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Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +00007 <title>LLVM 2.7 Release Notes</title>
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9<body>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000010
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +000011<div class="doc_title">LLVM 2.7 Release Notes</div>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000012
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +000013<img align=right src="http://llvm.org/img/DragonSmall.png"
14 width="136" height="136">
15
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000016<ol>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000017 <li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000018 <li><a href="#subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a></li>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +000019 <li><a href="#externalproj">External Projects Using LLVM 2.7</a></li>
20 <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New in LLVM 2.7?</a></li>
Chris Lattner77a51732004-04-30 22:17:12 +000021 <li><a href="GettingStarted.html">Installation Instructions</a></li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000022 <li><a href="#portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a></li>
Dan Gohmanad888912008-10-14 16:23:02 +000023 <li><a href="#knownproblems">Known Problems</a></li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000024 <li><a href="#additionalinfo">Additional Information</a></li>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000025</ol>
26
Chris Lattner020e1fc2004-05-23 21:07:27 +000027<div class="doc_author">
Dan Gohmanad888912008-10-14 16:23:02 +000028 <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a></p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000029</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000030
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +000031<h1 style="color:red">These are in-progress notes for the upcoming LLVM 2.7
32release.<br>
33You may prefer the
34<a href="http://llvm.org/releases/2.6/docs/ReleaseNotes.html">LLVM 2.6
35Release Notes</a>.</h1>
36
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000037<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000038<div class="doc_section">
39 <a name="intro">Introduction</a>
40</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000041<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
42
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000043<div class="doc_text">
44
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000045<p>This document contains the release notes for the LLVM Compiler
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +000046Infrastructure, release 2.7. Here we describe the status of LLVM, including
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000047major improvements from the previous release and significant known problems.
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +000048All LLVM releases may be downloaded from the <a
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000049href="http://llvm.org/releases/">LLVM releases web site</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +000050
Chris Lattnerb5bb5972004-12-07 08:04:13 +000051<p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +000052release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM
Chris Lattnere7525b52003-10-07 21:38:31 +000053web site</a>. If you have questions or comments, the <a
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +000054href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM Developer's
55Mailing List</a> is a good place to send them.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000056
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000057<p>Note that if you are reading this file from a Subversion checkout or the
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +000058main LLVM web page, this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the
Gabor Greif355f81c2008-10-14 11:00:32 +000059current one. To see the release notes for a specific release, please see the
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +000060<a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000061
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +000062
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +000063<p>FIXME: llvm.org moved to new server, mention new logo, Ted and Doug new code
64 owners.</p>
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +000065
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000066</div>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000067
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000068
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000069<!--
70Almost dead code.
71 include/llvm/Analysis/LiveValues.h => Dan
72 lib/Transforms/IPO/MergeFunctions.cpp => consider for 2.8.
73 llvm/Analysis/PointerTracking.h => Edwin wants this, consider for 2.8.
Chris Lattner2bfa1672010-01-09 22:30:40 +000074 ABCD, SCCVN, GEPSplitterPass
Chris Lattner89ea59d2010-01-16 21:25:13 +000075 MSIL backend?
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +000076 lib/Transforms/Utils/SSI.cpp -> ABCD depends on it.
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000077-->
78
79
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +000080<!-- Features that need text if they're finished for 2.7:
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000081 gcc plugin.
82 strong phi elim
83 variable debug info for optimized code
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +000084 postalloc scheduler: anti dependence breaking, hazard recognizer?
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000085 metadata
86 loop dependence analysis
87 ELF Writer? How stable?
88 <li>PostRA scheduler improvements, ARM adoption (David Goodwin).</li>
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000089 -->
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000090
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000091 <!-- for announcement email:
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +000092 Logo web page.
93 llvm devmtg
94 compiler_rt
95 KLEE web page at klee.llvm.org
96 Many new papers added to /pubs/
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +000097 Mention gcc plugin.
Chris Lattnerd02da042009-02-25 06:34:50 +000098 -->
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000099
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000100<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
101<div class="doc_section">
102 <a name="subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a>
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000103</div>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000104<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000105
106<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000107<p>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000108The LLVM 2.7 distribution currently consists of code from the core LLVM
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000109repository (which roughly includes the LLVM optimizers, code generators
110and supporting tools), the Clang repository and the llvm-gcc repository. In
111addition to this code, the LLVM Project includes other sub-projects that are in
112development. Here we include updates on these subprojects.
