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Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +00001==========================
2Exception Handling in LLVM
3==========================
4
5.. contents::
6 :local:
7
8Introduction
9============
10
11This document is the central repository for all information pertaining to
12exception handling in LLVM. It describes the format that LLVM exception
13handling information takes, which is useful for those interested in creating
14front-ends or dealing directly with the information. Further, this document
15provides specific examples of what exception handling information is used for in
16C and C++.
17
18Itanium ABI Zero-cost Exception Handling
19----------------------------------------
20
21Exception handling for most programming languages is designed to recover from
22conditions that rarely occur during general use of an application. To that end,
23exception handling should not interfere with the main flow of an application's
24algorithm by performing checkpointing tasks, such as saving the current pc or
25register state.
26
27The Itanium ABI Exception Handling Specification defines a methodology for
28providing outlying data in the form of exception tables without inlining
29speculative exception handling code in the flow of an application's main
30algorithm. Thus, the specification is said to add "zero-cost" to the normal
31execution of an application.
32
33A more complete description of the Itanium ABI exception handling runtime
34support of can be found at `Itanium C++ ABI: Exception Handling
Tim Northover4694b542013-01-12 19:54:21 +000035<http://mentorembedded.github.com/cxx-abi/abi-eh.html>`_. A description of the
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +000036exception frame format can be found at `Exception Frames
Tim Northover53acb322013-01-12 12:38:54 +000037<http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_3.0.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/ehframechpt.html>`_,
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +000038with details of the DWARF 4 specification at `DWARF 4 Standard
39<http://dwarfstd.org/Dwarf4Std.php>`_. A description for the C++ exception
40table formats can be found at `Exception Handling Tables
Tim Northover53acb322013-01-12 12:38:54 +000041<http://mentorembedded.github.com/cxx-abi/exceptions.pdf>`_.
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +000042
43Setjmp/Longjmp Exception Handling
44---------------------------------
45
46Setjmp/Longjmp (SJLJ) based exception handling uses LLVM intrinsics
47`llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp`_ and `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_ to handle control flow for
48exception handling.
49
50For each function which does exception processing --- be it ``try``/``catch``
51blocks or cleanups --- that function registers itself on a global frame
52list. When exceptions are unwinding, the runtime uses this list to identify
53which functions need processing.
54
55Landing pad selection is encoded in the call site entry of the function
56context. The runtime returns to the function via `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_, where
57a switch table transfers control to the appropriate landing pad based on the
58index stored in the function context.
59
60In contrast to DWARF exception handling, which encodes exception regions and
61frame information in out-of-line tables, SJLJ exception handling builds and
62removes the unwind frame context at runtime. This results in faster exception
63handling at the expense of slower execution when no exceptions are thrown. As
64exceptions are, by their nature, intended for uncommon code paths, DWARF
65exception handling is generally preferred to SJLJ.
66
Andrew Kaylor78b53db2015-02-10 19:52:43 +000067Windows Runtime Exception Handling
68-----------------------------------
69
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +000070LLVM supports handling exceptions produced by the Windows runtime, but it
71requires a very different intermediate representation. It is not based on the
72":ref:`landingpad <i_landingpad>`" instruction like the other two models, and is
73described later in this document under :ref:`wineh`.
Andrew Kaylor78b53db2015-02-10 19:52:43 +000074
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +000075Overview
76--------
77
78When an exception is thrown in LLVM code, the runtime does its best to find a
79handler suited to processing the circumstance.
80
81The runtime first attempts to find an *exception frame* corresponding to the
82function where the exception was thrown. If the programming language supports
83exception handling (e.g. C++), the exception frame contains a reference to an
84exception table describing how to process the exception. If the language does
85not support exception handling (e.g. C), or if the exception needs to be
86forwarded to a prior activation, the exception frame contains information about
87how to unwind the current activation and restore the state of the prior
88activation. This process is repeated until the exception is handled. If the
89exception is not handled and no activations remain, then the application is
90terminated with an appropriate error message.
