Skip to content

Redline: a mutable global reaching a second instance gets a copy #175

Description

@andreaTP

Redline shares a mutable global with the first instance that receives it. If the same global reaches a second instance, that instance gets a copy instead, so writes by one are not visible to the other. Every other execution mode shares it.

Reproducing

Module A exports a mutable global, module B imports it and increments it, then A reads it back:

interpreter: exporter reads 101
redline:     exporter reads 100

The same happens without any exporting module, by passing one host-created global to two instances: after each of them increments it, the host object reads 11 rather than 12.

A global used by a single instance is shared correctly, and memories and tables are unaffected — they are reached through a pointer, so an importing machine simply uses the same one.

Cause

CtxBuffer.GLOBALS_PTR points at one contiguous array of 8-byte slots per machine, indexed by global index, and compiled code reads a global with a single load:

globalsPtr = load_i64(ctxPtr, GLOBALS_PTR);
rawVal     = load_i64(globalsPtr, globalIdx * 8);

A global's storage therefore has to live inside that machine's array at that module's index, and two machines cannot both hold the same global at their own index. initializeImportGlobals adopts a global that is not yet bound to any machine, and copies the value for one that is.

Suggested fix

Add indirection for imported globals only. Their slot would hold a pointer to the real storage rather than the value, making global.get two loads:

slot = load_i64(globalsPtr, idx * 8);
val  = load_i64(slot, 0);

Imports occupy indices [0, importGlobalCount), so the compiler knows statically which globals need the extra load. Module-defined globals — the common case — keep the single-load fast path and cost nothing.

Touches emitGlobalGet/emitGlobalSet in NativeEmitters, the context layout, and initializeImportGlobals in both runners. It changes the compiled-code ABI, so it needs the full spec suite behind it.

Impact

Marginal in practice: it needs two instances plus a shared mutable global. Not a regression — the copy predates the current import work, which fixed the single-instance case.

Activity

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions