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Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +00007 <title>LLVM 2.1 Release Notes</title>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +00008</head>
9<body>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000010
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000011<div class="doc_title">LLVM 2.1 Release Notes</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000012
13<ol>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000014 <li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li>
15 <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New?</a></li>
Chris Lattner4b538b92004-04-30 22:17:12 +000016 <li><a href="GettingStarted.html">Installation Instructions</a></li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000017 <li><a href="#portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a></li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000018 <li><a href="#knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000019 <li><a href="#additionalinfo">Additional Information</a></li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000020</ol>
21
Chris Lattner7911ce22004-05-23 21:07:27 +000022<div class="doc_author">
Chris Lattnerc463b272005-10-29 07:07:09 +000023 <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a><p>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000024</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000025
26<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000027<div class="doc_section">
28 <a name="intro">Introduction</a>
29</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000030<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
31
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000032<div class="doc_text">
33
34<p>This document contains the release notes for the LLVM compiler
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000035infrastructure, release 2.1. Here we describe the status of LLVM, including
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +000036major improvements from the previous release and any known problems. All LLVM
Chris Lattnercaf06342007-05-09 04:58:11 +000037releases may be downloaded from the <a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">LLVM
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +000038releases web site</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +000039
Chris Lattner7506b1d2004-12-07 08:04:13 +000040<p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest
Chris Lattnerc463b272005-10-29 07:07:09 +000041release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM
Chris Lattner47ad72c2003-10-07 21:38:31 +000042web site</a>. If you have questions or comments, the <a
43href="http://mail.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM developer's mailing
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000044list</a> is a good place to send them.</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000045
Reid Spencer669ed452007-07-09 08:04:31 +000046<p>Note that if you are reading this file from a Subversion checkout or the
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000047main LLVM web page, this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the
48current one. To see the release notes for a specific releases, please see the
49<a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000050
51</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000052
53<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000054<div class="doc_section">
55 <a name="whatsnew">What's New?</a>
56</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +000057<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
58
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +000059<div class="doc_text">
60
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000061<p>This is the twelfth public release of the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure.
62It includes many features and refinements from LLVM 2.0.</p>
Chris Lattnera5099962003-12-06 20:22:41 +000063
Chris Lattner80453c92004-05-24 04:50:25 +000064</div>
65
Chris Lattnera5099962003-12-06 20:22:41 +000066<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattner8a458762005-05-15 05:44:51 +000067<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000068<a name="frontends">New Frontends</a>
Chris Lattner44c933e2006-04-18 06:18:36 +000069</div>
70
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000071<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner60893e52007-05-18 06:33:02 +000072
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000073<p>LLVM 2.1 brings two new beta C front-ends. First, Duncan, Anton and Devang
Devang Patelf7a4e2a2007-09-21 18:02:24 +000074has started syncing up llvm-gcc with GCC 4.2, yielding "llvm-gcc 4.2" (creative,
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000075huh?). llvm-gcc 4.2 has the promise to bring much better FORTRAN and Ada
76support to LLVM as well as features like atomic builtins, OpenMP, and many other
77things. Check it out!</p>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000078
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000079<p>Second, LLVM now includes its own native C and Objective-C front-end (C++ is
80in progress, but is not very far along) code named "<a
81href="http://clang.llvm.org/">clang</a>". This front-end has a number of great
82features, primarily aimed at source-level analysis and speeding up compile-time.
