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5 <title>How to submit an LLVM bug report</title>
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Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +00009
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000010<div class="doc_title">
11 How to submit an LLVM bug report
12</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000013
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000014<table border="0" width="100%">
15<tr>
16<td valign="top">
17
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000018<ol>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000019 <li><a href="#introduction">Introduction - Got bugs?</a></li>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000020 <li><a href="#crashers">Crashing Bugs</a>
21 <ul>
22 <li><a href="#front-end">Front-end bugs</a>
23 <li><a href="#gccas">GCCAS bugs</a>
24 <li><a href="#gccld">GCCLD bugs</a>
25 <li><a href="#passes">Bugs in LLVM passes</a>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000026 </ul></li>
27 <li><a href="#miscompilations">Miscompilations</a></li>
28 <li><a href="#codegen">Incorrect code generation (JIT and LLC)</a></li>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000029
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000030</ol>
31
Misha Brukman67db86a2004-01-15 19:03:47 +000032<div class="doc_text">
33 <p><b>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> and
34 <a href="http://misha.brukman.net">Misha Brukman</a></b></p>
35</div>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000036
37</td>
38<td align="right">
Misha Brukman67db86a2004-01-15 19:03:47 +000039 <img src="Debugging.gif" alt="Debugging" width="444" height="314">
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000040</td>
41</tr>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000042</table>
43
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000044<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000045<div class="doc_section">
46 <a name="introduction">Introduction - Got bugs?</a>
47</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000048<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
49
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000050<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000051
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000052<p>If you're working with LLVM and run into a bug, we definitely want to know
53about it. This document describes what you can do to increase the odds of
54getting it fixed quickly.</p>
55
56<p>Basically you have to do two things at a minimum. First, decide whether the
57bug <a href="#crashers">crashes the compiler</a> (or an LLVM pass), or if the
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000058compiler is <a href="#miscompilations">miscompiling</a> the program. Based on
59what type of bug it is, follow the instructions in the linked section to narrow
60down the bug so that the person who fixes it will be able to find the problem
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000061more easily.</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000062
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000063<p>Once you have a reduced test-case, go to <a
64href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/bugs/enter_bug.cgi">the LLVM Bug Tracking
65System</a>, select the category in which the bug falls, and fill out the form
66with the necessary details. The bug description should contain the following
67information:</p>
68
John Criswell56a850a2003-10-22 15:06:11 +000069<ul>
Misha Brukmanb00e1062003-10-22 17:01:44 +000070 <li>All information necessary to reproduce the problem.</li>
71 <li>The reduced test-case that triggers the bug.</li>
72 <li>The location where you obtained LLVM (if not from our CVS
73 repository).</li>
John Criswell56a850a2003-10-22 15:06:11 +000074</ul>
75
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000076<p>Thanks for helping us make LLVM better!</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000077
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000078</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000079
80<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000081<div class="doc_section">
82 <a name="crashers">Crashing Bugs</a>
83</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000084<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
85
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000086<div class="doc_text">
87
88<p>More often than not, bugs in the compiler cause it to crash - often due to an
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000089assertion failure of some sort. If you are running <tt><b>opt</b></tt> or
90<tt><b>analyze</b></tt> directly, and something crashes, jump to the section on
91<a href="#passes">bugs in LLVM passes</a>. Otherwise, the most important
92piece of the puzzle is to figure out if it is the GCC-based front-end that is
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000093buggy or if it's one of the LLVM tools that has problems.</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +000094
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +000095<p>To figure out which program is crashing (the front-end,
96<tt><b>gccas</b></tt>, or <tt><b>gccld</b></tt>), run the
97<tt><b>llvm-gcc</b></tt> command line as you were when the crash occurred, but
98add a <tt>-v</tt> option to the command line. The compiler will print out a
John Criswellfaba4622004-03-12 20:42:16 +000099bunch of stuff, and should end with telling you that one of
100<tt><b>cc1</b>/<b>cc1plus</b></tt>, <tt><b>gccas</b></tt>, or
101<tt><b>gccld</b></tt> crashed.</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000102
103<ul>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000104
John Criswellfaba4622004-03-12 20:42:16 +0000105 <li>If <tt><b>cc1</b></tt> or <tt><b>cc1plus</b></tt> crashed, you found a
106 problem with the front-end.
