il - inline assembly in Python 3

Examples

1. Decorator API - simple

import il
import ctypes

@il.asm
def add_ints(rdi=ctypes.c_int32, rsi=ctypes.c_int32):
    """
    # return sum of two 32-bit integers
    # 64-bit Linux/MacOS call convention
    #
    .intel_syntax noprefix
    mov rax, 0
    mov eax, edi
    add eax, esi
    ret
    """
    return ctypes.c_int32

print(add_ints(43, -1))

2. Function API - powerful

add_ints = il.def_asm(
     name="add_ints",
     prototype=ctypes.CFUNCTYPE(ctypes.c_int32,  # return value (eax)
                                ctypes.c_int32,  # 1st param (edi)
                                ctypes.c_int32), # 2nd param (esi)
     code="""
     .intel_syntax noprefix
     mov rax, 0
     mov eax, edi
     add eax, esi
     ret
     """)

print(add_ints(43, -1))

Dependencies

• If object code is available: no dependencies outside Python standard library. ctypes from the standard library is needed for loading and running object code.

• If object code is not available: as and objcopy (from binutils) are required for compiling assembly.

Install

$ sudo python3 setup.py install

Library API documentation and call conventions

$ python3 -c 'import il; help(il)'

How it works

• Assume that mylib.py contains inlined assembly. By default, il looks for object code from mylib.py.il. If found, that code will be executed when inlined functions are called.

• If object code is not found, il uses binutils: as (assembler) and objcopy to compile the assembly on-the-fly and extract object code from the result. Object code is saved to mylib.py.il for later use.

• Note: il does not link object code before running it.

• You can view contents of mylib.py.il using il:

  $ python3 -c 'import il; print(il.dump_lib("mylib.py.il", disasm=False))'
  

  (Use disasm=True to disassemble the code in the dump. Requires objdump.)

Debugging inlined assembly

1. Import the library, print the pid of the Python process and the address of the function that you want to debug:

   >>> import mylib
   >>> import os
   >>> os.getpid()
   12345
   >>> print(mylib.myfunc.il_addr)
   21954560
   

2. Attach GDB to the Python process, set a breakpoint to the address and let the Python process continue.

   $ gdb -p 12345
   (gdb) layout asm
   (gdb) break *21954560
   (gdb) cont
   

3. Call the function in Python

   >>> mylib.myfunc()
   

4. Now you can step assembly instructions and see register values in GDB:

   (gdb) ni
   (gdb) info registers