docs/FAQ.html - platform/external/llvm - Gitiles

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 <div class="doc_title">
   LLVM: Frequently Asked Questions
 </div>

 <ol>
   <li><a href="#license">License</a>
   <ol>
   <li>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
   licenses?</li>
   <li>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
   "open source" license?</li>
   <li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</li>
   <li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools
   based on it, without redistributing the source?</li>
   </ol></li>

   <li><a href="#source">Source code</a>
   <ol>
   <li>In what language is LLVM written?</li>
   <li>How portable is the LLVM source code?</li>
   </ol></li>

   <li><a href="#build">Build Problems</a>
   <ol>
   <li>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</li>
   <li>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</li>
   <li>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
   LLVM linker from a previous build.  What do I do?</li>
   <li>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</li>
   <li>I've updated my source tree from CVS, and now my build is trying to use a
   file/directory that doesn't exist.</li>
   <li>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using
   the old version.  What do I do?</li>
   <li>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build
   errors.</li>
   <li>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</li>
   <li>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</li>
   </ol></li>

   <li><a href="#cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
   <ol>
     <li>
     When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
     thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing
     for.  How do I get configure to work correctly?
     </li>

     <li>
     When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it
     cannot find crtend.o.
     </li>
   </ol>
   </li>

   <li><a href="#cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
   <ol>
      <li>What is this <tt>__main()</tt> call that gets inserted into
          <tt>main()</tt>?</li>
   </ol>
   </li>
 </ol>

 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <div class="doc_section">
   <a name="license">License</a>
 </div>
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->

 <div class="question">
 <p>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
 licenses?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>The C/C++ front-ends are based on GCC and must be distributed under the GPL.
 Our aim is to distribute LLVM source code under a <em>much less restrictive</em>
 license, in particular one that does not compel users who distribute tools based
 on modifying the source to redistribute the modified source code as well.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
 "open source" license?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>Yes, the license is <a
 href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php">certified</a> by the Open
 Source Initiative (OSI).</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>Yes.  The modified source distribution must retain the copyright notice and
 follow the three bulletted conditions listed in the <a
 href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/releases/1.0/LICENSE.TXT">LLVM license</a>.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools based
 on it, without redistributing the source?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>Yes, this is why we distribute LLVM under a less restrictive license than
 GPL, as explained in the first question above.</p>
 </div>

 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <div class="doc_section">
   <a name="source">Source Code</a>
 </div>
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->

 <div class="question">
 <p>In what language is LLVM written?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>All of the LLVM tools and libraries are written in C++ with extensive use of
 the STL.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>How portable is the LLVM source code?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>The LLVM source code should be portable to most modern UNIX-like operating
 systems.  Most of the code is written in standard C++ with operating system
 services abstracted to a support library.  The tools required to build and test
 LLVM have been ported to a plethora of platforms.</p>

 <p>Some porting problems may exist in the following areas:</p>

 <ul>

   <li>The GCC front end code is not as portable as the LLVM suite, so it may not
   compile as well on unsupported platforms.</li>

   <li>The Python test classes are more UNIX-centric than they should be, so
   porting to non-UNIX like platforms (i.e. Windows, MacOS 9) will require some
   effort.</li>

   <li>The LLVM build system relies heavily on UNIX shell tools, like the Bourne
   Shell and sed.  Porting to systems without these tools (MacOS 9, Plan 9) will
   require more effort.</li>

 </ul>

 </div>

 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <div class="doc_section">
   <a name="build">Build Problems</a>
 </div>
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->

 <div class="question">
 <p>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script attempts to locate first <tt>gcc</tt> and then
 <tt>cc</tt>, unless it finds compiler paths set in <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
 for the C and C++ compiler, respectively.</p>

 <p>If <tt>configure</tt> finds the wrong compiler, either adjust your
 <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable or set <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
 explicitly.</p>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>There are several possible causes for this.  The first is that you didn't set
 a pathname properly when using <tt>configure</tt>, and it defaulted to a
 pathname that we use on our research machines.</p>

 <p>Another possibility is that we hardcoded a path in our Makefiles.  If you see
 this, please email the LLVM bug mailing list with the name of the offending
 Makefile and a description of what is wrong with it.</p>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
 LLVM linker from a previous build.  What do I do?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script uses the <tt>PATH</tt> to find executables, so
 if it's grabbing the wrong linker/assembler/etc, there are two ways to fix
 it:</p>

 <ol>

   <li><p>Adjust your <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable so that the correct
   program appears first in the <tt>PATH</tt>.  This may work, but may not be
   convenient when you want them <i>first</i> in your path for other
   work.</p></li>

