Issue 260211.1: General Support for Address Spaces

Author:	Tony Tye, Ben Woodard, & GPU Subcommittee
Champion:	Ben Woodard
Date submitted:	2026-02-11
Date revised:	2026-06-18
Date closed:	2026-08-17
Type:	Enhancement
Status:	Accepted
DWARF version:	6

This is the 2026-06-18 version of the proposal. [ Compare with previous version ] [ Return to the latest version ]

Depends on Issue 260617.1, "Clarify Address Classes vs. Address Spaces".

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

GPUs need to be able to describe addresses that are in different pools of memory that are not part of the system's normal memory pool. These memory pools can often be quite different than the system's normal memory address space and this requires that they be treated differently.

How GPU memory addresses are different

While the system's normal address space is universally accessible and therefore context independent memory, GPU memory is often context dependent. The definition of this context has already been accepted into the DWARF6 standard with issue 241011.1 Expression Evaluation Context. Unlike system memory where an address like 0x1000 refers to the same location independent of the evaluation context, GPU memory pools can be local to a GPU's processing unit and every processing unit may have its own memory pool. A couple of examples of this are: Intel's Shared Local Memory and AMD's LDS. Thus, within a specific address space, the address 0x1000 may reference different bits depending on which context it is evaluated from. This is very similar to registers where every processor has its own set of registers and the context disambiguates which one the consumer should refer to. More formally when a pool of memory is context dependent each address space defines a locality scope and locations within that address space are bound to a particular instance of storage with that scope.

There is no requirement that a particular set of bits is only accessible through only one address space. In fact, it is common for a GPU to provide access to the same bits through different address spaces. This allows uses of memory locations within alternative address spaces that are quite different than on CPUs. In some GPUs some address spaces have embedded access patterns. Compilers often use one access pattern for serial code while another is used for vectorized code. If this access pattern were not conceptually abstracted into an address space, then the compiler would have to generate DWARF expressions that would undo the work done by the addressing mode in order to point the consumer to the correct location. This would expand the size of the DWARF generated and it would make the job of generating debuginfo harder for the producer. Another common example of an embedded access pattern is strided memory.

These GPU memories can also have address widths that are different than the system memory addresses. It is currently common for an address in GPU memory to be 32b long while a system's memory address is 64b.

An address as a location rather than as a value

DWARF 5 has the concept of an address in many expressions but does not define how it relates to address spaces. For example, DW_OP_push_object_address pushes the address of an object. Other contexts implicitly push an address on the stack before evaluating an expression. For example, the DW_AT_use_location attribute of the DW_TAG_ptr_to_member_type. The expression belongs to a source language type which may apply to objects allocated in different kinds of storage. Therefore, it is important that an expression that uses the location can do so without regard to what kind of storage it specifies. As it applies to memory location this means that a simple value is insufficient. The address space of a memory location description is also required. For example, a pointer to member value may want to be applied to an object that may reside in any address space.

Why DW_OP_xderef is not sufficient

The DWARF 5 DW_OP_xderef* operations allow a value to be converted into an address within a specified address space which is then read. But it provides no way to create a memory location for an address in the non-default address space. For example, GPU variables can be allocated in local scratch pad memory at a fixed address.

Address spaces are not address classes

Address class is an attribute of a pointer type that distinguishes between different representations of a pointer; e.g., NEAR and FAR pointers from old 16-bit x86 code. The attribute affects the size and interpretation of the bits of the pointer, but the pointer still refers to the "default" address space of the target.

The attribute has also been used for subprograms and subroutine types, to specify what addressing mode should be used to call the subprogram.

While it is similar to address classes in that a pointer type for one address space may be a different size from that for another address space, the address space is not part of the pointer value, but is implicit in the type of the pointer. The bits of the pointer refer to an address in a completely separate address space.

Address spaces are not just swizzled pointers

While some hardware's memory controllers may implement different address spaces by swizzling pointers, it cannot be assumed that this is a universal hardware design. Different GPU designs could have a completely separate connection to a particular pool of memory and have a completely different numbering system to reference it. On the other hand there is nothing in this design which precludes hardware from using swizzled pointers to implement address spaces.

If address spaces were implemented by a consumer by swizzling pointers, then there would likely need to be reserved ranges of addresses defined in the ABI which could interfere with other addresses in the system memory. That would require the consumer to have special treatment for such values. Furthermore, purely swizzled pointers do not capture the semantic differences of address spaces like context dependence, pointer size, or embedded access patterns.

Proposed solution

Add a new attribute DW_AT_address_space to pointer and reference types. This allows the compiler to specify which address space is being used to encode the value of the pointer or reference type.

Add a new DW_OP_mem operation defined to create a memory location description from an address and address space. It can be used to specify the location of a variable that is allocated in a specific address space.

Unlike DW_OP_addr which takes the address as an inline operand, DW_OP_mem takes both of its parameters from the stack. This allows them both to be dynamically computed. The case for the address being dynamically computed is fairly obvious. One unobvious use is to allow the address to be relocated when it is supplied using DW_OP_constx.

