Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" |
| 2 | "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> |
| 3 | <html> |
| 4 | <head> |
| 5 | <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> |
| 6 | <link rel="stylesheet" href="llvm.css" type="text/css"> |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 7 | <title>LLVM 2.4 Release Notes</title> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 8 | </head> |
| 9 | <body> |
| 10 | |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 11 | <div class="doc_title">LLVM 2.4 Release Notes</div> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 12 | |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 13 | <ol> |
| 14 | <li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 15 | <li><a href="#subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a></li> |
| 16 | <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New in LLVM?</a></li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 17 | <li><a href="GettingStarted.html">Installation Instructions</a></li> |
| 18 | <li><a href="#portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a></li> |
| 19 | <li><a href="#knownproblems">Known Problems</a> |
| 20 | <li><a href="#additionalinfo">Additional Information</a></li> |
| 21 | </ol> |
| 22 | |
| 23 | <div class="doc_author"> |
| 24 | <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a><p> |
| 25 | </div> |
| 26 | |
| 27 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 28 | <div class="doc_section"> |
| 29 | <a name="intro">Introduction</a> |
| 30 | </div> |
| 31 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 32 | |
| 33 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 34 | |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 35 | <p>This document contains the release notes for the LLVM Compiler |
| 36 | Infrastructure, release 2.4. Here we describe the status of LLVM, including |
| 37 | major improvements from the previous release and significant known problems. |
| 38 | All LLVM releases may be downloaded from the <a |
| 39 | href="http://llvm.org/releases/">LLVM releases web site</a>.</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 40 | |
| 41 | <p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest |
| 42 | release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM |
| 43 | web site</a>. If you have questions or comments, the <a |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 44 | href="http://mail.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM Developer's Mailing |
| 45 | List</a> is a good place to send them.</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 46 | |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 47 | <p>Note that if you are reading this file from a Subversion checkout or the |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 48 | main LLVM web page, this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 49 | current one. To see the release notes for a specific release, please see the |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 50 | <a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 51 | |
| 52 | </div> |
| 53 | |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 54 | <!-- Unfinished features in 2.4: |
Chris Lattner | 8fda495 | 2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 55 | Machine LICM |
| 56 | Machine Sinking |
| 57 | LegalizeDAGTypes |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 58 | llc -enable-value-prop, propagation of value info (sign/zero ext info) from |
| 59 | one MBB to another |
Chris Lattner | 8fda495 | 2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 60 | --> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | <!-- for announcement email: |
| 63 | mention dev mtg |
Chris Lattner | 548493b | 2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 64 | Xcode 3.1 and 3.1.1. |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | --> |
Chris Lattner | 8fda495 | 2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 66 | |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 67 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 68 | <div class="doc_section"> |
| 69 | <a name="subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a> |
Chris Lattner | f65224f | 2008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 70 | </div> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 71 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
Chris Lattner | f65224f | 2008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 72 | |
| 73 | <div class="doc_text"> |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 74 | <p> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 75 | The LLVM 2.4 distribution currently consists of code from the core LLVM |
Chris Lattner | a3c683b | 2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 76 | repository (which roughly includes the LLVM optimizers, code generators and |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 77 | supporting tools) and the llvm-gcc repository. In addition to this code, the |
| 78 | LLVM Project includes other sub-projects that are in development. The two which |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 79 | are the most actively developed are the <a href="#clang">Clang Project</a> and |
Duncan Sands | 275d1e0 | 2008-10-13 18:33:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 80 | the <a href="#vmkit">vmkit Project</a>. |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 81 | </p> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 82 | |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 83 | </div> |
| 84 | |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 85 | |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 86 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 87 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | a3c683b | 2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 88 | <a name="clang">Clang: C/C++/Objective-C Frontend Toolkit</a> |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 89 | </div> |
| 90 | |
| 91 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 92 | |
| 93 | <p>The <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">Clang project</a> is an effort to build |
| 94 | a set of new 'LLVM native' front-end technologies for the LLVM optimizer |
| 95 | and code generator. Clang is continuing to make major strides forward in all |
| 96 | areas. Its C and Objective-C parsing support is very solid, and the code |
| 97 | generation support is far enough along to build many C applications. While not |
| 98 | yet production quality, it is progressing very nicely. In addition, C++ |