91
92Because different programming languages have different behaviors when handling
93exceptions, the exception handling ABI provides a mechanism for
94supplying *personalities*. An exception handling personality is defined by
95way of a *personality function* (e.g. ``__gxx_personality_v0`` in C++),
96which receives the context of the exception, an *exception structure*
97containing the exception object type and value, and a reference to the exception
98table for the current function. The personality function for the current
99compile unit is specified in a *common exception frame*.
100
101The organization of an exception table is language dependent. For C++, an
102exception table is organized as a series of code ranges defining what to do if
103an exception occurs in that range. Typically, the information associated with a
104range defines which types of exception objects (using C++ *type info*) that are
105handled in that range, and an associated action that should take place. Actions
106typically pass control to a *landing pad*.
107
108A landing pad corresponds roughly to the code found in the ``catch`` portion of
109a ``try``/``catch`` sequence. When execution resumes at a landing pad, it
110receives an *exception structure* and a *selector value* corresponding to the
111*type* of exception thrown. The selector is then used to determine which *catch*
112should actually process the exception.
113
114LLVM Code Generation
115====================
116
117From a C++ developer's perspective, exceptions are defined in terms of the
118``throw`` and ``try``/``catch`` statements. In this section we will describe the
119implementation of LLVM exception handling in terms of C++ examples.
120
121Throw
122-----
123
124Languages that support exception handling typically provide a ``throw``
125operation to initiate the exception process. Internally, a ``throw`` operation
126breaks down into two steps.
127
128#. A request is made to allocate exception space for an exception structure.
129 This structure needs to survive beyond the current activation. This structure
130 will contain the type and value of the object being thrown.
131
132#. A call is made to the runtime to raise the exception, passing the exception
133 structure as an argument.
134
135In C++, the allocation of the exception structure is done by the
136``__cxa_allocate_exception`` runtime function. The exception raising is handled
137by ``__cxa_throw``. The type of the exception is represented using a C++ RTTI
138structure.
139
140Try/Catch
141---------
142
143A call within the scope of a *try* statement can potentially raise an
144exception. In those circumstances, the LLVM C++ front-end replaces the call with
145an ``invoke`` instruction. Unlike a call, the ``invoke`` has two potential
146continuation points:
147
148#. where to continue when the call succeeds as per normal, and
149
150#. where to continue if the call raises an exception, either by a throw or the
151 unwinding of a throw
152
Mark Seaborn20f9ddb2014-02-27 06:54:04 +0000153The term used to define the place where an ``invoke`` continues after an
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000154exception is called a *landing pad*. LLVM landing pads are conceptually
155alternative function entry points where an exception structure reference and a
156type info index are passed in as arguments. The landing pad saves the exception
157structure reference and then proceeds to select the catch block that corresponds
158to the type info of the exception object.
159
Dmitri Gribenkoc5137402013-01-13 16:06:11 +0000160The LLVM :ref:`i_landingpad` is used to convey information about the landing
161pad to the back end. For C++, the ``landingpad`` instruction returns a pointer
162and integer pair corresponding to the pointer to the *exception structure* and
163the *selector value* respectively.
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000164
165The ``landingpad`` instruction takes a reference to the personality function to
166be used for this ``try``/``catch`` sequence. The remainder of the instruction is
167a list of *cleanup*, *catch*, and *filter* clauses. The exception is tested
Mark Seaborn202169a2014-02-25 23:48:59 +0000168against the clauses sequentially from first to last. The clauses have the
169following meanings:
170
171- ``catch <type> @ExcType``
172
173 - This clause means that the landingpad block should be entered if the
174 exception being thrown is of type ``@ExcType`` or a subtype of
175 ``@ExcType``. For C++, ``@ExcType`` is a pointer to the ``std::type_info``
176 object (an RTTI object) representing the C++ exception type.
