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| author | mike-m <mikem.llvm@gmail.com> | 2010-05-07 00:28:04 +0000 |
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| committer | mike-m <mikem.llvm@gmail.com> | 2010-05-07 00:28:04 +0000 |
| commit | e2c3a49c8029ebd9ef530101cc24c66562e3dff5 (patch) | |
| tree | 91bf9600cc8df90cf99751a8f8bafc317cffc91e /docs/CodeGenerator.html | |
| parent | c10b5afbe8138b0fdf3af4ed3e1ddf96cf3cb4cb (diff) | |
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Revert r103213. It broke several sections of live website.
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diff --git a/docs/CodeGenerator.html b/docs/CodeGenerator.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..fbdc294e4a --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/CodeGenerator.html @@ -0,0 +1,2169 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> + <title>The LLVM Target-Independent Code Generator</title> + <link rel="stylesheet" href="llvm.css" type="text/css"> +</head> +<body> + +<div class="doc_title"> + The LLVM Target-Independent Code Generator +</div> + +<ol> + <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#required">Required components in the code generator</a></li> + <li><a href="#high-level-design">The high-level design of the code + generator</a></li> + <li><a href="#tablegen">Using TableGen for target description</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li><a href="#targetdesc">Target description classes</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#targetmachine">The <tt>TargetMachine</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetdata">The <tt>TargetData</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetlowering">The <tt>TargetLowering</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetregisterinfo">The <tt>TargetRegisterInfo</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetinstrinfo">The <tt>TargetInstrInfo</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetframeinfo">The <tt>TargetFrameInfo</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetsubtarget">The <tt>TargetSubtarget</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#targetjitinfo">The <tt>TargetJITInfo</tt> class</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li><a href="#codegendesc">Machine code description classes</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#machineinstr">The <tt>MachineInstr</tt> class</a></li> + <li><a href="#machinebasicblock">The <tt>MachineBasicBlock</tt> + class</a></li> + <li><a href="#machinefunction">The <tt>MachineFunction</tt> class</a></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li><a href="#codegenalgs">Target-independent code generation algorithms</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#instselect">Instruction Selection</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_intro">Introduction to SelectionDAGs</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_process">SelectionDAG Code Generation + Process</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_build">Initial SelectionDAG + Construction</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_legalize_types">SelectionDAG LegalizeTypes Phase</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_legalize">SelectionDAG Legalize Phase</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_optimize">SelectionDAG Optimization + Phase: the DAG Combiner</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_select">SelectionDAG Select Phase</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_sched">SelectionDAG Scheduling and Formation + Phase</a></li> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_future">Future directions for the + SelectionDAG</a></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#liveintervals">Live Intervals</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#livevariable_analysis">Live Variable Analysis</a></li> + <li><a href="#liveintervals_analysis">Live Intervals Analysis</a></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#regalloc">Register Allocation</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_represent">How registers are represented in + LLVM</a></li> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_howTo">Mapping virtual registers to physical + registers</a></li> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_twoAddr">Handling two address instructions</a></li> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_ssaDecon">The SSA deconstruction phase</a></li> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_fold">Instruction folding</a></li> + <li><a href="#regAlloc_builtIn">Built in register allocators</a></li> + </ul></li> + <li><a href="#codeemit">Code Emission</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#codeemit_asm">Generating Assembly Code</a></li> + <li><a href="#codeemit_bin">Generating Binary Machine Code</a></li> + </ul></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li><a href="#targetimpls">Target-specific Implementation Notes</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#tailcallopt">Tail call optimization</a></li> + <li><a href="#sibcallopt">Sibling call optimization</a></li> + <li><a href="#x86">The X86 backend</a></li> + <li><a href="#ppc">The PowerPC backend</a> + <ul> + <li><a href="#ppc_abi">LLVM PowerPC ABI</a></li> + <li><a href="#ppc_frame">Frame Layout</a></li> + <li><a href="#ppc_prolog">Prolog/Epilog</a></li> + <li><a href="#ppc_dynamic">Dynamic Allocation</a></li> + </ul></li> + </ul></li> + +</ol> + +<div class="doc_author"> + <p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a>, + <a href="mailto:isanbard@gmail.com">Bill Wendling</a>, + <a href="mailto:pronesto@gmail.com">Fernando Magno Quintao + Pereira</a> and + <a href="mailto:jlaskey@mac.com">Jim Laskey</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="doc_warning"> + <p>Warning: This is a work in progress.</p> +</div> + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<div class="doc_section"> + <a name="introduction">Introduction</a> +</div> +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The LLVM target-independent code generator is a framework that provides a + suite of reusable components for translating the LLVM internal representation + to the machine code for a specified target—either in assembly form + (suitable for a static compiler) or in binary machine code format (usable for + a JIT compiler). The LLVM target-independent code generator consists of five + main components:</p> + +<ol> + <li><a href="#targetdesc">Abstract target description</a> interfaces which + capture important properties about various aspects of the machine, + independently of how they will be used. These interfaces are defined in + <tt>include/llvm/Target/</tt>.</li> + + <li>Classes used to represent the <a href="#codegendesc">machine code</a> + being generated for a target. These classes are intended to be abstract + enough to represent the machine code for <i>any</i> target machine. These + classes are defined in <tt>include/llvm/CodeGen/</tt>.</li> + + <li><a href="#codegenalgs">Target-independent algorithms</a> used to implement + various phases of native code generation (register allocation, scheduling, + stack frame representation, etc). This code lives + in <tt>lib/CodeGen/</tt>.</li> + + <li><a href="#targetimpls">Implementations of the abstract target description + interfaces</a> for particular targets. These machine descriptions make + use of the components provided by LLVM, and can optionally provide custom + target-specific passes, to build complete code generators for a specific + target. Target descriptions live in <tt>lib/Target/</tt>.</li> + + <li><a href="#jit">The target-independent JIT components</a>. The LLVM JIT is + completely target independent (it uses the <tt>TargetJITInfo</tt> + structure to interface for target-specific issues. The code for the + target-independent JIT lives in <tt>lib/ExecutionEngine/JIT</tt>.</li> +</ol> + +<p>Depending on which part of the code generator you are interested in working + on, different pieces of this will be useful to you. In any case, you should + be familiar with the <a href="#targetdesc">target description</a> + and <a href="#codegendesc">machine code representation</a> classes. If you + want to add a backend for a new target, you will need + to <a href="#targetimpls">implement the target description</a> classes for + your new target and understand the <a href="LangRef.html">LLVM code + representation</a>. If you are interested in implementing a + new <a href="#codegenalgs">code generation algorithm</a>, it should only + depend on the target-description and machine code representation classes, + ensuring that it is portable.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="required">Required components in the code generator</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The two pieces of the LLVM code generator are the high-level interface to the + code generator and the set of reusable components that can be used to build + target-specific backends. The two most important interfaces + (<a href="#targetmachine"><tt>TargetMachine</tt></a> + and <a href="#targetdata"><tt>TargetData</tt></a>) are the only ones that are + required to be defined for a backend to fit into the LLVM system, but the + others must be defined if the reusable code generator components are going to + be used.</p> + +<p>This design has two important implications. The first is that LLVM can + support completely non-traditional code generation targets. For example, the + C backend does not require register allocation, instruction selection, or any + of the other standard components provided by the system. As such, it only + implements these two interfaces, and does its own thing. Another example of + a code generator like this is a (purely hypothetical) backend that converts + LLVM to the GCC RTL form and uses GCC to emit machine code for a target.</p> + +<p>This design also implies that it is possible to design and implement + radically different code generators in the LLVM system that do not make use + of any of the built-in components. Doing so is not recommended at all, but + could be required for radically different targets that do not fit into the + LLVM machine description model: FPGAs for example.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="high-level-design">The high-level design of the code generator</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The LLVM target-independent code generator is designed to support efficient + and quality code generation for standard register-based microprocessors. + Code generation in this model is divided into the following stages:</p> + +<ol> + <li><b><a href="#instselect">Instruction Selection</a></b> — This phase + determines an efficient way to express the input LLVM code in the target + instruction set. This stage produces the initial code for the program in + the target instruction set, then makes use of virtual registers in SSA + form and physical registers that represent any required register + assignments due to target constraints or calling conventions. This step + turns the LLVM code into a DAG of target instructions.