__outer_call

One of the most useful features of Offload™ is being able to call a function on PPU from SPU using __outer_call.

#include <liboffload>
static int foo() __outer_call;

static int func()
{
	offloadThread_t handle = __offload()
	{
		int bar = foo(); // calls back onto the PPU and performs its execution there
	};
}

In the above example, the function foo will have its execution performed on the PPU, before returning the result back within the Offload™ context. This may be useful for example for PPU memory allocations from the SPU.

Some restrictions apply on functions with the outer_call attribute.

• cannot be virtual methods
• all pointer variables must be outer pointers (pointers to main memory)
• the this pointer (if a non-static member function) must be an outer pointer
• all duplicated types must be outer

__outer_call is simply a define to __attribute__((outer_call)) within the library header.

Note that outer calls interrupt the PPU, so doing many outer calls severly impact performance!