Dynamically creating functions in C

Question

How can I dynamically create a function in C?

I try to summarize my C problem as follows:

• I have a matrix and I want to be able to use some function

Answer 1

Since you want to generate a function that follows a simple recipe, this shouldn't be too tricky to do with some inline assembly and a block of executable/writable memory.

This approach feels a bit hacky so I wouldn't recommend it in production code. Due to the use of inline assembly this solution works only on Intel x86-64 / AMD64, and will need to be translated to work with other architectures.

You might prefer this to other JIT-based solutions as it does not depend on any external library.

If you would like a longer explanation of how the below code works, leave a comment and I'll add it.

For security reasons, the code page should be marked PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC after a function is generated (see mprotect).

#include 
#include 
#include 
#include 

int snippet_processor(char *buffer, double value, int action);

enum snippet_actions {
    S_CALC_SIZE,
    S_COPY,
};

typedef double (*callback_t) (unsigned int, unsigned int);

int main(int argc, char **argv) {

    unsigned int pagesize = 4096;
    char *codepage = 0;
    int snipsz = 0;

    callback_t f;

    /* allocate some readable, writable and executable memory */
    codepage = mmap(codepage,
        pagesize,
        PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE | PROT_EXEC,
        MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_PRIVATE,
        0,
        0);

    // generate one function at `codepage` and call it
    snipsz += snippet_processor(codepage, 12.55, S_COPY);
    f = (callback_t) (codepage);
    printf("result :: %f\n", f(1, 2));

    /* ensure the next code address is byte aligned
     * - add 7 bits to ensure an overflow to the next byte.
     *   If it doesn't overflow then it was already byte aligned.
     * - Next, throw away any of the "extra" bit from the overflow,
     *   by using the negative of the alignment value 
     *   (see how 2's complement works.
     */
    codepage += (snipsz + 7) & -8;

    // generate another function at `codepage` and call it
    snipsz += snippet_processor(codepage, 16.1234, S_COPY);
    f = (callback_t) (codepage);
    printf("result :: %f\n", f(1, 2));
}

int snippet_processor(char *buffer, double value, int action) {
    static void *snip_start = NULL; 
    static void *snip_end = NULL; 
    static void *double_start = NULL; 
    static int double_offset_start = 0;
    static int size;

    char *i, *j;
    int sz;

    char *func_start;
    func_start = buffer;

    if (snip_start == NULL) {
        asm volatile(
            // Don't actually execute the dynamic code snippet upon entry
            "jmp .snippet_end\n"

            /* BEGIN snippet */
            ".snippet_begin:\n"
            "movq .value_start(%%rip), %%rax\n"
            "movd %%rax, %%xmm0\n"
            "ret\n"

            /* this is where we store the value returned by this function */
            ".value_start:\n"
            ".double 1.34\n"
            ".snippet_end:\n"
            /* END snippet */

            "leaq .snippet_begin(%%rip), %0\n"
            "leaq .snippet_end(%%rip), %1\n"
            "leaq .value_start(%%rip), %2\n"
            : 
            "=r"(snip_start),
            "=r"(snip_end),
            "=r"(double_start)
        );
        double_offset_start = (double_start - snip_start);
        size = (snip_end - snip_start);
    }

    if (action == S_COPY) {
        /* copy the snippet value */
        i = snip_start;
        while (i != snip_end) *(buffer++) = *(i++); 

        /* copy the float value */
        sz = sizeof(double);
        i = func_start + double_offset_start; 
        j = (char *) &value;

        while (sz--) *(i++) = *(j++); 
    }

    return size;
}