Bill Wendlingf170d2e2009-03-02 04:28:57 +0000113</p>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000114
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000115</div>
116
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000117
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000118<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000119<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner44c09cd2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000120<a name="clang">Clang: C/C++/Objective-C Frontend Toolkit</a>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000121</div>
122
123<div class="doc_text">
124
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000125<p>The <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">Clang project</a> is ...</p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000126
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000127<p>In the LLVM 2.7 time-frame, the Clang team has made many improvements:</p>
Bill Wendlingef362462008-10-27 09:27:33 +0000128
Daniel Dunbarc11b40f2008-10-14 23:25:09 +0000129<ul>
Daniel Dunbareb4bc7f2010-03-25 16:09:18 +0000130<li>FIXME: C++! Include a link to cxx_compatibility.html</li>
131
132<li>FIXME: Static Analyzer improvements?</li>
133
134<li>CIndex API and Python bindings: Clang now includes a C API as part of the
135CIndex library. Although we make make some changes to the API in the future, it
136is intended to be stable and has been designed for use by external projects. See
137the Clang
138doxygen <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/group__CINDEX.html">CIndex</a>
139documentation for more details. The CIndex API also includings an preliminary
140set of Python bindings.</li>
141
142<li>ARM Support: Clang now has ABI support for both the Darwin and Linux ARM
143ABIs. Coupled with many improvements to the LLVM ARM backend, Clang is now
144suitable for use as a a beta quality ARM compiler.</li>
Bill Wendling87adbe42009-03-02 04:28:18 +0000145</ul>
Chris Lattner44c09cd2008-10-13 18:11:54 +0000146</div>
147
148<!--=========================================================================-->
149<div class="doc_subsection">
150<a name="clangsa">Clang Static Analyzer</a>
151</div>
152
153<div class="doc_text">
154
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000155<p>Previously announced in the 2.4, 2.5, and 2.6 LLVM releases, the Clang project also
Ted Kremenekc11fae82009-02-27 07:01:32 +0000156includes an early stage static source code analysis tool for <a
157href="http://clang.llvm.org/StaticAnalysis.html">automatically finding bugs</a>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000158in C and Objective-C programs. The tool performs checks to find
Ted Kremenekc11fae82009-02-27 07:01:32 +0000159bugs that occur on a specific path within a program.</p>
Chris Lattnerbcffa5a2008-10-14 00:52:49 +0000160
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000161<p>In the LLVM 2.7 time-frame, the analyzer core has sprouted legs and...</p>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000162
163</div>
164
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000165<!--=========================================================================-->
166<div class="doc_subsection">
Nicolas Geoffraye5ec9322008-10-14 19:23:04 +0000167<a name="vmkit">VMKit: JVM/CLI Virtual Machine Implementation</a>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000168</div>
169
170<div class="doc_text">
171<p>
Nicolas Geoffraye5ec9322008-10-14 19:23:04 +0000172The <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/">VMKit project</a> is an implementation of
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000173a JVM and a CLI Virtual Machine (Microsoft .NET is an
174implementation of the CLI) using LLVM for static and just-in-time
175compilation.</p>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000176
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000177<p>
Chris Lattneref2e5732010-03-29 18:34:13 +0000178With the release of LLVM 2.7, VMKit has shifted to a great framework for writing
179virtual machines. VMKit now offers precise and efficient garbage collection with
180multi-threading support, thanks to the MMTk memory management toolkit, as well
181as just in time and ahead of time compilation with LLVM. The major changes in
182VMKit 0.27 are:</p>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000183
Nicolas Geoffraye5ec9322008-10-14 19:23:04 +0000184<ul>
185
Chris Lattneref2e5732010-03-29 18:34:13 +0000186<li>Garbage collection: VMKit now uses the MMTk toolkit for garbage collectors.
187 The first collector to be ported is the MarkSweep collector, which is precise,
188 and drastically improves the performance of VMKit.</li>
189<li>Line number information in the JVM: by using the debug metadata of LLVM, the
190 JVM now supports precise line number information, useful when printing a stack
191 trace.</li>
192<li>Interface calls in the JVM: we implemented a variant of the Interface Method
193 Table technique for interface calls in the JVM.
194</li>
Nicolas Geoffraye5ec9322008-10-14 19:23:04 +0000195
196</ul>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000197</div>
198
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000199
200<!--=========================================================================-->
201<div class="doc_subsection">
202<a name="compiler-rt">compiler-rt: Compiler Runtime Library</a>
203</div>
204
205<div class="doc_text">
206<p>
207The new LLVM <a href="http://compiler-rt.llvm.org/">compiler-rt project</a>
208is a simple library that provides an implementation of the low-level
209target-specific hooks required by code generation and other runtime components.
210For example, when compiling for a 32-bit target, converting a double to a 64-bit
211unsigned integer is compiled into a runtime call to the "__fixunsdfdi"
212function. The compiler-rt library provides highly optimized implementations of
213this and other low-level routines (some are 3x faster than the equivalent
214libgcc routines).</p>
215
216<p>
217All of the code in the compiler-rt project is available under the standard LLVM
218License, a "BSD-style" license.</p>
219
220</div>
221
222<!--=========================================================================-->
223<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000224<a name="dragonegg">DragonEgg: GCC-4.5 as an LLVM frontend</a>
225</div>
226
227<div class="doc_text">
228<p>
229The goal of <a href="http://dragonegg.llvm.org/">DragonEgg</a> is to make
230gcc-4.5 act like llvm-gcc without requiring any gcc modifications whatsoever.
Duncan Sands100d0e3c2009-10-15 08:17:44 +0000231<a href="http://dragonegg.llvm.org/">DragonEgg</a> is a shared library (dragonegg.so)
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000232that is loaded by gcc at runtime. It ...
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000233</p>
234
235</div>
236
237
238<!--=========================================================================-->
239<div class="doc_subsection">
240<a name="mc">llvm-mc: Machine Code Toolkit</a>
241</div>
242
243<div class="doc_text">
244<p>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000245The LLVM Machine Code (MC) Toolkit project is ...
