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 |   <title>LLVM 2.6 Release Notes</title> | 
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 | <body> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_title">LLVM 2.6 Release Notes</div> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 |   <li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#externalproj">External Projects Using LLVM 2.6</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New in LLVM 2.6?</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="GettingStarted.html">Installation Instructions</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#knownproblems">Known Problems</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#additionalinfo">Additional Information</a></li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_author"> | 
 |   <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a></p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="intro">Introduction</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This document contains the release notes for the LLVM Compiler | 
 | Infrastructure, release 2.6.  Here we describe the status of LLVM, including | 
 | major improvements from the previous release and significant known problems. | 
 | All LLVM releases may be downloaded from the <a | 
 | href="http://llvm.org/releases/">LLVM releases web site</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest | 
 | release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM | 
 | web site</a>.  If you have questions or comments, the <a | 
 | href="http://mail.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM Developer's Mailing | 
 | List</a> is a good place to send them.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Note that if you are reading this file from a Subversion checkout or the | 
 | main LLVM web page, this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the | 
 | current one.  To see the release notes for a specific release, please see the | 
 | <a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- Unfinished features in 2.5: | 
 |   Machine LICM | 
 |   Machine Sinking | 
 |   target-specific intrinsics | 
 |   gold lto plugin | 
 |   pre-alloc splitter, strong phi elim | 
 |   <tt>llc -enable-value-prop</tt>, propagation of value info | 
 |        (sign/zero ext info) from one MBB to another | 
 |   debug info for optimized code | 
 |   interpreter + libffi | 
 |   postalloc scheduler: anti dependence breaking, hazard recognizer? | 
 |  | 
 | initial support for debug line numbers when optimization enabled, not useful in | 
 |   2.5 but will be for 2.6. | 
 |  | 
 |  --> | 
 |  | 
 |  <!-- for announcement email: | 
 |    --> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | The LLVM 2.6 distribution currently consists of code from the core LLVM | 
 | repository —which roughly includes the LLVM optimizers, code generators | 
 | and supporting tools — and the llvm-gcc repository.  In addition to this | 
 | code, the LLVM Project includes other sub-projects that are in development.  The | 
 | two which are the most actively developed are the <a href="#clang">Clang | 
 | Project</a> and the <a href="#vmkit">VMKit Project</a>. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="clang">Clang: C/C++/Objective-C Frontend Toolkit</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">Clang project</a> is an effort to build | 
 | a set of new 'LLVM native' front-end technologies for the LLVM optimizer and | 
 | code generator.  While Clang is not included in the LLVM 2.6 release, it is | 
 | continuing to make major strides forward in all areas.  Its C and Objective-C | 
 | parsing and code generation support is now very solid.  For example, it is | 
 | capable of successfully building many real-world applications for X86-32 | 
 | and X86-64, | 
 | including the <a href="http://wiki.freebsd.org/BuildingFreeBSDWithClang">FreeBSD | 
 | kernel</a> and <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.2/">gcc 4.2</a>.  C++ is also | 
 | making <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/cxx_status.html">incredible progress</a>, | 
 | and work on templates has recently started.  If you are | 
 | interested in fast compiles and good diagnostics, we encourage you to try it out | 
 | by <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html">building from mainline</a> | 
 | and reporting any issues you hit to the <a | 
 | href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev">Clang front-end mailing | 
 | list</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>In the LLVM 2.6 time-frame, the Clang team has made many improvements:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | <li>Many many bugs are fixed and many features have been added.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="clangsa">Clang Static Analyzer</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Previously announced in the 2.4 LLVM release, the Clang project also | 
 | includes an early stage static source code analysis tool for <a | 
 | href="http://clang.llvm.org/StaticAnalysis.html">automatically finding bugs</a> | 
 | in C and Objective-C programs. The tool performs a growing set of checks to find | 
 | bugs that occur on a specific path within a program.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>In the LLVM 2.6 time-frame there have been many significant improvements to | 
 | XYZ.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The set of checks performed by the static analyzer continues to expand, and | 
 | future plans for the tool include full source-level inter-procedural analysis | 