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#selectiondag_sched">Scheduling and Formation</a></b> — + This phase takes the DAG of target instructions produced by the + instruction selection phase, determines an ordering of the instructions, + then emits the instructions + as <tt><a href="#machineinstr">MachineInstr</a></tt>s with that ordering. + Note that we describe this in the <a href="#instselect">instruction + selection section</a> because it operates on + a <a href="#selectiondag_intro">SelectionDAG</a>.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#ssamco">SSA-based Machine Code Optimizations</a></b> — + This optional stage consists of a series of machine-code optimizations + that operate on the SSA-form produced by the instruction selector. + Optimizations like modulo-scheduling or peephole optimization work + here.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#regalloc">Register Allocation</a></b> — The target code + is transformed from an infinite virtual register file in SSA form to the + concrete register file used by the target. This phase introduces spill + code and eliminates all virtual register references from the program.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#proepicode">Prolog/Epilog Code Insertion</a></b> — Once + the machine code has been generated for the function and the amount of + stack space required is known (used for LLVM alloca's and spill slots), + the prolog and epilog code for the function can be inserted and "abstract + stack location references" can be eliminated. This stage is responsible + for implementing optimizations like frame-pointer elimination and stack + packing.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#latemco">Late Machine Code Optimizations</a></b> — + Optimizations that operate on "final" machine code can go here, such as + spill code scheduling and peephole optimizations.</li> + + <li><b><a href="#codeemit">Code Emission</a></b> — The final stage + actually puts out the code for the current function, either in the target + assembler format or in machine code.</li> +</ol> + +<p>The code generator is based on the assumption that the instruction selector + will use an optimal pattern matching selector to create high-quality + sequences of native instructions. Alternative code generator designs based + on pattern expansion and aggressive iterative peephole optimization are much + slower. This design permits efficient compilation (important for JIT + environments) and aggressive optimization (used when generating code offline) + by allowing components of varying levels of sophistication to be used for any + step of compilation.</p> + +<p>In addition to these stages, target implementations can insert arbitrary + target-specific passes into the flow. For example, the X86 target uses a + special pass to handle the 80x87 floating point stack architecture. Other + targets with unusual requirements can be supported with custom passes as + needed.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="tablegen">Using TableGen for target description</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The target description classes require a detailed description of the target + architecture. These target descriptions often have a large amount of common + information (e.g., an <tt>add</tt> instruction is almost identical to a + <tt>sub</tt> instruction). In order to allow the maximum amount of + commonality to be factored out, the LLVM code generator uses + the <a href="TableGenFundamentals.html">TableGen</a> tool to describe big + chunks of the target machine, which allows the use of domain-specific and + target-specific abstractions to reduce the amount of repetition.</p> + +<p>As LLVM continues to be developed and refined, we plan to move more and more + of the target description to the <tt>.td</tt> form. Doing so gives us a + number of advantages. The most important is that it makes it easier to port + LLVM because it reduces the amount of C++ code that has to be written, and + the surface area of the code generator that needs to be understood before + someone can get something working. Second, it makes it easier to change + things. In particular, if tables and other things are all emitted + by <tt>tblgen</tt>, we only need a change in one place (<tt>tblgen</tt>) to + update all of the targets to a new interface.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<div class="doc_section"> + <a name="targetdesc">Target description classes</a> +</div> +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The LLVM target description classes (located in the + <tt>include/llvm/Target</tt> directory) provide an abstract description of + the target machine independent of any particular client. These classes are + designed to capture the <i>abstract</i> properties of the target (such as the + instructions and registers it has), and do not incorporate any particular + pieces of code generation algorithms.</p> + +<p>All of the target description classes (except the + <tt><a href="#targetdata">TargetData</a></tt> class) are designed to be + subclassed by the concrete target implementation, and have virtual methods + implemented. To get to these implementations, the + <tt><a href="#targetmachine">TargetMachine</a></tt> class provides accessors + that should be implemented by the target.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetmachine">The <tt>TargetMachine</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetMachine</tt> class provides virtual methods that are used to + access the target-specific implementations of the various target description + classes via the <tt>get*Info</tt> methods (<tt>getInstrInfo</tt>, + <tt>getRegisterInfo</tt>, <tt>getFrameInfo</tt>, etc.). This class is + designed to be specialized by a concrete target implementation + (e.g., <tt>X86TargetMachine</tt>) which implements the various virtual + methods. The only required target description class is + the <a href="#targetdata"><tt>TargetData</tt></a> class, but if the code + generator components are to be used, the other interfaces should be + implemented as well.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetdata">The <tt>TargetData</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetData</tt> class is the only required target description class, + and it is the only class that is not extensible (you cannot derived a new + class from it). <tt>TargetData</tt> specifies information about how the + target lays out memory for structures, the alignment requirements for various + data types, the size of pointers in the target, and whether the target is + little-endian or big-endian.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetlowering">The <tt>TargetLowering</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetLowering</tt> class is used by SelectionDAG based instruction + selectors primarily to describe how LLVM code should be lowered to + SelectionDAG operations. Among other things, this class indicates:</p> + +<ul> + <li>an initial register class to use for various <tt>ValueType</tt>s,</li> + + <li>which operations are natively supported by the target machine,</li> + + <li>the return type of <tt>setcc</tt> operations,</li> + + <li>the type to use for shift amounts, and</li> + + <li>various high-level characteristics, like whether it is profitable to turn + division by a constant into a multiplication sequence</li> +</ul> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetregisterinfo">The <tt>TargetRegisterInfo</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetRegisterInfo</tt> class is used to describe the register file + of the target and any interactions between the registers.</p> + +<p>Registers in the code generator are represented in the code generator by + unsigned integers. Physical registers (those that actually exist in the + target description) are unique small numbers, and virtual registers are + generally large. Note that register #0 is reserved as a flag value.</p> + +<p>Each register in the processor description has an associated + <tt>TargetRegisterDesc</tt> entry, which provides a textual name for the + register (used for assembly output and debugging dumps) and a set of aliases + (used to indicate whether one register overlaps with another).</p> + +<p>In addition to the per-register description, the <tt>TargetRegisterInfo</tt> + class exposes a set of processor specific register classes (instances of the + <tt>TargetRegisterClass</tt> class). Each register class contains sets of + registers that have the same properties (for example, they are all 32-bit + integer registers). Each SSA virtual register created by the instruction + selector has an associated register class. When the register allocator runs, + it replaces virtual registers with a physical register in the set.</p> + +<p>The target-specific implementations of these classes is auto-generated from + a <a href="TableGenFundamentals.html">TableGen</a> description of the + register file.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetinstrinfo">The <tt>TargetInstrInfo</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetInstrInfo</tt> class is used to describe the machine + instructions supported by the target. It is essentially an array of + <tt>TargetInstrDescriptor</tt> objects, each of which describes one + instruction the target supports. Descriptors define things like the mnemonic + for the opcode, the number of operands, the list of implicit register uses + and defs, whether the instruction has certain target-independent properties + (accesses memory, is commutable, etc), and holds any target-specific + flags.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetframeinfo">The <tt>TargetFrameInfo</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetFrameInfo</tt> class is used to provide information about the + stack frame layout of the target. It holds the direction of stack growth, the + known stack alignment on entry to each function, and the offset to the local + area. The offset to the local area is the offset from the stack pointer on + function entry to the first location where function data (local variables, + spill locations) can be stored.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetsubtarget">The <tt>TargetSubtarget</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetSubtarget</tt> class is used to provide information about the + specific chip set being targeted. A sub-target informs code generation of + which instructions are supported, instruction latencies and instruction + execution itinerary; i.e., which processing units are used, in what order, + and for how long.</p> + +</div> + + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="targetjitinfo">The <tt>TargetJITInfo</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>TargetJITInfo</tt> class exposes an abstract interface used by the + Just-In-Time code generator to perform target-specific activities, such as + emitting stubs. If a <tt>TargetMachine</tt> supports JIT code generation, it + should provide one of these objects through the <tt>getJITInfo</tt> + method.