177
178 - If ``@ExcType`` is ``null``, any exception matches, so the landingpad
179 should always be entered. This is used for C++ catch-all blocks ("``catch
180 (...)``").
181
182 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be equal to the value
183 returned by "``@llvm.eh.typeid.for(i8* @ExcType)``". This will always be a
184 positive value.
185
186- ``filter <type> [<type> @ExcType1, ..., <type> @ExcTypeN]``
187
188 - This clause means that the landingpad should be entered if the exception
189 being thrown does *not* match any of the types in the list (which, for C++,
190 are again specified as ``std::type_info`` pointers).
191
192 - C++ front-ends use this to implement C++ exception specifications, such as
193 "``void foo() throw (ExcType1, ..., ExcTypeN) { ... }``".
194
195 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be negative.
196
197 - The array argument to ``filter`` may be empty; for example, "``[0 x i8**]
198 undef``". This means that the landingpad should always be entered. (Note
199 that such a ``filter`` would not be equivalent to "``catch i8* null``",
200 because ``filter`` and ``catch`` produce negative and positive selector
201 values respectively.)
202
203- ``cleanup``
204
205 - This clause means that the landingpad should always be entered.
206
207 - C++ front-ends use this for calling objects' destructors.
208
209 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be zero.
210
211 - The runtime may treat "``cleanup``" differently from "``catch <type>
212 null``".
213
214 In C++, if an unhandled exception occurs, the language runtime will call
215 ``std::terminate()``, but it is implementation-defined whether the runtime
216 unwinds the stack and calls object destructors first. For example, the GNU
217 C++ unwinder does not call object destructors when an unhandled exception
218 occurs. The reason for this is to improve debuggability: it ensures that
219 ``std::terminate()`` is called from the context of the ``throw``, so that
220 this context is not lost by unwinding the stack. A runtime will typically
221 implement this by searching for a matching non-``cleanup`` clause, and
222 aborting if it does not find one, before entering any landingpad blocks.
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000223
224Once the landing pad has the type info selector, the code branches to the code
225for the first catch. The catch then checks the value of the type info selector
226against the index of type info for that catch. Since the type info index is not
227known until all the type infos have been gathered in the backend, the catch code
228must call the `llvm.eh.typeid.for`_ intrinsic to determine the index for a given
229type info. If the catch fails to match the selector then control is passed on to
230the next catch.
231
232Finally, the entry and exit of catch code is bracketed with calls to
233``__cxa_begin_catch`` and ``__cxa_end_catch``.
234
235* ``__cxa_begin_catch`` takes an exception structure reference as an argument
236 and returns the value of the exception object.
237
238* ``__cxa_end_catch`` takes no arguments. This function:
239
240 #. Locates the most recently caught exception and decrements its handler
241 count,
242
243 #. Removes the exception from the *caught* stack if the handler count goes to
244 zero, and
245
246 #. Destroys the exception if the handler count goes to zero and the exception
247 was not re-thrown by throw.
248
249 .. note::
250
251 a rethrow from within the catch may replace this call with a
252 ``__cxa_rethrow``.
253
254Cleanups
255--------
256
257A cleanup is extra code which needs to be run as part of unwinding a scope. C++
258destructors are a typical example, but other languages and language extensions
259provide a variety of different kinds of cleanups. In general, a landing pad may
260need to run arbitrary amounts of cleanup code before actually entering a catch
Dmitri Gribenkoc5137402013-01-13 16:06:11 +0000261block. To indicate the presence of cleanups, a :ref:`i_landingpad` should have
262a *cleanup* clause. Otherwise, the unwinder will not stop at the landing pad if
263there are no catches or filters that require it to.
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000264
265.. note::
266
267 Do not allow a new exception to propagate out of the execution of a
268 cleanup. This can corrupt the internal state of the unwinder. Different
269 languages describe different high-level semantics for these situations: for
270 example, C++ requires that the process be terminated, whereas Ada cancels both
271 exceptions and throws a third.
