Annotated Ada Reference Manual (Ada 202y Draft 1)Legal Information
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C.3.1 Protected Procedure Handlers

Paragraphs 1 through 6 were moved to Annex J, “Obsolescent Features”. 

Static Semantics

6.1/3
 {AI05-0229-1} For a parameterless protected procedure, the following language-defined representation aspects may be specified: 
6.2/3
 Interrupt_Handler

The type of aspect Interrupt_Handler is Boolean. If directly specified, the aspect_definition shall be a static expression. [This aspect is never inherited;] if not directly specified, the aspect is False.
6.a/3
Aspect Description for Interrupt_Handler: Protected procedure may be attached to interrupts.
6.3/3
 Attach_Handler

The aspect Attach_Handler is an expression, which shall be of type Interrupts.Interrupt_Id. [This aspect is never inherited.]
6.b/3
Aspect Description for Attach_Handler: Protected procedure is attached to an interrupt.

Legality Rules

7/3
{AI95-00434-01} {AI05-0033-1} {AI05-0229-1} If either the Attach_Handler or Interrupt_Handler aspect are specified for a protected procedure, the corresponding protected_type_declaration or single_protected_declaration shall be a library-level declaration and shall not be declared within a generic body. In addition to the places where Legality Rules normally apply (see 12.3), this rule also applies in the private part of an instance of a generic unit.
7.a
Discussion: In the case of a protected_type_declaration, an object_declaration of an object of that type need not be at library level.
7.b/3
{AI05-0033-1} {AI05-0229-1} We cannot allow these aspects in protected declarations in a generic body, because legality rules are not checked for instance bodies, and these should not be allowed if the instance is not at the library level. The protected types can be declared in the private part if this is desired. Note that while the 'Access to use the handler would provide the check in the case of Interrupt_Handler, there is no other check for Attach_Handler. Since these aspects are so similar, we want the rules to be the same.
8/3
This paragraph was deleted.{AI95-00253-01} {AI95-00303-01} {AI05-0033-1}

Dynamic Semantics

9/3
{AI05-0229-1} If the Interrupt_Handler aspect of a protected procedure is True, then the procedure may be attached dynamically, as a handler, to interrupts (see C.3.2). [Such procedures are allowed to be attached to multiple interrupts.]
10/3
{AI05-0229-1} The expression specified for the Attach_Handler aspect of a protected procedure P is evaluated as part of the creation of the protected object that contains P. The value of the expression identifies an interrupt. As part of the initialization of that object, P (the handler procedure) is attached to the identified interrupt. A check is made that the corresponding interrupt is not reserved. Program_Error is raised if the check fails, and the existing treatment for the interrupt is not affected.
11/3
{AI95-00434-01} {AI05-0229-1} If the Ceiling_Locking policy (see D.3) is in effect, then upon the initialization of a protected object that contains a protected procedure for which either the Attach_Handler aspect is specified or the Interrupt_Handler aspect is True, a check is made that the initial ceiling priority of the object is in the range of System.Interrupt_Priority. If the check fails, Program_Error is raised.
12/3
{8652/0068} {AI95-00121-01} {AI05-0229-1} When a protected object is finalized, for any of its procedures that are attached to interrupts, the handler is detached. If the handler was attached by a procedure in the Interrupts package or if no user handler was previously attached to the interrupt, the default treatment is restored. If the Attach_Handler aspect was specified and the most recently attached handler for the same interrupt is the same as the one that was attached at the time the protected object was initialized, the previous handler is restored. 
12.a/3
Discussion: {8652/0068} {AI95-00121-01} {AI95-00303-01} {AI05-0229-1} If all protected objects for interrupt handlers are declared at the library level, the finalization discussed above occurs only as part of the finalization of all library-level packages in a partition. However, objects of a protected type containing procedures with an Attach_Handler aspect specified need not be at the library level. Thus, an implementation needs to be able to restore handlers during the execution of the program. (An object with an Interrupt_Handler aspect also need not be at the library level, but such a handler cannot be attached to an interrupt using the Interrupts package.) 
13
When a handler is attached to an interrupt, the interrupt is blocked [(subject to the Implementation Permission in C.3)] during the execution of every protected action on the protected object containing the handler.
13.1/5
  {AI12-0252-1} If restriction No_Dynamic_Attachment is in effect, then a check is made that the interrupt identified by an Attach_Handler aspect does not appear in any previously elaborated Attach_Handler aspect; Program_Error is raised if this check fails.
13.a/5
Reason: When No_Dynamic_Attachment is in effect, it is not possible to call any previous handler. Therefore, the only possibility is to replace the original handler, rendering it ineffective. Having an unused handler in a program is likely a bug, so we require an exception to be raised. 

Erroneous Execution

14
If the Ceiling_Locking policy (see D.3) is in effect and an interrupt is delivered to a handler, and the interrupt hardware priority is higher than the ceiling priority of the corresponding protected object, the execution of the program is erroneous.
14.1/3
  {8652/0068} {AI95-00121-01} {AI05-0229-1} If the handlers for a given interrupt attached via aspect Attach_Handler are not attached and detached in a stack-like (LIFO) order, program execution is erroneous. In particular, when a protected object is finalized, the execution is erroneous if any of the procedures of the protected object are attached to interrupts via aspect Attach_Handler and the most recently attached handler for the same interrupt is not the same as the one that was attached at the time the protected object was initialized. 
14.a/3
Discussion: {8652/0068} {AI95-00121-01} {AI05-0229-1} This simplifies implementation of the Attach_Handler aspect by not requiring a check that the current handler is the same as the one attached by the initialization of a protected object. 