| 99 | front-end work has started to make significant progress.</p> |
| 100 | |
Chris Lattner | c2d8467 | 2008-10-14 00:52:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 101 | <p>Codegen progress/state [DANIEL]</p> |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 102 | |
Chris Lattner | a3c683b | 2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 103 | </div> |
| 104 | |
| 105 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 106 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 107 | <a name="clangsa">Clang Static Analyzer</a> |
| 108 | </div> |
| 109 | |
| 110 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 111 | |
Ted Kremenek | 0437b2c | 2008-10-14 05:14:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 112 | <p>The Clang project also includes an early stage static source code analysis |
| 113 | tool for <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/StaticAnalysis.html">automatically |
| 114 | finding bugs</a> in C and Objective-C programs. The tool performs a growing set |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 115 | of checks to find bugs that occur on a specific path within a program. Examples |
Ted Kremenek | 0437b2c | 2008-10-14 05:14:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 116 | of bugs the tool finds include logic errors such as null dereferences, |
| 117 | violations of various API rules, dead code, and potential memory leaks in |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 118 | Objective-C programs. Since its inception, public feedback on the tool has been |
| 119 | extremely positive, and conservative estimates put the number of real bugs it |
| 120 | has found in industrial-quality software on the order of thousands.</p> |
Chris Lattner | c2d8467 | 2008-10-14 00:52:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 121 | |
Ted Kremenek | 0437b2c | 2008-10-14 05:14:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 122 | <p>The tool also provides a simple web GUI to inspect potential bugs found by |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 123 | the tool. While still early in development, the GUI illustrates some of the key |
Ted Kremenek | 0437b2c | 2008-10-14 05:14:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 124 | features of Clang: accurate source location information, which is used by the |
| 125 | GUI to highlight specific code expressions that relate to a bug (including those |
| 126 | that span multiple lines) and built-in knowledge of macros, which is used to |
| 127 | perform inline expansion of macros within the GUI itself.</p> |
| 128 | |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 129 | <p>The set of checks performed by the static analyzer is gradually expanding, |
| 130 | and |
Ted Kremenek | 0437b2c | 2008-10-14 05:14:21 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 131 | future plans for the tool include full source-level inter-procedural analysis |
| 132 | and deeper checks such as buffer overrun detection. There are many opportunities |
| 133 | to extend and enhance the static analyzer, and anyone interested in working on |
| 134 | this project is encouraged to get involved!</p> |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 135 | |
| 136 | </div> |
| 137 | |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 138 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 139 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | a3c683b | 2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 140 | <a name="vmkit">vmkit: JVM/CLI Virtual Machine Implementation</a> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 141 | </div> |
| 142 | |
| 143 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 144 | <p> |
Chris Lattner | a3c683b | 2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 145 | The <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/">vmkit project</a> is an implementation of |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 146 | a JVM and a CLI Virtual Machines (Microsoft .NET is an |
| 147 | implementation of the CLI) using the Just-In-Time compiler of LLVM.</p> |
| 148 | |
Chris Lattner | c2d8467 | 2008-10-14 00:52:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 149 | <p>[NICOLAS]</p> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 150 | |
| 151 | </div> |
| 152 | |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 153 | |
| 154 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 155 | <div class="doc_section"> |
Chris Lattner | 78a130b | 2008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 156 | <a name="whatsnew">What's New in LLVM?</a> |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 157 | </div> |
| 158 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 159 | |
Chris Lattner | 5cce7a5 | 2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 160 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 161 | |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 162 | <p>This release includes a huge number of bug fixes, performance tweaks and |
| 163 | minor improvements. Some of the major improvements and new features are listed |
| 164 | in this section. |
Chris Lattner | 5cce7a5 | 2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 165 | </p> |
| 166 | </div> |
| 167 | |
Chris Lattner | f6a0d38 | 2008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 168 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
Chris Lattner | f65224f | 2008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 169 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | e079808 | 2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 170 | <a name="majorfeatures">Major New Features</a> |
| 171 | </div> |
| 172 | |
| 173 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 174 | |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 175 | <p>LLVM 2.4 includes several major new capabilities:</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 176 | |
| 177 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 178 | <li><p>The most visible end-user change in LLVM 2.4 is that it includes many |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 179 | optimizations and changes to make -O0 compile times much faster. You should see |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 180 | improvements on the order of 30% (or more) faster than LLVM 2.3. There are many |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 181 | pieces to this change, described in more detail below. The speedups and new |
| 182 | components can also be used for JIT compilers that want fast compilation as |
| 183 | well.</p></li> |