272
273When all cleanups are finished, if the exception is not handled by the current
Nico Weberfa147e02015-02-26 19:48:43 +0000274function, resume unwinding by calling the :ref:`resume instruction <i_resume>`,
275passing in the result of the ``landingpad`` instruction for the original
276landing pad.
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000277
278Throw Filters
279-------------
280
281C++ allows the specification of which exception types may be thrown from a
282function. To represent this, a top level landing pad may exist to filter out
Dmitri Gribenkoc5137402013-01-13 16:06:11 +0000283invalid types. To express this in LLVM code the :ref:`i_landingpad` will have a
284filter clause. The clause consists of an array of type infos.
285``landingpad`` will return a negative value
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000286if the exception does not match any of the type infos. If no match is found then
287a call to ``__cxa_call_unexpected`` should be made, otherwise
288``_Unwind_Resume``. Each of these functions requires a reference to the
289exception structure. Note that the most general form of a ``landingpad``
290instruction can have any number of catch, cleanup, and filter clauses (though
291having more than one cleanup is pointless). The LLVM C++ front-end can generate
292such ``landingpad`` instructions due to inlining creating nested exception
293handling scopes.
294
295.. _undefined:
296
297Restrictions
298------------
299
300The unwinder delegates the decision of whether to stop in a call frame to that
301call frame's language-specific personality function. Not all unwinders guarantee
302that they will stop to perform cleanups. For example, the GNU C++ unwinder
303doesn't do so unless the exception is actually caught somewhere further up the
304stack.
305
306In order for inlining to behave correctly, landing pads must be prepared to
307handle selector results that they did not originally advertise. Suppose that a
308function catches exceptions of type ``A``, and it's inlined into a function that
309catches exceptions of type ``B``. The inliner will update the ``landingpad``
310instruction for the inlined landing pad to include the fact that ``B`` is also
311caught. If that landing pad assumes that it will only be entered to catch an
312``A``, it's in for a rude awakening. Consequently, landing pads must test for
313the selector results they understand and then resume exception propagation with
314the `resume instruction <LangRef.html#i_resume>`_ if none of the conditions
315match.
316
317Exception Handling Intrinsics
318=============================
319
320In addition to the ``landingpad`` and ``resume`` instructions, LLVM uses several
321intrinsic functions (name prefixed with ``llvm.eh``) to provide exception
322handling information at various points in generated code.
323
324.. _llvm.eh.typeid.for:
325
Dmitri Gribenkobb13a3c2013-01-13 16:07:49 +0000326``llvm.eh.typeid.for``
327----------------------
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000328
329.. code-block:: llvm
330
331 i32 @llvm.eh.typeid.for(i8* %type_info)
332
333
334This intrinsic returns the type info index in the exception table of the current
335function. This value can be used to compare against the result of
336``landingpad`` instruction. The single argument is a reference to a type info.
337
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000338Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end.
339
Andrew Kaylor78b53db2015-02-10 19:52:43 +0000340.. _llvm.eh.begincatch:
341
342``llvm.eh.begincatch``
343----------------------
344
345.. code-block:: llvm
346
Reid Kleckner2f05d4c2015-03-03 17:41:09 +0000347 void @llvm.eh.begincatch(i8* %ehptr, i8* %ehobj)
Andrew Kaylor78b53db2015-02-10 19:52:43 +0000348
349
350This intrinsic marks the beginning of catch handling code within the blocks
351following a ``landingpad`` instruction. The exact behavior of this function
352depends on the compilation target and the personality function associated
353with the ``landingpad`` instruction.
354
Reid Kleckner2f05d4c2015-03-03 17:41:09 +0000355The first argument to this intrinsic is a pointer that was previously extracted
356from the aggregate return value of the ``landingpad`` instruction. The second
357argument to the intrinsic is a pointer to stack space where the exception object
358should be stored. The runtime handles the details of copying the exception
359object into the slot. If the second parameter is null, no copy occurs.