   <li><p>Run <tt>configure</tt> with an alternative <tt>PATH</tt> that is
   correct. In a Borne compatible shell, the syntax would be:</p>

       <p><tt>PATH=<the path without the bad program> ./configure ...</tt></p>

       <p>This is still somewhat inconvenient, but it allows <tt>configure</tt>
       to do its work without having to adjust your <tt>PATH</tt>
       permanently.</p></li>

 </ol>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>Under some operating systems (i.e. Linux), libtool does not work correctly if
 GCC was compiled with the --disable-shared option.  To work around this, install
 your own version of GCC that has shared libraries enabled by default.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>I've updated my source tree from CVS, and now my build is trying to use a
 file/directory that doesn't exist.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>You need to re-run configure in your object directory.  When new Makefiles
 are added to the source tree, they have to be copied over to the object tree in
 order to be used by the build.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using the
 old version.  What do I do?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>If the Makefile already exists in your object tree, you
 can just run the following command in the top level directory of your object
 tree:</p>

 <p><tt>./config.status &lt;relative path to Makefile&gt;</tt><p>

 <p>If the Makefile is new, you will have to modify the configure script to copy
 it over.</p>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build errors.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>Sometimes, changes to the LLVM source code alters how the build system works.
 Changes in libtool, autoconf, or header file dependencies are especially prone
 to this sort of problem.</p>

 <p>The best thing to try is to remove the old files and re-build.  In most
 cases, this takes care of the problem.  To do this, just type <tt>make
 clean</tt> and then <tt>make</tt> in the directory that fails to build.</p>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>This is most likely occurring because you built a profile or release
 (optimized) build of LLVM and have not specified the same information on the
 <tt>gmake</tt> command line.</p>

 <p>For example, if you built LLVM with the command:</p>

 <p><tt>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt>

 <p>...then you must run the tests with the following commands:</p>

 <p><tt>cd llvm/test<br>gmake  ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt></p>

 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">

 <p>The LLVM test suite is dependent upon several features of the LLVM tools and
 libraries.</p>

 <p>First, the debugging assertions in code are not enabled in optimized or
 profiling builds.  Hence, tests that used to fail may pass.</p>

 <p>Second, some tests may rely upon debugging options or behavior that is only
 available in the debug build.  These tests will fail in an optimized or profile
 build.</p>

 </div>

 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <div class="doc_section">
   <a name="cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>
 When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
 thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing for.
 How do I get configure to work correctly?
 </p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>
 The configure script is getting things wrong because the LLVM linker allows
 symbols to be undefined at link time (so that they can be resolved during JIT
 or translation to the C back end).  That is why configure thinks your system
 "has everything."
 </p>
 <p>
 To work around this, perform the following steps:
 </p>

 <ol>
   <li>
   Make sure the CC and CXX environment variables contains the full path to the
   LLVM GCC front end.
   </li>

   <li>
   Make sure that the regular C compiler is first in your PATH.
   </li>

   <li>
   Add the string "-Wl,-native" to your CFLAGS environment variable.
   </li>
 </ol>

 <p>
 This will allow the gccld linker to create a native code executable instead of
 a shell script that runs the JIT.  Creating native code requires standard
 linkage, which in turn will allow the configure script to find out if code is
 not linking on your system because the feature isn't available on your system.
 </p>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>
 When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it cannot
 find crtend.o.
 </p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>
 In order to find crtend.o, you must have the directory in which it lives in
 your LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH environment variable.  For the binary distribution of
 the LLVM GCC front end, this will be the full path of the bytecode-libs
 directory inside of the LLVM GCC distribution.
 </p>
 </div>


 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <div class="doc_section">
   <a name="cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
 </div>

 <div class="question">
 <p>
 What is this <tt>__main()</tt> call that gets inserted into <tt>main()</tt>?
 </p>
 </div>

 <div class="answer">
 <p>
 The <tt>__main</tt> call is inserted by the C/C++ compiler in order to guarantee
 that static constructors and destructors are called when the program starts up
 and shuts down.  In C, you can create static constructors and destructors by
 using GCC extensions, and in C++ you can do so by creating a global variable
 whose class has a ctor or dtor.
 </p>

 <p>
 The actual implementation of <tt>__main</tt> lives in the
 <tt>llvm/runtime/GCCLibraries/crtend/</tt> directory in the source-base, and is
 linked in automatically when you link the program.
 </p>

 </div>


 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->

 <hr>
 <div class="doc_footer">
   <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a>
   <br>
   Last modified: $Date$
 </div>