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000107 Jump ahead to the section on <a href="#front-end">front-end bugs</a>.</li>
108
109 <li>If <tt><b>gccas</b></tt> crashed, you found a bug in <a href="#gccas">one
110 of the passes in <tt><b>gccas</b></tt></a>.</li>
111
112 <li>If <tt><b>gccld</b></tt> crashed, you found a bug in <a href="#gccld">one
113 of the passes in <tt><b>gccld</b></tt></a>.</li>
114
115 <li>Otherwise, something really weird happened. Email the list with what you
116 have at this point.</li>
117
118</ul>
119
120</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000121
122<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000123<div class="doc_subsection">
124 <a name="front-end">Front-end bugs</a>
125</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000126
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000127<div class="doc_text">
128
129<p>If the problem is in the front-end, you should re-run the same
Brian Gaeke627b9f42003-05-23 21:03:50 +0000130<tt>llvm-gcc</tt> command that resulted in the crash, but add the
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000131<tt>-save-temps</tt> option. The compiler will crash again, but it will leave
132behind a <tt><i>foo</i>.i</tt> file (containing preprocessed C source code) and
133possibly <tt><i>foo</i>.s</tt> (containing LLVM assembly code), for each
134compiled <tt><i>foo</i>.c</tt> file. Send us the <tt><i>foo</i>.i</tt> file,
135along with a brief description of the error it caused.</p>
136
137</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000138
139<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000140<div class="doc_subsection">
141 <a name="gccas">GCCAS bugs</a>
142</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000143
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000144<div class="doc_text">
145
146<p>If you find that a bug crashes in the <tt><b>gccas</b></tt> stage of
Brian Gaeke627b9f42003-05-23 21:03:50 +0000147compilation, compile your test-case to a <tt>.s</tt> file with the
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000148<tt>-save-temps</tt> option to <tt><b>llvm-gcc</b></tt>. Then run:</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000149
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000150<div class="doc_code">
151<p><tt><b>gccas</b> -debug-pass=Arguments &lt; /dev/null -o - &gt; /dev/null
152</tt></p>
153</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000154
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000155<p>... which will print a list of arguments, indicating the list of passes that
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000156<tt><b>gccas</b></tt> runs. Once you have the input file and the list of
157passes, go to the section on <a href="#passes">debugging bugs in LLVM
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000158passes</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000159
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000160</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000161
162<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000163<div class="doc_subsection">
164 <a name="gccld">GCCLD bugs</a>
165</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000166
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000167<div class="doc_text">
168
169<p>If you find that a bug crashes in the <tt><b>gccld</b></tt> stage of
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000170compilation, gather all of the <tt>.o</tt> bytecode files and libraries that are
171being linked together (the "<tt><b>llvm-gcc</b> -v</tt>" output should include
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000172the full list of objects linked). Then run:</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000173
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000174<div class="doc_code">
175<p><tt><b>llvm-as</b> &lt; /dev/null &gt; null.bc
176 <b>gccld</b> -debug-pass=Arguments null.bc</tt></p>
177</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000178
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000179<p>... which will print a list of arguments, indicating the list of passes that
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000180<tt><b>gccld</b></tt> runs. Once you have the input files and the list of
181passes, go to the section on <a href="#passes">debugging bugs in LLVM
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000182passes</a>.</p>
183
184</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000185
186<!-- ======================================================================= -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000187<div class="doc_subsection">
188 <a name="passes">Bugs in LLVM passes</a>
189</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000190
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000191<div class="doc_text">
192
193<p>At this point, you should have some number of LLVM assembly files or bytecode
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000194files and a list of passes which crash when run on the specified input. In
195order to reduce the list of passes (which is probably large) and the input to
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000196something tractable, use the <tt><b>bugpoint</b></tt> tool as follows:</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000197
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000198<div class="doc_code">
199<p><tt><b>bugpoint</b> &lt;input files&gt; &lt;list of passes&gt;</tt></p>
200</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000201
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000202<p><tt><b>bugpoint</b></tt> will print a bunch of output as it reduces the
203test-case, but it should eventually print something like this:</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000204
205<pre>
206 ...
