c_char signedness doesn't match with Clang's default on various no-std and tier 3 targets

[taiki-e]

As an next step of #122985 ("c_char on AIX should be u8"), I checked all builtin targets' c_char (as of nightly-2024-09-03) using the following script.

check_c_char.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
IFS=$'\n\t'

export RUSTC="${RUSTC:-rustc}"
CLANG="${CLANG:-clang}"

"${RUSTC}" -vV >&2
echo >&2
"${CLANG}" --version >&2
echo >&2

cargo new --lib tmp
cd tmp

failed=''
for target_spec in $("${RUSTC}" -Z unstable-options --print all-target-specs-json | jq -c '. | to_entries[]'); do
    eval "$(jq -r '@sh "RUST_TARGET=\(.key) LLVM_TARGET=\(.value."llvm-target")"' <<<"${target_spec}")"
    clang_defs=$("${CLANG}" -E -dM -x c /dev/null -target "${LLVM_TARGET}")
    clang_c_char=i8
    if grep -Fq '__CHAR_UNSIGNED__ 1' <<<"${clang_defs}"; then
        clang_c_char=u8
    fi
    cat >src/lib.rs <<EOF
#![no_std]
const _C: core::ffi::c_char = 0_${clang_c_char};
EOF
    if { cargo check -Z build-std=core --target "${RUST_TARGET}" -q 2>&1 || :; } | grep -Fq 'error[E0308]'; then
        echo "${RUST_TARGET}: should be ${clang_c_char}"
        failed=1
    fi
done

cd ..
rm -rf tmp

if [[ -n "${failed}" ]]; then
    exit 1
fi

The result (stdout of the script) is:

aarch64-kmc-solid_asp3: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-hermit: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-illumos: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-none: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-none-softfloat: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-redox: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-teeos: should be u8
aarch64-unknown-trusty: should be u8
armebv7r-none-eabi: should be u8
armebv7r-none-eabihf: should be u8
armv4t-none-eabi: should be u8
armv5te-none-eabi: should be u8
armv7-sony-vita-newlibeabihf: should be u8
armv7-unknown-trusty: should be u8
armv7a-kmc-solid_asp3-eabi: should be u8
armv7a-kmc-solid_asp3-eabihf: should be u8
armv7a-none-eabi: should be u8
armv7a-none-eabihf: should be u8
armv7r-none-eabi: should be u8
armv7r-none-eabihf: should be u8
armv8r-none-eabihf: should be u8
csky-unknown-linux-gnuabiv2: should be i8
csky-unknown-linux-gnuabiv2hf: should be i8
hexagon-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32i-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32im-risc0-zkvm-elf: should be u8
riscv32im-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32ima-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32imac-esp-espidf: should be u8
riscv32imac-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32imac-unknown-nuttx-elf: should be u8
riscv32imac-unknown-xous-elf: should be u8
riscv32imafc-esp-espidf: should be u8
riscv32imafc-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32imafc-unknown-nuttx-elf: should be u8
riscv32imc-esp-espidf: should be u8
riscv32imc-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv32imc-unknown-nuttx-elf: should be u8
riscv64-linux-android: should be u8
riscv64gc-unknown-hermit: should be u8
riscv64gc-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv64gc-unknown-nuttx-elf: should be u8
riscv64imac-unknown-none-elf: should be u8
riscv64imac-unknown-nuttx-elf: should be u8
thumbv4t-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv5te-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv6m-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv6m-nuttx-eabi: should be u8
thumbv7em-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv7em-none-eabihf: should be u8
thumbv7em-nuttx-eabi: should be u8
thumbv7em-nuttx-eabihf: should be u8
thumbv7m-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv7m-nuttx-eabi: should be u8
thumbv8m.base-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv8m.base-nuttx-eabi: should be u8
thumbv8m.main-none-eabi: should be u8
thumbv8m.main-none-eabihf: should be u8
thumbv8m.main-nuttx-eabi: should be u8
thumbv8m.main-nuttx-eabihf: should be u8
x86_64-unknown-l4re-uclibc: should be i8

stderr of the script (version info, etc.)

rustc 1.83.0-nightly (bd53aa3bf 2024-09-02)
binary: rustc
commit-hash: bd53aa3bf7a24a70d763182303bd75e5fc51a9af
commit-date: 2024-09-02
host: aarch64-apple-darwin
release: 1.83.0-nightly
LLVM version: 19.1.0

Homebrew clang version 18.1.8
Target: arm64-apple-darwin23.5.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /opt/homebrew/opt/llvm/bin

    Creating library `tmp` package
note: see more `Cargo.toml` keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
clang: warning: unknown platform, assuming -mfloat-abi=soft
clang: warning: unknown platform, assuming -mfloat-abi=soft
clang: warning: unknown platform, assuming -mfloat-abi=soft
clang: warning: no target microcontroller specified on command line, cannot link standard libraries, please pass -mmcu=<mcu name> [-Wavr-rtlib-linking-quirks]
error: unknown target triple 'xtensa-none-unknown-elf'

Note about the above script (potential false positive / false negative)

• Note that targets that broken and cannot build core (such as m68k: m68k-unknown-linux-gnu: can't compile functions with certain return types #89498) are ignored in the above script. (potential false negative)
• The script passes llvm-target field of the target spec as a target for Clang, so if it does not match the Rust target, it may cause a false positive or false negative.

As stated in the title, there are many target_os = "none" target and tier3 targets that do not match.

