Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

James David Cleary

Darek Josip Mihocka

Jon Robert Berry

Pedro Miguel Sequeira De Justo Teixeira

Clarence Siu Yeen Dang

Russell Charles Hadley

YongKang Zhu

Pavlo Lebedynskiy

Tiansheng Tan

Ben Niu

Theodore Maxwell Thomas

Using a common reference address when processing calls between a native application binary interface (ABI) and a foreign ABI. Based on a caller calling using a reference address, a lookup structure is used to determine whether the reference address is within a memory range storing native code and that the callee is native, or a memory range not storing native code and that the callee is foreign. Execution of a callee is initiated based on one of (i) calling the callee using the reference address within an emulator when the caller is native and the callee is foreign; (ii) calling an entry thunk when the caller is foreign and the callee is native; (iii) calling an exit thunk when the caller is native and the callee is foreign; or (iv) directly calling the callee using the reference address when the caller is native and the callee is native.

Dual architecture function pointers having consistent reference addresses

A hybrid binary executable under both native processes and compatibility (e.g., emulated) processes. When the hybrid binary is loaded by a native process, the process executes a native code stream contained in the binary directly on a processor. When the hybrid binary is loaded by a compatibility process, the process executes an emulation-compatible (EC) code stream directly on a processor. The hybrid binary format supports folding of code between the native code stream and the EC code stream. The hybrid binary comprises a set of memory transformations which are applied to image data obtained from the binary when the hybrid binary executes under the compatibility process.

Hybrid binaries supporting code stream folding

Using a common reference address when processing calls among a native ABI and a foreign ABI. Based on caller calling using a reference address, a lookup structure is used to determine whether the reference address is within a memory range storing native code (and that the callee is native) or a memory range not storing native code (and that the callee is foreign). Execution of the callee is initiated based on one of (i) when the caller is native and when the callee is foreign, calling the callee using the reference address within an emulator; (ii) when the caller is foreign and the callee is native, calling an entry thunk; (iii) when the caller is native and the callee is foreign, calling an exit thunk; or (iv) when the caller is native and the callee is native, directly calling the callee using the reference address.

A function is compiled against a first application binary interface (ABI) and a second ABI of a native first instruction set architecture (ISA). The second ABI defines context data not exceeding a size expected by a third ABI of a foreign second ISA, and uses a subset of registers of the first ISA that are mapped to registers of the second ISA. Use of the subset of registers by the second ABI results in some functions being foldable when compiled using both the first and second ABIs. First and second compiled versions of the function are identified as foldable, or not, based on whether the compiled versions match. Both the first and second compiled versions are emitted into a binary file when they are not foldable, and only one of the first or second compiled versions is emitted into the binary file when they are foldable.

Native emulation compatible application binary interface for supporting emulation of foreign code

A hybrid binary executable under both native processes and compatibility (e.g., emulated) processes. When the hybrid binary is loaded by a native process, the process executes a native code stream contained in the binary directly on a processor. When the hybrid binary is loaded by a compatibility process, the process executes an emulation-compatible (EC) code stream directly on a processor. When executing in a compatibility process, the EC code stream can interact with a foreign code stream that executes in an emulator. The foreign code stream can be included in the hybrid binary itself, or can be external to the hybrid binary. The hybrid binary format supports folding of code between the native code stream and the EC code stream. The hybrid binary comprises a set of memory transformations which are applied to image data obtained from the binary when the hybrid binary executes under the compatibility process.

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