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Update MSF File Documentation.
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This adds some more detail about the PDB container format,
specifically surrounding the layout of the Free Page Map.

Patch by Colden Cullen
Differential Revision: https://reviews.llvm.org/D41825

llvm-svn: 322404
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Zachary Turner committed Jan 12, 2018
1 parent 2409d24 commit 89d0889
Showing 1 changed file with 70 additions and 12 deletions.
82 changes: 70 additions & 12 deletions llvm/docs/PDB/MsfFile.rst
Expand Up @@ -5,6 +5,44 @@ The MSF File Format
.. contents::
:local:

.. _msf_layout:

File Layout
===========

The MSF file format consists of the following components:

1. :ref:`msf_superblock`
2. :ref:`msf_freeblockmap` (also know as Free Page Map, or FPM)
3. Data

Each component is stored as an indexed block, the length of which is specified
in ``SuperBlock::BlockSize``. The file consists of 1 or more iterations of the
following pattern (sometimes referred to as an "interval"):

1. 1 block of data
2. Free Block Map 1 (corresponds to ``SuperBlock::FreeBlockMapBlock`` 1)
3. Free Block Map 2 (corresponds to ``SuperBlock::FreeBlockMapBlock`` 2)
4. ``SuperBlock::BlockSize - 3`` blocks of data

In the first interval, the first data block is used to store
:ref:`msf_superblock`.

The following diagram demonstrates the general layout of the file (\| denotes
the end of an interval, and is for visualization purposes only):

+-------------+-----------------------+------------------+------------------+----------+----+------+------+------+-------------+----+-----+
| Block Index | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 - 4095 | \| | 4096 | 4097 | 4098 | 4099 - 8191 | \| | ... |
+=============+=======================+==================+==================+==========+====+======+======+======+=============+====+=====+
| Meaning | :ref:`msf_superblock` | Free Block Map 1 | Free Block Map 2 | Data | \| | Data | FPM1 | FPM2 | Data | \| | ... |
+-------------+-----------------------+------------------+------------------+----------+----+------+------+------+-------------+----+-----+

The file may end after any block, including immediately after a FPM1.

.. note::
LLVM only supports 4096 byte blocks (sometimes referred to as the "BigMsf"
variant), so the rest of this document will assume a block size of 4096.

.. _msf_superblock:

The Superblock
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -32,14 +70,9 @@ follows:
sizes of 4KiB, and all further discussion assumes a block size of 4KiB.
- **FreeBlockMapBlock** - The index of a block within the file, at which begins
a bitfield representing the set of all blocks within the file which are "free"
(i.e. the data within that block is not used). This bitfield is spread across
the MSF file at ``BlockSize`` intervals.
**Important**: ``FreeBlockMapBlock`` can only be ``1`` or ``2``! This field
is designed to support incremental and atomic updates of the underlying MSF
file. While writing to an MSF file, if the value of this field is `1`, you
can write your new modified bitfield to page 2, and vice versa. Only when
you commit the file to disk do you need to swap the value in the SuperBlock
to point to the new ``FreeBlockMapBlock``.
(i.e. the data within that block is not used). See :ref:`msf_freeblockmap` for
more information.
**Important**: ``FreeBlockMapBlock`` can only be ``1`` or ``2``!
- **NumBlocks** - The total number of blocks in the file. ``NumBlocks * BlockSize``
should equal the size of the file on disk.
- **NumDirectoryBytes** - The size of the stream directory, in bytes. The stream
Expand All @@ -53,7 +86,32 @@ follows:
contains the list of blocks that the stream directory occupies, and the stream
directory itself can be stitched together accordingly. The number of
``ulittle32_t``'s in this array is given by ``ceil(NumDirectoryBytes / BlockSize)``.


.. _msf_freeblockmap:

The Free Block Map
==================

The Free Block Map (sometimes referred to as the Free Page Map, or FPM) is a
series of blocks which contains a bit flag for every block in the file. The
flag will be set to 0 if the block is in use, and 1 if the block is unused.

Each file contains two FPMs, one of which is active at any given time. This
feature is designed to support incremental and atomic updates of the underlying
MSF file. While writing to an MSF file, if the active FPM is FPM1, you can
write your new modified bitfield to FPM2, and vice versa. Only when you commit
the file to disk do you need to swap the value in the SuperBlock to point to
the new ``FreeBlockMapBlock``.

The Free Block Maps are stored as a series of single blocks thoughout the file
at intervals of BlockSize. Because each FPM block is of size ``BlockSize``
bytes, it contains 8 times as many bits as an interval has blocks. This means
that the first block of each FPM refers to the first 8 intervals of the file
(the first 32768 blocks), the second block of each FPM refers to the next 8
blocks, and so on. This results in far more FPM blocks being present than are
required, but in order to maintain backwards compatibility the format must stay
this way.

The Stream Directory
====================
The Stream Directory is the root of all access to the other streams in an MSF
Expand All @@ -66,10 +124,10 @@ file. Beginning at byte 0 of the stream directory is the following structure:
ulittle32_t StreamSizes[NumStreams];
ulittle32_t StreamBlocks[NumStreams][];
};

And this structure occupies exactly ``SuperBlock->NumDirectoryBytes`` bytes.
Note that each of the last two arrays is of variable length, and in particular
that the second array is jagged.
that the second array is jagged.

**Example:** Suppose a hypothetical PDB file with a 4KiB block size, and 4
streams of lengths {1000 bytes, 8000 bytes, 16000 bytes, 9000 bytes}.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -97,7 +155,7 @@ like:
{10, 15, 12}
};
};

In total, this occupies ``15 * 4 = 60`` bytes, so ``SuperBlock->NumDirectoryBytes``
would equal ``60``, and ``SuperBlock->BlockMapAddr`` would be an array of one
``ulittle32_t``, since ``60 <= SuperBlock->BlockSize``.
Expand Down

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