Andrew Kaylor78b53db2015-02-10 19:52:43 +0000360
361Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end. Many targets will
362use implementation-specific functions (such as ``__cxa_begin_catch``) instead
363of this intrinsic. The intrinsic is provided for targets that require a more
364abstract interface.
365
366When used in the native Windows C++ exception handling implementation, this
367intrinsic serves as a placeholder to delimit code before a catch handler is
368outlined. When the handler is is outlined, this intrinsic will be replaced
369by instructions that retrieve the exception object pointer from the frame
370allocation block.
371
372
373.. _llvm.eh.endcatch:
374
375``llvm.eh.endcatch``
376----------------------
377
378.. code-block:: llvm
379
380 void @llvm.eh.endcatch()
381
382
383This intrinsic marks the end of catch handling code within the current block,
384which will be a successor of a block which called ``llvm.eh.begincatch''.
385The exact behavior of this function depends on the compilation target and the
386personality function associated with the corresponding ``landingpad``
387instruction.
388
389There may be more than one call to ``llvm.eh.endcatch`` for any given call to
390``llvm.eh.begincatch`` with each ``llvm.eh.endcatch`` call corresponding to the
391end of a different control path. All control paths following a call to
392``llvm.eh.begincatch`` must reach a call to ``llvm.eh.endcatch``.
393
394Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end. Many targets will
395use implementation-specific functions (such as ``__cxa_begin_catch``) instead
396of this intrinsic. The intrinsic is provided for targets that require a more
397abstract interface.
398
399When used in the native Windows C++ exception handling implementation, this
400intrinsic serves as a placeholder to delimit code before a catch handler is
401outlined. After the handler is outlined, this intrinsic is simply removed.
402
403
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000404SJLJ Intrinsics
405---------------
406
407The ``llvm.eh.sjlj`` intrinsics are used internally within LLVM's
408backend. Uses of them are generated by the backend's
409``SjLjEHPrepare`` pass.
410
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000411.. _llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp:
412
Dmitri Gribenkobb13a3c2013-01-13 16:07:49 +0000413``llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp``
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000414~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000415
416.. code-block:: llvm
417
418 i32 @llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp(i8* %setjmp_buf)
419
420For SJLJ based exception handling, this intrinsic forces register saving for the
421current function and stores the address of the following instruction for use as
422a destination address by `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_. The buffer format and the
423overall functioning of this intrinsic is compatible with the GCC
424``__builtin_setjmp`` implementation allowing code built with the clang and GCC
425to interoperate.
426
427The single parameter is a pointer to a five word buffer in which the calling
428context is saved. The front end places the frame pointer in the first word, and
429the target implementation of this intrinsic should place the destination address
430for a `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_ in the second word. The following three words are
431available for use in a target-specific manner.
432
433.. _llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp:
434
Dmitri Gribenkobb13a3c2013-01-13 16:07:49 +0000435``llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp``
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000436~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000437
438.. code-block:: llvm
439
440 void @llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp(i8* %setjmp_buf)
441
442For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`` intrinsic is
443used to implement ``__builtin_longjmp()``. The single parameter is a pointer to
444a buffer populated by `llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp`_. The frame pointer and stack
445pointer are restored from the buffer, then control is transferred to the
446destination address.
447
Dmitri Gribenkobb13a3c2013-01-13 16:07:49 +0000448``llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda``
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000449~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000450
451.. code-block:: llvm
452
453 i8* @llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda()
454
455For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda`` intrinsic returns
456the address of the Language Specific Data Area (LSDA) for the current
457function. The SJLJ front-end code stores this address in the exception handling
458function context for use by the runtime.
