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 |   <title>How to submit an LLVM bug report</title> | 
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 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_title"> | 
 |   How to submit an LLVM bug report | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <table class="layout" style="width: 90%" > | 
 | <tr class="layout"> | 
 |   <td class="left"> | 
 | <ol> | 
 |   <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction - Got bugs?</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#crashers">Crashing Bugs</a> | 
 |     <ul> | 
 |     <li><a href="#front-end">Front-end bugs</a> | 
 |     <li><a href="#ct_optimizer">Compile-time optimization bugs</a> | 
 |     <li><a href="#ct_codegen">Code generator bugs</a> | 
 |     </ul></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#miscompilations">Miscompilations</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#codegen">Incorrect code generation (JIT and LLC)</a></li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 | <div class="doc_author"> | 
 |   <p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> and | 
 |                 <a href="http://misha.brukman.net">Misha Brukman</a></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 | </td> | 
 | <td class="right"> | 
 |   <img src="img/Debugging.gif" alt="Debugging" width="444" height="314"> | 
 | </td> | 
 | </tr> | 
 | </table> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="introduction">Introduction - Got bugs?</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you're working with LLVM and run into a bug, we definitely want to know | 
 | about it.  This document describes what you can do to increase the odds of | 
 | getting it fixed quickly.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Basically you have to do two things at a minimum.  First, decide whether the | 
 | bug <a href="#crashers">crashes the compiler</a> (or an LLVM pass), or if the | 
 | compiler is <a href="#miscompilations">miscompiling</a> the program (i.e., the | 
 | compiler successfully produces an executable, but it doesn't run right).  Based | 
 | on | 
 | what type of bug it is, follow the instructions in the linked section to narrow | 
 | down the bug so that the person who fixes it will be able to find the problem | 
 | more easily.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Once you have a reduced test-case, go to <a | 
 | href="http://llvm.org/bugs/enter_bug.cgi">the LLVM Bug Tracking | 
 | System</a> and fill out the form with the necessary details (note that you don't | 
 | need to pick a category, just use the "new-bugs" category if you're not sure). | 
 | The bug description should contain the following | 
 | information:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |   <li>All information necessary to reproduce the problem.</li> | 
 |   <li>The reduced test-case that triggers the bug.</li> | 
 |   <li>The location where you obtained LLVM (if not from our Subversion | 
 |   repository).</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Thanks for helping us make LLVM better!</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="crashers">Crashing Bugs</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>More often than not, bugs in the compiler cause it to crash—often due | 
 | to an assertion failure of some sort. The most important | 
 | piece of the puzzle is to figure out if it is crashing in the GCC front-end | 
 | or if it is one of the LLVM libraries (e.g. the optimizer or code generator) | 
 | that has problems.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>To figure out which component is crashing (the front-end, | 
 | optimizer or code generator), run the | 
 | <tt><b>llvm-gcc</b></tt> command line as you were when the crash occurred, but | 
 | with the following extra command line options:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |   <li><tt><b>-O0 -emit-llvm</b></tt>: If <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> still crashes when | 
 |   passed these options (which disable the optimizer and code generator), then | 
 |   the crash is in the front-end.  Jump ahead to the section on <a | 
 |   href="#front-end">front-end bugs</a>.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |   <li><tt><b>-emit-llvm</b></tt>: If <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> crashes with this option | 
 |   (which disables the code generator), you found an optimizer bug.  Jump ahead | 
 |   to <a href="#ct_optimizer"> compile-time optimization bugs</a>.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |   <li>Otherwise, you have a code generator crash.  Jump ahead to <a | 
 |   href="#ct_codegen">code generator bugs</a>.</li> | 
 |  | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="front-end">Front-end bugs</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If the problem is in the front-end, you should re-run the same | 
 | <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> command that resulted in the crash, but add the | 
 | <tt>-save-temps</tt> option.  The compiler will crash again, but it will leave | 
 | behind a <tt><i>foo</i>.i</tt> file (containing preprocessed C source code) and | 
 | possibly <tt><i>foo</i>.s</tt> for each | 
 | compiled <tt><i>foo</i>.c</tt> file. Send us the <tt><i>foo</i>.i</tt> file, | 
 | along with the options you passed to llvm-gcc, and a brief description of the | 
 | error it caused.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The <a href="http://delta.tigris.org/">delta</a> tool helps to reduce the | 
 | preprocessed file down to the smallest amount of code that still replicates the | 
 | problem. You're encouraged to use delta to reduce the code to make the | 
 | developers' lives easier. <a | 
 | href="http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/A_guide_to_testcase_reduction">This website</a> | 
 | has instructions on the best way to use delta.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="ct_optimizer">Compile-time optimization bugs</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you find that a bug crashes in the optimizer, compile your test-case to a | 
 | <tt>.bc</tt> file by passing "<tt><b>-emit-llvm -O0 -c -o foo.bc</b></tt>". | 
 | Then run:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt><b>opt</b> -std-compile-opts -debug-pass=Arguments foo.bc | 
 |     -disable-output</tt></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This command should do two things: it should print out a list of passes, and | 
 | then it should crash in the same was as llvm-gcc.  If it doesn't crash, please | 
 | follow the instructions for a <a href="#front-end">front-end bug</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If this does crash, then you should be able to debug this with the following | 
 | bugpoint command:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt><b>bugpoint</b> foo.bc <list of passes printed by  | 
 | <b>opt</b>></tt></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Please run this, then file a bug with the instructions and reduced .bc files | 