 | and deeper checks such as buffer overrun detection. There are many opportunities | 
 | to extend and enhance the static analyzer, and anyone interested in working on | 
 | this project is encouraged to get involved!</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="vmkit">VMKit: JVM/CLI Virtual Machine Implementation</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | The <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/">VMKit project</a> is an implementation of | 
 | a JVM and a CLI Virtual Machines (Microsoft .NET is an | 
 | implementation of the CLI) using the Just-In-Time compiler of LLVM.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Following LLVM 2.6, VMKit has its XYZ release that you can find on its | 
 | <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/releases/">webpage</a>. The release includes | 
 | bug fixes, cleanup and new features. The major changes are:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 |  | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="externalproj">External Projects Using LLVM 2.6</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="pure">Pure</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | <a href="http://pure-lang.googlecode.com/">Pure</a> | 
 | is an algebraic/functional programming language based on term rewriting. | 
 | Programs are collections of equations which are used to evaluate expressions in | 
 | a symbolic fashion. Pure offers dynamic typing, eager and lazy evaluation, | 
 | lexical closures, a hygienic macro system (also based on term rewriting), | 
 | built-in list and matrix support (including list and matrix comprehensions) and | 
 | an easy-to-use C interface. The interpreter uses LLVM as a backend to | 
 |  JIT-compile Pure programs to fast native code.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>In addition to the usual algebraic data structures, Pure also has | 
 | MATLAB-style matrices in order to support numeric computations and signal | 
 | processing in an efficient way. Pure is mainly aimed at mathematical | 
 | applications right now, but it has been designed as a general purpose language. | 
 | The dynamic interpreter environment and the C interface make it possible to use | 
 | it as a kind of functional scripting language for many application areas. | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="ldc">LLVM D Compiler</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | <a href="http://www.dsource.org/projects/ldc">LDC</a> is an implementation of | 
 | the D Programming Language using the LLVM optimizer and code generator. | 
 | The LDC project works great with the LLVM 2.6 release.  General improvements in | 
 | this | 
 | cycle have included new inline asm constraint handling, better debug info | 
 | support, general bugfixes, and better x86-64 support.  This has allowed | 
 | some major improvements in LDC, getting us much closer to being as | 
 | fully featured as the original DMD compiler from DigitalMars. | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="RoadsendPHP">Roadsend PHP</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p><a href="http://code.roadsend.com/rphp">Roadsend PHP</a> (rphp) is an open | 
 | source implementation of the PHP programming  | 
 | language that uses LLVM for its optimizer, JIT, and static compiler. This is a  | 
 | reimplementation of an earlier project that is now based on LLVM.</p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="Unladen Swallow">Unladen Swallow</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p><a href="http://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/">Unladen Swallow</a> is a | 
 | branch of <a href="http://python.org/">Python</a> intended to be fully | 
 | compatible and significantly faster.  It uses LLVM's optimization passes and JIT | 
 | compiler.</p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="Rubinius">Rubinius</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p><a href="http://github.com/evanphx/rubinius">Rubinius</a> is a new virtual | 
 | machine for Ruby. It leverages LLVM to dynamically compile Ruby code down to | 
 | machine code using LLVM's JIT.</p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="whatsnew">What's New in LLVM 2.6?</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This release includes a huge number of bug fixes, performance tweaks, and | 
 | minor improvements.  Some of the major improvements and new features are listed | 
 | in this section. | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="majorfeatures">Major New Features</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>LLVM 2.6 includes several major new capabilities:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="llvm-gcc">llvm-gcc 4.2 Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>LLVM fully supports the llvm-gcc 4.2 front-end, which marries the GCC | 
 | front-ends and driver with the LLVM optimizer and code generator.  It currently | 
 | includes support for the C, C++, Objective-C, Ada, and Fortran front-ends.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="coreimprovements">LLVM IR and Core Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p>LLVM IR has several new features that are used by our existing front-ends and | 
 | can be useful if you are writing a front-end for LLVM:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>In addition to a large array of bug fixes and minor performance tweaks, this | 