DW_OP_mem can be a thought of as a more general form of DW_OP_addr with DW_OP_addr(X) being a short hand form of:

DW_OP_lit0 ; DW_AS_default is by definition 0
DW_OP_const<N>u X
DW_OP_mem

The address space being a stack parameter may be less obvious but at least one language, OpenCL, allows the address space to be computed and so it was determined that it was best to make this a stack parameter as well.

Implicit conversion back to a value is limited only to the default address space to maintain compatibility with DWARF 5. This approach of extending memory location to support address spaces, allows all existing DWARF 5 expressions to have the identical semantics.

Having the address space included as part of the memory location as opposed to being separate value, fixes one of the problems with DW_OP_xderef where the address space is a separate value from the address. This requires producers and consumers to manage two values rather than one location.

Address spaces need not uniquely reference bits. The same bits may be accessible through multiple address spaces. This allows great implementation freedom. For example, a compiler could choose to access private memory when mapping a source language thread to the lane of a wavefront in a SIMT manner. Or a compiler could choose to access the same private memory by mapping the same language construct with a wavefront being the thread. It also allows the compiler to mix the address space it uses to access private memory. For example, the compiler can still spill entire vector registers to an address space without a strided access pattern, while accessing the same bits for SIMT variable access using the strided address space.

Having address spaces within the location also makes it available to consumers and therefore developers. This can also be an aid to programmers who are seeking to optimize their code.

Since memory locations are an abstraction of storage. The same set of operations can operate on memory locations independent of their underlying storage. Therefore, operations like DW_OP_deref* can be used on any memory locations even those referring to different address spaces. Consequently, the DW_OP_xderef* operations are unnecessary, except as a more compact way to encode a non-default address space address followed by dereferencing it. Therefore we propose renaming those operators to DW_OP_aspace_deref* to be consistent with the other operators which refer to address spaces and making the old DW_OP_xderef names aliases.

Scope of proposal

The scope of this proposal is limited to introducing address spaces to memory locations. Additional changes are needed to support address spaces in CFI. However, they are not included in this proposal. Those changes will be presented in a subsequent proposal.

PROPOSAL

In Section 2.2 "Attribute Types", add the following row to Table 2.2 "Attribute names":

Table 2.2: Attribute names

Attribute	Usage
DW_AT_address_space	Architecture specific address space (see 2.12 "Address Spaces")

In Section 2.11 "Address Classes and Address Spaces", remove the last paragraph and replace it with the following paragraphs:

Any debugging information entry representing a pointer or reference type may also have a DW_AT_address_space attribute, whose value is a non-negative integer constant which identifies the address space to which the pointer refers. The value DW_ASPACE_default identifies the default address space; other values and their uses are assigned by the ABI committee for the target.

Address space identifiers are also used by the DWARF operations DW_OP_mem (see Section 3.7), DW_OP_aspace_bregx (see Section 3.7), and DW_OP_aspace_deref* (see Section 3.13).

In Section 3.1 DWARF Expression Evaluation Context in point 5 Current thread change the second paragraph to:

The current thread identifies a current thread of execution. By extension, the current thread is also used by consumers to identify which processor within a multi-processor target, a thread is executing on. The processor that a thread is executing on determines which instance of a register to refer to, and when a target has address spaces which are local a particular processor, it defines which instance of that address space it should refer to.

When debugging a multi-threaded program, the current thread may be selected by a user command that focuses on a specific thread, or it may be selected automatically when the running thread stops at a breakpoint.

Then after the last paragraph add:

On a multi-processor target a current thread is required to identify which instance of a register any register operation is referring to.

On multi-processor targets which support address spaces which are local to a processor, a current thread is required to identify the instance of the address space that a memory operation refers to.

In Section 3.7 "Memory Locations", add the following at the end of the first paragraph:

If not specified, the storage associated with a memory location defaults to DW_ASPACE_default, the name for the default address space.

After the definition of DW_OP_addrx add:

1. DW_OP_mem

   

   DW_OP_mem pops top two stack entries, an address A and an address space identifier AS. The address A must be an integral value which represents a valid offset into the address space AS. The address space AS must be an integral type value that represents a target architecture specific address space identifier.

   DW_OP_addr(X) is a more compact form of DW_OP_lit0; DW_OP_constNu(X); DW_OP_mem.

   The address identifier value AS must be one of the values defined by the architecture's ABI.

After the definition of DW_OP_bregx add:

1. DW_OP_aspace_bregx (udata R, sdata B)

   

   DW_OP_aspace_bregx has two immediate operands. The first is a ULEB integer that represents a register number R. The second is a SLEB integer that represents a byte displacement B. It pops one stack entry that is required to be an integral type value that represents a target architecture specific address space identifier AS.

   The action is the same as for DW_OP_bregx, except that AS is used as the address space identifier.

   The address identifier value AS must be one of the values defined by the architecture's ABI.

