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 |   <title>LLVM Bitcode File Format</title> | 
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 | <body> | 
 | <div class="doc_title"> LLVM Bitcode File Format </div> | 
 | <ol> | 
 |   <li><a href="#abstract">Abstract</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#overview">Overview</a></li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#bitstream">Bitstream Format</a> | 
 |     <ol> | 
 |     <li><a href="#magic">Magic Numbers</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#primitives">Primitives</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#abbrevid">Abbreviation IDs</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#blocks">Blocks</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#datarecord">Data Records</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#abbreviations">Abbreviations</a></li> | 
 |     <li><a href="#stdblocks">Standard Blocks</a></li> | 
 |     </ol> | 
 |   </li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#wrapper">Bitcode Wrapper Format</a> | 
 |   </li> | 
 |   <li><a href="#llvmir">LLVM IR Encoding</a> | 
 |     <ol> | 
 |     <li><a href="#basics">Basics</a></li> | 
 |     </ol> | 
 |   </li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 | <div class="doc_author"> | 
 |   <p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> | 
 |   and <a href="http://www.reverberate.org">Joshua Haberman</a>. | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> <a name="abstract">Abstract</a></div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This document describes the LLVM bitstream file format and the encoding of | 
 | the LLVM IR into it.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> <a name="overview">Overview</a></div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | What is commonly known as the LLVM bitcode file format (also, sometimes | 
 | anachronistically known as bytecode) is actually two things: a <a  | 
 | href="#bitstream">bitstream container format</a> | 
 | and an <a href="#llvmir">encoding of LLVM IR</a> into the container format.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The bitstream format is an abstract encoding of structured data, very | 
 | similar to XML in some ways.  Like XML, bitstream files contain tags, and nested | 
 | structures, and you can parse the file without having to understand the tags. | 
 | Unlike XML, the bitstream format is a binary encoding, and unlike XML it | 
 | provides a mechanism for the file to self-describe "abbreviations", which are | 
 | effectively size optimizations for the content.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>LLVM IR files may be optionally embedded into a <a  | 
 | href="#wrapper">wrapper</a> structure that makes it easy to embed extra data | 
 | along with LLVM IR files.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This document first describes the LLVM bitstream format, describes the | 
 | wrapper format, then describes the record structure used by LLVM IR files. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> <a name="bitstream">Bitstream Format</a></div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The bitstream format is literally a stream of bits, with a very simple | 
 | structure.  This structure consists of the following concepts: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>A "<a href="#magic">magic number</a>" that identifies the contents of | 
 |     the stream.</li> | 
 | <li>Encoding <a href="#primitives">primitives</a> like variable bit-rate | 
 |     integers.</li>  | 
 | <li><a href="#blocks">Blocks</a>, which define nested content.</li>  | 
 | <li><a href="#datarecord">Data Records</a>, which describe entities within the | 
 |     file.</li>  | 
 | <li>Abbreviations, which specify compression optimizations for the file.</li>  | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Note that the <a  | 
 | href="CommandGuide/html/llvm-bcanalyzer.html">llvm-bcanalyzer</a> tool can be | 
 | used to dump and inspect arbitrary bitstreams, which is very useful for | 
 | understanding the encoding.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="magic">Magic Numbers</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The first two bytes of a bitcode file are 'BC' (0x42, 0x43). | 
 | The second two bytes are an application-specific magic number.  Generic | 
 | bitcode tools can look at only the first two bytes to verify the file is | 
 | bitcode, while application-specific programs will want to look at all four.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="primitives">Primitives</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | A bitstream literally consists of a stream of bits, which are read in order | 
 | starting with the least significant bit of each byte.  The stream is made up of a | 