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<div class="doc_section"> + <a name="codegendesc">Machine code description classes</a> +</div> +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>At the high-level, LLVM code is translated to a machine specific + representation formed out of + <a href="#machinefunction"><tt>MachineFunction</tt></a>, + <a href="#machinebasicblock"><tt>MachineBasicBlock</tt></a>, + and <a href="#machineinstr"><tt>MachineInstr</tt></a> instances (defined + in <tt>include/llvm/CodeGen</tt>). This representation is completely target + agnostic, representing instructions in their most abstract form: an opcode + and a series of operands. This representation is designed to support both an + SSA representation for machine code, as well as a register allocated, non-SSA + form.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="machineinstr">The <tt>MachineInstr</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Target machine instructions are represented as instances of the + <tt>MachineInstr</tt> class. This class is an extremely abstract way of + representing machine instructions. In particular, it only keeps track of an + opcode number and a set of operands.</p> + +<p>The opcode number is a simple unsigned integer that only has meaning to a + specific backend. All of the instructions for a target should be defined in + the <tt>*InstrInfo.td</tt> file for the target. The opcode enum values are + auto-generated from this description. The <tt>MachineInstr</tt> class does + not have any information about how to interpret the instruction (i.e., what + the semantics of the instruction are); for that you must refer to the + <tt><a href="#targetinstrinfo">TargetInstrInfo</a></tt> class.</p> + +<p>The operands of a machine instruction can be of several different types: a + register reference, a constant integer, a basic block reference, etc. In + addition, a machine operand should be marked as a def or a use of the value + (though only registers are allowed to be defs).</p> + +<p>By convention, the LLVM code generator orders instruction operands so that + all register definitions come before the register uses, even on architectures + that are normally printed in other orders. For example, the SPARC add + instruction: "<tt>add %i1, %i2, %i3</tt>" adds the "%i1", and "%i2" registers + and stores the result into the "%i3" register. In the LLVM code generator, + the operands should be stored as "<tt>%i3, %i1, %i2</tt>": with the + destination first.</p> + +<p>Keeping destination (definition) operands at the beginning of the operand + list has several advantages. In particular, the debugging printer will print + the instruction like this:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +%r3 = add %i1, %i2 +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Also if the first operand is a def, it is easier to <a href="#buildmi">create + instructions</a> whose only def is the first operand.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="buildmi">Using the <tt>MachineInstrBuilder.h</tt> functions</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Machine instructions are created by using the <tt>BuildMI</tt> functions, + located in the <tt>include/llvm/CodeGen/MachineInstrBuilder.h</tt> file. The + <tt>BuildMI</tt> functions make it easy to build arbitrary machine + instructions. Usage of the <tt>BuildMI</tt> functions look like this:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +// Create a 'DestReg = mov 42' (rendered in X86 assembly as 'mov DestReg, 42') +// instruction. The '1' specifies how many operands will be added. +MachineInstr *MI = BuildMI(X86::MOV32ri, 1, DestReg).addImm(42); + +// Create the same instr, but insert it at the end of a basic block. +MachineBasicBlock &MBB = ... +BuildMI(MBB, X86::MOV32ri, 1, DestReg).addImm(42); + +// Create the same instr, but insert it before a specified iterator point. +MachineBasicBlock::iterator MBBI = ... +BuildMI(MBB, MBBI, X86::MOV32ri, 1, DestReg).addImm(42); + +// Create a 'cmp Reg, 0' instruction, no destination reg. +MI = BuildMI(X86::CMP32ri, 2).addReg(Reg).addImm(0); +// Create an 'sahf' instruction which takes no operands and stores nothing. +MI = BuildMI(X86::SAHF, 0); + +// Create a self looping branch instruction. +BuildMI(MBB, X86::JNE, 1).addMBB(&MBB); +</pre> +</div> + +<p>The key thing to remember with the <tt>BuildMI</tt> functions is that you + have to specify the number of operands that the machine instruction will + take. This allows for efficient memory allocation. You also need to specify + if operands default to be uses of values, not definitions. If you need to + add a definition operand (other than the optional destination register), you + must explicitly mark it as such:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +MI.addReg(Reg, RegState::Define); +</pre> +</div> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="fixedregs">Fixed (preassigned) registers</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>One important issue that the code generator needs to be aware of is the + presence of fixed registers. In particular, there are often places in the + instruction stream where the register allocator <em>must</em> arrange for a + particular value to be in a particular register. This can occur due to + limitations of the instruction set (e.g., the X86 can only do a 32-bit divide + with the <tt>EAX</tt>/<tt>EDX</tt> registers), or external factors like + calling conventions. In any case, the instruction selector should emit code + that copies a virtual register into or out of a physical register when + needed.</p> + +<p>For example, consider this simple LLVM example:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +define i32 @test(i32 %X, i32 %Y) { + %Z = udiv i32 %X, %Y + ret i32 %Z +} +</pre> +</div> + +<p>The X86 instruction selector produces this machine code for the <tt>div</tt> + and <tt>ret</tt> (use "<tt>llc X.bc -march=x86 -print-machineinstrs</tt>" to + get this):</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +;; Start of div +%EAX = mov %reg1024 ;; Copy X (in reg1024) into EAX +%reg1027 = sar %reg1024, 31 +%EDX = mov %reg1027 ;; Sign extend X into EDX +idiv %reg1025 ;; Divide by Y (in reg1025) +%reg1026 = mov %EAX ;; Read the result (Z) out of EAX + +;; Start of ret +%EAX = mov %reg1026 ;; 32-bit return value goes in EAX +ret +</pre> +</div> + +<p>By the end of code generation, the register allocator has coalesced the + registers and deleted the resultant identity moves producing the following + code:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +;; X is in EAX, Y is in ECX +mov %EAX, %EDX +sar %EDX, 31 +idiv %ECX +ret +</pre> +</div> + +<p>This approach is extremely general (if it can handle the X86 architecture, it + can handle anything!) and allows all of the target specific knowledge about + the instruction stream to be isolated in the instruction selector. Note that + physical registers should have a short lifetime for good code generation, and + all physical registers are assumed dead on entry to and exit from basic + blocks (before register allocation). Thus, if you need a value to be live + across basic block boundaries, it <em>must</em> live in a virtual + register.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="ssa">Machine code in SSA form</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p><tt>MachineInstr</tt>'s are initially selected in SSA-form, and are + maintained in SSA-form until register allocation happens. For the most part, + this is trivially simple since LLVM is already in SSA form; LLVM PHI nodes + become machine code PHI nodes, and virtual registers are only allowed to have + a single definition.</p> + +<p>After register allocation, machine code is no longer in SSA-form because + there are no virtual registers left in the code.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="machinebasicblock">The <tt>MachineBasicBlock</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>MachineBasicBlock</tt> class contains a list of machine instructions + (<tt><a href="#machineinstr">MachineInstr</a></tt> instances). It roughly + corresponds to the LLVM code input to the instruction selector, but there can + be a one-to-many mapping (i.e. one LLVM basic block can map to multiple + machine basic blocks). The <tt>MachineBasicBlock</tt> class has a + "<tt>getBasicBlock</tt>" method, which returns the LLVM basic block that it + comes from.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="machinefunction">The <tt>MachineFunction</tt> class</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <tt>MachineFunction</tt> class contains a list of machine basic blocks + (<tt><a href="#machinebasicblock">MachineBasicBlock</a></tt> instances). It + corresponds one-to-one with the LLVM function input to the instruction + selector. In addition to a list of basic blocks, + the <tt>MachineFunction</tt> contains a a <tt>MachineConstantPool</tt>, + a <tt>MachineFrameInfo</tt>, a <tt>MachineFunctionInfo</tt>, and a + <tt>MachineRegisterInfo</tt>. See + <tt>include/llvm/CodeGen/MachineFunction.h</tt> for more information.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<div class="doc_section"> + <a name="codegenalgs">Target-independent code generation algorithms</a> +</div> +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>This section documents the phases described in the + <a href="#high-level-design">high-level design of the code generator</a>. + It explains how they work and some of the rationale behind their design.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="instselect">Instruction Selection</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Instruction Selection is the process of translating LLVM code presented to + the code generator into target-specific machine instructions. There are + several well-known ways to do this in the literature. LLVM uses a + SelectionDAG based instruction selector.</p> + +<p>Portions of the DAG instruction selector are generated from the target + description (<tt>*.td</tt>) files. Our goal is for the entire instruction + selector to be generated from these <tt>.td</tt> files, though currently + there are still things that require custom C++ code.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_intro">Introduction to SelectionDAGs</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The SelectionDAG provides an abstraction for code representation in a way + that is amenable to instruction selection using automatic techniques + (e.g. dynamic-programming based optimal pattern matching selectors). It is + also well-suited to other phases of code generation; in particular, + instruction scheduling (SelectionDAG's are very close to scheduling DAGs + post-selection). Additionally, the SelectionDAG provides a host + representation where a large variety of very-low-level (but + target-independent) <a href="#selectiondag_optimize">optimizations</a> may be + performed; ones which require extensive information about the instructions + efficiently supported by the target.