Chris Lattner | 2c3ef98 | 2008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 184 | |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 185 | <li><p>The biggest change to the LLVM IR is that Multiple Return Values (which |
| 186 | were introduced in LLVM 2.3) have been generalized to full support for "First |
| 187 | Class Aggregate" values in LLVM 2.4. This means that LLVM IR supports using |
| 188 | structs and arrays as values in a function. This capability is mostly useful |
| 189 | for front-end authors, who prefer to treat things like complex numbers, simple |
| 190 | tuples, dope vectors, etc as Value*'s instead of as a tuple of Value*'s or as |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 191 | memory values. Bitcode files from LLVM 2.3 will automatically migrate to the |
| 192 | general representation.</p></li> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 193 | |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 194 | <li><p>LLVM 2.4 also includes an initial port for the PIC16 microprocessor. This |
Duncan Sands | c16c924 | 2008-10-14 07:06:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 195 | is the LLVM target that only has support for 8 bit registers, and a number of |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 196 | other crazy constraints. While the port is still in early development stages, |
| 197 | it shows some interesting things you can do with LLVM.</p></li> |
Chris Lattner | ba94852 | 2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 198 | |
Chris Lattner | 5ba1686 | 2008-02-10 08:18:42 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 199 | </ul> |
| 200 | |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 201 | </div> |
| 202 | |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 203 | |
| 204 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 205 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | f65224f | 2008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 206 | <a name="llvm-gcc">llvm-gcc 4.2 Improvements</a> |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 207 | </div> |
| 208 | |
| 209 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 210 | |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 211 | <p>LLVM fully supports the llvm-gcc 4.2 front-end, which marries the GCC |
| 212 | front-ends and driver with the LLVM optimizer and code generator. It currently |
| 213 | includes support for the C, C++, Objective-C, Ada, and Fortran front-ends.</p> |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 214 | |
Chris Lattner | 5cce7a5 | 2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 215 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 216 | <li>LLVM 2.4 supports the full set of atomic <tt>__sync_*</tt> builtins. LLVM |
| 217 | 2.3 only supported those used by OpenMP, but 2.4 supports them all. While |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 218 | llvm-gcc supports all of these builtins, note that not all targets do. X86 |
| 219 | support them all in both 32-bit and 64-bit mode and PowerPC supports them all |
| 220 | except for the 64-bit operations when in 32-bit mode.</li> |
Chris Lattner | 5cce7a5 | 2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 221 | |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 222 | <li>llvm-gcc now supports an <tt>-flimited-precision</tt> option, which tells |
| 223 | the compiler that it is ok to use low-precision approximations of certain libm |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 224 | functions (like tan, log, etc). This allows you to get high performance if you |
| 225 | only need (say) 14-bits of precision.</li> |
| 226 | |
| 227 | <li>llvm-gcc now supports a C language extension known as "<a |
| 228 | href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/pipermail/cfe-dev/2008-August/002670.html">Blocks |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 229 | </a>". This feature is similar to nested functions and closures, but does not |
Chris Lattner | 4352cc8 | 2008-10-13 20:47:20 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 230 | require stack trampolines (with most ABIs) and supports returning closures |
| 231 | from functions that define them. Note that actually <em>using</em> Blocks |
| 232 | requires a small runtime that is not included with llvm-gcc.</li> |
| 233 | |
| 234 | <li>llvm-gcc now supports a new <tt>-flto</tt> option. On systems that support |
| 235 | transparent Link Time Optimization (currently Darwin systems with Xcode 3.1 and |
| 236 | later) this allows the use of LTO with other optimization levels like -Os. |
| 237 | Previously, LTO could only be used with -O4, which implied optimizations in |
| 238 | -O3 that can increase code size.</li> |
Gabor Greif | 0e49cc8 | 2008-06-09 06:06:18 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 239 | </ul> |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 240 | |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 241 | </div> |
| 242 | |
| 243 | |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 244 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 245 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | c364945 | 2008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 246 | <a name="coreimprovements">LLVM Core Improvements</a> |
| 247 | </div> |
| 248 | |
| 249 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 250 | <p>New features include: |
| 251 | </p> |
| 252 | |
Chris Lattner | c5a4e31 | 2008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 253 | <ul> |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 254 | <li>A major change to the <tt>Use</tt> class landed, which shrank it by 25%. Since |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 255 | this is a pervasive part of the LLVM, it ended up reducing the memory use of |
| 256 | LLVM IR in general by 15% for most programs.</li> |
| 257 | |
| 258 | <li>Values with no names are now pretty printed by <tt>llvm-dis</tt> more |
| 259 | nicely. They now print as "<tt>%3 = add i32 %A, 4</tt>" instead of |
| 260 | "<tt>add i32 %A, 4 ; <i32>:3</tt>", which makes it much easier to read. |
| 261 | </li> |
| 262 | |
| 263 | <li>LLVM 2.4 includes some changes for better vector support. First, the shift |
| 264 | operations (<tt>shl</tt>, <tt>ashr</tt>, <tt>lshr</tt>) now all support vectors |
| 265 | and do an element-by-element shift (shifts of the whole vector can be |
| 266 | accomplished by bitcasting the vector to <1 x i128> for example). Second, |
Chris Lattner | c2d8467 | 2008-10-14 00:52:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 267 | there is initial support in development for vector comparisons with the |
| 268 | <a href="LangRef.html#i_fcmp">fcmp</a>/<a href="LangRef.html#i_icmp">icmp</a> |