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000246</p>
247
248</div>
249
250
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000251<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
252<div class="doc_section">
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000253 <a name="externalproj">External Open Source Projects Using LLVM 2.7</a>
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000254</div>
255<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
256
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000257<div class="doc_text">
258
259<p>An exciting aspect of LLVM is that it is used as an enabling technology for
260 a lot of other language and tools projects. This section lists some of the
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000261 projects that have already been updated to work with LLVM 2.7.</p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000262</div>
263
264
265<!--=========================================================================-->
266<div class="doc_subsection">
267<a name="Rubinius">Rubinius</a>
268</div>
269
270<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000271Need update.
272<!--
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000273<p><a href="http://github.com/evanphx/rubinius">Rubinius</a> is an environment
274for running Ruby code which strives to write as much of the core class
275implementation in Ruby as possible. Combined with a bytecode interpreting VM, it
276uses LLVM to optimize and compile ruby code down to machine code. Techniques
277such as type feedback, method inlining, and uncommon traps are all used to
278remove dynamism from ruby execution and increase performance.</p>
279
280<p>Since LLVM 2.5, Rubinius has made several major leaps forward, implementing
281a counter based JIT, type feedback and speculative method inlining.
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000282-->
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000283</p>
284
285</div>
286
287<!--=========================================================================-->
288<div class="doc_subsection">
289<a name="macruby">MacRuby</a>
290</div>
291
292<div class="doc_text">
293
294<p>
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000295Need update.
296<!--
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000297<a href="http://macruby.org">MacRuby</a> is an implementation of Ruby on top of
298core Mac OS X technologies, such as the Objective-C common runtime and garbage
299collector and the CoreFoundation framework. It is principally developed by
300Apple and aims at enabling the creation of full-fledged Mac OS X applications.
301</p>
302
303<p>
304MacRuby uses LLVM for optimization passes, JIT and AOT compilation of Ruby
305expressions. It also uses zero-cost DWARF exceptions to implement Ruby exception
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000306handling.--> </p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000307
308</div>
309
310
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000311<!--=========================================================================-->
312<div class="doc_subsection">
313<a name="pure">Pure</a>
314</div>
315
316<div class="doc_text">
317<p>
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000318<a href="http://pure-lang.googlecode.com/">Pure</a>
319is an algebraic/functional programming language based on term rewriting.
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000320Programs are collections of equations which are used to evaluate expressions in
321a symbolic fashion. Pure offers dynamic typing, eager and lazy evaluation,
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +0000322lexical closures, a hygienic macro system (also based on term rewriting),
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000323built-in list and matrix support (including list and matrix comprehensions) and
324an easy-to-use C interface. The interpreter uses LLVM as a backend to
325 JIT-compile Pure programs to fast native code.</p>
326
Chris Lattner6aba4862010-03-17 17:25:49 +0000327<p>Pure versions 0.43 and later have been tested and are known to work with
328LLVM 2.7 (and continue to work with older LLVM releases >= 2.5).</p>
329
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000330</div>
331
332
333<!--=========================================================================-->
334<div class="doc_subsection">
335<a name="ldc">LLVM D Compiler</a>
336</div>
337
338<div class="doc_text">
339<p>
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000340Need update.
341<!--
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000342<a href="http://www.dsource.org/projects/ldc">LDC</a> is an implementation of
343the D Programming Language using the LLVM optimizer and code generator.
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000344The LDC project works great with the LLVM 2.6 release. General improvements in
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000345this
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000346cycle have included new inline asm constraint handling, better debug info
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000347support, general bug fixes and better x86-64 support. This has allowed
348some major improvements in LDC, getting it much closer to being as
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000349fully featured as the original DMD compiler from DigitalMars.-->
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000350</p>
351</div>
352
Chris Lattnerfb23a962009-02-28 18:58:01 +0000353<!--=========================================================================-->
354<div class="doc_subsection">
355<a name="RoadsendPHP">Roadsend PHP</a>
356</div>
357
358<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000359<p>
360<a href="http://code.roadsend.com/rphp">Roadsend PHP</a> (rphp) is an open
Chris Lattner0c72d8f2009-03-02 19:07:24 +0000361source implementation of the PHP programming
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000362language that uses LLVM for its optimizer, JIT and static compiler. This is a
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000363reimplementation of an earlier project that is now based on LLVM.
Chris Lattner6aba4862010-03-17 17:25:49 +0000364</p>
Chris Lattnerfb23a962009-02-28 18:58:01 +0000365</div>
Chris Lattner53e06f92009-02-26 22:33:38 +0000366
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000367<!--=========================================================================-->
368<div class="doc_subsection">
369<a name="UnladenSwallow">Unladen Swallow</a>
370</div>
371
372<div class="doc_text">
373<p>
374<a href="http://code.google.com/p/unladen-swallow/">Unladen Swallow</a> is a
375branch of <a href="http://python.org/">Python</a> intended to be fully
376compatible and significantly faster. It uses LLVM's optimization passes and JIT
Chris Lattner5b59a732010-03-18 06:52:15 +0000377compiler.
