6 Trigger Module

Triggers can cause a breakpoint exception, entry into Debug Mode, or a trace action without having to execute a special instruction. This makes them invaluable when debugging code from ROM. They can trigger on execution of instructions at a given memory address, or on the address/data in loads/stores. These are all features that can be useful without having the Debug Module present, so the Trigger Module is broken out as a separate piece that can be implemented separately.

A hart can be compliant with this specification without implementing any trigger functionality at all, but if it is implemented then it must conform to this section.

Triggers do not fire while in Debug Mode.

Each trigger may support a variety of features. A debugger can build a list of all triggers and their features as follows:

Write 0 to tselect.

Read back tselectand check that it contains the written value. If not, exit the loop.

Read tinfo.

If that caused an exception, the debugger must read tdata1to discover the type. (If typeis 0, this trigger doesn’t exist. Exit the loop.)

If infois 1, this trigger doesn’t exist. Exit the loop.

Otherwise, the selected trigger supports the types discovered in info.

Repeat, incrementing the value in tselect.

The above algorithm reads back tselectso that implementations which have 2ⁿ triggers only need to implement n bits of tselect.

The algorithm checks tinfoand typein case the implementation has m bits of tselectbut fewer than 2^m triggers.

It is possible for a trigger with the “enter Debug Mode” action (1) and another trigger with the “raise a breakpoint exception” action (0) to fire at the same time. The preferred behavior is to have both actions take place. It is implementation-dependent which of the two happens first. This ensures both that the presence of an external debugger doesn’t affect execution and that a trigger set by user code doesn’t affect the external debugger. If this is not implemented, then the hart must enter Debug Mode and ignore the breakpoint exception. In the latter case, hitof the trigger whose action is 0 must still be set, giving a debugger an opportunity to handle this case. What happens with trace actions when triggers with different actions are also firing is left to the trace specification.

6.1 Native M-Mode Triggers

Triggers can be used for native debugging. On a fully featured system triggers will be set using uor s, and when firing they can cause a breakpoint exception to trap to a more privileged mode. It is possible to set triggers natively to fire in M mode as well. In that case there is no higher privilege mode to trap to. When such a trigger causes a breakpoint exception while already in a trap handler, this will leave the system unable to resume normal execution.

On full-featured systems this is a remote corner case that can probably be ignored. On systems that only implement M mode, however, it is recommended to implement one of two solutions to this problem. This way triggers can be useful for native debugging of even M mode code.

The simple solution is to have the hardware prevent triggers with action=0 from firing while in M mode and while in mstatusis 0. Its limitation is that interrupts might be disabled at other times when a user might want triggers to fire.

A more complex solution is to implement mteand mptein tcontrol. This solution has the benefit that it only disables triggers during the trap handler.

A user setting M mode triggers that cause breakpoint exceptions will have to be aware of any problems that might come up with the particular system they are working on.

6.2 Trigger Registers

These registers are CSRs, accessible using the RISC-V csr opcodes and optionally also using abstract debug commands.

Most trigger functionality is optional. All tdata registers follow write-any-read-legal semantics. If a debugger writes an unsupported configuration, the register will read back a value that is supported (which may simply be a disabled trigger). This means that a debugger must always read back values it writes to tdata registers, unless it already knows already what is supported. Writes to one tdata register may not modify the contents of other tdata registers, nor the configuration of any trigger besides the one that is currently selected.

[hwbp_registers.tex]