| 269 | instructions. These instructions compare two vectors and return a vector of |
| 270 | i1's for each result. Note that there is very little codegen support available |
| 271 | for any of these IR features though.</li> |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 272 | |
| 273 | <li>A new <tt>DebugInfoBuilder</tt> class is available, which makes it much |
| 274 | easier for front-ends to create debug info descriptors, similar to the way that |
| 275 | IRBuilder makes it easier to create LLVM IR.</li> |
| 276 | |
Duncan Sands | c16c924 | 2008-10-14 07:06:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 277 | <li>The <tt>IRBuilder</tt> class is now parametrized by a class responsible |
Gabor Greif | 7c65c4f | 2008-10-14 11:00:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame^] | 278 | for constant folding. The default <tt>ConstantFolder</tt> class does target independent |
| 279 | constant folding. The <tt>NoFolder</tt> class does no constant folding at all, which is |
| 280 | useful when learning how LLVM works. The <tt>TargetFolder</tt> class folds the most, |
Duncan Sands | c16c924 | 2008-10-14 07:06:37 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 281 | doing target dependent constant folding.</li> |
| 282 | |
| 283 | <li>LLVM now supports "function attributes", which allows us to separate return |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 284 | value attributes from function attributes. LLVM now supports attributes on a |
| 285 | function itself, a return value, and its parameters. New supported function |
| 286 | attributes include noinline/alwaysinline and the "opt-size" flag which says the |
| 287 | function should be optimized for code size.</li> |
| 288 | |
Chris Lattner | a5a4938 | 2008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 289 | <li>LLVM IR now directly represents "common" linkage, instead of |
| 290 | representing it as a form of weak linkage.</li> |
Chris Lattner | f7bae6d | 2008-10-13 20:59:32 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 291 | |
Chris Lattner | c364945 | 2008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 292 | </ul> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 293 | |
Chris Lattner | c364945 | 2008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 294 | </div> |
| 295 | |
| 296 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 297 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | 8fda495 | 2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 298 | <a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a> |
| 299 | </div> |
| 300 | |
| 301 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 302 | |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 303 | <p>In addition to a huge array of bug fixes and minor performance tweaks, this |
| 304 | release includes a few major enhancements and additions to the optimizers:</p> |
Chris Lattner | 8fda495 | 2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 305 | |
| 306 | <ul> |
| 307 | |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 308 | <li>The Global Value Numbering (GVN) pass now does local Partial Redundancy |
| 309 | Elimination (PRE) to eliminate some partially redundant expressions in cases |
| 310 | where doing so won't grow code size.</li> |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 311 | |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 312 | <li>LLVM 2.4 includes a new loop deletion pass (which removes output-free |
| 313 | provably-finite loops) and a rewritten Aggressive Dead Code Elimination (ADCE) |
| 314 | pass that no longer uses control dependence information. These changes speed up |
| 315 | the optimizer and also prevents it from deleting output-free infinite |
| 316 | loops.</li> |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 317 | |
Duncan Sands | 2aecc3f | 2008-10-13 18:42:43 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 318 | <li>The new AddReadAttrs pass works out which functions are read-only or |
| 319 | read-none (these correspond to 'pure' and 'const' in C) and marks them |
| 320 | with the appropriate attribute.</li> |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 321 | |
| 322 | <li>LLVM 2.4 now includes a new SparsePropagation framework, which makes it |
| 323 | trivial to build lattice-based dataflow solvers that operate over LLVM IR. Using |
| 324 | this interface means that you just define objects to represent your lattice |
| 325 | values and the transfer functions that operate on them. It handles the |
| 326 | mechanics of worklist processing, liveness tracking, handling PHI nodes, |
| 327 | etc.</li> |
| 328 | |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 329 | <li>The Loop Strength Reduction and induction variable optimization passes have |
| 330 | several improvements to avoid inserting MAX expressions, to optimize simple |
| 331 | floating point induction variables and to analyze trip counts of more |
| 332 | loops.</li> |
| 333 | |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 334 | <li>Various helper functions (ComputeMaskedBits, ComputeNumSignBits, etc) were |
| 335 | pulled out of the Instruction Combining pass and put into a new |
| 336 | <tt>ValueTracking.h</tt> header, where they can be reused by other passes.</li> |
| 337 | |
| 338 | <li>The tail duplication pass has been removed from the standard optimizer |
| 339 | sequence used by llvm-gcc. This pass still exists, but the benefits it once |
| 340 | provided are now achieved by other passes.</li> |
| 341 | |
Chris Lattner | 0eef6e4 | 2008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 342 | </ul> |
| 343 | |
| 344 | </div> |
| 345 | |
| 346 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 347 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 348 | <a name="codegen">Code Generator Improvements</a> |
| 349 | </div> |
| 350 | |
| 351 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 352 | |
| 353 | <p>We put a significant amount of work into the code generator infrastructure, |
| 354 | which allows us to implement more aggressive algorithms and make it run |
| 355 | faster:</p> |
| 356 | |
| 357 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | ea9c224 | 2008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 358 | <li>The target-independent code generator supports (and the X86 backend |
| 359 | currently implements) a new interface for "fast" instruction selection. This |
| 360 | interface is optimized to produce code as quickly as possible, sacrificing |
| 361 | code quality to do it. This is used by default at -O0 or when using |
| 362 | "llc -fast" on X86. It is straight-forward to add support for |
