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Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001================================
2Source Level Debugging with LLVM
3================================
4
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00005.. contents::
6 :local:
7
8Introduction
9============
10
11This document is the central repository for all information pertaining to debug
12information in LLVM. It describes the :ref:`actual format that the LLVM debug
13information takes <format>`, which is useful for those interested in creating
14front-ends or dealing directly with the information. Further, this document
15provides specific examples of what debug information for C/C++ looks like.
16
17Philosophy behind LLVM debugging information
18--------------------------------------------
19
20The idea of the LLVM debugging information is to capture how the important
21pieces of the source-language's Abstract Syntax Tree map onto LLVM code.
22Several design aspects have shaped the solution that appears here. The
23important ones are:
24
25* Debugging information should have very little impact on the rest of the
26 compiler. No transformations, analyses, or code generators should need to
27 be modified because of debugging information.
28
29* LLVM optimizations should interact in :ref:`well-defined and easily described
30 ways <intro_debugopt>` with the debugging information.
31
32* Because LLVM is designed to support arbitrary programming languages,
33 LLVM-to-LLVM tools should not need to know anything about the semantics of
34 the source-level-language.
35
36* Source-level languages are often **widely** different from one another.
37 LLVM should not put any restrictions of the flavor of the source-language,
38 and the debugging information should work with any language.
39
40* With code generator support, it should be possible to use an LLVM compiler
41 to compile a program to native machine code and standard debugging
42 formats. This allows compatibility with traditional machine-code level
43 debuggers, like GDB or DBX.
44
45The approach used by the LLVM implementation is to use a small set of
46:ref:`intrinsic functions <format_common_intrinsics>` to define a mapping
47between LLVM program objects and the source-level objects. The description of
48the source-level program is maintained in LLVM metadata in an
49:ref:`implementation-defined format <ccxx_frontend>` (the C/C++ front-end
50currently uses working draft 7 of the `DWARF 3 standard
51<http://www.eagercon.com/dwarf/dwarf3std.htm>`_).
52
53When a program is being debugged, a debugger interacts with the user and turns
54the stored debug information into source-language specific information. As
55such, a debugger must be aware of the source-language, and is thus tied to a
56specific language or family of languages.
57
58Debug information consumers
59---------------------------
60
61The role of debug information is to provide meta information normally stripped
62away during the compilation process. This meta information provides an LLVM
63user a relationship between generated code and the original program source
64code.
65
66Currently, debug information is consumed by DwarfDebug to produce dwarf
67information used by the gdb debugger. Other targets could use the same
68information to produce stabs or other debug forms.
69
70It would also be reasonable to use debug information to feed profiling tools
71for analysis of generated code, or, tools for reconstructing the original
72source from generated code.
73
74TODO - expound a bit more.
75
76.. _intro_debugopt:
77
78Debugging optimized code
79------------------------
80
81An extremely high priority of LLVM debugging information is to make it interact
82well with optimizations and analysis. In particular, the LLVM debug
83information provides the following guarantees:
84
85* LLVM debug information **always provides information to accurately read
86 the source-level state of the program**, regardless of which LLVM
87 optimizations have been run, and without any modification to the
88 optimizations themselves. However, some optimizations may impact the
89 ability to modify the current state of the program with a debugger, such
90 as setting program variables, or calling functions that have been
91 deleted.
92
93* As desired, LLVM optimizations can be upgraded to be aware of the LLVM
94 debugging information, allowing them to update the debugging information
95 as they perform aggressive optimizations. This means that, with effort,
96 the LLVM optimizers could optimize debug code just as well as non-debug
97 code.
98
99* LLVM debug information does not prevent optimizations from
100 happening (for example inlining, basic block reordering/merging/cleanup,
101 tail duplication, etc).
102
103* LLVM debug information is automatically optimized along with the rest of
104 the program, using existing facilities. For example, duplicate
105 information is automatically merged by the linker, and unused information
106 is automatically removed.