83At this point though, the LLVM Code Generator component is still very early in
84development, so it's mostly useful for people looking to build source-level
85analysis tools or source-to-source translators.</p>
Chris Lattner60893e52007-05-18 06:33:02 +000086
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000087</div>
88
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000089<!--=========================================================================-->
90<div class="doc_subsection">
91<a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a>
92</div>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000093
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000094<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +000095
96<p>Some of the most noticable improvements this release have been in the
97optimizer, speeding it up and making it more aggressive</p>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +000098
99<ul>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000100
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000101<li>Owen DSE and MemDep analysis</li>
102<li>Owen GVN</li>
103<li>Owen GVN-PRE, not in llvm-gcc</li>
104<li>Devang merged ETForest and DomTree into a single easier to use data
105structure.</li>
106<li>Nick Lewycky improved loop trip count analysis to handle many more common
107cases.</li>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000108
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000109</ul>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000110
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000111</div>
112
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000113<!--=========================================================================-->
114<div class="doc_subsection">
115<a name="codegen">Code Generator Improvements</a>
116</div>
117
118<div class="doc_text">
119
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000120<ul>
121
122<li>Dale finished up the Tail Merging optimization in the code generator,
123enabling it by default. This produces smaller code that is also faster in some
124cases.</li>
125
126<li>Dan Gohman changed the way we represent vectors before legalization,
127significantly simplifying the SelectionDAG representation for these and making
128the code generator faster for vector code.</li>
129
Chris Lattner0d767892007-09-21 17:43:52 +0000130<li>Evan remat rewrite (coalesced intervals + folding of remat'd loads) and
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000131live intervals improvements.</li>
132
133<li>Dan Gohman contributed support for better alignment and volatility handling
134in the code generator, and significantly enhanced alignment analysis for SSE
135load/store instructions.</li>
136
137<li>Christopher Lamb virtual register sub-register support, better truncates and
138extends on X86.</li>
139
140<li>Duraid Madina contributed a new "bigblock" register allocator, and Roman
141Levenstein contributed several big improvements. BigBlock is optimized for code
142that uses very large basic blocks. It is slightly slower than the "local"
143allocator, but produces much better code.</li>
144
Chris Lattner0d767892007-09-21 17:43:52 +0000145<li>David Greene refactored the register allocator to split coalescing out from
146allocation, making coalescers pluggable.</li>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000147
148</ul>
149
150</div>
151
152
153<!--=========================================================================-->
154<div class="doc_subsection">
155<a name="targetspecific">Target Specific Improvements</a>
156</div>
Chris Lattner60893e52007-05-18 06:33:02 +0000157
Chris Lattner738bd302006-04-18 06:32:08 +0000158<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000159<p>New features include:
160</p>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000161
162<ul>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000163<li>Bruno Cardoso Lopes contributed initial MIPS support.</li>
164<li>Bill Wendling added SSSE3 support.</li>
165<li>New Target independent if converter, ARM uses it so far</li>
166<li>Nicholas Geoffray contributed improved linux/ppc ABI and JIT support.</li>
167<li>Dale Johannesen rewrote handling of 32-bit float values in the X86 backend
168when using the floating point stack, fixing several nasty bugs.</li>
169<li>Dan contributed rematerialization support for the X86 backend.</li>
170</ul>
171
172</div>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000173
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000174
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000175<!--=========================================================================-->
176<div class="doc_subsection">
177<a name="llvmgccimprovements">llvm-gcc Improvements</a>
178</div>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000179
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000180<div class="doc_text">
181<p>New features include:
182</p>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000183
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000184<ul>
185<li>Duncan and Anton exception handling in llvm-gcc 4.0/4.2</li>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000186
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000187<li>Devang and Duncan: Bitfields, pragma pack</li>
Chris Lattner60893e52007-05-18 06:33:02 +0000188
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000189<li>Tanya implemented support for __attribute__((noinline)) in llvm-gcc, and
190added support for generic variable annotations which are propagated into the
191LLVM IR, e.g. "<tt>int X __attribute__((annotate("myproperty")));</tt>".</li>
192
193<li>Sheng Zhou and Christopher Lamb implemented alias analysis support for
194'restrict' arguments to functions.</li>
195
196<li>Duncan contributed support for trampolines (pointers to nested functions),
197currently only supported on x86 target.</li>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000198
Devang Patelf7a4e2a2007-09-21 18:02:24 +0000199<li> Lauro Ramos Venancio contributed support to encode alignment info in
200load and store instructions.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000201</ul>
202
Chris Lattner738bd302006-04-18 06:32:08 +0000203</div>
204
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000205
206<!--=========================================================================-->
207<div class="doc_subsection">
208<a name="coreimprovements">LLVM Core Improvements</a>
209</div>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000210
Chris Lattner1c1a85c2006-04-19 04:02:47 +0000211<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000212<p>New features include:
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000213</p>
214
215<ul>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000216<li>Neil Booth APFloat, foundation for long double support that will be wrapped