| 363 | other targets if faster -O0 compilation is desired.</li> |
| 364 | |
| 365 | <li>In addition to the new 'fast' instruction selection path, many existing |
| 366 | pieces of the code generator have been optimized in significant ways. |
| 367 | SelectionDAG's are now pool allocated and use better algorithms in many |
| 368 | places, the ".s" file printers now use raw_ostream to emit text much faster, |
| 369 | etc. The end result of these improvements is that the compiler also takes |
| 370 | substantially less time to generate code that is just as good (and often |
| 371 | better) than before.</li> |
| 372 | |
| 373 | <li>Each target has been split to separate the .s file printing logic from the |
| 374 | rest of the target. This enables JIT compilers that don't link in the |
| 375 | (somewhat large) code and data tables used for printing a .s file.</li> |
| 376 | |
| 377 | <li>The code generator now includes a "stack slot coloring" pass, which packs |
| 378 | together individual spilled values into common stack slots. This reduces |
| 379 | the size of stack frames with many spills, which tends to increase L1 cache |
| 380 | effectiveness.</li> |
| 381 | |
| 382 | <li>Various pieces of the register allocator (e.g. the coalescer and two-address |
| 383 | operation elimination pass) now know how to rematerialize trivial operations |
| 384 | to avoid copies and include several other optimizations.</li> |
| 385 | |
| 386 | <li>The <a href="CodeGenerator.html#selectiondag_process">graphs</a> produced by |
| 387 | the <tt>llc -view-*-dags</tt> options are now significantly prettier and |
| 388 | easier to read.</li> |
| 389 | |
| 390 | <li>LLVM 2.4 includes a new register allocator based on Partitioned Boolean |
| 391 | Quadratic Programming (PBQP). This register allocator is still in |
| 392 | development, but is very simple and clean.</li> |
Chris Lattner | 0eef6e4 | 2008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 393 | |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 394 | </ul> |
| 395 | |
| 396 | </div> |
| 397 | |
| 398 | |
| 399 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 400 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 401 | <a name="targetspecific">Target Specific Improvements</a> |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 402 | </div> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 403 | |
| 404 | <div class="doc_text"> |
Chris Lattner | c364945 | 2008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 405 | <p>New target-specific features include: |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 406 | </p> |
| 407 | |
| 408 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | 4f07640 | 2008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 409 | <li>Exception handling is supported by default on Linux/x86-64.</li> |
Duncan Sands | d8745a9 | 2008-10-13 17:32:15 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 410 | <li>Position Independent Code (PIC) is now supported on Linux/x86-64.</li> |
Chris Lattner | ff17015 | 2008-10-14 06:02:29 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 411 | <li>@llvm.frameaddress now supports getting the frame address of stack frames |
| 412 | > 0 on x86/x86-64.</li> |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 413 | <li>MIPS floating point support? [BRUNO]</li> |
| 414 | <li>The PowerPC backend now supports trampolines.</li> |
Chris Lattner | e45f18b | 2008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 415 | </ul> |
Chris Lattner | e45f18b | 2008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 416 | |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 417 | </div> |
Chris Lattner | e45f18b | 2008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 418 | |
| 419 | |
| 420 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 421 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 422 | <a name="otherimprovements">Other Improvements</a> |
| 423 | </div> |
| 424 | |
| 425 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 426 | <p>New features include: |
| 427 | </p> |
| 428 | |
| 429 | <ul> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | cc2d301 | 2008-10-13 02:46:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 430 | <li><tt>llvmc2</tt> (the generic compiler driver) gained plugin |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 431 | support. It is now easier to experiment with <tt>llvmc2</tt> and |
| 432 | build your own tools based on it.</li> |
| 433 | |
| 434 | <li>LLVM 2.4 includes a number of new generic algorithms and data structures, |
| 435 | include a scoped hash table, 'immutable' data structures, and a |
| 436 | <tt>raw_ostream</tt> class. The <tt>raw_ostream</tt> class and |
| 437 | <tt>format</tt> allow for efficient file output, and various pieces of LLVM |
| 438 | have switched over to use it. The eventual goal is to eliminate |
| 439 | std::ostream in favor of it.</li> |
| 440 | |
| 441 | <li>Recycler + pool allocation stuff? [DAN]</li> |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 442 | </ul> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 443 | |
Chris Lattner | b0d6c50 | 2007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 444 | </div> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 445 | |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 446 | <!--=========================================================================--> |
| 447 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 448 | <a name="changes">Major Changes and Removed Features</a> |
| 449 | </div> |
| 450 | |
| 451 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 452 | |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 453 | <p>If you're already an LLVM user or developer with out-of-tree changes based |
| 454 | on LLVM 2.3, this section lists some "gotchas" that you may run into upgrading |
| 455 | from the previous release.</p> |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 456 | |
| 457 | <ul> |
| 458 | |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 459 | <li>The LLVM IR generated by llvm-gcc no longer names all instructions. This |
| 460 | makes it run faster, but may be more confusing to some people. If you |
| 461 | prefer to have names, the '<tt>opt -instnamer</tt>' pass will add names to |
| 462 | all instructions.</li> |
| 463 | |
| 464 | <li>The LoadVN and GCSE passes have been removed from the tree. They are |
| 465 | obsolete and have been replaced with the GVN and MemoryDependence passes. |
| 466 | </li> |
| 467 | </ul> |
| 468 | |
| 469 | |
| 470 | <p>In addition, many APIs have changed in this release. Some of the major LLVM |
| 471 | API changes are:</p> |
| 472 | |