459
Dmitri Gribenkobb13a3c2013-01-13 16:07:49 +0000460``llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite``
Mark Seabornf8388a72014-03-28 17:08:57 +0000461~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000462
463.. code-block:: llvm
464
465 void @llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite(i32 %call_site_num)
466
467For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite`` intrinsic
468identifies the callsite value associated with the following ``invoke``
469instruction. This is used to ensure that landing pad entries in the LSDA are
470generated in matching order.
471
472Asm Table Formats
473=================
474
475There are two tables that are used by the exception handling runtime to
476determine which actions should be taken when an exception is thrown.
477
478Exception Handling Frame
479------------------------
480
481An exception handling frame ``eh_frame`` is very similar to the unwind frame
482used by DWARF debug info. The frame contains all the information necessary to
483tear down the current frame and restore the state of the prior frame. There is
484an exception handling frame for each function in a compile unit, plus a common
485exception handling frame that defines information common to all functions in the
486unit.
487
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000488The format of this call frame information (CFI) is often platform-dependent,
489however. ARM, for example, defines their own format. Apple has their own compact
490unwind info format. On Windows, another format is used for all architectures
491since 32-bit x86. LLVM will emit whatever information is required by the
492target.
493
Bill Wendlingc66b1522012-06-27 07:20:57 +0000494Exception Tables
495----------------
496
497An exception table contains information about what actions to take when an
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000498exception is thrown in a particular part of a function's code. This is typically
499referred to as the language-specific data area (LSDA). The format of the LSDA
500table is specific to the personality function, but the majority of personalities
501out there use a variation of the tables consumed by ``__gxx_personality_v0``.
502There is one exception table per function, except leaf functions and functions
503that have calls only to non-throwing functions. They do not need an exception
504table.
505
506.. _wineh:
507
508Exception Handling using the Windows Runtime
509=================================================
510
511(Note: Windows C++ exception handling support is a work in progress and is not
512yet fully implemented. The text below describes how it will work when
513completed.)
514
515Background on Windows exceptions
516---------------------------------
517
518Interacting with exceptions on Windows is significantly more complicated than on
519Itanium C++ ABI platforms. The fundamental difference between the two models is
520that Itanium EH is designed around the idea of "successive unwinding," while
521Windows EH is not.
522
523Under Itanium, throwing an exception typically involes allocating thread local
524memory to hold the exception, and calling into the EH runtime. The runtime
525identifies frames with appropriate exception handling actions, and successively
526resets the register context of the current thread to the most recently active
527frame with actions to run. In LLVM, execution resumes at a ``landingpad``
528instruction, which produces register values provided by the runtime. If a
529function is only cleaning up allocated resources, the function is responsible
530for calling ``_Unwind_Resume`` to transition to the next most recently active
531frame after it is finished cleaning up. Eventually, the frame responsible for
532handling the exception calls ``__cxa_end_catch`` to destroy the exception,
533release its memory, and resume normal control flow.
534
535The Windows EH model does not use these successive register context resets.
536Instead, the active exception is typically described by a frame on the stack.
537In the case of C++ exceptions, the exception object is allocated in stack memory
538and its address is passed to ``__CxxThrowException``. General purpose structured
539exceptions (SEH) are more analogous to Linux signals, and they are dispatched by
540userspace DLLs provided with Windows. Each frame on the stack has an assigned EH
541personality routine, which decides what actions to take to handle the exception.
542There are a few major personalities for C and C++ code: the C++ personality
543(``__CxxFrameHandler3``) and the SEH personalities (``_except_handler3``,
544``_except_handler4``, and ``__C_specific_handler``). All of them implement
545cleanups by calling back into a "funclet" contained in the parent function.
546
547Funclets, in this context, are regions of the parent function that can be called
548as though they were a function pointer with a very special calling convention.
549The frame pointer of the parent frame is passed into the funclet either using
550the standard EBP register or as the first parameter register, depending on the
551architecture. The funclet implements the EH action by accessing local variables
552in memory through the frame pointer, and returning some appropriate value,
553continuing the EH process. No variables live in to or out of the funclet can be
554allocated in registers.