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000378</p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000379</div>
380
381<!--=========================================================================-->
382<div class="doc_subsection">
383<a name="llvm-lua">llvm-lua</a>
384</div>
385
386<div class="doc_text">
387<p>
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000388Need update.
389<!--
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000390<a href="http://code.google.com/p/llvm-lua/">LLVM-Lua</a> uses LLVM to add JIT
391and static compiling support to the Lua VM. Lua bytecode is analyzed to
392remove type checks, then LLVM is used to compile the bytecode down to machine
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000393code.-->
394</p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000395</div>
396
397<!--=========================================================================-->
398<div class="doc_subsection">
399<a name="icedtea">IcedTea Java Virtual Machine Implementation</a>
400</div>
401
402<div class="doc_text">
403<p>
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000404Need update.
405<!--
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000406<a href="http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/Main_Page">IcedTea</a> provides a
407harness to build OpenJDK using only free software build tools and to provide
408replacements for the not-yet free parts of OpenJDK. One of the extensions that
409IcedTea provides is a new JIT compiler named <a
410href="http://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/ZeroSharkFaq">Shark</a> which uses LLVM
411to provide native code generation without introducing processor-dependent
Chris Lattnerc871bac2010-03-17 04:02:39 +0000412code.-->
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000413</p>
414</div>
415
416
Chris Lattnerb4a02792010-03-29 17:50:39 +0000417<!--=========================================================================-->
418<div class="doc_subsection">
419<a name="tce">TTA-based Codesign Environment (TCE)</a>
420</div>
421
422<div class="doc_text">
423<p>
424<a href="http://tce.cs.tut.fi/">TCE</a> is a toolset for designing
425application-specific processors (ASP) based on the Transport triggered
426architecture (TTA). The toolset provides a complete co-design flow from C/C++
427programs down to synthesizable VHDL and parallel program binaries. Processor
428customization points include the register files, function units, supported
429operations, and the interconnection network.</p>
430
431<p>TCE uses llvm-gcc/Clang and LLVM for C/C++ language support, target
432independent optimizations and also for parts of code generation. It generates
433new LLVM-based code generators "on the fly" for the designed TTA processors and
434loads them in to the compiler backend as runtime libraries to avoid per-target
435recompilation of larger parts of the compiler chain.</p>
436
437</div>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000438
439<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
440<div class="doc_section">
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000441 <a name="whatsnew">What's New in LLVM 2.7?</a>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000442</div>
443<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
444
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000445<div class="doc_text">
446
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000447<p>This release includes a huge number of bug fixes, performance tweaks and
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000448minor improvements. Some of the major improvements and new features are listed
449in this section.
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000450</p>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000451
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000452</div>
453
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000454<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000455<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000456<a name="majorfeatures">Major New Features</a>
457</div>
458
459<div class="doc_text">
460
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000461<p>LLVM 2.7 includes several major new capabilities:</p>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000462
463<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000464<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner458e79f2008-02-10 08:18:42 +0000465</ul>
466
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000467Extensible metadata solid.
468
469Debug info improvements: using metadata instead of llvm.dbg global variables.
470This brings several enhancements including improved compile times.
471
472New instruction selector.
473GHC Haskell ABI/ calling conv support.
474Pre-Alpha support for unions in IR.
475New InlineHint and StackAlignment function attributes
476Code generator MC'ized except for debug info and EH.
477New SCEV AA pass: -scev-aa
478Inliner reuses arrays allocas when inlining multiple callers to reduce stack usage.
479MC encoding and disassembler apis.
480Optimal Edge Profiling?
481Instcombine is now a library, has its own IRBuilder to simplify itself.
482New llvm/Support/Regex.h API. FileCheck now does regex's
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000483Many subtle pointer invalidation bugs in Callgraph have been fixed and it now uses asserting value handles.
484MC Disassembler (with blog post), MCInstPrinter. Many X86 backend and AsmPrinter simplifications
485Various tools like llc and opt now read either .ll or .bc files as input.
486Malloc and free instructions got removed.
487compiler-rt support for ARM.
488completely llvm-gcc NEON support.
489Can transcode from GAS to intel syntax with "llvm-mc foo.s -output-asm-variant=1"
490JIT debug information with GDB 7.0
Chris Lattner9b65c382010-03-17 18:15:52 +0000491New CodeGen Level CSE
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000492CMake can now run tests, what other improvements?
Chris Lattner9b65c382010-03-17 18:15:52 +0000493ARM/Thumb using reg scavenging for stack object address materialization (PEI).
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000494New SSAUpdater and MachineSSAUpdater classes for unstructured ssa updating,
495 changed jump threading, GVN, etc to use it which simplified them and speed
496 them up.
Chris Lattner6184f4d2010-03-17 06:42:25 +0000497Combiner-AA improvements, why not on by default?
Chris Lattner9b65c382010-03-17 18:15:52 +0000498Pre-regalloc tail duplication
499x86 sibcall optimization
500New LSR with full strength reduction mode
501The most awesome sext / zext optimization pass. ?
502
503
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000504
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000505CondProp pass removed (functionality merged into jump threading).
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000506AndersAA got removed (from 2.7 or mainline?)
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000507PredSimplify, LoopVR, GVNPRE got removed.
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000508LLVM command line tools now overwrite their output, before they would only do this with -f.