| 473 | <ul> |
| 474 | |
| 475 | <li>Attributes changes [DEVANG] </li> |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 476 | |
| 477 | <li>The <tt>DbgStopPointInst</tt> methods <tt>getDirectory</tt> and |
| 478 | <tt>getFileName</tt> now return <tt>Value*</tt> instead of strings. These can be |
| 479 | converted to strings using <tt>llvm::GetConstantStringInfo</tt> defined via |
| 480 | "llvm/Analysis/ValueTracking.h".</li> |
| 481 | |
Chris Lattner | cc64a32 | 2008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 482 | <li>The APIs to create various instructions have changed from lower case |
| 483 | "create" methods to upper case "Create" methods (e.g. |
| 484 | <tt>BinaryOperator::create</tt>). LLVM 2.4 includes both cases, but the |
| 485 | lower case ones are removed in mainline, please migrate.</li> |
| 486 | |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 487 | <li>Various header files like "llvm/ADT/iterator" were given a .h suffix. |
| 488 | Change your code to #include "llvm/ADT/iterator.h" instead.</li> |
| 489 | |
Chris Lattner | b7b6933 | 2008-10-14 06:37:11 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 490 | <li>In the code generator, many MachineOperand predicates were renamed to be |
| 491 | shorter (e.g. <tt>isFrameIndex()</tt> -> <tt>isFI()</tt>), |
| 492 | <tt>SDOperand</tt> was renamed to <tt>SDValue</tt> (and the "<tt>Val</tt>" |
| 493 | member was changed to be the <tt>getNode()</tt> accessor), and the |
| 494 | <tt>MVT::ValueType</tt> enum has been replaced with an "<tt>MVT</tt>" |
| 495 | struct.</li> |
Chris Lattner | 92eacf8 | 2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 496 | </ul> |
| 497 | |
| 498 | </div> |
| 499 | |
| 500 | |
| 501 | |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 502 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 503 | <div class="doc_section"> |
| 504 | <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a> |
| 505 | </div> |
| 506 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 507 | |
| 508 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 509 | |
| 510 | <p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p> |
| 511 | |
| 512 | <ul> |
Mikhail Glushenkov | 808cd3e | 2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 513 | <li>Intel and AMD machines (IA32) running Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core and FreeBSD |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 514 | (and probably other unix-like systems).</li> |
Chris Lattner | bd633de9 | 2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 515 | <li>PowerPC and X86-based Mac OS X systems, running 10.3 and above in 32-bit and |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 516 | 64-bit modes.</li> |
Chris Lattner | e079808 | 2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 517 | <li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native).</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 518 | <li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited |
| 519 | support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li> |
Gabor Greif | 5e75e65 | 2008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 520 | <li>Sun UltraSPARC workstations running Solaris 10.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 521 | <li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li> |
Gabor Greif | 5e75e65 | 2008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 522 | <li>Itanium-based (IA64) machines running Linux and HP-UX.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 523 | </ul> |
| 524 | |
Chris Lattner | ba94852 | 2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 525 | <p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses GNU autoconf to adapt itself |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 526 | to the machine and operating system on which it is built. However, minor |
| 527 | porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms. We welcome your |
| 528 | portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p> |
| 529 | |
| 530 | </div> |
| 531 | |
| 532 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 533 | <div class="doc_section"> |
| 534 | <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a> |
| 535 | </div> |
| 536 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 537 | |
| 538 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 539 | |
| 540 | <p>This section contains all known problems with the LLVM system, listed by |
| 541 | component. As new problems are discovered, they will be added to these |
| 542 | sections. If you run into a problem, please check the <a |
| 543 | href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if |
| 544 | there isn't already one.</p> |
| 545 | |
| 546 | </div> |
| 547 | |
| 548 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 549 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 550 | <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a> |
| 551 | </div> |
| 552 | |
| 553 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 554 | |
| 555 | <p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to |
| 556 | be broken or unreliable, or are in early development. These components should |
| 557 | not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be |
| 558 | useful to some people. In particular, if you would like to work on one of these |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 559 | components, please contact us on the <a |
| 560 | href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 561 | |
| 562 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 563 | <li>The MSIL, IA64, Alpha, SPU, and MIPS backends are experimental.</li> |
Duncan Sands | a73561c | 2008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 564 | <li>The llc "<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only supported |
Chris Lattner | bd633de9 | 2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 565 | value for this option.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 566 | </ul> |
| 567 | |
| 568 | </div> |
| 569 | |
| 570 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 571 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 572 | <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a> |
| 573 | </div> |
| 574 | |
| 575 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 576 | |
| 577 | <ul> |
Anton Korobeynikov | 77d15e2 | 2008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 578 | <li>The X86 backend does not yet support |
| 579 | all <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline assembly that uses the X86 |
| 580 | floating point stack</a>. It supports the 'f' and 't' constraints, but not |