   Target architectures are encouraged to define DW_ASPACE_* constants for their address spaces.

In section 3.13, rename DW_OP_xderef* to DW_OP_aspace_deref* and note that DW_OP_xderef* is still available as an alias.

Change the description of DW_OP_aspace_deref to

DW_OP_aspace_deref pops top two stack entries, an address A and an address space identifier AS. The address A must be an integral value which represents the offset into the address space AS. The address space AS must be an integral type value that represents a target architecture specific address space identifier. A data item whose size is the size of the generic type is retrieved from the memory location L whose address space AS and whose address is A.

Change the description of DW_OP_aspace_deref_size to:

DW_OP_aspace_deref_size takes a single 1-byte unsigned integral operand that specifies the size S, in bytes, of the value to be retrieved. It pops the top two stack entries, an address A and an address space identifier AS. The address A must be an integral value which represents the offset into the address space AS. The address space AS must be an integral type value that represents a target architecture specific address space identifier. DW_OP_aspace_deref_size behaves like DW_OP_aspace_deref except a data item whose size is S rather than the size of a generic type is retrieved from the memory location L whose address space AS and whose address is A.

Change the description of DW_OP_aspace_deref_size to:

DW_OP_aspace_deref_type takes two operands. The first operand is a 1-byte unsigned integer that specifies the byte size S of the type given by the second operand. The second operand is an ULEB integer that represents the offset of a debugging information entry in the current compilation unit, which must be a DW_TAG_base_type entry that provides the type T of the value to be retrieved. The size S must be the same as the byte size of the base type represented by the type T. It pops the top two stack entries, an address A and an address space identifier AS. The address A must be an integral value which represents the offset into the address space AS. The address space AS must be an integral type value that represents a target architecture specific address space identifier. DW_OP_aspace_deref_type behaves like DW_OP_aspace_deref except a data item whose size is S rather than the size of a generic type is retrieved from the memory location L whose address space AS and whose address is A and pushed onto the stack as a value of type T.

In Section 6.3 "Type Modifier Entries", after the paragraph starting "A modified type entry describing a pointer or reference type...", add the following paragraph:

A modified type entry describing a pointer or reference type (using DW_TAG_pointer_type, DW_TAG_reference_type or DW_TAG_rvalue_reference_type) may have a DW_AT_address_space attribute with a constant value AS representing an architecture specific DWARF address space (see 2.12 "Address Spaces"). If omitted, this defaults to DW_ASPACE_default. The address space of a memory location which is not in the default address space is set as if the expression DW_OP_constu AS; DW_OP_mem were evaluated for that instance of the variable.

In Section 7.1.1.1 "Contents of the Name Index", replace the bullet:

• DW_TAG_variable debugging information entries with a DW_AT_location attribute that includes a DW_OP_addr or DW_OP_form_tls_address operator are included; otherwise, they are excluded.

with:

• DW_TAG_variable debugging information entries with a DW_AT_location attribute that includes a DW_OP_addr, DW_OP_mem, or DW_OP_form_tls_address operator are included; otherwise, they are excluded.

In Section 8.5.4 "Attribute Encodings", add the following row to Table 8.5 "Attribute encodings":

Table 8.5: Attribute encodings

Attribute Name	Value	Classes
DW_AT_address_space	TBA	constant

Add the following rows to table 8.9 in Section "8.7.1 Operator Encodings":

Operation	Code	Number of Operands	Notes
DW_OP_mem	TBA	0
DW_OP_aspace_bregx	TBA	2	ULEB register number, SLEB byte displacement

After Section 8.13 "Address Class Encodings" add the following section:

8.x Address Space Encodings

The value DW_ASPACE_default is 0, which identifies the default address space.

In Section 8.31 "Type Signature Computation", Table 8.32 "Attributes used in type signature computation", add the following attribute in alphabetical order to the list:

DW_AT_address_space

In Appendix A "Attributes by Tag Value (Informative)", add the following to Table A.1 Attributes by tag value":

Table A.1: Attributes by tag value

Tag Name	Applicable Attributes
DW_TAG_pointer_type	DW_AT_address_space
DW_TAG_reference_type	DW_AT_address_space
DW_TAG_rvalue_reference_type	DW_AT_address_space

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2026-04-13: Revised based on suggestions from Ron B.

2026-05-19: Further revisions: Remove completely old Section 2.11 on Address Classes.

2026-06-16: Revised based on 6/8/26 meeting. Restored Section 2.11 Address Classes. Fixed definition of DW_OP_aspace_bregx.

2026-06-18: Revised to address discussion since 6/8/26 meeting. Now depends on 260617.1. Removed addition of Section 2.12; added extra paragraphs to Section 2.11. Added text to Section 3.1 DWARF Expression Evaluation Context, "current thread". Rewrote description of DW_OP_mem; removed discussion of context and truncation. Added new descriptions for DW_OP_aspace_deref*. Shortened new text in Section 6.3 Type Modifier Entries.