509DOUT removed, use DEBUG(errs() instead.
510Much stuff converted to use raw_ostream instead of std::ostream.
511TargetAsmInfo renamed to MCAsmInfo
512llvm/ADT/iterator.h gone.
513
Chris Lattner10a3cc42010-03-17 06:41:58 +0000514
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000515</div>
516
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000517<!--=========================================================================-->
518<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000519<a name="coreimprovements">LLVM IR and Core Improvements</a>
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000520</div>
521
522<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000523<p>LLVM IR has several new features for better support of new targets and that
524expose new optimization opportunities:</p>
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000525
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000526<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000527<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000528</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000529
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000530</div>
531
532<!--=========================================================================-->
533<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000534<a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a>
535</div>
536
537<div class="doc_text">
538
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000539<p>In addition to a large array of minor performance tweaks and bug fixes, this
Chris Lattner25879d72008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000540release includes a few major enhancements and additions to the optimizers:</p>
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000541
542<ul>
543
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000544<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000545
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000546</ul>
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000547
Chris Lattner883b8682010-03-01 19:29:17 +0000548<p>Also, -anders-aa was removed</p>
549
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000550</div>
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000551
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000552
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000553<!--=========================================================================-->
554<div class="doc_subsection">
555<a name="executionengine">Interpreter and JIT Improvements</a>
556</div>
Chris Lattner25879d72008-10-13 21:50:36 +0000557
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000558<div class="doc_text">
559
560<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin9fb8ce82010-01-29 19:10:38 +0000561<li>The JIT now <a
562href="http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project?view=rev&revision=85295">defaults
563to compiling eagerly</a> to avoid a race condition in the lazy JIT.
564Clients that still want the lazy JIT can switch it on by calling
565<tt>ExecutionEngine::DisableLazyCompilation(false)</tt>.</li>
Jeffrey Yasskine0913882010-02-11 01:07:39 +0000566<li>It is now possible to create more than one JIT instance in the same process.
567These JITs can generate machine code in parallel,
568although <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/ProgrammersManual.html#jitthreading">you
569still have to obey the other threading restrictions</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000570</ul>
571
572</div>
573
574<!--=========================================================================-->
575<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerd434bfb2009-03-02 03:24:11 +0000576<a name="codegen">Target Independent Code Generator Improvements</a>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000577</div>
578
579<div class="doc_text">
580
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +0000581<p>We have put a significant amount of work into the code generator
582infrastructure, which allows us to implement more aggressive algorithms and make
583it run faster:</p>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000584
585<ul>
Chris Lattnerd434bfb2009-03-02 03:24:11 +0000586
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000587<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000588</ul>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000589</div>
590
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000591<!--=========================================================================-->
592<div class="doc_subsection">
593<a name="x86">X86-32 and X86-64 Target Improvements</a>
594</div>
595
596<div class="doc_text">
597<p>New features of the X86 target include:
598</p>
599
600<ul>
Chris Lattnerd434bfb2009-03-02 03:24:11 +0000601
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000602<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerd434bfb2009-03-02 03:24:11 +0000603
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000604</ul>
605
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000606</div>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000607
608<!--=========================================================================-->
609<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner6b8bf782009-02-26 07:32:11 +0000610<a name="pic16">PIC16 Target Improvements</a>
611</div>
612
613<div class="doc_text">
614<p>New features of the PIC16 target include:
615</p>
616
617<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000618<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner6b8bf782009-02-26 07:32:11 +0000619</ul>
620
621<p>Things not yet supported:</p>
622
623<ul>
Chris Lattner6b8bf782009-02-26 07:32:11 +0000624<li>Variable arguments.</li>
Chris Lattnerd434bfb2009-03-02 03:24:11 +0000625<li>Interrupts/programs.</li>
Chris Lattner6b8bf782009-02-26 07:32:11 +0000626</ul>
627
628</div>
629
Chris Lattner6b8bf782009-02-26 07:32:11 +0000630<!--=========================================================================-->
631<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000632<a name="ARM">ARM Target Improvements</a>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000633</div>
634
635<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000636<p>New features of the ARM target include:
637</p>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000638
639<ul>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000640
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000641<li>...</li>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000642</ul>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000643
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000644
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000645</div>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000646
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000647<!--=========================================================================-->
648<div class="doc_subsection">
649<a name="OtherTarget">Other Target Specific Improvements</a>
650</div>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000651
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000652<div class="doc_text">
653<p>New features of other targets include:
654</p>
655
656<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000657<li>...</li>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000658</ul>
659
660</div>
661
662<!--=========================================================================-->
663<div class="doc_subsection">
664<a name="newapis">New Useful APIs</a>
665</div>
666
667<div class="doc_text">
668
669<p>This release includes a number of new APIs that are used internally, which
670 may also be useful for external clients.