107
108Basically, the debug information allows you to compile a program with
109"``-O0 -g``" and get full debug information, allowing you to arbitrarily modify
110the program as it executes from a debugger. Compiling a program with
111"``-O3 -g``" gives you full debug information that is always available and
112accurate for reading (e.g., you get accurate stack traces despite tail call
113elimination and inlining), but you might lose the ability to modify the program
114and call functions where were optimized out of the program, or inlined away
115completely.
116
117:ref:`LLVM test suite <test-suite-quickstart>` provides a framework to test
118optimizer's handling of debugging information. It can be run like this:
119
120.. code-block:: bash
121
122 % cd llvm/projects/test-suite/MultiSource/Benchmarks # or some other level
123 % make TEST=dbgopt
124
125This will test impact of debugging information on optimization passes. If
126debugging information influences optimization passes then it will be reported
127as a failure. See :doc:`TestingGuide` for more information on LLVM test
128infrastructure and how to run various tests.
129
130.. _format:
131
132Debugging information format
133============================
134
135LLVM debugging information has been carefully designed to make it possible for
136the optimizer to optimize the program and debugging information without
137necessarily having to know anything about debugging information. In
138particular, the use of metadata avoids duplicated debugging information from
139the beginning, and the global dead code elimination pass automatically deletes
140debugging information for a function if it decides to delete the function.
141
142To do this, most of the debugging information (descriptors for types,
143variables, functions, source files, etc) is inserted by the language front-end
144in the form of LLVM metadata.
145
146Debug information is designed to be agnostic about the target debugger and
147debugging information representation (e.g. DWARF/Stabs/etc). It uses a generic
148pass to decode the information that represents variables, types, functions,
149namespaces, etc: this allows for arbitrary source-language semantics and
150type-systems to be used, as long as there is a module written for the target
151debugger to interpret the information.
152
153To provide basic functionality, the LLVM debugger does have to make some
154assumptions about the source-level language being debugged, though it keeps
155these to a minimum. The only common features that the LLVM debugger assumes
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000156exist are `source files <LangRef.html#difile>`_, and `program objects
157<LangRef.html#diglobalvariable>`_. These abstract objects are used by a
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000158debugger to form stack traces, show information about local variables, etc.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000159
160This section of the documentation first describes the representation aspects
161common to any source-language. :ref:`ccxx_frontend` describes the data layout
162conventions used by the C and C++ front-ends.
163
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000164Debug information descriptors are `specialized metadata nodes
165<LangRef.html#specialized-metadata>`_, first-class subclasses of ``Metadata``.
Adrian Prantlb1416832014-08-01 22:11:58 +0000166
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000167.. _format_common_intrinsics:
168
169Debugger intrinsic functions
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000170----------------------------
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000171
172LLVM uses several intrinsic functions (name prefixed with "``llvm.dbg``") to
173provide debug information at various points in generated code.
174
175``llvm.dbg.declare``
176^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
177
178.. code-block:: llvm
179
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000180 void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata, metadata, metadata)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000181
182This intrinsic provides information about a local element (e.g., variable).
183The first argument is metadata holding the alloca for the variable. The second
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000184argument is a `local variable <LangRef.html#dilocalvariable>`_ containing a
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000185description of the variable. The third argument is a `complex expression
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000186<LangRef.html#diexpression>`_.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000187
188``llvm.dbg.value``
189^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
190
191.. code-block:: llvm
192
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000193 void @llvm.dbg.value(metadata, i64, metadata, metadata)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000194
195This intrinsic provides information when a user source variable is set to a new
196value. The first argument is the new value (wrapped as metadata). The second
197argument is the offset in the user source variable where the new value is
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000198written. The third argument is a `local variable
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000199<LangRef.html#dilocalvariable>`_ containing a description of the variable. The
200third argument is a `complex expression <LangRef.html#diexpression>`_.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000201
202Object lifetimes and scoping
203============================
204
205In many languages, the local variables in functions can have their lifetimes or
206scopes limited to a subset of a function. In the C family of languages, for
207example, variables are only live (readable and writable) within the source
208block that they are defined in. In functional languages, values are only
209readable after they have been defined. Though this is a very obvious concept,
210it is non-trivial to model in LLVM, because it has no notion of scoping in this
211sense, and does not want to be tied to a language's scoping rules.