 | release includes a few major enhancements and additions to the optimizers:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 |  | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="codegen">Target Independent Code Generator Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>We have put a significant amount of work into the code generator | 
 | infrastructure, which allows us to implement more aggressive algorithms and make | 
 | it run faster:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="x86">X86-32 and X86-64 Target Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p>New features of the X86 target include: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="pic16">PIC16 Target Improvements</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p>New features of the PIC16 target include: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Things not yet supported:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Floating point.</li> | 
 | <li>Passing/returning aggregate types to and from functions.</li> | 
 | <li>Variable arguments.</li> | 
 | <li>Indirect function calls.</li> | 
 | <li>Interrupts/programs.</li> | 
 | <li>Debug info.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="llvmc">Improvements in LLVMC</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p>New features include:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Something wonderful!</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!--=========================================================================--> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 | <a name="changes">Major Changes and Removed Features</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you're already an LLVM user or developer with out-of-tree changes based | 
 | on LLVM 2.5, this section lists some "gotchas" that you may run into upgrading | 
 | from the previous release.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Something horrible!</li> | 
 |  | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <p>In addition, many APIs have changed in this release.  Some of the major LLVM | 
 | API changes are:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>LLVM's global uniquing tables for <tt>Type</tt>s and <tt>Constant</tt>s have | 
 |     been privatized into members of an <tt>LLVMContext</tt>.  A number of APIs | 
 |     now take an <tt>LLVMContext</tt> as a parameter.  To smooth the transition | 
 |     for clients that will only ever use a single context, the new  | 
 |     <tt>getGlobalContext()</tt> API can be used to access a default global  | 
 |     context which can be passed in any and all cases where a context is  | 
 |     required. | 
 | <li>The <tt>getABITypeSize</tt> methods are now called <tt>getAllocSize</tt>.</li> | 
 | <li>The <tt>Add</tt>, <tt>Sub</tt>, and <tt>Mul</tt> operators are no longer | 
 |     overloaded for floating-point types. Floating-point addition, subtraction, | 
 |     and multiplication are now represented with new operators <tt>FAdd</tt>, | 
 |     <tt>FSub</tt>, and <tt>FMul</tt>. In the <tt>IRBuilder</tt> API, | 
 |     <tt>CreateAdd</tt>, <tt>CreateSub</tt>, <tt>CreateMul</tt>, and | 
 |     <tt>CreateNeg</tt> should only be used for integer arithmetic now; | 
 |     <tt>CreateFAdd</tt>, <tt>CreateFSub</tt>, <tt>CreateFMul</tt>, and | 
 |     <tt>CreateFNeg</tt> should now be used for floating-point arithmetic.</li> | 
 | <li>The DynamicLibrary class can no longer be constructed, its functionality has | 
 |     moved to static member functions.</li> | 
 | <li><tt>raw_fd_ostream</tt>'s constructor for opening a given filename now | 
 |     takes an extra <tt>Force</tt> argument. If <tt>Force</tt> is set to | 
 |     <tt>false</tt>, an error will be reported if a file with the given name | 
 |     already exists. If <tt>Force</tt> is set to <tt>true</tt>, the file will | 
 |     be silently truncated (which is the behavior before this flag was | 
 |     added).</li> | 
 | <li><tt>SCEVHandle</tt> no longer exists, because reference counting is no | 
 | longer done for <tt>SCEV*</tt> objects, instead <tt>const SCEV*</tt> should be | 
 | used.</li> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>Many APIs, notably <tt>llvm::Value</tt>, now use the <tt>StringRef</tt> | 
 | and <tt>Twine</tt> classes instead of passing <tt>const char*</tt> | 
 | or <tt>std::string</tt>, as described in | 
 | the <a href="ProgrammersManual.html#string_apis">Programmer's Manual</a>. Most | 
 | clients should be unaffected by this transition, unless they are used to <tt>Value::getName()</tt> returning a string. Here are some tips on updating to 2.6: | 
 |   <ul> | 
 |     <li><tt>getNameStr()</tt> is still available, and matches the old | 
 |       behavior. Replacing <tt>getName()</tt> calls with this is an safe option, | 
 |       although more efficient alternatives are now possible.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |     <li>If you were just relying on <tt>getName()</tt> being able to be sent to | 
 |       a <tt>std::ostream</tt>, consider migrating | 
 |       to <tt>llvm::raw_ostream</tt>.</li> | 
 |        | 
 |     <li>If you were using <tt>getName().c_str()</tt> to get a <tt>const | 
 |         char*</tt> pointer to the name, you can use <tt>getName().data()</tt>. | 
 |         Note that this string (as before), may not be the entire name if the | 
 |         name containts embedded null characters.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |     <li>If you were using operator plus on the result of <tt>getName()</tt> and | 
 |       treating the result as an <tt>std::string</tt>, you can either | 
 |       uses <tt>Twine::str</tt> to get the result as an <tt>std::string</tt>, or | 
