* Moved from ObjectFiles.html
* Changed names of libraries to reflect new naming scheme
* Added some more introductory material
* Added a rule of thumb.
git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@17381 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
diff --git a/docs/UsingLibraries.html b/docs/UsingLibraries.html
index 1fb5fc8..20bc5f0 100644
--- a/docs/UsingLibraries.html
+++ b/docs/UsingLibraries.html
@@ -2,23 +2,15 @@
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html>
<head>
- <title>Object Files: Understanding The Result Of LLVM Compilation</title>
+ <title>Using The LLVM Libraries</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="llvm.css" type="text/css">
- <style>
- <!--
- td { border: 2px solid gray }
- -->
- </style>
</head>
<body>
-<div class="doc_title">
- Object Files: Understanding The Result Of LLVM Compilation
-</div>
-
+<div class="doc_title">Using The LLVM Libraries</div>
<ol>
<li><a href="#abstract">Abstract</a></li>
<li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
- <li><a href="#files">File Contents</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#descriptions">Library Descriptions</a></li>
<li><a href="#rot">Linkage Rules Of Thumb</a>
<ol>
<li><a href="#always">Always Link vmcore.o, support.a</a>
@@ -34,232 +26,97 @@
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_section"><a name="abstract">Abstract</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
-<p>This document describes the contents of the many objects files and libraries
-that are produced by compiling LLVM. To make use of LLVM this information is
-needed in order to understand what files should be linked into your program.
+ <p>Amongst other things, LLVM is a toolkit for building compilers, linkers,
+ runtime executives, virtual machines, and other program execution related
+ tools. In addition to the LLVM tool set, the functionality of LLVM is
+ available through a set of libraries. To use LLVM as a toolkit for
+ constructing tools, a developer needs to understand what is contained in the
+ various libraries, what they depend on, and how to use them. This document
+ describes the contents of the libraries and how and when to use them.
</p>
</div>
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_section"> <a name="introduction">Introduction</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
-<p>If you're writing a compiler, virtual machine, or any other utility for
- LLVM, you'll need to figure out which of the many .a (archive) and .o
- (object) files you will need to link with to be successful. An
- understanding of the contents of these files and their inter-relationships
- will be useful in coming up with an optimal specification for the objects
- and libraries to link with.
-</p>
-<p>The purpose of this document is to hopefully reduce some of the trial and
- error that the author experienced in using LLVM.
-</p>
+ <p>If you're writing a compiler, virtual machine, or any other utility based
+ on LLVM, you'll need to figure out which of the many libraries files you will
+ need to link with to be successful. An understanding of the contents of these
+ files and their inter-relationships will be useful in coming up with an optimal
+ specification for the libraries to link with. The purpose of this document is
+ to reduce some of the trial and error that the author experienced in using
+ LLVM.</p>
+ <p>LLVM produces two types of libraries: archives (ending in <tt>.a</tt>) and
+ objects (ending in <tt>.o</tt>). However, both are libraries. Libraries ending
+ in <tt>.o</tt> are known as re-linked libraries because they contain all the
+ compilation units of the library linked together as a single <tt>.o</tt> file.
+ Furthermore, many of the libraries have <em>both</em> forms of library. The
+ re-linked libraries are used whenever you want to include all symbols from the
+ library. The archive libraries are used whenever you want to only resolve
+ outstanding symbols at that point in the link without including everything in
+ the library. </p>
+ <p>When linking your tools, you will use the <tt>LLVMLIBS</tt> make variable.
+ (see the <a href="MakefileGuide.html#LLVMLIBS">Makefile Guide</a> for
+ details). This variable specifies which LLVM libraries to link into your tool
+ and the order in which they will be linked. You specify re-linked libraries by
+ naming the library without a suffix. You specify archive libraries by naming
+ the library with a <tt>.a</tt> suffix but without the <tt>lib</tt> prefix. The
+ order in which the libraries appear in the <tt>LLVMLIBS</tt> variable
+ definition is the order in which they will be linked. Getting this order
+ correct for your tool can sometimes be challenging.
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_section"><a name="files"></a>File Contents</div>
+<div class="doc_section"><a name="descriptions"></a>Library Descriptions</div>
<div class="doc_text">
-<p>The table below provides a summary of the basic contents of each file.</p>
-<table class="doc_table"
- style="width:80%; text-align: left; border: 2px solid gray; border-collapse: collapse;">
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td colspan="2" class="doc_section">Summary Of LLVM Library And Object Files
- </td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td><h2><u>Library</u></h2></td>
- <td><h2><u>Description</u></h2></td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libipo.a</td>
- <td>
- An archive of all interprocedural optimizations.
- </td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libscalaropts.a</td>
- <td>
- An archive of all scalar optimizations.