671</p>
672
673<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000674<li>...</li>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000675</ul>
676
677
678</div>
679
680<!--=========================================================================-->
681<div class="doc_subsection">
682<a name="otherimprovements">Other Improvements and New Features</a>
683</div>
684
685<div class="doc_text">
686<p>Other miscellaneous features include:</p>
687
688<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000689<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerc92d7692009-03-01 02:30:21 +0000690</ul>
691
692</div>
693
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000694
695<!--=========================================================================-->
696<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000697<a name="changes">Major Changes and Removed Features</a>
698</div>
699
700<div class="doc_text">
701
Chris Lattner934e2d42008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000702<p>If you're already an LLVM user or developer with out-of-tree changes based
Jeffrey Yasskin0830b972010-01-28 01:14:43 +0000703on LLVM 2.6, this section lists some "gotchas" that you may run into upgrading
Chris Lattner934e2d42008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000704from the previous release.</p>
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000705
706<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin914050b2010-02-09 23:03:44 +0000707<li>The LLVM interpreter now defaults to <em>not</em> using <tt>libffi</tt> even
708if you have it installed. This makes it more likely that an LLVM built on one
709system will work when copied to a similar system. To use <tt>libffi</tt>,
710configure with <tt>--enable-libffi</tt>.
711</li>
Chris Lattner934e2d42008-10-13 22:06:31 +0000712</ul>
713
714
715<p>In addition, many APIs have changed in this release. Some of the major LLVM
716API changes are:</p>
717
718<ul>
Jeffrey Yasskin4a8b1da2010-01-28 01:41:20 +0000719<li><tt>ModuleProvider</tt> has been <a
720href="http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project?view=rev&revision=94686">removed</a>
721and its methods moved to <tt>Module</tt> and <tt>GlobalValue</tt>.
722Most clients can remove uses of <tt>ExistingModuleProvider</tt>,
723replace <tt>getBitcodeModuleProvider</tt> with
724<tt>getLazyBitcodeModule</tt>, and pass their <tt>Module</tt> to
725functions that used to accept <tt>ModuleProvider</tt>. Clients who
726wrote their own <tt>ModuleProvider</tt>s will need to derive from
727<tt>GVMaterializer</tt> instead and use
728<tt>Module::setMaterializer</tt> to attach it to a
729<tt>Module</tt>.</li>
730
731<li><tt>GhostLinkage</tt> has given up the ghost.
732<tt>GlobalValue</tt>s that have not yet been read from their backing
733storage have the same linkage they will have after being read in.
734Clients must replace calls to
735<tt>GlobalValue::hasNotBeenReadFromBitcode</tt> with
736<tt>GlobalValue::isMaterializable</tt>.</li>
Daniel Dunbar1e96fca2010-02-10 04:09:52 +0000737
738<li>FIXME: Debug info has been totally redone. Add pointers to new APIs. Substantial caveats about compatibility of .ll and .bc files.</li>
739
Daniel Dunbar3e255da2010-02-14 01:47:19 +0000740<li>The <tt>llvm/Support/DataTypes.h</tt> header has moved
741to <tt>llvm/System/DataTypes.h</tt>.</li>
742
Duncan Sands80c430a2010-02-17 17:20:17 +0000743<li>The <tt>isInteger</tt>, <tt>isIntOrIntVector</tt>, <tt>isFloatingPoint</tt>,
744<tt>isFPOrFPVector</tt> and <tt>isFPOrFPVector</tt> methods have been renamed
745<tt>isIntegerTy</tt>, <tt>isIntOrIntVectorTy</tt>, <tt>isFloatingPointTy</tt>,
746<tt>isFPOrFPVectorTy</tt> and <tt>isFPOrFPVectorTy</tt> respectively.</li>
Devang Pateldbf83832008-10-14 20:03:43 +0000747</ul>
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000748
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000749</div>
750
751
752
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000753<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000754<div class="doc_section">
755 <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a>
756</div>
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000757<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
758
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000759<div class="doc_text">
760
John Criswell64307722004-12-08 20:35:47 +0000761<p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000762
763<ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +0000764<li>Intel and AMD machines (IA32, X86-64, AMD64, EMT-64) running Red Hat
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000765 Linux, Fedora Core, FreeBSD and AuroraUX (and probably other unix-like
766 systems).</li>
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +0000767<li>PowerPC and X86-based Mac OS X systems, running 10.3 and above in 32-bit
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000768 and 64-bit modes.</li>
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000769<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native).</li>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000770<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited
771 support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li>
Chris Lattner51948622009-10-16 16:30:58 +0000772<li>Sun x86 and AMD64 machines running Solaris 10, OpenSolaris 0906.</li>
John Criswelld5234922005-05-13 20:28:15 +0000773<li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000774</ul>
775
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000776<p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses GNU autoconf to adapt itself
Brian Gaekee3e557e2004-05-09 05:28:35 +0000777to the machine and operating system on which it is built. However, minor
778porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms. We welcome your
779portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000780
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000781</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000782
783<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000784<div class="doc_section">
785 <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
786</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000787<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
788
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000789<div class="doc_text">
790
Mikhail Glushenkov25422542009-03-01 18:09:47 +0000791<p>This section contains significant known problems with the LLVM system,
Chris Lattner2a092392008-11-10 05:40:34 +0000792listed by component. If you run into a problem, please check the <a
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000793href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000794there isn't already one.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000795
Chris Lattner6aba4862010-03-17 17:25:49 +0000796<ul>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000797<li>LLVM will not correctly compile on Solaris and/or OpenSolaris
798using the stock GCC 3.x.x series 'out the box',
Chris Lattner6e41c792009-11-03 21:50:09 +0000799See: <a href="GettingStarted.html#brokengcc">Broken versions of GCC and other tools</a>.