 | number of primitive values that encode a stream of unsigned integer values. | 
 | These | 
 | integers are are encoded in two ways: either as <a href="#fixedwidth">Fixed | 
 | Width Integers</a> or as <a href="#variablewidth">Variable Width | 
 | Integers</a>. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="fixedwidth">Fixed Width Integers</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Fixed-width integer values have their low bits emitted directly to the file. | 
 |    For example, a 3-bit integer value encodes 1 as 001.  Fixed width integers | 
 |    are used when there are a well-known number of options for a field.  For | 
 |    example, boolean values are usually encoded with a 1-bit wide integer.  | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="variablewidth">Variable Width | 
 | Integers</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Variable-width integer (VBR) values encode values of arbitrary size, | 
 | optimizing for the case where the values are small.  Given a 4-bit VBR field, | 
 | any 3-bit value (0 through 7) is encoded directly, with the high bit set to | 
 | zero.  Values larger than N-1 bits emit their bits in a series of N-1 bit | 
 | chunks, where all but the last set the high bit.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>For example, the value 27 (0x1B) is encoded as 1011 0011 when emitted as a | 
 | vbr4 value.  The first set of four bits indicates the value 3 (011) with a | 
 | continuation piece (indicated by a high bit of 1).  The next word indicates a | 
 | value of 24 (011 << 3) with no continuation.  The sum (3+24) yields the value | 
 | 27. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="char6">6-bit characters</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>6-bit characters encode common characters into a fixed 6-bit field.  They | 
 | represent the following characters with the following 6-bit values:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <pre> | 
 | 'a' .. 'z' —  0 .. 25 | 
 | 'A' .. 'Z' — 26 .. 51 | 
 | '0' .. '9' — 52 .. 61 | 
 |        '.' — 62 | 
 |        '_' — 63 | 
 | </pre> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>This encoding is only suitable for encoding characters and strings that | 
 | consist only of the above characters.  It is completely incapable of encoding | 
 | characters not in the set.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="wordalign">Word Alignment</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Occasionally, it is useful to emit zero bits until the bitstream is a | 
 | multiple of 32 bits.  This ensures that the bit position in the stream can be | 
 | represented as a multiple of 32-bit words.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="abbrevid">Abbreviation IDs</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | A bitstream is a sequential series of <a href="#blocks">Blocks</a> and | 
 | <a href="#datarecord">Data Records</a>.  Both of these start with an | 
 | abbreviation ID encoded as a fixed-bitwidth field.  The width is specified by | 
 | the current block, as described below.  The value of the abbreviation ID | 
 | specifies either a builtin ID (which have special meanings, defined below) or | 
 | one of the abbreviation IDs defined by the stream itself. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The set of builtin abbrev IDs is: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li><tt>0 - <a href="#END_BLOCK">END_BLOCK</a></tt> — This abbrev ID marks | 
 |     the end of the current block.</li> | 
 | <li><tt>1 - <a href="#ENTER_SUBBLOCK">ENTER_SUBBLOCK</a></tt> — This | 
 |     abbrev ID marks the beginning of a new block.</li> | 
 | <li><tt>2 - <a href="#DEFINE_ABBREV">DEFINE_ABBREV</a></tt> — This defines | 
 |     a new abbreviation.</li> | 
 | <li><tt>3 - <a href="#UNABBREV_RECORD">UNABBREV_RECORD</a></tt> — This ID | 
 |     specifies the definition of an unabbreviated record.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>Abbreviation IDs 4 and above are defined by the stream itself, and specify | 
 | an <a href="#abbrev_records">abbreviated record encoding</a>.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="blocks">Blocks</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Blocks in a bitstream denote nested regions of the stream, and are identified by | 
 | a content-specific id number (for example, LLVM IR uses an ID of 12 to represent | 
 | function bodies).  Block IDs 0-7 are reserved for <a href="#stdblocks">standard blocks</a> | 
 | whose meaning is defined by Bitcode; block IDs 8 and greater are | 
 | application specific. Nested blocks capture the hierachical structure of the data | 
 | encoded in it, and various properties are associated with blocks as the file is | 
 | parsed.  Block definitions allow the reader to efficiently skip blocks | 