</p> + +<p>The SelectionDAG is a Directed-Acyclic-Graph whose nodes are instances of the + <tt>SDNode</tt> class. The primary payload of the <tt>SDNode</tt> is its + operation code (Opcode) that indicates what operation the node performs and + the operands to the operation. The various operation node types are + described at the top of the <tt>include/llvm/CodeGen/SelectionDAGNodes.h</tt> + file.</p> + +<p>Although most operations define a single value, each node in the graph may + define multiple values. For example, a combined div/rem operation will + define both the dividend and the remainder. Many other situations require + multiple values as well. Each node also has some number of operands, which + are edges to the node defining the used value. Because nodes may define + multiple values, edges are represented by instances of the <tt>SDValue</tt> + class, which is a <tt><SDNode, unsigned></tt> pair, indicating the node + and result value being used, respectively. Each value produced by + an <tt>SDNode</tt> has an associated <tt>MVT</tt> (Machine Value Type) + indicating what the type of the value is.</p> + +<p>SelectionDAGs contain two different kinds of values: those that represent + data flow and those that represent control flow dependencies. Data values + are simple edges with an integer or floating point value type. Control edges + are represented as "chain" edges which are of type <tt>MVT::Other</tt>. + These edges provide an ordering between nodes that have side effects (such as + loads, stores, calls, returns, etc). All nodes that have side effects should + take a token chain as input and produce a new one as output. By convention, + token chain inputs are always operand #0, and chain results are always the + last value produced by an operation.</p> + +<p>A SelectionDAG has designated "Entry" and "Root" nodes. The Entry node is + always a marker node with an Opcode of <tt>ISD::EntryToken</tt>. The Root + node is the final side-effecting node in the token chain. For example, in a + single basic block function it would be the return node.</p> + +<p>One important concept for SelectionDAGs is the notion of a "legal" vs. + "illegal" DAG. A legal DAG for a target is one that only uses supported + operations and supported types. On a 32-bit PowerPC, for example, a DAG with + a value of type i1, i8, i16, or i64 would be illegal, as would a DAG that + uses a SREM or UREM operation. The + <a href="#selectinodag_legalize_types">legalize types</a> and + <a href="#selectiondag_legalize">legalize operations</a> phases are + responsible for turning an illegal DAG into a legal DAG.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_process">SelectionDAG Instruction Selection Process</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>SelectionDAG-based instruction selection consists of the following steps:</p> + +<ol> + <li><a href="#selectiondag_build">Build initial DAG</a> — This stage + performs a simple translation from the input LLVM code to an illegal + SelectionDAG.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_optimize">Optimize SelectionDAG</a> — This + stage performs simple optimizations on the SelectionDAG to simplify it, + and recognize meta instructions (like rotates + and <tt>div</tt>/<tt>rem</tt> pairs) for targets that support these meta + operations. This makes the resultant code more efficient and + the <a href="#selectiondag_select">select instructions from DAG</a> phase + (below) simpler.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_legalize_types">Legalize SelectionDAG Types</a> + — This stage transforms SelectionDAG nodes to eliminate any types + that are unsupported on the target.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_optimize">Optimize SelectionDAG</a> — The + SelectionDAG optimizer is run to clean up redundancies exposed by type + legalization.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_legalize">Legalize SelectionDAG Types</a> — + This stage transforms SelectionDAG nodes to eliminate any types that are + unsupported on the target.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_optimize">Optimize SelectionDAG</a> — The + SelectionDAG optimizer is run to eliminate inefficiencies introduced by + operation legalization.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_select">Select instructions from DAG</a> — + Finally, the target instruction selector matches the DAG operations to + target instructions. This process translates the target-independent input + DAG into another DAG of target instructions.</li> + + <li><a href="#selectiondag_sched">SelectionDAG Scheduling and Formation</a> + — The last phase assigns a linear order to the instructions in the + target-instruction DAG and emits them into the MachineFunction being + compiled. This step uses traditional prepass scheduling techniques.</li> +</ol> + +<p>After all of these steps are complete, the SelectionDAG is destroyed and the + rest of the code generation passes are run.</p> + +<p>One great way to visualize what is going on here is to take advantage of a + few LLC command line options. The following options pop up a window + displaying the SelectionDAG at specific times (if you only get errors printed + to the console while using this, you probably + <a href="ProgrammersManual.html#ViewGraph">need to configure your system</a> + to add support for it).</p> + +<ul> + <li><tt>-view-dag-combine1-dags</tt> displays the DAG after being built, + before the first optimization pass.</li> + + <li><tt>-view-legalize-dags</tt> displays the DAG before Legalization.</li> + + <li><tt>-view-dag-combine2-dags</tt> displays the DAG before the second + optimization pass.</li> + + <li><tt>-view-isel-dags</tt> displays the DAG before the Select phase.</li> + + <li><tt>-view-sched-dags</tt> displays the DAG before Scheduling.</li> +</ul> + +<p>The <tt>-view-sunit-dags</tt> displays the Scheduler's dependency graph. + This graph is based on the final SelectionDAG, with nodes that must be + scheduled together bundled into a single scheduling-unit node, and with + immediate operands and other nodes that aren't relevant for scheduling + omitted.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_build">Initial SelectionDAG Construction</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The initial SelectionDAG is naïvely peephole expanded from the LLVM + input by the <tt>SelectionDAGLowering</tt> class in the + <tt>lib/CodeGen/SelectionDAG/SelectionDAGISel.cpp</tt> file. The intent of + this pass is to expose as much low-level, target-specific details to the + SelectionDAG as possible. This pass is mostly hard-coded (e.g. an + LLVM <tt>add</tt> turns into an <tt>SDNode add</tt> while a + <tt>getelementptr</tt> is expanded into the obvious arithmetic). This pass + requires target-specific hooks to lower calls, returns, varargs, etc. For + these features, the <tt><a href="#targetlowering">TargetLowering</a></tt> + interface is used.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_legalize_types">SelectionDAG LegalizeTypes Phase</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The Legalize phase is in charge of converting a DAG to only use the types + that are natively supported by the target.</p> + +<p>There are two main ways of converting values of unsupported scalar types to + values of supported types: converting small types to larger types + ("promoting"), and breaking up large integer types into smaller ones + ("expanding"). For example, a target might require that all f32 values are + promoted to f64 and that all i1/i8/i16 values are promoted to i32. The same + target might require that all i64 values be expanded into pairs of i32 + values. These changes can insert sign and zero extensions as needed to make + sure that the final code has the same behavior as the input.</p> + +<p>There are two main ways of converting values of unsupported vector types to + value of supported types: splitting vector types, multiple times if + necessary, until a legal type is found, and extending vector types by adding + elements to the end to round them out to legal types ("widening"). If a + vector gets split all the way down to single-element parts with no supported + vector type being found, the elements are converted to scalars + ("scalarizing").</p> + +<p>A target implementation tells the legalizer which types are supported (and + which register class to use for them) by calling the + <tt>addRegisterClass</tt> method in its TargetLowering constructor.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_legalize">SelectionDAG Legalize Phase</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The Legalize phase is in charge of converting a DAG to only use the + operations that are natively supported by the target.</p> + +<p>Targets often have weird constraints, such as not supporting every operation + on every supported datatype (e.g. X86 does not support byte conditional moves + and PowerPC does not support sign-extending loads from a 16-bit memory + location). Legalize takes care of this by open-coding another sequence of + operations to emulate the operation ("expansion"), by promoting one type to a + larger type that supports the operation ("promotion"), or by using a + target-specific hook to implement the legalization ("custom").</p> + +<p>A target implementation tells the legalizer which operations are not + supported (and which of the above three actions to take) by calling the + <tt>setOperationAction</tt> method in its <tt>TargetLowering</tt> + constructor.</p> + +<p>Prior to the existence of the Legalize passes, we required that every target + <a href="#selectiondag_optimize">selector</a> supported and handled every + operator and type even if they are not natively supported. The introduction + of the Legalize phases allows all of the canonicalization patterns to be + shared across targets, and makes it very easy to optimize the canonicalized + code because it is still in the form of a DAG.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_optimize">SelectionDAG Optimization Phase: the DAG + Combiner</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The SelectionDAG optimization phase is run multiple times for code + generation, immediately after the DAG is built and once after each + legalization. The first run of the pass allows the initial code to be + cleaned up (e.g. performing optimizations that depend on knowing that the + operators have restricted type inputs). Subsequent runs of the pass clean up + the messy code generated by the Legalize passes, which allows Legalize to be + very simple (it can focus on making code legal instead of focusing on + generating <em>good</em> and legal code).</p> + +<p>One important class of optimizations performed is optimizing inserted sign + and zero extension instructions. We currently use ad-hoc techniques, but + could move to more rigorous techniques in the future. Here are some good + papers on the subject:</p> + +<p>"<a href="http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nr/pubs/widen-abstract.html">Widening + integer arithmetic</a>"<br> + Kevin Redwine and Norman Ramsey<br> + International Conference on Compiler Construction (CC) 2004</p> + +<p>"<a href="http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=512529.512552">Effective + sign extension elimination</a>"<br> + Motohiro Kawahito, Hideaki Komatsu, and Toshio Nakatani<br> + Proceedings of the ACM SIGPLAN 2002 Conference on Programming Language Design + and Implementation.