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000800However, A <a href="http://pkg.auroraux.org/GCC">Modern GCC Build</a>
801for x86/x86-64 has been made available from the third party AuroraUX Project
802that has been meticulously tested for bootstrapping LLVM &amp; Clang.</li>
803</ul>
804
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000805</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000806
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000807<!-- ======================================================================= -->
808<div class="doc_subsection">
809 <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a>
810</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000811
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000812<div class="doc_text">
813
Misha Brukmanfa50a222004-05-12 21:46:05 +0000814<p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to
815be broken or unreliable, or are in early development. These components should
816not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be
817useful to some people. In particular, if you would like to work on one of these
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000818components, please contact us on the <a
819href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000820
821<ul>
Wesley Peck3aa84e52010-03-18 14:31:30 +0000822<li>The MSIL, Alpha, SPU, MIPS, PIC16, Blackfin, MSP430, SystemZ and MicroBlaze
823 backends are experimental.</li>
Bill Wendling89cd82f2009-03-02 07:54:14 +0000824<li>The <tt>llc</tt> "<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000825 supported value for this option. The MachO writer is experimental, and
826 works much better in mainline SVN.</li>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000827</ul>
828
829</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000830
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000831<!-- ======================================================================= -->
832<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000833 <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000834</div>
835
836<div class="doc_text">
837
838<ul>
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000839 <li>The X86 backend does not yet support
840 all <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline assembly that uses the X86
841 floating point stack</a>. It supports the 'f' and 't' constraints, but not
842 'u'.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000843 <li>The X86 backend generates inefficient floating point code when configured
844 to generate code for systems that don't have SSE2.</li>
Duncan Sands0bc15262008-06-08 19:38:43 +0000845 <li>Win64 code generation wasn't widely tested. Everything should work, but we
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000846 expect small issues to happen. Also, llvm-gcc cannot build the mingw64
847 runtime currently due
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000848 to <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2255">several</a>
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000849 <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2257">bugs</a> and due to lack of support for
850 the
851 'u' inline assembly constraint and for X87 floating point inline assembly.</li>
Dan Gohman721b3722008-06-08 23:05:11 +0000852 <li>The X86-64 backend does not yet support the LLVM IR instruction
Chris Lattnerd1094e02009-03-02 02:37:32 +0000853 <tt>va_arg</tt>. Currently, the llvm-gcc and front-ends support variadic
Dan Gohman721b3722008-06-08 23:05:11 +0000854 argument constructs on X86-64 by lowering them manually.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000855</ul>
856
857</div>
858
859<!-- ======================================================================= -->
860<div class="doc_subsection">
861 <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a>
862</div>
863
864<div class="doc_text">
865
866<ul>
Nicolas Geoffray77d99502007-05-15 09:21:28 +0000867<li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000868compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000869</ul>
870
871</div>
872
873<!-- ======================================================================= -->
874<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000875 <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a>
876</div>
877
878<div class="doc_text">
879
880<ul>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000881<li>Support for the Advanced SIMD (Neon) instruction set is still incomplete
882and not well tested. Some features may not work at all, and the code quality
883may be poor in some cases.</li>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000884<li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6
Duncan Sands47fc0a22007-09-26 15:59:54 +0000885processors, thumb programs can crash or produce wrong
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000886results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li>
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000887<li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported but not fully tested.
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000888</li>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000889</ul>
890
891</div>
892
893<!-- ======================================================================= -->
894<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000895 <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a>
896</div>
897
898<div class="doc_text">
899
900<ul>
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000901<li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32); it does not
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000902 support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li>
903</ul>
904
905</div>
906
907<!-- ======================================================================= -->
908<div class="doc_subsection">
Bruno Cardoso Lopes24eb3de2008-10-25 14:56:26 +0000909 <a name="mips-be">Known problems with the MIPS back-end</a>
910</div>
911
912<div class="doc_text">
913
914<ul>
Bruno Cardoso Lopes24eb3de2008-10-25 14:56:26 +0000915<li>64-bit MIPS targets are not supported yet.</li>
916</ul>
917
918</div>
919
920<!-- ======================================================================= -->
921<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000922 <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a>
923</div>
924
925<div class="doc_text">
926
927<ul>
928
929<li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the
930appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li>
931
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000932</ul>
933</div>
934
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000935<!-- ======================================================================= -->
936<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000937 <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000938</div>
939
940<div class="doc_text">
941
942<ul>
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000943<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend has only basic support for
944 inline assembly code</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner8e061162007-09-26 06:01:35 +0000945<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR1658">The C backend violates the ABI of common
946 C++ programs</a>, preventing intermixing between C++ compiled by the CBE and
Gabor Greif75b2f762009-03-02 12:02:51 +0000947 C++ code compiled with <tt>llc</tt> or native compilers.</li>
Duncan Sandse09506a2008-02-10 13:40:55 +0000948<li>The C backend does not support all exception handling constructs.</li>
Duncan Sands3aa36732009-02-25 11:51:54 +0000949<li>The C backend does not support arbitrary precision integers.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000950</ul>
951
952</div>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000953
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000954
955<!-- ======================================================================= -->
956<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner0b1c9a52010-03-17 04:41:49 +0000957 <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C and C++ front-end</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000958</div>
Chris Lattner178f3db2003-10-02 05:07:23 +0000959
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000960<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000961
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000962<p>The only major language feature of GCC not supported by llvm-gcc is
963 the <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> family of builtins. However, some extensions
964 are only supported on some targets. For example, trampolines are only
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000965 supported on some targets (these are used when you take the address of a
966 nested function).</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000967
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000968<p>If you run into GCC extensions which are not supported, please let us know.