207 Emitted bytecode to 'bugpoint-reduced-simplified.bc'
208
209 *** You can reproduce the problem with: opt bugpoint-reduced-simplified.bc -licm
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000210</pre>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000211
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000212<p>Once you complete this, please send the LLVM bytecode file and the command
213line to reproduce the problem to the llvmbugs mailing list.</p>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000214
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000215</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000216
217<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000218<div class="doc_section">
219 <a name="miscompilations">Miscompilations</a>
220</div>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000221<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
222
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000223<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000224
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000225<p>A miscompilation occurs when a pass does not correctly transform a program,
226thus producing errors that are only noticed during execution. This is different
227from producing invalid LLVM code (i.e., code not in SSA form, using values
228before defining them, etc.) which the verifier will check for after a pass
229finishes its run.</p>
230
231<p>To debug a miscompilation, you should choose which program you wish to run
232the output through, e.g. C backend, the JIT, or LLC, and a selection of passes,
233one of which may be causing the error, and run, for example:</p>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000234
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000235<div class="doc_code">
236<p><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-cbe [... optimization passes ...] file-to-test.bc
237--args -- [program arguments]</tt></p>
238</div>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000239
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000240<p><tt>bugpoint</tt> will try to narrow down your list of passes to the one pass
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000241that causes an error, and simplify the bytecode file as much as it can to assist
242you. It will print a message letting you know how to reproduce the resulting
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000243error.</p>
244
245</div>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000246
247<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000248<div class="doc_section">
249 <a name="codegen">Incorrect code generation</a>
250</div>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000251<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
252
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000253<div class="doc_text">
254
255<p>Similarly to debugging incorrect compilation by mis-behaving passes, you can
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000256debug incorrect code generation by either LLC or the JIT, using
257<tt>bugpoint</tt>. The process <tt>bugpoint</tt> follows in this case is to try
258to narrow the code down to a function that is miscompiled by one or the other
259method, but since for correctness, the entire program must be run,
260<tt>bugpoint</tt> will compile the code it deems to not be affected with the C
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000261Backend, and then link in the shared object it generates.</p>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000262
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000263<p>To debug the JIT:</p>
264
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000265<div class="doc_code">
266<p><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-jit -output=[correct output file] [bytecode file]
267--args -- [program arguments]</tt></p>
268</div>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000269
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000270<p>Similarly, to debug the LLC, one would run:</p>
271
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000272<div class="doc_code">
273<p><tt><b>bugpoint</b> -run-llc -output=[correct output file] [bytecode file]
274--args -- [program arguments]</tt></p>
275</div>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000276
Misha Brukman272322e2004-04-15 21:01:21 +0000277<p><b>Special note:</b> if you are debugging MultiSource or SPEC tests that
278already exist in the <tt>llvm/test</tt> hierarchy, there is an easier way to
279debug the JIT, LLC, and CBE, using the pre-written Makefile targets, which
280will pass the program options specified in the Makefiles:</p>
281
282<div class="doc_code">
283<p><tt>cd llvm/test/../../program<br>
284 make bugpoint-jit</tt></p>
285</div>
286
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000287<p>At the end of a successful <tt>bugpoint</tt> run, you will be presented
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000288with two bytecode files: a <em>safe</em> file which can be compiled with the C
289backend and the <em>test</em> file which either LLC or the JIT
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000290mis-codegenerates, and thus causes the error.</p>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000291
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000292<p>To reproduce the error that <tt>bugpoint</tt> found, it is sufficient to do
293the following:</p>
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000294
295<ol>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000296
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000297 <li><p>Regenerate the shared object from the safe bytecode file:</p>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000298
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000299 <div class="doc_code">
300 <p><tt><b>llc</b> -march=c safe.bc -o safe.c<br>
301 <b>gcc</b> -shared safe.c -o safe.so</tt></p>
302 </div></li>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000303
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000304 <li><p>If debugging LLC, compile test bytecode native and link with the shared
305 object:</p>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000306
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000307 <div class="doc_code">
308 <p><tt><b>llc</b> test.bc -o test.s -f<br>
309 <b>gcc</b> test.s safe.so -o test.llc<br>
310 ./test.llc [program options]</tt></p>
311 </div></li>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000312
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000313 <li><p>If debugging the JIT, load the shared object and supply the test
314 bytecode:</p>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000315
Misha Brukmanc21921c2004-04-15 20:49:32 +0000316 <div class="doc_code">
317 <p><tt><b>lli</b> -load=safe.so test.bc [program options]</tt></p>
318 </div></li>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000319
Misha Brukmana3fc5d92003-09-17 18:51:47 +0000320</ol>
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000321
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000322</div>
323
Chris Lattner9525a332003-05-21 22:21:07 +0000324<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000325<hr>
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332 <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br>
Misha Brukmanff919402003-10-31 18:37:20 +0000333 <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a>
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