217up in 2.2. Dale contributed most of long double support, will be enabled in
2182.2.</li>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000219
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000220<li>LLVM now provides an LLVMBuilder class which makes it significantly easier
221to create LLVM IR instructions.</li>
Tanya Lattnerb6ec3a92007-05-16 23:25:46 +0000222
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000223<li>Reid contributed support for intrinsics that take arbitrary integer typed
224arguments, Dan Gohman and Chandler extended it to support FP and vectors.</li>
Chris Lattnerbfb17ab2007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000225</ul>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000226
Chris Lattnerbfb17ab2007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000227</div>
Chris Lattnerc5d658a2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000228
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000229<!--=========================================================================-->
230<div class="doc_subsection">
231<a name="otherimprovements">Other Improvements</a>
232</div>
233
234<div class="doc_text">
235<p>New features include:
236</p>
237
238<ul>
239<li>BrainF frontend by Sterling Stein.</li>
240
241<li>David Green contributed a new --enable-expensive-checks configure option
242which enables STL checking, and fixed several bugs exposed by it.</li>
Chris Lattner84977642007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000243</ul>
244
245</div>
Chris Lattnerc5d658a2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000246
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000247<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000248<div class="doc_section">
249 <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a>
250</div>
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000251<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
252
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000253<div class="doc_text">
254
John Criswell0b5b5e92004-12-08 20:35:47 +0000255<p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p>
Chris Lattner4654bdb2004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000256
257<ul>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000258<li>Intel and AMD machines running Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core and FreeBSD
Reid Spencer00812e22005-05-17 02:47:27 +0000259 (and probably other unix-like systems).</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000260<li>PowerPC and X86-based Mac OS X systems, running 10.2 and above in 32-bit and
261 64-bit modes.</li>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000262<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native)</li>
263<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited
264 support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li>
265<li>Sun UltraSPARC workstations running Solaris 8.</li>
John Criswell9321fa82005-05-13 20:28:15 +0000266<li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li>
267<li>Itanium-based machines running Linux and HP-UX.</li>
Chris Lattner4654bdb2004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000268</ul>
269
Brian Gaekeb0fd7612004-05-09 05:28:35 +0000270<p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses
271<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/">GNU autoconf</a> to adapt itself
272to the machine and operating system on which it is built. However, minor
273porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms. We welcome your
274portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000275
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000276</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000277
278<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000279<div class="doc_section">
280 <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
281</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000282<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
283
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000284<div class="doc_text">
285
286<p>This section contains all known problems with the LLVM system, listed by
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000287component. As new problems are discovered, they will be added to these
Chris Lattner5eccca42003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000288sections. If you run into a problem, please check the <a
Chris Lattnerc463b272005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000289href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
Chris Lattner5eccca42003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000290there isn't already one.</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000291
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000292</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000293
Chris Lattnerf5ee1702004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000294<!-- ======================================================================= -->
295<div class="doc_subsection">
296 <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a>
297</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000298
Chris Lattnerf5ee1702004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000299<div class="doc_text">
300
Misha Brukman6df9e2c2004-05-12 21:46:05 +0000301<p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to
302be broken or unreliable, or are in early development. These components should
303not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be
304useful to some people. In particular, if you would like to work on one of these
Chris Lattner49e693e2006-08-09 04:08:52 +0000305components, please contact us on the <a href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnerf5ee1702004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000306
307<ul>
Chris Lattner44c933e2006-04-18 06:18:36 +0000308<li>The <tt>-cee</tt> pass is known to be buggy, and may be removed in in a
309 future release.</li>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000310<li>C++ EH support is disabled for this release.</li>
311<li>The MSIL backend is experimental.</li>
Chris Lattner58504a62006-02-05 06:39:36 +0000312<li>The IA64 code generator is experimental.</li>
Chris Lattnerc463b272005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000313<li>The Alpha JIT is experimental.</li>
Chris Lattner44c933e2006-04-18 06:18:36 +0000314<li>"<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only supported value for the
315 <tt>-filetype</tt> llc option.</li>
Chris Lattnerf5ee1702004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000316</ul>
317
318</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000319