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_select">SelectionDAG Select Phase</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The Select phase is the bulk of the target-specific code for instruction + selection. This phase takes a legal SelectionDAG as input, pattern matches + the instructions supported by the target to this DAG, and produces a new DAG + of target code. For example, consider the following LLVM fragment:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +%t1 = fadd float %W, %X +%t2 = fmul float %t1, %Y +%t3 = fadd float %t2, %Z +</pre> +</div> + +<p>This LLVM code corresponds to a SelectionDAG that looks basically like + this:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +(fadd:f32 (fmul:f32 (fadd:f32 W, X), Y), Z) +</pre> +</div> + +<p>If a target supports floating point multiply-and-add (FMA) operations, one of + the adds can be merged with the multiply. On the PowerPC, for example, the + output of the instruction selector might look like this DAG:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +(FMADDS (FADDS W, X), Y, Z) +</pre> +</div> + +<p>The <tt>FMADDS</tt> instruction is a ternary instruction that multiplies its +first two operands and adds the third (as single-precision floating-point +numbers). The <tt>FADDS</tt> instruction is a simple binary single-precision +add instruction. To perform this pattern match, the PowerPC backend includes +the following instruction definitions:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +def FMADDS : AForm_1<59, 29, + (ops F4RC:$FRT, F4RC:$FRA, F4RC:$FRC, F4RC:$FRB), + "fmadds $FRT, $FRA, $FRC, $FRB", + [<b>(set F4RC:$FRT, (fadd (fmul F4RC:$FRA, F4RC:$FRC), + F4RC:$FRB))</b>]>; +def FADDS : AForm_2<59, 21, + (ops F4RC:$FRT, F4RC:$FRA, F4RC:$FRB), + "fadds $FRT, $FRA, $FRB", + [<b>(set F4RC:$FRT, (fadd F4RC:$FRA, F4RC:$FRB))</b>]>; +</pre> +</div> + +<p>The portion of the instruction definition in bold indicates the pattern used + to match the instruction. The DAG operators + (like <tt>fmul</tt>/<tt>fadd</tt>) are defined in + the <tt>include/llvm/Target/TargetSelectionDAG.td</tt> file. " + <tt>F4RC</tt>" is the register class of the input and result values.</p> + +<p>The TableGen DAG instruction selector generator reads the instruction + patterns in the <tt>.td</tt> file and automatically builds parts of the + pattern matching code for your target. It has the following strengths:</p> + +<ul> + <li>At compiler-compiler time, it analyzes your instruction patterns and tells + you if your patterns make sense or not.</li> + + <li>It can handle arbitrary constraints on operands for the pattern match. In + particular, it is straight-forward to say things like "match any immediate + that is a 13-bit sign-extended value". For examples, see the + <tt>immSExt16</tt> and related <tt>tblgen</tt> classes in the PowerPC + backend.</li> + + <li>It knows several important identities for the patterns defined. For + example, it knows that addition is commutative, so it allows the + <tt>FMADDS</tt> pattern above to match "<tt>(fadd X, (fmul Y, Z))</tt>" as + well as "<tt>(fadd (fmul X, Y), Z)</tt>", without the target author having + to specially handle this case.</li> + + <li>It has a full-featured type-inferencing system. In particular, you should + rarely have to explicitly tell the system what type parts of your patterns + are. In the <tt>FMADDS</tt> case above, we didn't have to tell + <tt>tblgen</tt> that all of the nodes in the pattern are of type 'f32'. + It was able to infer and propagate this knowledge from the fact that + <tt>F4RC</tt> has type 'f32'.</li> + + <li>Targets can define their own (and rely on built-in) "pattern fragments". + Pattern fragments are chunks of reusable patterns that get inlined into + your patterns during compiler-compiler time. For example, the integer + "<tt>(not x)</tt>" operation is actually defined as a pattern fragment + that expands as "<tt>(xor x, -1)</tt>", since the SelectionDAG does not + have a native '<tt>not</tt>' operation. Targets can define their own + short-hand fragments as they see fit. See the definition of + '<tt>not</tt>' and '<tt>ineg</tt>' for examples.</li> + + <li>In addition to instructions, targets can specify arbitrary patterns that + map to one or more instructions using the 'Pat' class. For example, the + PowerPC has no way to load an arbitrary integer immediate into a register + in one instruction. To tell tblgen how to do this, it defines: + <br> + <br> +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +// Arbitrary immediate support. Implement in terms of LIS/ORI. +def : Pat<(i32 imm:$imm), + (ORI (LIS (HI16 imm:$imm)), (LO16 imm:$imm))>; +</pre> +</div> + <br> + If none of the single-instruction patterns for loading an immediate into a + register match, this will be used. This rule says "match an arbitrary i32 + immediate, turning it into an <tt>ORI</tt> ('or a 16-bit immediate') and + an <tt>LIS</tt> ('load 16-bit immediate, where the immediate is shifted to + the left 16 bits') instruction". To make this work, the + <tt>LO16</tt>/<tt>HI16</tt> node transformations are used to manipulate + the input immediate (in this case, take the high or low 16-bits of the + immediate).</li> + + <li>While the system does automate a lot, it still allows you to write custom + C++ code to match special cases if there is something that is hard to + express.</li> +</ul> + +<p>While it has many strengths, the system currently has some limitations, + primarily because it is a work in progress and is not yet finished:</p> + +<ul> + <li>Overall, there is no way to define or match SelectionDAG nodes that define + multiple values (e.g. <tt>SMUL_LOHI</tt>, <tt>LOAD</tt>, <tt>CALL</tt>, + etc). This is the biggest reason that you currently still <em>have + to</em> write custom C++ code for your instruction selector.</li> + + <li>There is no great way to support matching complex addressing modes yet. + In the future, we will extend pattern fragments to allow them to define + multiple values (e.g. the four operands of the <a href="#x86_memory">X86 + addressing mode</a>, which are currently matched with custom C++ code). + In addition, we'll extend fragments so that a fragment can match multiple + different patterns.</li> + + <li>We don't automatically infer flags like isStore/isLoad yet.</li> + + <li>We don't automatically generate the set of supported registers and + operations for the <a href="#selectiondag_legalize">Legalizer</a> + yet.</li> + + <li>We don't have a way of tying in custom legalized nodes yet.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Despite these limitations, the instruction selector generator is still quite + useful for most of the binary and logical operations in typical instruction + sets. If you run into any problems or can't figure out how to do something, + please let Chris know!</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_sched">SelectionDAG Scheduling and Formation Phase</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The scheduling phase takes the DAG of target instructions from the selection + phase and assigns an order. The scheduler can pick an order depending on + various constraints of the machines (i.e. order for minimal register pressure + or try to cover instruction latencies). Once an order is established, the + DAG is converted to a list + of <tt><a href="#machineinstr">MachineInstr</a></tt>s and the SelectionDAG is + destroyed.</p> + +<p>Note that this phase is logically separate from the instruction selection + phase, but is tied to it closely in the code because it operates on + SelectionDAGs.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="selectiondag_future">Future directions for the SelectionDAG</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<ol> + <li>Optional function-at-a-time selection.</li> + + <li>Auto-generate entire selector from <tt>.td</tt> file.</li> +</ol> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="ssamco">SSA-based Machine Code Optimizations</a> +</div> +<div class="doc_text"><p>To Be Written</p></div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="liveintervals">Live Intervals</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Live Intervals are the ranges (intervals) where a variable is <i>live</i>. + They are used by some <a href="#regalloc">register allocator</a> passes to + determine if two or more virtual registers which require the same physical + register are live at the same point in the program (i.e., they conflict). + When this situation occurs, one virtual register must be <i>spilled</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="livevariable_analysis">Live Variable Analysis</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The first step in determining the live intervals of variables is to calculate + the set of registers that are immediately dead after the instruction (i.e., + the instruction calculates the value, but it is never used) and the set of + registers that are used by the instruction, but are never used after the + instruction (i.e., they are killed). Live variable information is computed + for each <i>virtual</i> register and <i>register allocatable</i> physical + register in the function. This is done in a very efficient manner because it + uses SSA to sparsely compute lifetime information for virtual registers + (which are in SSA form) and only has to track physical registers within a + block. Before register allocation, LLVM can assume that physical registers + are only live within a single basic block. This allows it to do a single, + local analysis to resolve physical register lifetimes within each basic + block. If a physical register is not register allocatable (e.g., a stack + pointer or condition codes), it is not tracked.</p> + +<p>Physical registers may be live in to or out of a function. Live in values are + typically arguments in registers. Live out values are typically return values + in registers. Live in values are marked as such, and are given a dummy + "defining" instruction during live intervals analysis. If the last basic + block of a function is a <tt>return</tt>, then it's marked as using all live + out values in the function.</p> + +<p><tt>PHI</tt> nodes need to be handled specially, because the calculation of + the live variable information from a depth first traversal of the CFG of the + function won't guarantee that a virtual register used by the <tt>PHI</tt> + node is defined before it's used. When a <tt>PHI</tt> node is encountered, + only the definition is handled, because the uses will be handled in other + basic blocks.</p> + +<p>For each <tt>PHI</tt> node of the current basic block, we simulate an + assignment at the end of the current basic block and traverse the successor + basic blocks. If a successor basic block has a <tt>PHI</tt> node and one of + the <tt>PHI</tt> node's operands is coming from the current basic block, then + the variable is marked as <i>alive</i> within the current basic block and all + of its predecessor basic blocks, until the basic block with the defining + instruction is encountered.