 </body>
 </html>
	<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
	"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
	<html>
	<head>
	<title>LLVM: Frequently Asked Questions</title>
	<style>
	@import url("llvm.css");
	.question { font-weight: bold }
	.answer { margin-left: 2em }
	</style>
	</head>
	<body>

	<div class="doc_title">
	LLVM: Frequently Asked Questions
	</div>

	<ol>
	<li><a href="#license">License</a>
	<ol>
	<li>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
	licenses?</li>
	<li>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
	"open source" license?</li>
	<li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</li>
	<li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools
	based on it, without redistributing the source?</li>
	</ol></li>

	<li><a href="#source">Source code</a>
	<ol>
	<li>In what language is LLVM written?</li>
	<li>How portable is the LLVM source code?</li>
	</ol></li>

	<li><a href="#build">Build Problems</a>
	<ol>
	<li>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</li>
	<li>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</li>
	<li>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
	LLVM linker from a previous build. What do I do?</li>
	<li>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</li>
	<li>I've updated my source tree from CVS, and now my build is trying to use a
	file/directory that doesn't exist.</li>
	<li>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using
	the old version. What do I do?</li>
	<li>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build
	errors.</li>
	<li>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</li>
	<li>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</li>
	</ol></li>

	<li><a href="#cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
	<ol>
	<li>
	When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
	thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing
	for. How do I get configure to work correctly?
	</li>

	<li>
	When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it
	cannot find crtend.o.
	</li>
	</ol>
	</li>

	<li><a href="#cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
	<ol>
	<li>What is this <tt>__main()</tt> call that gets inserted into
	<tt>main()</tt>?</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	</ol>

	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<div class="doc_section">
	<a name="license">License</a>
	</div>
	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->

	<div class="question">
	<p>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
	licenses?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>The C/C++ front-ends are based on GCC and must be distributed under the GPL.
	Our aim is to distribute LLVM source code under a <em>much less restrictive</em>
	license, in particular one that does not compel users who distribute tools based
	on modifying the source to redistribute the modified source code as well.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
	"open source" license?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>Yes, the license is <a
	href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php">certified</a> by the Open
	Source Initiative (OSI).</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>Yes. The modified source distribution must retain the copyright notice and
	follow the three bulletted conditions listed in the <a
	href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/releases/1.0/LICENSE.TXT">LLVM license</a>.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools based
	on it, without redistributing the source?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>Yes, this is why we distribute LLVM under a less restrictive license than
	GPL, as explained in the first question above.</p>
	</div>

	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<div class="doc_section">
	<a name="source">Source Code</a>
	</div>
	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->

	<div class="question">
	<p>In what language is LLVM written?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>All of the LLVM tools and libraries are written in C++ with extensive use of
	the STL.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>How portable is the LLVM source code?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>The LLVM source code should be portable to most modern UNIX-like operating
	systems. Most of the code is written in standard C++ with operating system
	services abstracted to a support library. The tools required to build and test
	LLVM have been ported to a plethora of platforms.</p>

	<p>Some porting problems may exist in the following areas:</p>

	<ul>

	<li>The GCC front end code is not as portable as the LLVM suite, so it may not
	compile as well on unsupported platforms.</li>

	<li>The Python test classes are more UNIX-centric than they should be, so
	porting to non-UNIX like platforms (i.e. Windows, MacOS 9) will require some
	effort.</li>

	<li>The LLVM build system relies heavily on UNIX shell tools, like the Bourne
	Shell and sed. Porting to systems without these tools (MacOS 9, Plan 9) will
	require more effort.</li>

	</ul>

	</div>

	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<div class="doc_section">
	<a name="build">Build Problems</a>
	</div>
	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->

	<div class="question">
	<p>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>The <tt>configure</tt> script attempts to locate first <tt>gcc</tt> and then
	<tt>cc</tt>, unless it finds compiler paths set in <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
	for the C and C++ compiler, respectively.</p>

	<p>If <tt>configure</tt> finds the wrong compiler, either adjust your
	<tt>PATH</tt> environment variable or set <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
	explicitly.</p>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>There are several possible causes for this. The first is that you didn't set
	a pathname properly when using <tt>configure</tt>, and it defaulted to a
	pathname that we use on our research machines.</p>

	<p>Another possibility is that we hardcoded a path in our Makefiles. If you see
	this, please email the LLVM bug mailing list with the name of the offending
	Makefile and a description of what is wrong with it.</p>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
	LLVM linker from a previous build. What do I do?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>The <tt>configure</tt> script uses the <tt>PATH</tt> to find executables, so
	if it's grabbing the wrong linker/assembler/etc, there are two ways to fix
	it:</p>