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000320<!-- ======================================================================= -->
321<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000322 <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a>
John Criswellc0c186d2005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000323</div>
324
325<div class="doc_text">
326
327<ul>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000328<li>The X86 backend does not yet support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline
Chris Lattnercaf06342007-05-09 04:58:11 +0000329 assembly that uses the X86 floating point stack</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000330</ul>
331
332</div>
333
334<!-- ======================================================================= -->
335<div class="doc_subsection">
336 <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a>
337</div>
338
339<div class="doc_text">
340
341<ul>
342<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR642">PowerPC backend does not correctly
343implement ordered FP comparisons</a>.</li>
Nicolas Geoffraye4285dc2007-05-15 09:21:28 +0000344<li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000345compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000346</ul>
347
348</div>
349
350<!-- ======================================================================= -->
351<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000352 <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a>
353</div>
354
355<div class="doc_text">
356
357<ul>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000358<li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6
359processors, thumb program can crash or produces wrong
360results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000361<li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported, but not fully tested.
362</li>
Chris Lattner57a460e2007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000363<li>There is a bug in QEMU-ARM (<= 0.9.0) which causes it to incorrectly execute
364programs compiled with LLVM. Please use more recent versions of QEMU.</li>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000365</ul>
366
367</div>
368
369<!-- ======================================================================= -->
370<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000371 <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a>
372</div>
373
374<div class="doc_text">
375
376<ul>
377<li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32), it does not
378 support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li>
379</ul>
380
381</div>
382
383<!-- ======================================================================= -->
384<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000385 <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a>
386</div>
387
388<div class="doc_text">
389
390<ul>
391
392<li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the
393appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li>
394
John Criswellc0c186d2005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000395</ul>
396</div>
397
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000398<!-- ======================================================================= -->
399<div class="doc_subsection">
400 <a name="ia64-be">Known problems with the IA64 back-end</a>
401</div>
402
403<div class="doc_text">
404
405<ul>
406
407<li>C++ programs are likely to fail on IA64, as calls to <tt>setjmp</tt> are
408made where the argument is not 16-byte aligned, as required on IA64. (Strictly
409speaking this is not a bug in the IA64 back-end; it will also be encountered
410when building C++ programs using the C back-end.)</li>
411
412<li>The C++ front-end does not use <a href="http://llvm.org/PR406">IA64
413ABI compliant layout of v-tables</a>. In particular, it just stores function
414pointers instead of function descriptors in the vtable. This bug prevents
415mixing C++ code compiled with LLVM with C++ objects compiled by other C++
416compilers.</li>
417
418<li>There are a few ABI violations which will lead to problems when mixing LLVM
419output with code built with other compilers, particularly for floating-point
420programs.</li>
421
422<li>Defining vararg functions is not supported (but calling them is ok).</li>
423
Chris Lattnercaf06342007-05-09 04:58:11 +0000424<li>The Itanium backend has bitrotted somewhat.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000425</ul>
426
427</div>
428
429<!-- ======================================================================= -->
430<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000431 <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000432</div>
433
434<div class="doc_text">
435
436<ul>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000437<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend does not support inline
438 assembly code</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000439</ul>
440
441</div>
John Criswellc0c186d2005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000442
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000443
444<!-- ======================================================================= -->
445<div class="doc_subsection">
446 <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the C front-end</a>
447</div>
Chris Lattner47588f92003-10-02 05:07:23 +0000448
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000449<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
Chris Lattnerb40efb32003-12-14 05:03:43 +0000450<div class="doc_subsubsection">Bugs</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000451
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000452<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerc5d658a2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000453
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000454<p>llvm-gcc4 does not currently support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR869">Link-Time
455Optimization</a> on most platforms "out-of-the-box". Please inquire on the
456llvmdev mailing list if you are interested.</p>
Chris Lattnerd9ea0172006-08-08 17:27:28 +0000457
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000458</div>
459
460<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
461<div class="doc_subsubsection">
462 Notes
463</div>
464
465<div class="doc_text">
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000466<ul>
467
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000468<li><p>"long double" is silently transformed by the front-end into "double". There
469is no support for floating point data types of any size other than 32 and 64
470bits.</p></li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000471
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000472<li><p>llvm-gcc does <b>not</b> support <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> yet.