| 581 | 'u'.</li> |
Chris Lattner | d95b596 | 2008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 582 | <li>The X86 backend generates inefficient floating point code when configured |
| 583 | to generate code for systems that don't have SSE2.</li> |
Duncan Sands | 8b4f377 | 2008-06-08 19:38:43 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 584 | <li>Win64 code generation wasn't widely tested. Everything should work, but we |
Anton Korobeynikov | 77d15e2 | 2008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 585 | expect small issues to happen. Also, llvm-gcc cannot build mingw64 runtime |
| 586 | currently due |
| 587 | to <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2255">several</a> |
Chris Lattner | f06141a | 2008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 588 | <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2257">bugs</a> due to lack of support for the |
| 589 | 'u' inline assembly constraint and X87 floating point inline assembly.</li> |
Dan Gohman | 3882ecb | 2008-06-08 23:05:11 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 590 | <li>The X86-64 backend does not yet support the LLVM IR instruction |
| 591 | <tt>va_arg</tt>. Currently, the llvm-gcc front-end supports variadic |
| 592 | argument constructs on X86-64 by lowering them manually.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 593 | </ul> |
| 594 | |
| 595 | </div> |
| 596 | |
| 597 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 598 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 599 | <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a> |
| 600 | </div> |
| 601 | |
| 602 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 603 | |
| 604 | <ul> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 605 | <li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static |
| 606 | compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li> |
| 607 | </ul> |
| 608 | |
| 609 | </div> |
| 610 | |
| 611 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 612 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 613 | <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a> |
| 614 | </div> |
| 615 | |
| 616 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 617 | |
| 618 | <ul> |
| 619 | <li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6 |
Duncan Sands | 1827fa6 | 2007-09-26 15:59:54 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 620 | processors, thumb programs can crash or produce wrong |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 621 | results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li> |
| 622 | <li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported, but not fully tested. |
| 623 | </li> |
Chris Lattner | d95b596 | 2008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 624 | <li>There is a bug in QEMU-ARM (<= 0.9.0) which causes it to incorrectly |
| 625 | execute |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 626 | programs compiled with LLVM. Please use more recent versions of QEMU.</li> |
| 627 | </ul> |
| 628 | |
| 629 | </div> |
| 630 | |
| 631 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 632 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 633 | <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a> |
| 634 | </div> |
| 635 | |
| 636 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 637 | |
| 638 | <ul> |
| 639 | <li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32), it does not |
| 640 | support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li> |
| 641 | </ul> |
| 642 | |
| 643 | </div> |
| 644 | |
| 645 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 646 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 647 | <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a> |
| 648 | </div> |
| 649 | |
| 650 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 651 | |
| 652 | <ul> |
| 653 | |
| 654 | <li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the |
| 655 | appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li> |
| 656 | |
| 657 | </ul> |
| 658 | </div> |
| 659 | |
| 660 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 661 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 662 | <a name="ia64-be">Known problems with the IA64 back-end</a> |
| 663 | </div> |
| 664 | |
| 665 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 666 | |
| 667 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | f06141a | 2008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 668 | <li>The Itanium backend is highly experimental, and has a number of known |
| 669 | issues. We are looking for a maintainer for the Itanium backend. If you |
| 670 | are interested, please contact the llvmdev mailing list.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 671 | </ul> |
| 672 | |
| 673 | </div> |
| 674 | |
| 675 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 676 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
| 677 | <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a> |
| 678 | </div> |
| 679 | |
| 680 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 681 | |
| 682 | <ul> |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 683 | <li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend has only basic support for |
| 684 | inline assembly code</a>.</li> |
Chris Lattner | e019446 | 2007-09-26 06:01:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 685 | <li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR1658">The C backend violates the ABI of common |
| 686 | C++ programs</a>, preventing intermixing between C++ compiled by the CBE and |
Duncan Sands | a73561c | 2008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 687 | C++ code compiled with llc or native compilers.</li> |
Duncan Sands | bd0ad6e | 2008-02-10 13:40:55 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 688 | <li>The C backend does not support all exception handling constructs.</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 689 | </ul> |
| 690 | |
| 691 | </div> |
| 692 | |
| 693 | |
| 694 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 695 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 696 | <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C front-end</a> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 697 | </div> |
| 698 | |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 699 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 700 | |
Chris Lattner | e079808 | 2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 701 | <p>llvm-gcc does not currently support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR869">Link-Time |
