Have MBEDTLS_TIMING_C require MBEDTLS_HAVE_TIME

Nowadays, the timing module just builds on a function that provides a timer
with millisecond resolution. In terms of platform requirements, this is
almost exactly equivalent to `mbedtls_ms_time()`
provides (`mbedtls_ms_time()` is arguably a little stronger because it is
supposed to last longer than a single timer object, but an application could
start a timer when it starts, so there's no real difference.) So it's a bit
silly that `timing.c` essentially reimplements this. Rely on
`mbedtls_ms_time()` instead.

This is an API break because in Mbed TLS 4.0, it was possible to enable
`MBEDTLS_TIMING_C` without `MBEDTLS_HAVE_TIME`. However, `timing.c` only
provided an implementation for Windows and Unix-like platforms, and on those
platforms, it is very likely that the default implementation of
`MBEDTLS_HAVE_TIME` would also work. (The main exception would be a platform
that has the traditional Unix function `gettimeofday()`, but not the 1990s
novelty `clock_gettime()`.) So make this an official requirement, as a
belated change that really should have gone into 4.0 if we'd taken the time
to dig into it.

Signed-off-by: Gilles Peskine <Gilles.Peskine@arm.com>
This commit is contained in:
Gilles Peskine
2026-02-19 16:26:18 +01:00
parent 4398e83f29
commit 86eac795c9
7 changed files with 17 additions and 18 deletions

5
ChangeLog.d/timing.txt Normal file
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@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
API changes
* MBEDTLS_TIMING_C now requires MBEDTLS_HAVE_TIME to be enabled in the
TF-PSA-Crypto configuration, unless MBEDTLS_TIMING_ALT is enabled.
As a benefit, platforms where the default implementation is not
supported now only need to implement MBEDTLS_PLATFORM_MS_TIME_ALT.