473 See <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Constructing-Calls.html#Constructing%20Calls">Constructing Calls</a>: Dispatching a call to another function.</p>
474</li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000475
Duncan Sands32a83442007-05-18 09:04:20 +0000476<li><p>llvm-gcc <b>partially</b> supports these GCC extensions:</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000477 <ol>
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000478 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Nested-Functions.html#Nested%20Functions">Nested Functions</a>: As in Algol and Pascal, lexical scoping of functions.<br>
479 Nested functions are supported, but llvm-gcc does not support non-local
480 gotos or taking the address of a nested function.</li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000481
482 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Attributes.html#Function%20Attributes">Function Attributes</a>:
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000483
John Criswelld000e1d2003-12-18 16:43:17 +0000484 Declaring that functions have no side effects or that they can never
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000485 return.<br>
486
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000487 <b>Supported:</b> <tt>alias</tt>, <tt>always_inline</tt>, <tt>cdecl</tt>,
488 <tt>constructor</tt>, <tt>destructor</tt>,
Anton Korobeynikov9413de32006-11-18 08:04:48 +0000489 <tt>deprecated</tt>, <tt>fastcall</tt>, <tt>format</tt>,
Anton Korobeynikov9ec81372007-05-10 08:26:24 +0000490 <tt>format_arg</tt>, <tt>non_null</tt>, <tt>noreturn</tt>, <tt>regparm</tt>
Anton Korobeynikov8cea37b2007-01-23 12:35:46 +0000491 <tt>section</tt>, <tt>stdcall</tt>, <tt>unused</tt>, <tt>used</tt>,
492 <tt>visibility</tt>, <tt>warn_unused_result</tt>, <tt>weak</tt><br>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000493
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000494 <b>Ignored:</b> <tt>noinline</tt>, <tt>pure</tt>, <tt>const</tt>, <tt>nothrow</tt>,
495 <tt>malloc</tt>, <tt>no_instrument_function</tt></li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000496 </ol>
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000497</li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000498
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000499<li><p>llvm-gcc supports the vast majority of GCC extensions, including:</p>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000500
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000501 <ol>
Chris Lattnerd09c4ec2007-05-17 22:02:24 +0000502 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Pragmas.html#Pragmas">Pragmas</a>: Pragmas accepted by GCC.</li>
503 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Local-Labels.html#Local%20Labels">Local Labels</a>: Labels local to a block.</li>
504 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Other-Builtins.html#Other%20Builtins">Other Builtins</a>:
505 Other built-in functions.</li>
506 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Variable-Attributes.html#Variable%20Attributes">Variable Attributes</a>:
507 Specifying attributes of variables.</li>
508 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Type-Attributes.html#Type%20Attributes">Type Attributes</a>: Specifying attributes of types.</li>
509 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Thread_002dLocal.html">Thread-Local</a>: Per-thread variables.</li>
510 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Variable-Length.html#Variable%20Length">Variable Length</a>:
511 Arrays whose length is computed at run time.</li>
Chris Lattner7fe97dd2004-03-16 08:54:07 +0000512 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Labels-as-Values.html#Labels%20as%20Values">Labels as Values</a>: Getting pointers to labels and computed gotos.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000513 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Statement-Exprs.html#Statement%20Exprs">Statement Exprs</a>: Putting statements and declarations inside expressions.</li>
514 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Typeof.html#Typeof">Typeof</a>: <code>typeof</code>: referring to the type of an expression.</li>
Tanya Lattnerca26c3e2004-06-22 03:48:17 +0000515 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-3.4.0/gcc/Lvalues.html#Lvalues">Lvalues</a>: Using <code>?:</code>, "<code>,</code>" and casts in lvalues.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000516 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Conditionals.html#Conditionals">Conditionals</a>: Omitting the middle operand of a <code>?:</code> expression.</li>
517 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Long-Long.html#Long%20Long">Long Long</a>: Double-word integers.</li>
518 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Complex.html#Complex">Complex</a>: Data types for complex numbers.</li>
519 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Hex-Floats.html#Hex%20Floats">Hex Floats</a>:Hexadecimal floating-point constants.</li>
520 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html#Zero%20Length">Zero Length</a>: Zero-length arrays.</li>
521 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Empty-Structures.html#Empty%20Structures">Empty Structures</a>: Structures with no members.</li>
522 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Variadic-Macros.html#Variadic%20Macros">Variadic Macros</a>: Macros with a variable number of arguments.</li>