 |       could move to a <tt>Twine</tt> based design.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |     <li><tt>isName()</tt> should be replaced with comparison | 
 |       against <tt>getName()</tt> (this is now efficient).</tt> | 
 |   </ul> | 
 | </li> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>The registration interfaces for backend Targets has changed (what was | 
 | previously TargetMachineRegistry). For backend authors, see the <a href="WritingAnLLVMBackend.html#TargetRegistration">Writing An LLVM Backend</a> guide. For clients, the notable API changes are: | 
 |   <ul> | 
 |     <li><tt>TargetMachineRegistry</tt> has been renamed | 
 |       to <tt>TargetRegistry</tt>.</li> | 
 |  | 
 |     <li>Clients should move to using the <tt>TargetRegistry::lookupTarget()</tt> | 
 |       function to find targets.</li> | 
 |   </ul> | 
 | </li> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>llvm-dis now fails if output file exists, instead of dumping to stdout. | 
 | FIXME: describe any other tool changes due to the raw_fd_ostream change.  FIXME: | 
 | This is not an API change, maybe there should be a tool changes section?</li> | 
 | <li>temporarely due to Context API change passes should call doInitialization() | 
 | method of the pass they inherit from, otherwise Context is NULL. | 
 | FIXME: remove this entry when this is no longer needed.<li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Intel and AMD machines (IA32, X86-64, AMD64, EMT-64) running Red Hat | 
 | Linux, Fedora Core, FreeBSD and AuroraUX (and probably other unix-like systems).</li> | 
 | <li>PowerPC and X86-based Mac OS X systems, running 10.3 and above in 32-bit | 
 | and 64-bit modes.</li> | 
 | <li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native).</li> | 
 | <li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited | 
 |     support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li> | 
 | <li>Sun UltraSPARC workstations running Solaris 10.</li> | 
 | <li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses GNU autoconf to adapt itself | 
 | to the machine and operating system on which it is built.  However, minor | 
 | porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms.  We welcome your | 
 | portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This section contains significant known problems with the LLVM system, | 
 | listed by component.  If you run into a problem, please check the <a | 
 | href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if | 
 | there isn't already one.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>LLVM will not correctly compile on Solaris and/or OpenSolaris | 
 | using the stock GCC 3.x.x series 'out the box', | 
 | See: <a href="#brokengcc">Broken versions of GCC and other tools</a>. | 
 | However, A <a href="http://pkg.auroraux.org/GCC">Modern GCC Build</a> | 
 | for x86/x64 has been made available from the third party AuroraUX Project | 
 | that has been meticulously tested for bootstrapping LLVM & Clang.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to | 
 | be broken or unreliable, or are in early development.  These components should | 
 | not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be | 
 | useful to some people.  In particular, if you would like to work on one of these | 
 | components, please contact us on the <a | 
 | href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>The MSIL, Alpha, SPU, MIPS, and PIC16 backends are experimental.</li> | 
 | <li>The <tt>llc</tt> "<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only | 
 |     supported value for this option.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |   <li>The X86 backend does not yet support | 
 |     all <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline assembly that uses the X86 | 
 |     floating point stack</a>.  It supports the 'f' and 't' constraints, but not | 
 |     'u'.</li> | 
 |   <li>The X86 backend generates inefficient floating point code when configured | 
 |     to generate code for systems that don't have SSE2.</li> | 
 |   <li>Win64 code generation wasn't widely tested. Everything should work, but we | 
 |     expect small issues to happen. Also, llvm-gcc cannot build the mingw64 | 
 |     runtime currently due | 
 |     to <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2255">several</a> | 
 |     <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2257">bugs</a> and due to lack of support for | 
 |     the | 
 |     'u' inline assembly constraint and for X87 floating point inline assembly.</li> | 
 |   <li>The X86-64 backend does not yet support the LLVM IR instruction | 
 |       <tt>va_arg</tt>. Currently, the llvm-gcc and front-ends support variadic | 
 |       argument constructs on X86-64 by lowering them manually.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static | 
 | compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6 | 
 | processors, thumb programs can crash or produce wrong | 
 | results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li> | 
 | <li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported but not fully tested. | 
 | </li> | 
 | <li>There is a bug in QEMU-ARM (<= 0.9.0) which causes it to incorrectly | 
 |  execute | 
 | programs compiled with LLVM.  Please use more recent versions of QEMU.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32); it does not | 
 |     support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="mips-be">Known problems with the MIPS back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>The O32 ABI is not fully supported.</li> | 
 | <li>64-bit MIPS targets are not supported yet.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the | 
 | appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li> | 
 |  | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend has only basic support for | 
 |     inline assembly code</a>.</li> | 
 | <li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR1658">The C backend violates the ABI of common | 
 |     C++ programs</a>, preventing intermixing between C++ compiled by the CBE and | 
 |     C++ code compiled with <tt>llc</tt> or native compilers.</li> | 
 | <li>The C backend does not support all exception handling constructs.</li> | 
 | <li>The C backend does not support arbitrary precision integers.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C front-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>llvm-gcc does not currently support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR869">Link-Time | 
 | Optimization</a> on most platforms "out-of-the-box".  Please inquire on the | 
 | LLVMdev mailing list if you are interested.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The only major language feature of GCC not supported by llvm-gcc is | 
 |     the <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> family of builtins.   However, some extensions | 
 |     are only supported on some targets.  For example, trampolines are only | 
 |     supported on some targets (these are used when you take the address of a | 
 |     nested function).</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you run into GCC extensions which are not supported, please let us know. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="c++-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C++ front-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The C++ front-end is considered to be fully | 
 | tested and works for a number of non-trivial programs, including LLVM | 
 | itself, Qt, Mozilla, etc.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Exception handling works well on the X86 and PowerPC targets. Currently | 
 |   only Linux and Darwin targets are supported (both 32 and 64 bit).</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="fortran-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Fortran front-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Fortran support generally works, but there are still several unresolved bugs | 
 |     in Bugzilla.  Please see the tools/gfortran component for details.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"> | 
 |   <a name="ada-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Ada front-end</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | The llvm-gcc 4.2 Ada compiler works fairly well; however, this is not a mature | 
 | technology, and problems should be expected. | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>The Ada front-end currently only builds on X86-32.  This is mainly due | 
 | to lack of trampoline support (pointers to nested functions) on other platforms. | 
 | However, it <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2006">also fails to build on X86-64</a> | 
 | which does support trampolines.</li> | 
 | <li>The Ada front-end <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2007">fails to bootstrap</a>. | 
 | This is due to lack of LLVM support for <tt>setjmp</tt>/<tt>longjmp</tt> style | 
 | exception handling, which is used internally by the compiler. | 
 | Workaround: configure with --disable-bootstrap.</li> | 
 | <li>The c380004, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a> | 
 | and <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2421">cxg2021</a> ACATS tests fail | 
 | (c380004 also fails with gcc-4.2 mainline). | 
 | If the compiler is built with checks disabled then <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a> | 
 | causes the compiler to go into an infinite loop, using up all system memory.</li> | 
 | <li>Some GCC specific Ada tests continue to crash the compiler.</li> | 
 | <li>The -E binder option (exception backtraces) | 
 | <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1982">does not work</a> and will result in programs | 
 | crashing if an exception is raised.  Workaround: do not use -E.</li> | 
 | <li>Only discrete types <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1981">are allowed to start | 
 | or finish at a non-byte offset</a> in a record.  Workaround: do not pack records | 
 | or use representation clauses that result in a field of a non-discrete type | 
 | starting or finishing in the middle of a byte.</li> | 
 | <li>The <tt>lli</tt> interpreter <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2009">considers | 
 | 'main' as generated by the Ada binder to be invalid</a>. | 
 | Workaround: hand edit the file to use pointers for <tt>argv</tt> and | 
 | <tt>envp</tt> rather than integers.</li> | 
 | <li>The <tt>-fstack-check</tt> option <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2008">is | 
 | ignored</a>.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> | 
 |   <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a | 
 | href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a | 
 | href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section.  The web page also | 
 | contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the | 
 | Subversion version of the source code. | 
 | You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going | 
 | into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact | 
 | us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing | 
 | lists</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
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