Metrics

15
The following metric shall be documented by the implementation: 
16/2
{AI95-00434-01} The worst-case overhead for an interrupt handler that is a parameterless protected procedure, in clock cycles. This is the execution time not directly attributable to the handler procedure or the interrupted execution. It is estimated as C – (A+B), where A is how long it takes to complete a given sequence of instructions without any interrupt, B is how long it takes to complete a normal call to a given protected procedure, and C is how long it takes to complete the same sequence of instructions when it is interrupted by one execution of the same procedure called via an interrupt. 
16.a
Implementation Note: The instruction sequence and interrupt handler used to measure interrupt handling overhead should be chosen so as to maximize the execution time cost due to cache misses. For example, if the processor has cache memory and the activity of an interrupt handler could invalidate the contents of cache memory, the handler should be written such that it invalidates all of the cache memory. 
16.b/2
Documentation Requirement: The metrics for interrupt handlers.

Implementation Permissions

17/3
{AI05-0229-1} When the aspects Attach_Handler or Interrupt_Handler are specified for a protected procedure, the implementation is allowed to impose implementation-defined restrictions on the corresponding protected_type_declaration and protected_body.
17.a
Ramification: The restrictions may be on the constructs that are allowed within them, and on ordinary calls (i.e. not via interrupts) on protected operations in these protected objects. 
17.b/3
Implementation defined: Any restrictions on a protected procedure or its containing type when an aspect Attach_handler or Interrupt_Handler is specified.
18
An implementation may use a different mechanism for invoking a protected procedure in response to a hardware interrupt than is used for a call to that protected procedure from a task. 
18.a
Discussion: This is despite the fact that the priority of an interrupt handler (see D.1) is modeled after a hardware task calling the handler. 
19/3
{AI05-0229-1} Notwithstanding what this subclause says elsewhere, the Attach_Handler and Interrupt_Handler aspects are allowed to be used for other, implementation defined, forms of interrupt handlers. 
19.a/3
Ramification: {AI05-0229-1} For example, if an implementation wishes to allow interrupt handlers to have parameters, it is allowed to do so via these aspects; it need not invent implementation-defined aspects for the purpose. 
19.b/3
Implementation defined: Any other forms of interrupt handler supported by the Attach_Handler and Interrupt_Handler aspects.

Implementation Advice

20
Whenever possible, the implementation should allow interrupt handlers to be called directly by the hardware. 
20.a/2
Implementation Advice: Interrupt handlers should be called directly by the hardware.
21
Whenever practical, the implementation should detect violations of any implementation-defined restrictions before run time.
21.a/2
Implementation Advice: Violations of any implementation-defined restrictions on interrupt handlers should be detected before run time.
22/5
NOTE 1   {AI05-0229-1} {AI12-0440-1} The Attach_Handler aspect can provide static attachment of handlers to interrupts if the implementation supports preelaboration of protected objects. (See C.4.)
23/5
NOTE 2   {AI95-00434-01} {AI12-0442-1} For a protected object that has a (protected) procedure attached to an interrupt, the correct ceiling priority is at least as high as the highest processor priority at which that interrupt will ever be delivered.
24
NOTE 3   Protected procedures can also be attached dynamically to interrupts via operations declared in the predefined package Interrupts.
25
NOTE 4   An example of a possible implementation-defined restriction is disallowing the use of the standard storage pools within the body of a protected procedure that is an interrupt handler.

Incompatibilities With Ada 95

25.a/2
{AI95-00253-01} Amendment Correction: Corrected the wording so that the rules for the use of Attach_Handler and Interrupt_Handler are identical. This means that uses of pragma Interrupt_Handler outside of the target protected type or single protected object are now illegal.

Wording Changes from Ada 95

25.b/2
{8652/0068} {AI95-00121-01} Corrigendum: Clarified the meaning of “the previous handler” when finalizing protected objects containing interrupt handlers.
25.c/2
{AI95-00303-01} Dropped the requirement that an object of a type containing an Interrupt_Handler pragma must be declared at the library level. This was a generic contract model violation. This change is not an extension, as an attempt to attach such a handler with a routine in package Interrupts will fail an accessibility check anyway. Moreover, implementations can retain the rule as an implementation-defined restriction on the use of the type, as permitted by the Implementation Permissions above. 

Extensions to Ada 2005

25.d/3
{AI05-0229-1} Aspects Interrupt_Handler and Attach_Handler are new; pragmas Interrupt_Handler and Attach_Handler are now obsolescent. 

Wording Changes from Ada 2005

25.e/3
{AI05-0033-1} Correction: Added missing generic contract wording for the aspects Attach_Handler and Interrupt_Handler. 

Inconsistencies With Ada 2012

25.f/5
{AI12-0252-1} Correction: Program_Error might be raised if two handlers are attached when restriction No_Dynamic_Attachment is in effect (including as part of the Ravenscar profile). Original Ada 2012 would have just ignored the first handler. This is almost certainly a bug rather than an intended result. 

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