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Hub AI
Position-independent code AI simulator
(@Position-independent code_simulator)
Hub AI
Position-independent code AI simulator
(@Position-independent code_simulator)
Position-independent code
In computing, position-independent code (PIC) or position-independent executable (PIE) is a body of machine code that executes properly regardless of its memory address. PIC is commonly used for shared libraries, so that the same library code can be loaded at a location in each program's address space where it does not overlap with other memory in use by, for example, other shared libraries. PIC was also used on older computer systems that lacked an MMU, so that the operating system could keep applications away from each other even within the single address space of an MMU-less system.
Position-independent code can be executed at any memory address without modification. This differs from absolute code, which must be loaded at a specific location to function correctly, and load-time locatable (LTL) code, in which a linker or program loader modifies a program before execution, so it can be run only from a particular memory location. The latter terms are sometimes referred to as position-dependent code. Generating position-independent code is often the default behavior for compilers, but they may place restrictions on the use of some language features, such as disallowing use of absolute addresses (position-independent code has to use relative addressing). Instructions that refer directly to specific memory addresses sometimes execute faster, and replacing them with equivalent relative-addressing instructions may result in slightly slower execution, although modern processors make the difference practically negligible.
In early computers such as the IBM 701 (29 April 1952) or the UNIVAC I (31 March 1951) code was not position-independent: each program was built to load into and run from a particular address. Those early computers did not have an operating system and were not multitasking-capable. Programs were loaded into main storage (or even stored on magnetic drum for execution directly from there) and run one at a time. In such an operational context, position-independent code was not necessary.
Even on base and bounds systems such as the CDC 6600, the GE 625 and the UNIVAC 1107, once the OS loaded code into a job's storage, it could only run from the relative address at which it was loaded.
Burroughs introduced a segmented system, the B5000 (1961), in which programs addressed segments indirectly via control words on the stack or in the program reference table (PRT); a shared segment could be addressed via different PRT locations in different processes. Similarly, on the later B6500, all segment references were via positions in a stack frame.
The IBM System/360 (7 April 1964) was designed with truncated addressing similar to that of the UNIVAC III, with code position independence in mind. In truncated addressing, memory addresses are calculated from a base register and an offset. At the beginning of a program, the programmer must establish addressability by loading a base register; normally, the programmer also informs the assembler with a USING pseudo-op. The programmer can load the base register from a register known to contain the entry point address, typically R15, or can use the BALR (Branch And Link, Register form) instruction (with a R2 Value of 0) to store the next sequential instruction's address into the base register, which was then coded explicitly or implicitly in each instruction that referred to a storage location within the program. Multiple base registers could be used, for code or for data. Such instructions require less memory because they do not have to hold a full 24, 31, 32, or 64 bit address (4 or 8 bytes), but instead a base register number (encoded in 4 bits) and a 12–bit address offset (encoded in 12 bits), requiring only two bytes.
This programming technique is standard on IBM S/360 type systems. It has been in use through to today's IBM System/z. When coding in assembly language, the programmer has to establish addressability for the program as described above and also use other base registers for dynamically allocated storage. Compilers automatically take care of this kind of addressing.
IBM's early operating system DOS/360 (1966) was not using virtual storage (since the early models of System S/360 did not support it), but it did have the ability to place programs to an arbitrary (or automatically chosen) storage location during loading via the PHASE name,* JCL (Job Control Language) statement.
Position-independent code
In computing, position-independent code (PIC) or position-independent executable (PIE) is a body of machine code that executes properly regardless of its memory address. PIC is commonly used for shared libraries, so that the same library code can be loaded at a location in each program's address space where it does not overlap with other memory in use by, for example, other shared libraries. PIC was also used on older computer systems that lacked an MMU, so that the operating system could keep applications away from each other even within the single address space of an MMU-less system.
Position-independent code can be executed at any memory address without modification. This differs from absolute code, which must be loaded at a specific location to function correctly, and load-time locatable (LTL) code, in which a linker or program loader modifies a program before execution, so it can be run only from a particular memory location. The latter terms are sometimes referred to as position-dependent code. Generating position-independent code is often the default behavior for compilers, but they may place restrictions on the use of some language features, such as disallowing use of absolute addresses (position-independent code has to use relative addressing). Instructions that refer directly to specific memory addresses sometimes execute faster, and replacing them with equivalent relative-addressing instructions may result in slightly slower execution, although modern processors make the difference practically negligible.
In early computers such as the IBM 701 (29 April 1952) or the UNIVAC I (31 March 1951) code was not position-independent: each program was built to load into and run from a particular address. Those early computers did not have an operating system and were not multitasking-capable. Programs were loaded into main storage (or even stored on magnetic drum for execution directly from there) and run one at a time. In such an operational context, position-independent code was not necessary.
Even on base and bounds systems such as the CDC 6600, the GE 625 and the UNIVAC 1107, once the OS loaded code into a job's storage, it could only run from the relative address at which it was loaded.
Burroughs introduced a segmented system, the B5000 (1961), in which programs addressed segments indirectly via control words on the stack or in the program reference table (PRT); a shared segment could be addressed via different PRT locations in different processes. Similarly, on the later B6500, all segment references were via positions in a stack frame.
The IBM System/360 (7 April 1964) was designed with truncated addressing similar to that of the UNIVAC III, with code position independence in mind. In truncated addressing, memory addresses are calculated from a base register and an offset. At the beginning of a program, the programmer must establish addressability by loading a base register; normally, the programmer also informs the assembler with a USING pseudo-op. The programmer can load the base register from a register known to contain the entry point address, typically R15, or can use the BALR (Branch And Link, Register form) instruction (with a R2 Value of 0) to store the next sequential instruction's address into the base register, which was then coded explicitly or implicitly in each instruction that referred to a storage location within the program. Multiple base registers could be used, for code or for data. Such instructions require less memory because they do not have to hold a full 24, 31, 32, or 64 bit address (4 or 8 bytes), but instead a base register number (encoded in 4 bits) and a 12–bit address offset (encoded in 12 bits), requiring only two bytes.
This programming technique is standard on IBM S/360 type systems. It has been in use through to today's IBM System/z. When coding in assembly language, the programmer has to establish addressability for the program as described above and also use other base registers for dynamically allocated storage. Compilers automatically take care of this kind of addressing.
IBM's early operating system DOS/360 (1966) was not using virtual storage (since the early models of System S/360 did not support it), but it did have the ability to place programs to an arbitrary (or automatically chosen) storage location during loading via the PHASE name,* JCL (Job Control Language) statement.