Issue
I understand that in 32 bit you have segments where each segment would map to a base and limit. Therefore, a segment wouldn't be able to access another segments data.
With 64 bit, we throw away most of the segments and have a base of 0 with no limit, thus accessing the entire 64 bit address space. But I get confused when they state we have FS and GS registers for thread local storage and additional data.
If the default segment can access anything in the linear address space, then what is stopping the program from corrupting or accessing the FS/GS segments? The OS would have to keep track of FS/GS and make sure nothing else gets allocated there right? How does this work?
Also, if the default area can access anything, then why do we even have FS/GS. I guess FS makes sense because we can just switch the register during a thread switch. But why even use GS? Why not malloc memory instead? Sorry I am new to OS.
Solution
In 64-bit mode, the FS and GS "segment registers" aren't really used, per se. But using an FS or GS segment override for a memory access causes the address to be offset by the value contained in a hidden FSBASE/GSBASE register which can be set by a special instruction (possibly privileged, in which case a system call can ask the kernel to do it). So for instance, if FSBASE = 0x12340000 and RDI = 0x56789, then MOV AL, FS:[RDI] will load from linear address 0x12396789.
This is still just a linear address - it's not separate from the rest of the process's address space in any way, and it's subject to all the same paging and memory protection as any other memory access. The program could get the exact same effect with MOV AL, [0x12396789] (since DS has a base of 0). It is up to the program's usual memory allocation mechanisms to allocate an appropriate block of memory and set FSBASE to point to that block, if it intends to use FS in this way. There are no special protections needed to avoid "corrupting" this memory, any more than they are needed to prevent a program from corrupting any other part of its own memory.
So it doesn't really provide new functionality - it's more a convenience for programmers and compilers. As you say, it's nice for something like a pointer to thread-local storage, but if we didn't have FS/GS, there are plenty of other ways we could keep such a pointer in the thread's state (say, reserving R15). It's true that there's not an obvious general need for two such registers; for the most part, the other one is just there in case someone comes up with a good way to use it in a particular program.
See also:
Answered By - Nate Eldredge