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="liveintervals_analysis">Live Intervals Analysis</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>We now have the information available to perform the live intervals analysis + and build the live intervals themselves. We start off by numbering the basic + blocks and machine instructions. We then handle the "live-in" values. These + are in physical registers, so the physical register is assumed to be killed + by the end of the basic block. Live intervals for virtual registers are + computed for some ordering of the machine instructions <tt>[1, N]</tt>. A + live interval is an interval <tt>[i, j)</tt>, where <tt>1 <= i <= j + < N</tt>, for which a variable is live.</p> + +<p><i><b>More to come...</b></i></p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="regalloc">Register Allocation</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The <i>Register Allocation problem</i> consists in mapping a program + <i>P<sub>v</sub></i>, that can use an unbounded number of virtual registers, + to a program <i>P<sub>p</sub></i> that contains a finite (possibly small) + number of physical registers. Each target architecture has a different number + of physical registers. If the number of physical registers is not enough to + accommodate all the virtual registers, some of them will have to be mapped + into memory. These virtuals are called <i>spilled virtuals</i>.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> + +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_represent">How registers are represented in LLVM</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>In LLVM, physical registers are denoted by integer numbers that normally + range from 1 to 1023. To see how this numbering is defined for a particular + architecture, you can read the <tt>GenRegisterNames.inc</tt> file for that + architecture. For instance, by + inspecting <tt>lib/Target/X86/X86GenRegisterNames.inc</tt> we see that the + 32-bit register <tt>EAX</tt> is denoted by 15, and the MMX register + <tt>MM0</tt> is mapped to 48.</p> + +<p>Some architectures contain registers that share the same physical location. A + notable example is the X86 platform. For instance, in the X86 architecture, + the registers <tt>EAX</tt>, <tt>AX</tt> and <tt>AL</tt> share the first eight + bits. These physical registers are marked as <i>aliased</i> in LLVM. Given a + particular architecture, you can check which registers are aliased by + inspecting its <tt>RegisterInfo.td</tt> file. Moreover, the method + <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::getAliasSet(p_reg)</tt> returns an array containing + all the physical registers aliased to the register <tt>p_reg</tt>.</p> + +<p>Physical registers, in LLVM, are grouped in <i>Register Classes</i>. + Elements in the same register class are functionally equivalent, and can be + interchangeably used. Each virtual register can only be mapped to physical + registers of a particular class. For instance, in the X86 architecture, some + virtuals can only be allocated to 8 bit registers. A register class is + described by <tt>TargetRegisterClass</tt> objects. To discover if a virtual + register is compatible with a given physical, this code can be used:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +bool RegMapping_Fer::compatible_class(MachineFunction &mf, + unsigned v_reg, + unsigned p_reg) { + assert(TargetRegisterInfo::isPhysicalRegister(p_reg) && + "Target register must be physical"); + const TargetRegisterClass *trc = mf.getRegInfo().getRegClass(v_reg); + return trc->contains(p_reg); +} +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Sometimes, mostly for debugging purposes, it is useful to change the number + of physical registers available in the target architecture. This must be done + statically, inside the <tt>TargetRegsterInfo.td</tt> file. Just <tt>grep</tt> + for <tt>RegisterClass</tt>, the last parameter of which is a list of + registers. Just commenting some out is one simple way to avoid them being + used. A more polite way is to explicitly exclude some registers from + the <i>allocation order</i>. See the definition of the <tt>GR8</tt> register + class in <tt>lib/Target/X86/X86RegisterInfo.td</tt> for an example of this. + </p> + +<p>Virtual registers are also denoted by integer numbers. Contrary to physical + registers, different virtual registers never share the same number. The + smallest virtual register is normally assigned the number 1024. This may + change, so, in order to know which is the first virtual register, you should + access <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::FirstVirtualRegister</tt>. Any register whose + number is greater than or equal + to <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::FirstVirtualRegister</tt> is considered a virtual + register. Whereas physical registers are statically defined in + a <tt>TargetRegisterInfo.td</tt> file and cannot be created by the + application developer, that is not the case with virtual registers. In order + to create new virtual registers, use the + method <tt>MachineRegisterInfo::createVirtualRegister()</tt>. This method + will return a virtual register with the highest code.</p> + +<p>Before register allocation, the operands of an instruction are mostly virtual + registers, although physical registers may also be used. In order to check if + a given machine operand is a register, use the boolean + function <tt>MachineOperand::isRegister()</tt>. To obtain the integer code of + a register, use <tt>MachineOperand::getReg()</tt>. An instruction may define + or use a register. For instance, <tt>ADD reg:1026 := reg:1025 reg:1024</tt> + defines the registers 1024, and uses registers 1025 and 1026. Given a + register operand, the method <tt>MachineOperand::isUse()</tt> informs if that + register is being used by the instruction. The + method <tt>MachineOperand::isDef()</tt> informs if that registers is being + defined.</p> + +<p>We will call physical registers present in the LLVM bitcode before register + allocation <i>pre-colored registers</i>. Pre-colored registers are used in + many different situations, for instance, to pass parameters of functions + calls, and to store results of particular instructions. There are two types + of pre-colored registers: the ones <i>implicitly</i> defined, and + those <i>explicitly</i> defined. Explicitly defined registers are normal + operands, and can be accessed + with <tt>MachineInstr::getOperand(int)::getReg()</tt>. In order to check + which registers are implicitly defined by an instruction, use + the <tt>TargetInstrInfo::get(opcode)::ImplicitDefs</tt>, + where <tt>opcode</tt> is the opcode of the target instruction. One important + difference between explicit and implicit physical registers is that the + latter are defined statically for each instruction, whereas the former may + vary depending on the program being compiled. For example, an instruction + that represents a function call will always implicitly define or use the same + set of physical registers. To read the registers implicitly used by an + instruction, + use <tt>TargetInstrInfo::get(opcode)::ImplicitUses</tt>. Pre-colored + registers impose constraints on any register allocation algorithm. The + register allocator must make sure that none of them are overwritten by + the values of virtual registers while still alive.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> + +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_howTo">Mapping virtual registers to physical registers</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>There are two ways to map virtual registers to physical registers (or to + memory slots). The first way, that we will call <i>direct mapping</i>, is + based on the use of methods of the classes <tt>TargetRegisterInfo</tt>, + and <tt>MachineOperand</tt>. The second way, that we will call <i>indirect + mapping</i>, relies on the <tt>VirtRegMap</tt> class in order to insert loads + and stores sending and getting values to and from memory.</p> + +<p>The direct mapping provides more flexibility to the developer of the register + allocator; however, it is more error prone, and demands more implementation + work. Basically, the programmer will have to specify where load and store + instructions should be inserted in the target function being compiled in + order to get and store values in memory. To assign a physical register to a + virtual register present in a given operand, + use <tt>MachineOperand::setReg(p_reg)</tt>. To insert a store instruction, + use <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::storeRegToStackSlot(...)</tt>, and to insert a + load instruction, use <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::loadRegFromStackSlot</tt>.</p> + +<p>The indirect mapping shields the application developer from the complexities + of inserting load and store instructions. In order to map a virtual register + to a physical one, use <tt>VirtRegMap::assignVirt2Phys(vreg, preg)</tt>. In + order to map a certain virtual register to memory, + use <tt>VirtRegMap::assignVirt2StackSlot(vreg)</tt>. This method will return + the stack slot where <tt>vreg</tt>'s value will be located. If it is + necessary to map another virtual register to the same stack slot, + use <tt>VirtRegMap::assignVirt2StackSlot(vreg, stack_location)</tt>. One + important point to consider when using the indirect mapping, is that even if + a virtual register is mapped to memory, it still needs to be mapped to a + physical register. This physical register is the location where the virtual + register is supposed to be found before being stored or after being + reloaded.</p> + +<p>If the indirect strategy is used, after all the virtual registers have been + mapped to physical registers or stack slots, it is necessary to use a spiller + object to place load and store instructions in the code. Every virtual that + has been mapped to a stack slot will be stored to memory after been defined + and will be loaded before being used. The implementation of the spiller tries + to recycle load/store instructions, avoiding unnecessary instructions. For an + example of how to invoke the spiller, + see <tt>RegAllocLinearScan::runOnMachineFunction</tt> + in <tt>lib/CodeGen/RegAllocLinearScan.cpp</tt>.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_twoAddr">Handling two address instructions</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>With very rare exceptions (e.g., function calls), the LLVM machine code + instructions are three address instructions. That is, each instruction is + expected to define at most one register, and to use at most two registers. + However, some architectures use two address instructions. In this case, the + defined register is also one of the used register. For instance, an + instruction such as <tt>ADD %EAX, %EBX</tt>, in X86 is actually equivalent + to <tt>%EAX = %EAX + %EBX</tt>.