identified an unexpected case
of (implicit) casting where romcc fails miserably.

I desire a computation 

	uint16_t fn(uint8_t d);

	uint8_t data;

	data = 0;
	data += ( fn(0x10) >> 1 ) && 0x007f;

where fn(0x10) == 0x1010. However, the actual outcome of the previous
calculation is the value 0x01, instead of the expected 0x08. I does
not help to provide an explicit casting

	data += (uint8_t) ( fn(0x10) >> 1) && 0x007f;

since provably the incorrect increment 0x01 is still produced.

The above code is to be used in i440bx/raminit.c, and if I make
the only change in that code to replace the above calculation
with the fixed, but intended case

	data += 0x08;

then the full functionality is restored and coreboot can start.

In the light of all this, I mean to have found a bug in romcc,
unless this can be viewed as a documented shortcoming.

Best regards,

Mats Erik Andersson





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