| 702 | Optimization</a> on most platforms "out-of-the-box". Please inquire on the |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 703 | llvmdev mailing list if you are interested.</p> |
| 704 | |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 705 | <p>The only major language feature of GCC not supported by llvm-gcc is |
| 706 | the <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> family of builtins. However, some extensions |
| 707 | are only supported on some targets. For example, trampolines are only |
Duncan Sands | a73561c | 2008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 708 | supported on some targets (these are used when you take the address of a |
| 709 | nested function).</p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 710 | |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 711 | <p>If you run into GCC extensions which are not supported, please let us know. |
| 712 | </p> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 713 | |
| 714 | </div> |
| 715 | |
| 716 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 717 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 718 | <a name="c++-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C++ front-end</a> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 719 | </div> |
| 720 | |
| 721 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 722 | |
| 723 | <p>The C++ front-end is considered to be fully |
| 724 | tested and works for a number of non-trivial programs, including LLVM |
| 725 | itself, Qt, Mozilla, etc.</p> |
| 726 | |
| 727 | <ul> |
Anton Korobeynikov | d9a1793 | 2008-10-11 18:27:16 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 728 | <li>Exception handling works well on the X86 and PowerPC targets. Currently |
| 729 | only linux and darwin targets are supported (both 32 and 64 bit).</li> |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 730 | </ul> |
| 731 | |
| 732 | </div> |
| 733 | |
| 734 | |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 735 | <!-- ======================================================================= --> |
| 736 | <div class="doc_subsection"> |
Chris Lattner | 499c07c | 2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 737 | <a name="ada-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Ada front-end</a> |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 738 | </div> |
| 739 | |
| 740 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 741 | The llvm-gcc 4.2 Ada compiler works fairly well, however this is not a mature |
| 742 | technology and problems should be expected. |
| 743 | <ul> |
Duncan Sands | a73561c | 2008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 744 | <li>The Ada front-end currently only builds on X86-32. This is mainly due |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 745 | to lack of trampoline support (pointers to nested functions) on other platforms, |
Duncan Sands | a73561c | 2008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 746 | however it <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2006">also fails to build on X86-64</a> |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 747 | which does support trampolines.</li> |
| 748 | <li>The Ada front-end <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2007">fails to bootstrap</a>. |
| 749 | Workaround: configure with --disable-bootstrap.</li> |
Duncan Sands | 2dbc2e8 | 2008-10-13 17:27:23 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 750 | <li>The c380004, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a> |
| 751 | and <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2421">cxg2021</a> ACATS tests fail |
| 752 | (c380004 also fails with gcc-4.2 mainline).</li> |
| 753 | <li>Some gcc specific Ada tests continue to crash the compiler.</li> |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 754 | <li>The -E binder option (exception backtraces) |
| 755 | <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1982">does not work</a> and will result in programs |
| 756 | crashing if an exception is raised. Workaround: do not use -E.</li> |
| 757 | <li>Only discrete types <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1981">are allowed to start |
| 758 | or finish at a non-byte offset</a> in a record. Workaround: do not pack records |
| 759 | or use representation clauses that result in a field of a non-discrete type |
| 760 | starting or finishing in the middle of a byte.</li> |
Chris Lattner | d95b596 | 2008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 761 | <li>The <tt>lli</tt> interpreter <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2009">considers |
| 762 | 'main' as generated by the Ada binder to be invalid</a>. |
| 763 | Workaround: hand edit the file to use pointers for <tt>argv</tt> and |
| 764 | <tt>envp</tt> rather than integers.</li> |
| 765 | <li>The <tt>-fstack-check</tt> option <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2008">is |
| 766 | ignored</a>.</li> |
Chris Lattner | daeb323 | 2008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 767 | </ul> |
| 768 | </div> |
| 769 | |
Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 770 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 771 | <div class="doc_section"> |
| 772 | <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a> |
| 773 | </div> |
| 774 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 775 | |
| 776 | <div class="doc_text"> |
| 777 | |
| 778 | <p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a |
| 779 | href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a |
| 780 | href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section. The web page also |
| 781 | contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the |
| 782 | Subversion version of the source code. |
| 783 | You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going |
| 784 | into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p> |
| 785 | |
| 786 | <p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact |
| 787 | us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing |
| 788 | lists</a>.</p> |
| 789 | |
| 790 | </div> |
| 791 | |
| 792 | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> |
| 793 | |
| 794 | <hr> |
| 795 | <address> |
| 796 | <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img |
| 797 | src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a> |
| 798 | <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img |
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Dan Gohman | f17a25c | 2007-07-18 16:29:46 +0000 | [diff] [blame] | 800 | |
| 801 | <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br> |
| 802 | Last modified: $Date$ |
| 803 | </address> |
| 804 | |
| 805 | </body> |
| 806 | </html> |