 | that bugpoint emits.  If something goes wrong with bugpoint, please submit the | 
 | "foo.bc" file and the list of passes printed by <b>opt</b>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="ct_codegen">Code generator bugs</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you find a bug that crashes llvm-gcc in the code generator, compile your | 
 | source file to a .bc file by passing "<tt><b>-emit-llvm -c -o foo.bc</b></tt>" | 
 | to llvm-gcc (in addition to the options you already pass).  Once your have | 
 | foo.bc, one of the following commands should fail:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc -relocation-model=pic</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc -relocation-model=static</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc -relocation-model=pic -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>llc</b> foo.bc -relocation-model=static -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If none of these crash, please follow the instructions for a | 
 | <a href="#front-end">front-end bug</a>.  If one of these do crash, you should | 
 | be able to reduce this with one of the following bugpoint command lines (use | 
 | the one corresponding to the command above that failed):</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc --tool-args | 
 |            -relocation-model=pic</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc --tool-args | 
 |            -relocation-model=static</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc --tool-args -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc --tool-args | 
 |            -relocation-model=pic -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | <li><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc foo.bc --tool-args | 
 |            -relocation-model=static -enable-eh</tt></li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Please run this, then file a bug with the instructions and reduced .bc file | 
 | that bugpoint emits.  If something goes wrong with bugpoint, please submit the | 
 | "foo.bc" file and the option that llc crashes with.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="miscompilations">Miscompilations</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If llvm-gcc successfully produces an executable, but that executable doesn't | 
 | run right, this is either a bug in the code or a bug in the | 
 | compiler.  The first thing to check is to make sure it is not using undefined | 
 | behavior (e.g. reading a variable before it is defined).  In particular, check | 
 | to see if the program <a href="http://valgrind.org/">valgrind</a>s clean, | 
 | passes purify, or some other memory checker tool.  Many of the "LLVM bugs" that | 
 | we have chased down ended up being bugs in the program being compiled, not | 
 |  LLVM.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Once you determine that the program itself is not buggy, you should choose  | 
 | which code generator you wish to compile the program with (e.g. C backend, the  | 
 | JIT, or LLC) and optionally a series of LLVM passes to run.  For example:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt> | 
 | <b>bugpoint</b> -run-cbe [... optzn passes ...] file-to-test.bc --args -- [program arguments]</tt></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>bugpoint</tt> will try to narrow down your list of passes to the one pass | 
 | that causes an error, and simplify the bitcode file as much as it can to assist | 
 | you. It will print a message letting you know how to reproduce the resulting | 
 | error.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="codegen">Incorrect code generation</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Similarly to debugging incorrect compilation by mis-behaving passes, you can | 
 | debug incorrect code generation by either LLC or the JIT, using | 
 | <tt>bugpoint</tt>. The process <tt>bugpoint</tt> follows in this case is to try | 
 | to narrow the code down to a function that is miscompiled by one or the other | 
 | method, but since for correctness, the entire program must be run, | 
 | <tt>bugpoint</tt> will compile the code it deems to not be affected with the C | 
 | Backend, and then link in the shared object it generates.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>To debug the JIT:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <pre> | 
 | bugpoint -run-jit -output=[correct output file] [bitcode file]  \ | 
 |          --tool-args -- [arguments to pass to lli]              \ | 
 |          --args -- [program arguments] | 
 | </pre> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Similarly, to debug the LLC, one would run:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <pre> | 
 | bugpoint -run-llc -output=[correct output file] [bitcode file]  \ | 
 |          --tool-args -- [arguments to pass to llc]              \ | 
 |          --args -- [program arguments] | 
 | </pre> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><b>Special note:</b> if you are debugging MultiSource or SPEC tests that | 
 | already exist in the <tt>llvm/test</tt> hierarchy, there is an easier way to | 
 | debug the JIT, LLC, and CBE, using the pre-written Makefile targets, which | 
 | will pass the program options specified in the Makefiles:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt> | 
 | cd llvm/test/../../program<br> | 
 | make bugpoint-jit | 
 | </tt></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>At the end of a successful <tt>bugpoint</tt> run, you will be presented | 
 | with two bitcode files: a <em>safe</em> file which can be compiled with the C | 
 | backend and the <em>test</em> file which either LLC or the JIT | 
 | mis-codegenerates, and thus causes the error.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>To reproduce the error that <tt>bugpoint</tt> found, it is sufficient to do | 
 | the following:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <li><p>Regenerate the shared object from the safe bitcode file:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt> | 
 | <b>llc</b> -march=c safe.bc -o safe.c<br> | 
 | <b>gcc</b> -shared safe.c -o safe.so | 
 | </tt></p> | 
 | </div></li> | 
 |  | 
 | <li><p>If debugging LLC, compile test bitcode native and link with the shared | 
 |     object:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt> | 
 | <b>llc</b> test.bc -o test.s<br> | 
 | <b>gcc</b> test.s safe.so -o test.llc<br> | 
 | ./test.llc [program options] | 
 | </tt></p> | 
 | </div></li> | 
 |      | 
 | <li><p>If debugging the JIT, load the shared object and supply the test | 
 |     bitcode:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p><tt><b>lli</b> -load=safe.so test.bc [program options]</tt></p> | 
 | </div></li>   | 
 |  | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <hr> | 
 | <address> | 
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 |   <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br> | 
 |   <a href="http://llvm.org">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a> | 
 |   <br> | 
 |   Last modified: $Date$ | 
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