523 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Escaped-Newlines.html#Escaped%20Newlines">Escaped Newlines</a>: Slightly looser rules for escaped newlines.</li>
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000524 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Extended-Asm.html#Extended%20Asm">Extended Asm</a>: Assembler instructions with C expressions as operands.</li>
525 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Constraints.html#Constraints">Constraints</a>: Constraints for asm operands.</li>
526 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Asm-Labels.html#Asm%20Labels">Asm Labels</a>: Specifying the assembler name to use for a C symbol.</li>
527 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Explicit-Reg-Vars.html#Explicit%20Reg%20Vars">Explicit Reg Vars</a>: Defining variables residing in specified registers.</li>
528 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Vector-Extensions.html#Vector%20Extensions">Vector Extensions</a>: Using vector instructions through built-in functions.</li>
529 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Target-Builtins.html#Target%20Builtins">Target Builtins</a>: Built-in functions specific to particular targets.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000530 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Subscripting.html#Subscripting">Subscripting</a>: Any array can be subscripted, even if not an lvalue.</li>
Misha Brukmanc4b7bee2003-12-12 04:37:31 +0000531 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Pointer-Arith.html#Pointer%20Arith">Pointer Arith</a>: Arithmetic on <code>void</code>-pointers and function pointers.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000532 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Initializers.html#Initializers">Initializers</a>: Non-constant initializers.</li>
John Criswelld000e1d2003-12-18 16:43:17 +0000533 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Compound-Literals.html#Compound%20Literals">Compound Literals</a>: Compound literals give structures, unions,
534or arrays as values.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000535 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Designated-Inits.html#Designated%20Inits">Designated Inits</a>: Labeling elements of initializers.</li>
Misha Brukmanc4b7bee2003-12-12 04:37:31 +0000536 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Cast-to-Union.html#Cast%20to%20Union">Cast to Union</a>: Casting to union type from any member of the union.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000537 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Case-Ranges.html#Case%20Ranges">Case Ranges</a>: `case 1 ... 9' and such.</li>
538 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Mixed-Declarations.html#Mixed%20Declarations">Mixed Declarations</a>: Mixing declarations and code.</li>
539 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Prototypes.html#Function%20Prototypes">Function Prototypes</a>: Prototype declarations and old-style definitions.</li>
Tanya Lattner78537e42004-12-08 18:29:38 +0000540 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C_002b_002b-Comments.html#C_002b_002b-Comments">C++ Comments</a>: C++ comments are recognized.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000541 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Dollar-Signs.html#Dollar%20Signs">Dollar Signs</a>: Dollar sign is allowed in identifiers.</li>
542 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Character-Escapes.html#Character%20Escapes">Character Escapes</a>: <code>\e</code> stands for the character &lt;ESC&gt;.</li>
543 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Alignment.html#Alignment">Alignment</a>: Inquiring about the alignment of a type or variable.</li>
544 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Inline.html#Inline">Inline</a>: Defining inline functions (as fast as macros).</li>
545 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Alternate-Keywords.html#Alternate%20Keywords">Alternate Keywords</a>:<code>__const__</code>, <code>__asm__</code>, etc., for header files.</li>
546 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Incomplete-Enums.html#Incomplete%20Enums">Incomplete Enums</a>: <code>enum foo;</code>, with details to follow.</li>
547 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Function-Names.html#Function%20Names">Function Names</a>: Printable strings which are the name of the current function.</li>
Chris Lattner25795bc2004-02-14 04:08:29 +0000548 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Return-Address.html#Return%20Address">Return Address</a>: Getting the return or frame address of a function.</li>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000549 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Unnamed-Fields.html#Unnamed%20Fields">Unnamed Fields</a>: Unnamed struct/union fields within structs/unions.</li>
550 <li><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Attribute-Syntax.html#Attribute%20Syntax">Attribute Syntax</a>: Formal syntax for attributes.</li>
Misha Brukmane0c891c2003-11-22 01:00:11 +0000551 </ol></li>
552
553</ul>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000554
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000555<p>If you run into GCC extensions which have not been included in any of these