• As for the target_os = "none" target, most of them probably do not match with Clang's default.
  • I guess this is because c_char was originally defined in std and this mismatch was missed when it was moved to core.
  • I don't think many people use c_char directly on these targets, but this includes a lot of tier 2 targets, so changing this to match Clang could have a not small impact on embedded ecosystem.
• All other targets seem to be tier 3, so I think changing them to match Clang's default should be no problem.
  • However, note that Clang's default may be wrong for minor architectures such as C-SKY. (see the reference below)

References:

• Apple:
  • Apple targets' c_char is signed by default even on arm (arm64, armv6)
• Windows:
  • Windows MSVC C++ Language Reference says "Microsoft-specific: Variables of type char are promoted to int as if from type signed char by default, unless the /J compilation option is used."
• Vita:
  • See Revert vita's c_char back to i8 #136667
• ARM:
  • Section 8 "Arm C and C++ Language Mappings" in Procedure Call Standard for the Arm® Architecture says C/C++ char is unsigned byte
• AArch64:
  • Section 10 "Arm C and C++ language mappings" in Procedure Call Standard for the Arm 64-bit Architecture (AArch64) says C/C++ char is unsigned byte
• RISC-V:
  • C/C++ type representations section in RISC-V Calling Conventions page in RISC-V ELF psABI Document says "char is unsigned."
• PowerPC
  • Section 2.1.2.2 "Fundamental Types" in 64-Bit ELF V2 ABI Specification says char is unsigned byte
  • Section 3.1.4 "Fundamental Types" in 64-bit PowerPC ELF Application Binary Interface Supplement 1.9 says ANSI C is unsigned byte
  • "Table 3-1 Scalar Types" in SYSTEM V APPLICATION BINARY INTERFACE PowerPC Processor Supplement says ANSI C char is unsigned byte
  • XL C for AIX Language Reference says "By default, char behaves like an unsigned char."
• s390x
  • "Table 1.1.: Scalar types" in ELF Application Binary Interface s390x Supplement Version 1.6.1 categorize ISO C char in unsigned integer
  • z/OS XL C/C++ Language Reference says "By default, char behaves like an unsigned char."
• Hexagon:
  • Section 3.1 "Basic data type" in Qualcomm Hexagon™ Application Binary Interface User Guide says "By default, the char data type is unsigned."
• C-SKY:
  • Section 2.1.2 "Primary Data Type" in C-SKY V2 CPU Applications Binary Interface Standards Manual says ANSI C char is unsigned byte
    • Note: this doesn't seem to match Clang's default (perhaps we need to fix Clang? cc @Dirreke)

      $ clang -E -dM -x c /dev/null -target csky-unknown-linux-gnuabiv2 | grep __CHAR 
      #define __CHAR16_TYPE__ unsigned short
      #define __CHAR32_TYPE__ unsigned int
      #define __CHAR_BIT__ 8

• MSP430:
  • Section 2.1 "Basic Types" in MSP430 Embedded Application Binary Interface says "The char type is unsigned by default".
    • Note: this doesn't seem to match Clang's default (c_char signedness doesn't match with Clang's default on various no-std and tier 3 targets #129945 (comment))
• Xtensa:
  • Section 2.17.1 "Data Types and Alignment" of Xtensa LX Microprocessor Overview handbook says "char type is unsigned by default".
• LoongArch:
  • "Appendix: C data types and machine data types" in Procedure Call Standard for the LoongArch Architecture says "For all base ABI types of LoongArch, the char data type in C is signed by default."
• AVR
  • https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/avr-gcc#Type_Layout says char is signed

---

@rustbot label +A-abi +O-Arm +O-AArch64 +O-riscv +O-csky +O-msp430 +O-xtensa +O-bare-metal +O-android +O-illumos +O-hermit

[tgross35]

This would be a great check to have in CI, probably for all the types since I'm sure at least one long vs. long long is wrong wrong somewhere. Could just be an rmake test on platforms where we know we have Clang available, with a list of expected inaccuracies that we can correct over time.

Edit: this should be pretty easy so I opened an issue for anyone to work on it #133058

[taiki-e]

On MSP430 (tier 3), both Clang and rustc don't match with the ABI's default char type...

Section 2.1 "Basic Types" in MSP430 Embedded Application Binary Interface says:

The char type is unsigned by default.

However clang doesn't set __CHAR_UNSIGNED__:

$ clang -E -dM -x c /dev/null -target msp430-none-elf | grep __CHAR             
#define __CHAR16_TYPE__ unsigned short
#define __CHAR32_TYPE__ unsigned int
#define __CHAR_BIT__ 8

[tgross35]

Something tangentially related is that C compilers expose -funsigned-char, which is used by e.g. the kernel. It would be nice if this could be set via a core target feature to avoid casting when working with CStr and friends.

[taiki-e]

Something tangentially related is that C compilers expose -funsigned-char, which is used by e.g. the kernel. It would be nice if this could be set via a core target feature to avoid casting when working with CStr and friends.

In Rust, it may be more complicated than “like C compilers”, given that c_char in core requires Rust 1.64, so there are custom c_char definitions in various places (e.g., libc::c_char), and also you need to rebuild core to actually enable using target feature (even if libc is updated to reference that target feature, the build may fail with type mismatch if core is not rebuilt).

[tgross35]

I mistyped - I meant to say "Cargo feature" and not "target feature", as in something that would need to be used with build-std.

[arichardson]

See also llvm/llvm-project#115957 which I filed while investigating #132975.

I'll take a look at the script posted in the initial comment and will check my patch.