555
556The C++ personality also uses funclets to contain the code for catch blocks
557(i.e. all user code between the braces in ``catch (Type obj) { ... }``). The
558runtime must use funclets for catch bodies because the C++ exception object is
559allocated in a child stack frame of the function handling the exception. If the
560runtime rewound the stack back to frame of the catch, the memory holding the
561exception would be overwritten quickly by subsequent function calls. The use of
562funclets also allows ``__CxxFrameHandler3`` to implement rethrow without
563resorting to TLS. Instead, the runtime throws a special exception, and then uses
564SEH (``__try / __except``) to resume execution with new information in the child
565frame.
566
567In other words, the successive unwinding approach is incompatible with Visual
568C++ exceptions and general purpose Windows exception handling. Because the C++
569exception object lives in stack memory, LLVM cannot provide a custom personality
570function that uses landingpads. Similarly, SEH does not provide any mechanism
571to rethrow an exception or continue unwinding. Therefore, LLVM must use the IR
572constructs described later in this document to implement compatible exception
573handling.
574
575SEH filter expressions
576-----------------------
577
578The SEH personality functions also use funclets to implement filter expressions,
579which allow executing arbitrary user code to decide which exceptions to catch.
580Filter expressions should not be confused with the ``filter`` clause of the LLVM
581``landingpad`` instruction. Typically filter expressions are used to determine
582if the exception came from a particular DLL or code region, or if code faulted
583while accessing a particular memory address range. LLVM does not currently have
584IR to represent filter expressions because it is difficult to represent their
585control dependencies. Filter expressions run during the first phase of EH,
586before cleanups run, making it very difficult to build a faithful control flow
587graph. For now, the new EH instructions cannot represent SEH filter
588expressions, and frontends must outline them ahead of time. Local variables of
589the parent function can be escaped and accessed using the ``llvm.localescape``
590and ``llvm.localrecover`` intrinsics.
591
592New exception handling instructions
593------------------------------------
594
595The primary design goal of the new EH instructions is to support funclet
596generation while preserving information about the CFG so that SSA formation
597still works. As a secondary goal, they are designed to be generic across MSVC
598and Itanium C++ exceptions. They make very few assumptions about the data
599required by the personality, so long as it uses the familiar core EH actions:
600catch, cleanup, and terminate. However, the new instructions are hard to modify
601without knowing details of the EH personality. While they can be used to
602represent Itanium EH, the landingpad model is strictly better for optimization
603purposes.
604
605The following new instructions are considered "exception handling pads", in that
606they must be the first non-phi instruction of a basic block that may be the
607unwind destination of an invoke: ``catchpad``, ``cleanuppad``, and
608``terminatepad``. As with landingpads, when entering a try scope, if the
609frontend encounters a call site that may throw an exception, it should emit an
610invoke that unwinds to a ``catchpad`` block. Similarly, inside the scope of a
611C++ object with a destructor, invokes should unwind to a ``cleanuppad``. The
612``terminatepad`` instruction exists to represent ``noexcept`` and throw
613specifications with one combined instruction. All potentially throwing calls in
614a ``noexcept`` function should transitively unwind to a terminateblock. Throw
615specifications are not implemented by MSVC, and are not yet supported.
616
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000617New instructions are also used to mark the points where control is transferred
618out of a catch/cleanup handler (which will correspond to exits from the
619generated funclet). A catch handler which reaches its end by normal execution
620executes a ``catchret`` instruction, which is a terminator indicating where in
621the function control is returned to. A cleanup handler which reaches its end
622by normal execution executes a ``cleanupret`` instruction, which is a terminator
623indicating where the active exception will unwind to next. A catch or cleanup
624handler which is exited by another exception being raised during its execution will
625unwind through a ``catchendpad`` or ``cleanuupendpad`` (respectively). The
626``catchendpad`` and ``cleanupendpad`` instructions are considered "exception
627handling pads" in the same sense that ``catchpad``, ``cleanuppad``, and
628``terminatepad`` are.
