spu_run(2) System Calls Manual spu_run(2)
NAME
spu_run - execute an SPU context
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/spu.h> /* Definition of SPU_* constants */
#include <sys/syscall.h> /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>
int syscall(SYS_spu_run, int fd, uint32_t *npc, uint32_t *event);
Note: glibc provides no wrapper for spu_run(), necessitating the use of
syscall(2).
DESCRIPTION
The spu_run() system call is used on PowerPC machines that implement
the Cell Broadband Engine Architecture in order to access Synergistic
Processor Units (SPUs). The fd argument is a file descriptor returned
by spu_create(2) that refers to a specific SPU context. When the con-
text gets scheduled to a physical SPU, it starts execution at the in-
struction pointer passed in npc.
Execution of SPU code happens synchronously, meaning that spu_run()
blocks while the SPU is still running. If there is a need to execute
SPU code in parallel with other code on either the main CPU or other
SPUs, a new thread of execution must be created first (e.g., using
pthread_create(3)).
When spu_run() returns, the current value of the SPU program counter is
written to npc, so successive calls to spu_run() can use the same npc
pointer.
The event argument provides a buffer for an extended status code. If
the SPU context was created with the SPU_CREATE_EVENTS_ENABLED flag,
then this buffer is populated by the Linux kernel before spu_run() re-
turns.
The status code may be one (or more) of the following constants:
SPE_EVENT_DMA_ALIGNMENT
A DMA alignment error occurred.
SPE_EVENT_INVALID_DMA
An invalid MFC DMA command was attempted.
SPE_EVENT_SPE_DATA_STORAGE
A DMA storage error occurred.
SPE_EVENT_SPE_ERROR
An illegal instruction was executed.
NULL is a valid value for the event argument. In this case, the events
will not be reported to the calling process.
RETURN VALUE
On success, spu_run() returns the value of the spu_status register. On
failure, it returns -1 and sets errno is set to indicate the error.
The spu_status register value is a bit mask of status codes and option-
ally a 14-bit code returned from the stop-and-signal instruction on the
SPU. The bit masks for the status codes are:
0x02 SPU was stopped by a stop-and-signal instruction.
0x04 SPU was stopped by a halt instruction.
0x08 SPU is waiting for a channel.
0x10 SPU is in single-step mode.
0x20 SPU has tried to execute an invalid instruction.
0x40 SPU has tried to access an invalid channel.
0x3fff0000
The bits masked with this value contain the code returned from a
stop-and-signal instruction. These bits are valid only if the
0x02 bit is set.
If spu_run() has not returned an error, one or more bits among the
lower eight ones are always set.
ERRORS
EBADF fd is not a valid file descriptor.
EFAULT npc is not a valid pointer, or event is non-NULL and an invalid
pointer.
EINTR A signal occurred while spu_run() was in progress; see sig-
nal(7). The npc value has been updated to the new program
counter value if necessary.
EINVAL fd is not a valid file descriptor returned from spu_create(2).
ENOMEM There was not enough memory available to handle a page fault re-
sulting from a Memory Flow Controller (MFC) direct memory ac-
cess.
ENOSYS The functionality is not provided by the current system, because
either the hardware does not provide SPUs or the spufs module is
not loaded.
STANDARDS
Linux on PowerPC.
HISTORY
Linux 2.6.16.
NOTES
spu_run() is meant to be used from libraries that implement a more ab-
stract interface to SPUs, not to be used from regular applications.
See ]8;;http://www.bsc.es/projects/deepcomputing/linuxoncell/\http://www.bsc.es/projects/deepcomputing/linuxoncell/]8;;\ for the rec-
ommended libraries.
EXAMPLES
The following is an example of running a simple, one-instruction SPU
program with the spu_run() system call.
#include <err.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
int main(void)
{
int context, fd, spu_status;
uint32_t instruction, npc;
context = syscall(SYS_spu_create, "/spu/example-context", 0, 0755);
if (context == -1)
err(EXIT_FAILURE, "spu_create");
/*
* Write a 'stop 0x1234' instruction to the SPU's
* local store memory.
*/
instruction = 0x00001234;
fd = open("/spu/example-context/mem", O_RDWR);
if (fd == -1)
err(EXIT_FAILURE, "open");
write(fd, &instruction, sizeof(instruction));
/*
* set npc to the starting instruction address of the
* SPU program. Since we wrote the instruction at the
* start of the mem file, the entry point will be 0x0.
*/
npc = 0;
spu_status = syscall(SYS_spu_run, context, &npc, NULL);
if (spu_status == -1)
err(EXIT_FAILURE, "open");
/*
* We should see a status code of 0x12340002:
* 0x00000002 (spu was stopped due to stop-and-signal)
* | 0x12340000 (the stop-and-signal code)
*/
printf("SPU Status: %#08x\n", spu_status);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
close(2), spu_create(2), capabilities(7), spufs(7)
Linux man-pages 6.7 2023-10-31 spu_run(2)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 14:44:47 CET 2025.