969</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000970
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000971</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000972
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000973<!-- ======================================================================= -->
974<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner7292fb12008-10-30 03:58:13 +0000975 <a name="fortran-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Fortran front-end</a>
976</div>
977
978<div class="doc_text">
Gabor Greife5f9d672008-11-04 21:50:59 +0000979<ul>
Chris Lattner7292fb12008-10-30 03:58:13 +0000980<li>Fortran support generally works, but there are still several unresolved bugs
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +0000981 in <a href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">Bugzilla</a>. Please see the
982 tools/gfortran component for details.</li>
Gabor Greife5f9d672008-11-04 21:50:59 +0000983</ul>
Chris Lattner7292fb12008-10-30 03:58:13 +0000984</div>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000985
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000986<!-- ======================================================================= -->
987<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000988 <a name="ada-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Ada front-end</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000989</div>
990
991<div class="doc_text">
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000992The llvm-gcc 4.2 Ada compiler works fairly well; however, this is not a mature
993technology, and problems should be expected.
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000994<ul>
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000995<li>The Ada front-end currently only builds on X86-32. This is mainly due
John Criswellea03c9d2009-03-02 15:28:15 +0000996to lack of trampoline support (pointers to nested functions) on other platforms.
997However, it <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2006">also fails to build on X86-64</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000998which does support trampolines.</li>
999<li>The Ada front-end <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2007">fails to bootstrap</a>.
Duncan Sandsd34bf762009-02-25 11:59:06 +00001000This is due to lack of LLVM support for <tt>setjmp</tt>/<tt>longjmp</tt> style
1001exception handling, which is used internally by the compiler.
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +00001002Workaround: configure with <tt>--disable-bootstrap</tt>.</li>
Duncan Sandsaef747f2008-10-13 17:27:23 +00001003<li>The c380004, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a>
1004and <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2421">cxg2021</a> ACATS tests fail
Duncan Sandsd34bf762009-02-25 11:59:06 +00001005(c380004 also fails with gcc-4.2 mainline).
1006If the compiler is built with checks disabled then <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a>
1007causes the compiler to go into an infinite loop, using up all system memory.</li>
Duncan Sands2dbb00e2009-03-02 16:35:57 +00001008<li>Some GCC specific Ada tests continue to crash the compiler.</li>
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +00001009<li>The <tt>-E</tt> binder option (exception backtraces)
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +00001010<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1982">does not work</a> and will result in programs
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +00001011crashing if an exception is raised. Workaround: do not use <tt>-E</tt>.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +00001012<li>Only discrete types <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1981">are allowed to start
1013or finish at a non-byte offset</a> in a record. Workaround: do not pack records
1014or use representation clauses that result in a field of a non-discrete type
1015starting or finishing in the middle of a byte.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +00001016<li>The <tt>lli</tt> interpreter <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2009">considers
1017'main' as generated by the Ada binder to be invalid</a>.
1018Workaround: hand edit the file to use pointers for <tt>argv</tt> and
1019<tt>envp</tt> rather than integers.</li>
1020<li>The <tt>-fstack-check</tt> option <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2008">is
1021ignored</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +00001022</ul>
1023</div>
1024
Chris Lattneraa61f412009-10-13 17:48:04 +00001025<!-- ======================================================================= -->
1026<div class="doc_subsection">
1027 <a name="ocaml-bindings">Known problems with the O'Caml bindings</a>
1028</div>
1029
1030<div class="doc_text">
1031
1032<p>The <tt>Llvm.Linkage</tt> module is broken, and has incorrect values. Only
1033<tt>Llvm.Linkage.External</tt>, <tt>Llvm.Linkage.Available_externally</tt>, and
1034<tt>Llvm.Linkage.Link_once</tt> will be correct. If you need any of the other linkage
1035modes, you'll have to write an external C library in order to expose the
1036functionality. This has been fixed in the trunk.</p>
1037</div>
1038
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001039<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00001040<div class="doc_section">
1041 <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a>
1042</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001043<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1044
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00001045<div class="doc_text">
1046
Chris Lattnercb5596d2005-05-16 17:13:10 +00001047<p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a
Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +00001048href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a
1049href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section. The web page also
Reid Spencerc7f87f22007-07-09 08:04:31 +00001050contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the
1051Subversion version of the source code.
Misha Brukman96158092005-03-30 19:14:24 +00001052You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going
1053into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001054
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00001055<p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +00001056us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +00001057lists</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001058
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00001059</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001060
1061<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +00001062
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00001063<hr>
Misha Brukman68aab3b2003-11-22 01:23:39 +00001064<address>
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Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +00001070 <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
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