629
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000630Each of these new EH pad instructions has a way to identify which
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000631action should be considered after this action. The ``catchpad`` and
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000632``terminatepad`` instructions are terminators, and have a label operand considered
633to be an unwind destination analogous to the unwind destination of an invoke. The
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000634``cleanuppad`` instruction is different from the other two in that it is not a
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000635terminator. The code inside a cleanuppad runs before transferring control to the
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000636next action, so the ``cleanupret`` and ``cleanupendpad`` instructions are the
637instructions that hold a label operand and unwind to the next EH pad. All of
638these "unwind edges" may refer to a basic block that contains an EH pad instruction,
639or they may simply unwind to the caller. Unwinding to the caller has roughly the
640same semantics as the ``resume`` instruction in the ``landingpad`` model. When
641inlining through an invoke, instructions that unwind to the caller are hooked
642up to unwind to the unwind destination of the call site.
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000643
644Putting things together, here is a hypothetical lowering of some C++ that uses
645all of the new IR instructions:
646
647.. code-block:: c
648
649 struct Cleanup {
650 Cleanup();
651 ~Cleanup();
652 int m;
653 };
654 void may_throw();
655 int f() noexcept {
656 try {
657 Cleanup obj;
658 may_throw();
659 } catch (int e) {
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000660 may_throw();
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000661 return e;
662 }
663 return 0;
664 }
665
666.. code-block:: llvm
667
668 define i32 @f() nounwind personality i32 (...)* @__CxxFrameHandler3 {
669 entry:
670 %obj = alloca %struct.Cleanup, align 4
671 %e = alloca i32, align 4
672 %call = invoke %struct.Cleanup* @"\01??0Cleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj)
673 to label %invoke.cont unwind label %lpad.catch
674
675 invoke.cont: ; preds = %entry
676 invoke void @"\01?may_throw@@YAXXZ"()
677 to label %invoke.cont.2 unwind label %lpad.cleanup
678
679 invoke.cont.2: ; preds = %invoke.cont
680 call void @"\01??_DCleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj) nounwind
681 br label %return
682
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000683 return: ; preds = %invoke.cont.2, %invoke.cont.3
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000684 %retval.0 = phi i32 [ 0, %invoke.cont.2 ], [ %9, %catch ]
685 ret i32 %retval.0
686
687 ; EH scope code, ordered innermost to outermost:
688
689 lpad.cleanup: ; preds = %invoke.cont
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000690 %cleanup = cleanuppad []
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000691 call void @"\01??_DCleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj) nounwind
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000692 cleanupret %cleanup unwind label %lpad.catch
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000693
694 lpad.catch: ; preds = %entry, %lpad.cleanup
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000695 %catch = catchpad [%rtti.TypeDescriptor2* @"\01??_R0H@8", i32 0, i32* %e]
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000696 to label %catch.body unwind label %catchend
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000697
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000698 catch.body: ; preds = %lpad.catch
699 invoke void @"\01?may_throw@@YAXXZ"()
700 to label %invoke.cont.3 unwind label %catchend
701
702 invoke.cont.3: ; preds = %catch.body
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000703 %9 = load i32, i32* %e, align 4
Joseph Tremoulet8220bcc2015-08-23 00:26:33 +0000704 catchret %catch label %return
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000705
Joseph Tremoulet9ce71f72015-09-03 09:09:43 +0000706 catchend: ; preds = %lpad.catch, %catch.body
707 catchendpad unwind label %lpad.terminate
708
709 lpad.terminate: ; preds = %catchend
Reid Klecknerfc573f332015-08-06 21:01:32 +0000710 terminatepad [void ()* @"\01?terminate@@YAXXZ"]
711 unwind to caller
712 }