</p> + +<p>In order to produce correct code, LLVM must convert three address + instructions that represent two address instructions into true two address + instructions. LLVM provides the pass <tt>TwoAddressInstructionPass</tt> for + this specific purpose. It must be run before register allocation takes + place. After its execution, the resulting code may no longer be in SSA + form. This happens, for instance, in situations where an instruction such + as <tt>%a = ADD %b %c</tt> is converted to two instructions such as:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +%a = MOVE %b +%a = ADD %a %c +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Notice that, internally, the second instruction is represented as + <tt>ADD %a[def/use] %c</tt>. I.e., the register operand <tt>%a</tt> is both + used and defined by the instruction.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_ssaDecon">The SSA deconstruction phase</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>An important transformation that happens during register allocation is called + the <i>SSA Deconstruction Phase</i>. The SSA form simplifies many analyses + that are performed on the control flow graph of programs. However, + traditional instruction sets do not implement PHI instructions. Thus, in + order to generate executable code, compilers must replace PHI instructions + with other instructions that preserve their semantics.</p> + +<p>There are many ways in which PHI instructions can safely be removed from the + target code. The most traditional PHI deconstruction algorithm replaces PHI + instructions with copy instructions. That is the strategy adopted by + LLVM. The SSA deconstruction algorithm is implemented + in <tt>lib/CodeGen/PHIElimination.cpp</tt>. In order to invoke this pass, the + identifier <tt>PHIEliminationID</tt> must be marked as required in the code + of the register allocator.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_fold">Instruction folding</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p><i>Instruction folding</i> is an optimization performed during register + allocation that removes unnecessary copy instructions. For instance, a + sequence of instructions such as:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +%EBX = LOAD %mem_address +%EAX = COPY %EBX +</pre> +</div> + +<p>can be safely substituted by the single instruction:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +%EAX = LOAD %mem_address +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Instructions can be folded with + the <tt>TargetRegisterInfo::foldMemoryOperand(...)</tt> method. Care must be + taken when folding instructions; a folded instruction can be quite different + from the original + instruction. See <tt>LiveIntervals::addIntervalsForSpills</tt> + in <tt>lib/CodeGen/LiveIntervalAnalysis.cpp</tt> for an example of its + use.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> + +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="regAlloc_builtIn">Built in register allocators</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The LLVM infrastructure provides the application developer with three + different register allocators:</p> + +<ul> + <li><i>Simple</i> — This is a very simple implementation that does not + keep values in registers across instructions. This register allocator + immediately spills every value right after it is computed, and reloads all + used operands from memory to temporary registers before each + instruction.</li> + + <li><i>Local</i> — This register allocator is an improvement on the + <i>Simple</i> implementation. It allocates registers on a basic block + level, attempting to keep values in registers and reusing registers as + appropriate.</li> + + <li><i>Linear Scan</i> — <i>The default allocator</i>. This is the + well-know linear scan register allocator. Whereas the + <i>Simple</i> and <i>Local</i> algorithms use a direct mapping + implementation technique, the <i>Linear Scan</i> implementation + uses a spiller in order to place load and stores.</li> +</ul> + +<p>The type of register allocator used in <tt>llc</tt> can be chosen with the + command line option <tt>-regalloc=...</tt>:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +$ llc -regalloc=simple file.bc -o sp.s; +$ llc -regalloc=local file.bc -o lc.s; +$ llc -regalloc=linearscan file.bc -o ln.s; +</pre> +</div> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="proepicode">Prolog/Epilog Code Insertion</a> +</div> +<div class="doc_text"><p>To Be Written</p></div> +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="latemco">Late Machine Code Optimizations</a> +</div> +<div class="doc_text"><p>To Be Written</p></div> +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="codeemit">Code Emission</a> +</div> +<div class="doc_text"><p>To Be Written</p></div> +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="codeemit_asm">Generating Assembly Code</a> +</div> +<div class="doc_text"><p>To Be Written</p></div> +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="codeemit_bin">Generating Binary Machine Code</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + <p>For the JIT or <tt>.o</tt> file writer</p> +</div> + + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<div class="doc_section"> + <a name="targetimpls">Target-specific Implementation Notes</a> +</div> +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>This section of the document explains features or design decisions that are + specific to the code generator for a particular target.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="tailcallopt">Tail call optimization</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Tail call optimization, callee reusing the stack of the caller, is currently + supported on x86/x86-64 and PowerPC. It is performed if:</p> + +<ul> + <li>Caller and callee have the calling convention <tt>fastcc</tt> or + <tt>cc 10</tt> (GHC call convention).</li> + + <li>The call is a tail call - in tail position (ret immediately follows call + and ret uses value of call or is void).</li> + + <li>Option <tt>-tailcallopt</tt> is enabled.</li> + + <li>Platform specific constraints are met.</li> +</ul> + +<p>x86/x86-64 constraints:</p> + +<ul> + <li>No variable argument lists are used.</li> + + <li>On x86-64 when generating GOT/PIC code only module-local calls (visibility + = hidden or protected) are supported.</li> +</ul> + +<p>PowerPC constraints:</p> + +<ul> + <li>No variable argument lists are used.</li> + + <li>No byval parameters are used.</li> + + <li>On ppc32/64 GOT/PIC only module-local calls (visibility = hidden or protected) are supported.</li> +</ul> + +<p>Example:</p> + +<p>Call as <tt>llc -tailcallopt test.ll</tt>.</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +declare fastcc i32 @tailcallee(i32 inreg %a1, i32 inreg %a2, i32 %a3, i32 %a4) + +define fastcc i32 @tailcaller(i32 %in1, i32 %in2) { + %l1 = add i32 %in1, %in2 + %tmp = tail call fastcc i32 @tailcallee(i32 %in1 inreg, i32 %in2 inreg, i32 %in1, i32 %l1) + ret i32 %tmp +} +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Implications of <tt>-tailcallopt</tt>:</p> + +<p>To support tail call optimization in situations where the callee has more + arguments than the caller a 'callee pops arguments' convention is used. This + currently causes each <tt>fastcc</tt> call that is not tail call optimized + (because one or more of above constraints are not met) to be followed by a + readjustment of the stack. So performance might be worse in such cases.</p> + +</div> +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="sibcallopt">Sibling call optimization</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>Sibling call optimization is a restricted form of tail call optimization. + Unlike tail call optimization described in the previous section, it can be + performed automatically on any tail calls when <tt>-tailcallopt</tt> option + is not specified.</p> + +<p>Sibling call optimization is currently performed on x86/x86-64 when the + following constraints are met:</p> + +<ul> + <li>Caller and callee have the same calling convention. It can be either + <tt>c</tt> or <tt>fastcc</tt>. + + <li>The call is a tail call - in tail position (ret immediately follows call + and ret uses value of call or is void).</li> + + <li>Caller and callee have matching return type or the callee result is not + used. + + <li>If any of the callee arguments are being passed in stack, they must be + available in caller's own incoming argument stack and the frame offsets + must be the same. +</ul> + +<p>Example:</p> +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +declare i32 @bar(i32, i32) + +define i32 @foo(i32 %a, i32 %b, i32 %c) { +entry: + %0 = tail call i32 @bar(i32 %a, i32 %b) + ret i32 %0 +} +</pre> +</div> + +</div> +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="x86">The X86 backend</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The X86 code generator lives in the <tt>lib/Target/X86</tt> directory. This + code generator is capable of targeting a variety of x86-32 and x86-64 + processors, and includes support for ISA extensions such as MMX and SSE.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="x86_tt">X86 Target Triples supported</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The following are the known target triples that are supported by the X86 + backend. This is not an exhaustive list, and it would be useful to add those + that people test.</p> + +<ul> + <li><b>i686-pc-linux-gnu</b> — Linux</li> + + <li><b>i386-unknown-freebsd5.3</b> — FreeBSD 5.3</li> + + <li><b>i686-pc-cygwin</b> — Cygwin on Win32</li> + + <li><b>i686-pc-mingw32</b> — MingW on Win32</li> + + <li><b>i386-pc-mingw32msvc</b> — MingW crosscompiler on Linux</li> + + <li><b>i686-apple-darwin*</b> — Apple Darwin on X86</li> + + <li><b>x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu</b> — Linux</li> +</ul> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="x86_cc">X86 Calling Conventions supported</a> +</div> + + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The following target-specific calling conventions are known to backend:</p> + +<ul> + <li><b>x86_StdCall</b> — stdcall calling convention seen on Microsoft + Windows platform (CC ID = 64).</li> + + <li><b>x86_FastCall</b> — fastcall calling convention seen on Microsoft + Windows platform (CC ID = 65).</li> +</ul> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="x86_memory">Representing X86 addressing modes in MachineInstrs</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The x86 has a very flexible way of accessing memory. It is capable of + forming memory addresses of the following expression directly in integer + instructions (which use ModR/M addressing):</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +SegmentReg: Base + [1,2,4,8] * IndexReg + Disp32 +</pre> +</div> + +<p>In order to represent this, LLVM tracks no less than 5 operands for each + memory operand of this form. This means that the "load" form of + '<tt>mov</tt>' has the following <tt>MachineOperand</tt>s in this order:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +Index: 0 | 1 2 3 4 5 +Meaning: DestReg, | BaseReg, Scale, IndexReg, Displacement Segment +OperandTy: VirtReg, | VirtReg, UnsImm, VirtReg, SignExtImm PhysReg +</pre> +</div> + +<p>Stores, and all other instructions, treat the four memory operands in the + same way and in the same order. If the segment register is unspecified + (regno = 0), then no segment override is generated. "Lea" operations do not + have a segment register specified, so they only have 4 operands for their + memory reference.