cmd/gc, runtime: treat slices and strings like pointers in garbage collection

Before, a slice with cap=0 or a string with len=0 might have its
base pointer pointing beyond the actual slice/string data into
the next block. The collector had to ignore slices and strings with
cap=0 in order to avoid misinterpreting the base pointer.

Now, a slice with cap=0 or a string with len=0 still has a base
pointer pointing into the actual slice/string data, no matter what.
The collector can now always scan the pointer, which means
strings and slices are no longer special.

Fixes issue 8404.

LGTM=khr, josharian
R=josharian, khr, dvyukov
CC=golang-codereviews
https://codereview.appspot.com/112570044

1 files changed, 90 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/test/slicecap.go b/test/slicecap.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dceb7e2cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/slicecap.go
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+// run
+
+// Copyright 2014 The Go Authors.  All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package main
+
+import "unsafe"
+
+var (
+	hello = "hello"
+	bytes = []byte{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
+	ints  = []int32{1, 2, 3, 4, 5}
+
+	five = 5
+
+	ok = true
+)
+
+func notOK() {
+	if ok {
+		println("BUG:")
+		ok = false
+	}
+}
+
+func checkString(desc, s string) {
+	p1 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+	p2 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&hello))
+	if p1-p2 >= 5 {
+		notOK()
+		println("string", desc, "has invalid base")
+	}
+}
+
+func checkBytes(desc string, s []byte) {
+	p1 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+	p2 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&bytes))
+	if p1-p2 >= 5 {
+		println("byte slice", desc, "has invalid base")
+	}
+}
+
+func checkInts(desc string, s []int32) {
+	p1 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&s))
+	p2 := *(*uintptr)(unsafe.Pointer(&ints))
+	if p1-p2 >= 5*4 {
+		println("int slice", desc, "has invalid base")
+	}
+}
+
+func main() {
+	{
+		x := hello
+		checkString("x", x)
+		checkString("x[5:]", x[5:])
+		checkString("x[five:]", x[five:])
+		checkString("x[5:five]", x[5:five])
+		checkString("x[five:5]", x[five:5])
+		checkString("x[five:five]", x[five:five])
+		checkString("x[1:][2:][2:]", x[1:][2:][2:])
+		y := x[4:]
+		checkString("y[1:]", y[1:])
+	}
+	{
+		x := bytes
+		checkBytes("x", x)
+		checkBytes("x[5:]", x[5:])
+		checkBytes("x[five:]", x[five:])
+		checkBytes("x[5:five]", x[5:five])
+		checkBytes("x[five:5]", x[five:5])
+		checkBytes("x[five:five]", x[five:five])
+		checkBytes("x[1:][2:][2:]", x[1:][2:][2:])
+		y := x[4:]
+		checkBytes("y[1:]", y[1:])
+	}
+	{
+		x := ints
+		checkInts("x", x)
+		checkInts("x[5:]", x[5:])
+		checkInts("x[five:]", x[five:])
+		checkInts("x[5:five]", x[5:five])
+		checkInts("x[five:5]", x[five:5])
+		checkInts("x[five:five]", x[five:five])
+		checkInts("x[1:][2:][2:]", x[1:][2:][2:])
+		y := x[4:]
+		checkInts("y[1:]", y[1:])
+	}
+}