tree 9981b72bc40a9169972103ca315549d8a35bb052
parent c59428b1502f37c9b2f551613da1b491c4226d10
author Jeenu Viswambharan <jeenu.viswambharan@arm.com> 1480519271 +0000
committer Jeenu Viswambharan <jeenu.viswambharan@arm.com> 1480949735 +0000

Define and use no_ret macro where no return is expected

There are many instances in ARM Trusted Firmware where control is
transferred to functions from which return isn't expected. Such jumps
are made using 'bl' instruction to provide the callee with the location
from which it was jumped to. Additionally, debuggers infer the caller by
examining where 'lr' register points to. If a 'bl' of the nature
described above falls at the end of an assembly function, 'lr' will be
left pointing to a location outside of the function range. This misleads
the debugger back trace.

This patch defines a 'no_ret' macro to be used when jumping to functions
from which return isn't expected. The macro ensures to use 'bl'
instruction for the jump, and also, for debug builds, places a 'nop'
instruction immediately thereafter (unless instructed otherwise) so as
to leave 'lr' pointing within the function range.

Change-Id: Ib34c69fc09197cfd57bc06e147cc8252910e01b0
Co-authored-by: Douglas Raillard <douglas.raillard@arm.com>
Signed-off-by: Jeenu Viswambharan <jeenu.viswambharan@arm.com>