 | in constant time if the reader wants a summary of blocks, or if it wants to | 
 | efficiently skip data they do not understand.  The LLVM IR reader uses this | 
 | mechanism to skip function bodies, lazily reading them on demand. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | When reading and encoding the stream, several properties are maintained for the | 
 | block.  In particular, each block maintains: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li>A current abbrev id width.  This value starts at 2, and is set every time a | 
 |     block record is entered.  The block entry specifies the abbrev id width for | 
 |     the body of the block.</li> | 
 |  | 
 | <li>A set of abbreviations.  Abbreviations may be defined within a block, in | 
 |     which case they are only defined in that block (neither subblocks nor | 
 |     enclosing blocks see the abbreviation).  Abbreviations can also be defined | 
 |     inside a <tt><a href="#BLOCKINFO">BLOCKINFO</a></tt> block, in which case | 
 |     they are defined in all blocks that match the ID that the BLOCKINFO block is | 
 |     describing. | 
 | </li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | As sub blocks are entered, these properties are saved and the new sub-block has | 
 | its own set of abbreviations, and its own abbrev id width.  When a sub-block is | 
 | popped, the saved values are restored. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="ENTER_SUBBLOCK">ENTER_SUBBLOCK | 
 | Encoding</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>[ENTER_SUBBLOCK, blockid<sub>vbr8</sub>, newabbrevlen<sub>vbr4</sub>, | 
 |      <align32bits>, blocklen<sub>32</sub>]</tt></p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The <tt>ENTER_SUBBLOCK</tt> abbreviation ID specifies the start of a new block | 
 | record.  The <tt>blockid</tt> value is encoded as an 8-bit VBR identifier, and | 
 | indicates the type of block being entered, which can be | 
 | a <a href="#stdblocks">standard block</a> or an application-specific block. | 
 | The <tt>newabbrevlen</tt> value is a 4-bit VBR, which specifies the abbrev id | 
 | width for the sub-block.  The <tt>blocklen</tt> value is a 32-bit aligned value | 
 | that specifies the size of the subblock in 32-bit words. This value allows the | 
 | reader to skip over the entire block in one jump. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="END_BLOCK">END_BLOCK | 
 | Encoding</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>[END_BLOCK, <align32bits>]</tt></p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The <tt>END_BLOCK</tt> abbreviation ID specifies the end of the current block | 
 | record.  Its end is aligned to 32-bits to ensure that the size of the block is | 
 | an even multiple of 32-bits. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="datarecord">Data Records</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | Data records consist of a record code and a number of (up to) 64-bit integer | 
 | values.  The interpretation of the code and values is application specific and | 
 | there are multiple different ways to encode a record (with an unabbrev record or | 
 | with an abbreviation).  In the LLVM IR format, for example, there is a record | 
 | which encodes the target triple of a module.  The code is | 
 | <tt>MODULE_CODE_TRIPLE</tt>, and the values of the record are the ASCII codes | 
 | for the characters in the string. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="UNABBREV_RECORD">UNABBREV_RECORD | 
 | Encoding</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>[UNABBREV_RECORD, code<sub>vbr6</sub>, numops<sub>vbr6</sub>, | 
 |        op0<sub>vbr6</sub>, op1<sub>vbr6</sub>, ...]</tt></p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | An <tt>UNABBREV_RECORD</tt> provides a default fallback encoding, which is both | 
 | completely general and extremely inefficient.  It can describe an arbitrary | 
 | record by emitting the code and operands as vbrs. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | For example, emitting an LLVM IR target triple as an unabbreviated record | 
 | requires emitting the <tt>UNABBREV_RECORD</tt> abbrevid, a vbr6 for the | 
 | <tt>MODULE_CODE_TRIPLE</tt> code, a vbr6 for the length of the string, which is | 
 | equal to the number of operands, and a vbr6 for each character.  Because there | 
 | are no letters with values less than 32, each letter would need to be emitted as | 
 | at least a two-part VBR, which means that each letter would require at least 12 | 
 | bits.  This is not an efficient encoding, but it is fully general. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="abbrev_records">Abbreviated Record | 
 | Encoding</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>[<abbrevid>, fields...]</tt></p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | An abbreviated record is a abbreviation id followed by a set of fields that are | 