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="x86_memory">X86 address spaces supported</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>x86 has an experimental feature which provides + the ability to perform loads and stores to different address spaces + via the x86 segment registers. A segment override prefix byte on an + instruction causes the instruction's memory access to go to the specified + segment. LLVM address space 0 is the default address space, which includes + the stack, and any unqualified memory accesses in a program. Address spaces + 1-255 are currently reserved for user-defined code. The GS-segment is + represented by address space 256, while the FS-segment is represented by + address space 257. Other x86 segments have yet to be allocated address space + numbers.</p> + +<p>While these address spaces may seem similar to TLS via the + <tt>thread_local</tt> keyword, and often use the same underlying hardware, + there are some fundamental differences.</p> + +<p>The <tt>thread_local</tt> keyword applies to global variables and + specifies that they are to be allocated in thread-local memory. There are + no type qualifiers involved, and these variables can be pointed to with + normal pointers and accessed with normal loads and stores. + The <tt>thread_local</tt> keyword is target-independent at the LLVM IR + level (though LLVM doesn't yet have implementations of it for some + configurations).<p> + +<p>Special address spaces, in contrast, apply to static types. Every + load and store has a particular address space in its address operand type, + and this is what determines which address space is accessed. + LLVM ignores these special address space qualifiers on global variables, + and does not provide a way to directly allocate storage in them. + At the LLVM IR level, the behavior of these special address spaces depends + in part on the underlying OS or runtime environment, and they are specific + to x86 (and LLVM doesn't yet handle them correctly in some cases).</p> + +<p>Some operating systems and runtime environments use (or may in the future + use) the FS/GS-segment registers for various low-level purposes, so care + should be taken when considering them.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="x86_names">Instruction naming</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>An instruction name consists of the base name, a default operand size, and a + a character per operand with an optional special size. For example:</p> + +<div class="doc_code"> +<pre> +ADD8rr -> add, 8-bit register, 8-bit register +IMUL16rmi -> imul, 16-bit register, 16-bit memory, 16-bit immediate +IMUL16rmi8 -> imul, 16-bit register, 16-bit memory, 8-bit immediate +MOVSX32rm16 -> movsx, 32-bit register, 16-bit memory +</pre> +</div> + +</div> + +<!-- ======================================================================= --> +<div class="doc_subsection"> + <a name="ppc">The PowerPC backend</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The PowerPC code generator lives in the lib/Target/PowerPC directory. The + code generation is retargetable to several variations or <i>subtargets</i> of + the PowerPC ISA; including ppc32, ppc64 and altivec.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="ppc_abi">LLVM PowerPC ABI</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>LLVM follows the AIX PowerPC ABI, with two deviations. LLVM uses a PC + relative (PIC) or static addressing for accessing global values, so no TOC + (r2) is used. Second, r31 is used as a frame pointer to allow dynamic growth + of a stack frame. LLVM takes advantage of having no TOC to provide space to + save the frame pointer in the PowerPC linkage area of the caller frame. + Other details of PowerPC ABI can be found at <a href= + "http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/LowLevelABI/Articles/32bitPowerPC.html" + >PowerPC ABI.</a> Note: This link describes the 32 bit ABI. The 64 bit ABI + is similar except space for GPRs are 8 bytes wide (not 4) and r13 is reserved + for system use.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="ppc_frame">Frame Layout</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The size of a PowerPC frame is usually fixed for the duration of a + function's invocation. Since the frame is fixed size, all references + into the frame can be accessed via fixed offsets from the stack pointer. The + exception to this is when dynamic alloca or variable sized arrays are + present, then a base pointer (r31) is used as a proxy for the stack pointer + and stack pointer is free to grow or shrink. A base pointer is also used if + llvm-gcc is not passed the -fomit-frame-pointer flag. The stack pointer is + always aligned to 16 bytes, so that space allocated for altivec vectors will + be properly aligned.</p> + +<p>An invocation frame is laid out as follows (low memory at top);</p> + +<table class="layout"> + <tr> + <td>Linkage<br><br></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Parameter area<br><br></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Dynamic area<br><br></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Locals area<br><br></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Saved registers area<br><br></td> + </tr> + <tr style="border-style: none hidden none hidden;"> + <td><br></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>Previous Frame<br><br></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The <i>linkage</i> area is used by a callee to save special registers prior + to allocating its own frame. Only three entries are relevant to LLVM. The + first entry is the previous stack pointer (sp), aka link. This allows + probing tools like gdb or exception handlers to quickly scan the frames in + the stack. A function epilog can also use the link to pop the frame from the + stack. The third entry in the linkage area is used to save the return + address from the lr register. Finally, as mentioned above, the last entry is + used to save the previous frame pointer (r31.) The entries in the linkage + area are the size of a GPR, thus the linkage area is 24 bytes long in 32 bit + mode and 48 bytes in 64 bit mode.</p> + +<p>32 bit linkage area</p> + +<table class="layout"> + <tr> + <td>0</td> + <td>Saved SP (r1)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>4</td> + <td>Saved CR</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>8</td> + <td>Saved LR</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>12</td> + <td>Reserved</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>16</td> + <td>Reserved</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>20</td> + <td>Saved FP (r31)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>64 bit linkage area</p> + +<table class="layout"> + <tr> + <td>0</td> + <td>Saved SP (r1)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>8</td> + <td>Saved CR</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>16</td> + <td>Saved LR</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>24</td> + <td>Reserved</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>32</td> + <td>Reserved</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>40</td> + <td>Saved FP (r31)</td> + </tr> +</table> + +<p>The <i>parameter area</i> is used to store arguments being passed to a callee + function. Following the PowerPC ABI, the first few arguments are actually + passed in registers, with the space in the parameter area unused. However, + if there are not enough registers or the callee is a thunk or vararg + function, these register arguments can be spilled into the parameter area. + Thus, the parameter area must be large enough to store all the parameters for + the largest call sequence made by the caller. The size must also be + minimally large enough to spill registers r3-r10. This allows callees blind + to the call signature, such as thunks and vararg functions, enough space to + cache the argument registers. Therefore, the parameter area is minimally 32 + bytes (64 bytes in 64 bit mode.) Also note that since the parameter area is + a fixed offset from the top of the frame, that a callee can access its spilt + arguments using fixed offsets from the stack pointer (or base pointer.)</p> + +<p>Combining the information about the linkage, parameter areas and alignment. A + stack frame is minimally 64 bytes in 32 bit mode and 128 bytes in 64 bit + mode.</p> + +<p>The <i>dynamic area</i> starts out as size zero. If a function uses dynamic + alloca then space is added to the stack, the linkage and parameter areas are + shifted to top of stack, and the new space is available immediately below the + linkage and parameter areas. The cost of shifting the linkage and parameter + areas is minor since only the link value needs to be copied. The link value + can be easily fetched by adding the original frame size to the base pointer. + Note that allocations in the dynamic space need to observe 16 byte + alignment.</p> + +<p>The <i>locals area</i> is where the llvm compiler reserves space for local + variables.</p> + +<p>The <i>saved registers area</i> is where the llvm compiler spills callee + saved registers on entry to the callee.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="ppc_prolog">Prolog/Epilog</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p>The llvm prolog and epilog are the same as described in the PowerPC ABI, with + the following exceptions. Callee saved registers are spilled after the frame + is created. This allows the llvm epilog/prolog support to be common with + other targets. The base pointer callee saved register r31 is saved in the + TOC slot of linkage area. This simplifies allocation of space for the base + pointer and makes it convenient to locate programatically and during + debugging.</p> + +</div> + +<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> +<div class="doc_subsubsection"> + <a name="ppc_dynamic">Dynamic Allocation</a> +</div> + +<div class="doc_text"> + +<p><i>TODO - More to come.</i></p> + +</div> + + +<!-- *********************************************************************** --> +<hr> +<address> + <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img + src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss-blue" alt="Valid CSS"></a> + <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img + src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401-blue" alt="Valid HTML 4.01"></a> + + <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br> + <a href="http://llvm.org">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br> + Last modified: $Date$ +</address> + +</body> +</html> |