556lists, please let us know (also including whether or not they work).</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000557
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000558</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000559
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000560<!-- ======================================================================= -->
561<div class="doc_subsection">
562 <a name="c++-fe">Known problems with the C++ front-end</a>
563</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000564
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000565<div class="doc_text">
566
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000567<p>The C++ front-end is considered to be fully
Chris Lattner7506b1d2004-12-07 08:04:13 +0000568tested and works for a number of non-trivial programs, including LLVM
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000569itself, Qt, Mozilla, etc.</p>
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000570
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000571<ul>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000572<li>llvm-gcc4 only has partial support for <a href="http://llvm.org/PR870">C++
573Exception Handling</a>, and it is not enabled by default.</li>
574
575<!-- NO EH Support!
Chris Lattnere01fcfb2003-10-27 18:30:37 +0000576
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000577<li>Destructors for local objects are not always run when a <tt>longjmp</tt> is
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000578 performed. In particular, destructors for objects in the <tt>longjmp</tt>ing
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000579 function and in the <tt>setjmp</tt> receiver function may not be run.
John Criswelld000e1d2003-12-18 16:43:17 +0000580 Objects in intervening stack frames will be destroyed, however (which is
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000581 better than most compilers).</li>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000582
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000583<li>The LLVM C++ front-end follows the <a
584 href="http://www.codesourcery.com/cxx-abi">Itanium C++ ABI</a>.
585 This document, which is not Itanium specific, specifies a standard for name
586 mangling, class layout, v-table layout, RTTI formats, and other C++
587 representation issues. Because we use this API, code generated by the LLVM
588 compilers should be binary compatible with machine code generated by other
589 Itanium ABI C++ compilers (such as G++, the Intel and HP compilers, etc).
Chris Lattner26299222006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000590 <i>However</i>, the exception handling mechanism used by llvm-gcc3 is very
Chris Lattner19092612003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000591 different from the model used in the Itanium ABI, so <b>exceptions will not
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000592 interact correctly</b>. </li>
Chris Lattnerf3e5bc62007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000593-->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000594</ul>
Chris Lattnerfcc54b32003-10-07 22:14:37 +0000595
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000596</div>
597
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000598
Chris Lattner98a493c2005-05-15 16:01:20 +0000599
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000600<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000601<div class="doc_section">
602 <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a>
603</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000604<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
605
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000606<div class="doc_text">
607
Chris Lattner416db102005-05-16 17:13:10 +0000608<p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a
Chris Lattnerb4b0ce72007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000609href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a
610href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section. The web page also
Reid Spencer669ed452007-07-09 08:04:31 +0000611contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the
612Subversion version of the source code.
Misha Brukman109d9e82005-03-30 19:14:24 +0000613You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going
614into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000615
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000616<p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact
Chris Lattnerc463b272005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000617us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing
Chris Lattner5eccca42003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000618lists</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000619
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000620</div>
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000621
622<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner79c3fe12003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000623
Misha Brukman500bc302003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000624<hr>
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Chris Lattnerb4b0ce72007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000631 <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
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