 | encoded according to the <a href="#abbreviations">abbreviation definition</a>. | 
 | This allows records to be encoded significantly more densely than records | 
 | encoded with the <tt><a href="#UNABBREV_RECORD">UNABBREV_RECORD</a></tt> type, | 
 | and allows the abbreviation types to be specified in the stream itself, which | 
 | allows the files to be completely self describing.  The actual encoding of | 
 | abbreviations is defined below. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="abbreviations">Abbreviations</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | Abbreviations are an important form of compression for bitstreams.  The idea is | 
 | to specify a dense encoding for a class of records once, then use that encoding | 
 | to emit many records.  It takes space to emit the encoding into the file, but | 
 | the space is recouped (hopefully plus some) when the records that use it are | 
 | emitted. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Abbreviations can be determined dynamically per client, per file. Because the | 
 | abbreviations are stored in the bitstream itself, different streams of the same | 
 | format can contain different sets of abbreviations if the specific stream does | 
 | not need it.  As a concrete example, LLVM IR files usually emit an abbreviation | 
 | for binary operators.  If a specific LLVM module contained no or few binary | 
 | operators, the abbreviation does not need to be emitted. | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="DEFINE_ABBREV">DEFINE_ABBREV | 
 |  Encoding</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p><tt>[DEFINE_ABBREV, numabbrevops<sub>vbr5</sub>, abbrevop0, abbrevop1, | 
 |  ...]</tt></p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | A <tt>DEFINE_ABBREV</tt> record adds an abbreviation to the list of currently | 
 | defined abbreviations in the scope of this block.  This definition only exists | 
 | inside this immediate block — it is not visible in subblocks or enclosing | 
 | blocks.  Abbreviations are implicitly assigned IDs sequentially starting from 4 | 
 | (the first application-defined abbreviation ID).  Any abbreviations defined in a | 
 | <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> record receive IDs first, in order, followed by any | 
 | abbreviations defined within the block itself.  Abbreviated data records | 
 | reference this ID to indicate what abbreviation they are invoking. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | An abbreviation definition consists of the <tt>DEFINE_ABBREV</tt> abbrevid | 
 | followed by a VBR that specifies the number of abbrev operands, then the abbrev | 
 | operands themselves.  Abbreviation operands come in three forms.  They all start | 
 | with a single bit that indicates whether the abbrev operand is a literal operand | 
 | (when the bit is 1) or an encoding operand (when the bit is 0). | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li>Literal operands — <tt>[1<sub>1</sub>, litvalue<sub>vbr8</sub>]</tt> | 
 | — Literal operands specify that the value in the result is always a single | 
 | specific value.  This specific value is emitted as a vbr8 after the bit | 
 | indicating that it is a literal operand.</li> | 
 | <li>Encoding info without data — <tt>[0<sub>1</sub>, | 
 |  encoding<sub>3</sub>]</tt> — Operand encodings that do not have extra | 
 |  data are just emitted as their code. | 
 | </li> | 
 | <li>Encoding info with data — <tt>[0<sub>1</sub>, encoding<sub>3</sub>, | 
 | value<sub>vbr5</sub>]</tt> — Operand encodings that do have extra data are | 
 | emitted as their code, followed by the extra data. | 
 | </li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The possible operand encodings are:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li>Fixed: The field should be emitted as | 
 |     a <a href="#fixedwidth">fixed-width value</a>, whose width is specified by | 
 |     the operand's extra data.</li> | 
 | <li>VBR: The field should be emitted as | 
 |     a <a href="#variablewidth">variable-width value</a>, whose width is | 
 |     specified by the operand's extra data.</li> | 
 | <li>Array: This field is an array of values.  The array operand | 
 |     has no extra data, but expects another operand to follow it which indicates | 
 |     the element type of the array.  When reading an array in an abbreviated | 
 |     record, the first integer is a vbr6 that indicates the array length, | 
 |     followed by the encoded elements of the array.  An array may only occur as | 
 |     the last operand of an abbreviation (except for the one final operand that | 
 |     gives the array's type).</li> | 
 | <li>Char6: This field should be emitted as | 
 |     a <a href="#char6">char6-encoded value</a>.  This operand type takes no | 