	<ol>

	<li><p>Adjust your <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable so that the correct
	program appears first in the <tt>PATH</tt>. This may work, but may not be
	convenient when you want them <i>first</i> in your path for other
	work.</p></li>

	<li><p>Run <tt>configure</tt> with an alternative <tt>PATH</tt> that is
	correct. In a Borne compatible shell, the syntax would be:</p>

	<p><tt>PATH=<the path without the bad program> ./configure ...</tt></p>

	<p>This is still somewhat inconvenient, but it allows <tt>configure</tt>
	to do its work without having to adjust your <tt>PATH</tt>
	permanently.</p></li>

	</ol>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>Under some operating systems (i.e. Linux), libtool does not work correctly if
	GCC was compiled with the --disable-shared option. To work around this, install
	your own version of GCC that has shared libraries enabled by default.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>I've updated my source tree from CVS, and now my build is trying to use a
	file/directory that doesn't exist.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>You need to re-run configure in your object directory. When new Makefiles
	are added to the source tree, they have to be copied over to the object tree in
	order to be used by the build.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using the
	old version. What do I do?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>If the Makefile already exists in your object tree, you
	can just run the following command in the top level directory of your object
	tree:</p>

	<p><tt>./config.status <relative path to Makefile></tt><p>

	<p>If the Makefile is new, you will have to modify the configure script to copy
	it over.</p>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build errors.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>Sometimes, changes to the LLVM source code alters how the build system works.
	Changes in libtool, autoconf, or header file dependencies are especially prone
	to this sort of problem.</p>

	<p>The best thing to try is to remove the old files and re-build. In most
	cases, this takes care of the problem. To do this, just type <tt>make
	clean</tt> and then <tt>make</tt> in the directory that fails to build.</p>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>This is most likely occurring because you built a profile or release
	(optimized) build of LLVM and have not specified the same information on the
	<tt>gmake</tt> command line.</p>

	<p>For example, if you built LLVM with the command:</p>

	<p><tt>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt>

	<p>...then you must run the tests with the following commands:</p>

	<p><tt>cd llvm/test<br>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt></p>

	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">

	<p>The LLVM test suite is dependent upon several features of the LLVM tools and
	libraries.</p>

	<p>First, the debugging assertions in code are not enabled in optimized or
	profiling builds. Hence, tests that used to fail may pass.</p>

	<p>Second, some tests may rely upon debugging options or behavior that is only
	available in the debug build. These tests will fail in an optimized or profile
	build.</p>

	</div>

	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<div class="doc_section">
	<a name="cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>
	When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
	thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing for.
	How do I get configure to work correctly?
	</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>
	The configure script is getting things wrong because the LLVM linker allows
	symbols to be undefined at link time (so that they can be resolved during JIT
	or translation to the C back end). That is why configure thinks your system
	"has everything."
	</p>
	<p>
	To work around this, perform the following steps:
	</p>

	<ol>
	<li>
	Make sure the CC and CXX environment variables contains the full path to the
	LLVM GCC front end.
	</li>

	<li>
	Make sure that the regular C compiler is first in your PATH.
	</li>

	<li>
	Add the string "-Wl,-native" to your CFLAGS environment variable.
	</li>
	</ol>

	<p>
	This will allow the gccld linker to create a native code executable instead of
	a shell script that runs the JIT. Creating native code requires standard
	linkage, which in turn will allow the configure script to find out if code is
	not linking on your system because the feature isn't available on your system.
	</p>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>
	When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it cannot
	find crtend.o.
	</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>
	In order to find crtend.o, you must have the directory in which it lives in
	your LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH environment variable. For the binary distribution of
	the LLVM GCC front end, this will be the full path of the bytecode-libs
	directory inside of the LLVM GCC distribution.
	</p>
	</div>


	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<div class="doc_section">
	<a name="cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
	</div>

	<div class="question">
	<p>
	What is this <tt>__main()</tt> call that gets inserted into <tt>main()</tt>?
	</p>
	</div>

	<div class="answer">
	<p>
	The <tt>__main</tt> call is inserted by the C/C++ compiler in order to guarantee
	that static constructors and destructors are called when the program starts up
	and shuts down. In C, you can create static constructors and destructors by
	using GCC extensions, and in C++ you can do so by creating a global variable
	whose class has a ctor or dtor.
	</p>

	<p>
	The actual implementation of <tt>__main</tt> lives in the
	<tt>llvm/runtime/GCCLibraries/crtend/</tt> directory in the source-base, and is
	linked in automatically when you link the program.
	</p>

	</div>



	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
	<!-- *********************************************************************** -->

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