- </td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libtransforms.a</td>
- <td>Uncategorized transformations.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libtarget.a</td>
- <td>An archive containing generic code generator support.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libanalysis.a</td>
- <td>An archive containing intraprocedural analyses.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libdatastructure.a</td>
- <td>An archive containing Data Structure Analysis.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libinstrument.a</td>
- <td>Intraprocedural instrumentation and utilities.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libsparcv9regalloc.a</td>
- <td>SparcV9 graph-coloring register allocator.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libipa.a</td>
- <td>An archive containing interprocedural analyses</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libtransformutils.a</td>
- <td>Utility functions for transformations.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>libsupport.a</td>
- <td>General support utilities</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td><h2><u>Object File</u></h2></td>
- <td><h2><u>Description</u></h2></td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>support.o</td>
- <td>General support utilities</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>asmparser.o</td>
- <td>Assembler Parser</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>bcreader.o</td>
- <td>Bytecode Reader</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>bcwriter.o</td>
- <td>Bytecode Writer</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sched.o</td>
- <td>SparcV9 instruction scheduler</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>selectiondag.o</td>
- <td>Aggressive instruction selector for Directed Acyclic Graphs</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>transformutils.o</td>
- <td>Utilities for code transformations</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>ipa.o</td>
- <td>Interprocedural Analyses</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sparcv9select.o</td>
- <td>SparcV9 instruction selector</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>cwriter.o</td>
- <td>"C" Code Writer</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>profpaths.o</td>
- <td>Path profiling instrumentation</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sparcv9regalloc.o</td>
- <td>SparcV9 graph-coloring register allocator</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>instrument.o</td>
- <td>Intraprocedural instrumentation and utilities.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>datastructure.o</td>
- <td>Data Structure Analysis</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>codegen.o</td>
- <td>Native code generation</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sparcv9livevar.o</td>
- <td>SparcV9 Live Variable Analysis</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>vmcore.o</td>
- <td>Virtual Machine Core</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>lli-interpreter.o</td>
- <td>Interpreter for LLVM ByteCode</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>lli-jit.o</td>
- <td>
- Just-In-Time Compiler For LLVM ByteCode
- </td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>executionengine.o</td>
- <td>Engine for LLI</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>debugger.o</td>
- <td>Source Level Debugging Support</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>analysis.o</td>
- <td>General framework for Analysis</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sparcv9.o</td>
- <td>SparcV9 backend</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>target.o</td>
- <td>Generic backend support</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>transforms.o</td>
- <td>Uncategorized transformations.</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>x86.o</td>
- <td>Intel x86 backend</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>powerpc.o</td>
- <td>PowerPC backend</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>scalaropts.o</td>
- <td>Optimizations For Scalars</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>ipo.o</td>
- <td>Interprocedural Optimizations</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>trace.o</td>
- <td>Support For Tracing/Debugging?</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>profile_rt.o</td>
- <td>Runtime Library For Profiler</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>sample.o</td>
- <td>Sample Program ?</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>stkr_compiler.o</td>
- <td>Stacker Language Compiler Library</td>
-</tr>
-<tr class="doc_table">
- <td>stkr_runtime.o</td>
- <td>Stacker Language Runtime Library</td>
-</tr>
+ <p>The table below categorizes each library
+<table style="text-align:left">
+ <tr><th>Library</th><th>Forms</th><th>Description</th></tr>
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Core Libraries</th></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMAsmParser</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>LLVM Assembly Parsing</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMBCReader</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>LLVM Bytecode Reading</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMBCWriter</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>LLVM Bytecode Writing</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMDebugger</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Source Level Debugging Support</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSupport</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>General support utilities</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSystem</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Operating system abstraction</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMCore</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>LLVM Core IR</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Analysis Libraries</th></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMAnalysis</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Various analysis passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMDataStructure</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Data structure analysis passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMipa</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Inter-procedural analysis passes.</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Transformation Libraries</th>
+ <tr><td>LLVMInstrumentation</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Instrumentation passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMipo</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>All inter-procedural optimization passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMScalarOpts</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>All scalar optimization passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMTransforms</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Uncategorized transformation passes.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMTransformUtils</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Transformation utilities.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMProfilePaths</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Profile paths for instrumentation.</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Code Generation Libraries </th></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMCodeGen</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Native code generation infrastructure</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Target Libraries</th></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMCBackend</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>'C' language code generator.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMPowerPC</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>PowerPC code generation backend</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSelectionDAG</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Aggressive instruction selector for Directed Acyclic Graphs.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSkeleton</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Skeleton for a code generation backend.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSparcV9</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Code generation for SparcV9.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSparcV9RegAlloc</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Graph-coloring register allocator for SparcV9.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSparcV9InstrSched</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Instruction scheduling for SparcV9.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSparcV9LiveVar</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Live variable analysis SparcV9.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMSparcV9ModuloSched</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Modulo scheduling for SparcV9.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMTarget</td><td><tt>.a .o</tt></td><td>Generic code generation utilities.</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMX86</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Intel x86 code generation backend</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><th colspan=3">Runtime Libraries</th></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMInterpreter</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Bytecode Interpreter</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMJIT</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Bytecode JIT Compiler</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMExecutionEngine</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>Virtual machine engine</td></tr>
+ <tr><td>LLVMexecve</td><td><tt>.o</tt></td><td>execve(2) replacement for llee</td></tr>
</table>
</div>
-<p></p>
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_section"><a name="rot">Linkage Rules Of Thumb</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
@@ -267,16 +124,21 @@
should link into your programs.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="always">Always Link vmcore.o support.a</a>
-</div>
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="always">Always Link LLVMCore LLVMSupport
+ LLVMSystem</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
- <p>No matter what you do with LLVM, you'll always need to link with vmcore.o
- and support.a.</p>
+ <p>No matter what you do with LLVM, the last three entries in your linke line
+ should always be: <tt>LLVMCore LLVMSupport.a LLVMSystem.a</tt>.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="Placeholder">Placeholder</a></div>
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="onlyone">Never link both archive and
+ re-linked library</a></div>
<div class="doc_text">
- <p>Need more rules of thumb here.</p>
+ <p>There is never any point to linking both the re-linked (<tt>.o</tt>) and
+ the archive (<tt>.a</tt>) versions of a library. Since the re-linked version
+ includes the entire library, the archive version will not resolve any symbols.
+ You could even end up with link error is you place the archive version before
+ the re-linked version on the linker's command line.</p>
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<hr>