 |     extra data.</li> | 
 | <li>Blob: This field is emitted as a vbr6, followed by padding to a | 
 |     32-bit boundary (for alignment) and an array of 8-bit objects.  The array of | 
 |     bytes is further followed by tail padding to ensure that its total length is | 
 |     a multiple of 4 bytes.  This makes it very efficient for the reader to | 
 |     decode the data without having to make a copy of it: it can use a pointer to | 
 |     the data in the mapped in file and poke directly at it.  A blob may only | 
 |     occur as the last operand of an abbreviation.</li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | For example, target triples in LLVM modules are encoded as a record of the | 
 | form <tt>[TRIPLE, 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd']</tt>.  Consider if the bitstream emitted | 
 | the following abbrev entry: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <pre> | 
 | [0, Fixed, 4] | 
 | [0, Array] | 
 | [0, Char6] | 
 | </pre> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | When emitting a record with this abbreviation, the above entry would be emitted | 
 | as: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | <tt>[4<sub>abbrevwidth</sub>, 2<sub>4</sub>, 4<sub>vbr6</sub>, 0<sub>6</sub>, | 
 | 1<sub>6</sub>, 2<sub>6</sub>, 3<sub>6</sub>]</tt> | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>These values are:</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ol> | 
 | <li>The first value, 4, is the abbreviation ID for this abbreviation.</li> | 
 | <li>The second value, 2, is the code for <tt>TRIPLE</tt> in LLVM IR files.</li> | 
 | <li>The third value, 4, is the length of the array.</li> | 
 | <li>The rest of the values are the char6 encoded values | 
 |     for <tt>"abcd"</tt>.</li> | 
 | </ol> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | With this abbreviation, the triple is emitted with only 37 bits (assuming a | 
 | abbrev id width of 3).  Without the abbreviation, significantly more space would | 
 | be required to emit the target triple.  Also, because the <tt>TRIPLE</tt> value | 
 | is not emitted as a literal in the abbreviation, the abbreviation can also be | 
 | used for any other string value. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="stdblocks">Standard Blocks</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | In addition to the basic block structure and record encodings, the bitstream | 
 | also defines specific builtin block types.  These block types specify how the | 
 | stream is to be decoded or other metadata.  In the future, new standard blocks | 
 | may be added.  Block IDs 0-7 are reserved for standard blocks. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="BLOCKINFO">#0 - BLOCKINFO | 
 | Block</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> block allows the description of metadata for other | 
 | blocks.  The currently specified records are: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <pre> | 
 | [SETBID (#1), blockid] | 
 | [DEFINE_ABBREV, ...] | 
 | [BLOCKNAME, ...name...] | 
 | [SETRECORDNAME, RecordID, ...name...] | 
 | </pre> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The <tt>SETBID</tt> record indicates which block ID is being | 
 | described.  <tt>SETBID</tt> records can occur multiple times throughout the | 
 | block to change which block ID is being described.  There must be | 
 | a <tt>SETBID</tt> record prior to any other records. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Standard <tt>DEFINE_ABBREV</tt> records can occur inside <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> | 
 | blocks, but unlike their occurrence in normal blocks, the abbreviation is | 
 | defined for blocks matching the block ID we are describing, <i>not</i> the | 
 | <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> block itself.  The abbreviations defined | 
 | in <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> blocks receive abbreviation IDs as described | 
 | in <tt><a href="#DEFINE_ABBREV">DEFINE_ABBREV</a></tt>. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The <tt>BLOCKNAME</tt> can optionally occur in this block.  The elements of | 
 | the record are the bytes for the string name of the block.  llvm-bcanalyzer uses | 
 | this to dump out bitcode files symbolically.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p>The <tt>SETRECORDNAME</tt> record can optionally occur in this block.  The | 
 | first entry is a record ID number and the rest of the elements of the record are | 
 | the bytes for the string name of the record.  llvm-bcanalyzer uses | 
 | this to dump out bitcode files symbolically.</p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Note that although the data in <tt>BLOCKINFO</tt> blocks is described as | 
 | "metadata," the abbreviations they contain are essential for parsing records | 
 | from the corresponding blocks.  It is not safe to skip them. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> <a name="wrapper">Bitcode Wrapper Format</a></div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Bitcode files for LLVM IR may optionally be wrapped in a simple wrapper | 
 | structure.  This structure contains a simple header that indicates the offset | 
 | and size of the embedded BC file.  This allows additional information to be | 
 | stored alongside the BC file.  The structure of this file header is: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | <tt>[Magic<sub>32</sub>, Version<sub>32</sub>, Offset<sub>32</sub>, | 
 | Size<sub>32</sub>, CPUType<sub>32</sub>]</tt> | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | Each of the fields are 32-bit fields stored in little endian form (as with | 
 | the rest of the bitcode file fields).  The Magic number is always | 
 | <tt>0x0B17C0DE</tt> and the version is currently always <tt>0</tt>.  The Offset | 
 | field is the offset in bytes to the start of the bitcode stream in the file, and | 
 | the Size field is a size in bytes of the stream. CPUType is a target-specific | 
 | value that can be used to encode the CPU of the target. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 | <div class="doc_section"> <a name="llvmir">LLVM IR Encoding</a></div> | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | LLVM IR is encoded into a bitstream by defining blocks and records.  It uses | 
 | blocks for things like constant pools, functions, symbol tables, etc.  It uses | 
 | records for things like instructions, global variable descriptors, type | 
 | descriptions, etc.  This document does not describe the set of abbreviations | 
 | that the writer uses, as these are fully self-described in the file, and the | 
 | reader is not allowed to build in any knowledge of this. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="basics">Basics</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_magic">LLVM IR Magic Number</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | The magic number for LLVM IR files is: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_code"> | 
 | <p> | 
 | <tt>[0x0<sub>4</sub>, 0xC<sub>4</sub>, 0xE<sub>4</sub>, 0xD<sub>4</sub>]</tt> | 
 | </p> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | When combined with the bitcode magic number and viewed as bytes, this is | 
 | <tt>"BC 0xC0DE"</tt>. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_signed_vbr">Signed VBRs</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | <a href="#variablewidth">Variable Width Integers</a> are an efficient way to | 
 | encode arbitrary sized unsigned values, but is an extremely inefficient way to | 
 | encode signed values (as signed values are otherwise treated as maximally large | 
 | unsigned values). | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | As such, signed vbr values of a specific width are emitted as follows: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>Positive values are emitted as vbrs of the specified width, but with their | 
 |     value shifted left by one.</li> | 
 | <li>Negative values are emitted as vbrs of the specified width, but the negated | 
 |     value is shifted left by one, and the low bit is set.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | With this encoding, small positive and small negative values can both be emitted | 
 | efficiently. | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="ir_blocks">LLVM IR Blocks</a></div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | LLVM IR is defined with the following blocks: | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | <ul> | 
 | <li>8  — <tt>MODULE_BLOCK</tt> — This is the top-level block that | 
 |     contains the entire module, and describes a variety of per-module | 
 |     information.</li> | 
 | <li>9  — <tt>PARAMATTR_BLOCK</tt> — This enumerates the parameter | 
 |     attributes.</li> | 
 | <li>10 — <tt>TYPE_BLOCK</tt> — This describes all of the types in | 
 |     the module.</li> | 
 | <li>11 — <tt>CONSTANTS_BLOCK</tt> — This describes constants for a | 
 |     module or function.</li> | 
 | <li>12 — <tt>FUNCTION_BLOCK</tt> — This describes a function | 
 |     body.</li> | 
 | <li>13 — <tt>TYPE_SYMTAB_BLOCK</tt> — This describes the type symbol | 
 |     table.</li> | 
 | <li>14 — <tt>VALUE_SYMTAB_BLOCK</tt> — This describes a value symbol | 
 |     table.</li> | 
 | </ul> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> | 
 | <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="MODULE_BLOCK">MODULE_BLOCK Contents</a> | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 | <div class="doc_text"> | 
 |  | 
 | <p> | 
 | </p> | 
 |  | 
 | </div> | 
 |  | 
 |  | 
 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
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