212
213In order to handle this, the LLVM debug format uses the metadata attached to
214llvm instructions to encode line number and scoping information. Consider the
215following C fragment, for example:
216
217.. code-block:: c
218
219 1. void foo() {
220 2. int X = 21;
221 3. int Y = 22;
222 4. {
223 5. int Z = 23;
224 6. Z = X;
225 7. }
226 8. X = Y;
227 9. }
228
229Compiled to LLVM, this function would be represented like this:
230
231.. code-block:: llvm
232
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000233 ; Function Attrs: nounwind ssp uwtable
Bill Wendlinge814a372013-10-27 04:50:34 +0000234 define void @foo() #0 {
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000235 entry:
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000236 %X = alloca i32, align 4
Bill Wendlinge814a372013-10-27 04:50:34 +0000237 %Y = alloca i32, align 4
238 %Z = alloca i32, align 4
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000239 call void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata i32* %X, metadata !11, metadata !13), !dbg !14
240 store i32 21, i32* %X, align 4, !dbg !14
241 call void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata i32* %Y, metadata !15, metadata !13), !dbg !16
242 store i32 22, i32* %Y, align 4, !dbg !16
243 call void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata i32* %Z, metadata !17, metadata !13), !dbg !19
244 store i32 23, i32* %Z, align 4, !dbg !19
245 %0 = load i32, i32* %X, align 4, !dbg !20
246 store i32 %0, i32* %Z, align 4, !dbg !21
247 %1 = load i32, i32* %Y, align 4, !dbg !22
248 store i32 %1, i32* %X, align 4, !dbg !23
249 ret void, !dbg !24
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000250 }
251
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000252 ; Function Attrs: nounwind readnone
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000253 declare void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata, metadata, metadata) #1
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000254
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000255 attributes #0 = { nounwind ssp uwtable "less-precise-fpmad"="false" "no-frame-pointer-elim"="true" "no-frame-pointer-elim-non-leaf" "no-infs-fp-math"="false" "no-nans-fp-math"="false" "stack-protector-buffer-size"="8" "unsafe-fp-math"="false" "use-soft-float"="false" }
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000256 attributes #1 = { nounwind readnone }
257
258 !llvm.dbg.cu = !{!0}
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000259 !llvm.module.flags = !{!7, !8, !9}
260 !llvm.ident = !{!10}
Bill Wendlinge814a372013-10-27 04:50:34 +0000261
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000262 !0 = !DICompileUnit(language: DW_LANG_C99, file: !1, producer: "clang version 3.7.0 (trunk 231150) (llvm/trunk 231154)", isOptimized: false, runtimeVersion: 0, emissionKind: 1, enums: !2, retainedTypes: !2, subprograms: !3, globals: !2, imports: !2)
263 !1 = !DIFile(filename: "/dev/stdin", directory: "/Users/dexonsmith/data/llvm/debug-info")
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000264 !2 = !{}
265 !3 = !{!4}
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000266 !4 = !DISubprogram(name: "foo", scope: !1, file: !1, line: 1, type: !5, isLocal: false, isDefinition: true, scopeLine: 1, isOptimized: false, function: void ()* @foo, variables: !2)
267 !5 = !DISubroutineType(types: !6)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000268 !6 = !{null}
269 !7 = !{i32 2, !"Dwarf Version", i32 2}
270 !8 = !{i32 2, !"Debug Info Version", i32 3}
271 !9 = !{i32 1, !"PIC Level", i32 2}
272 !10 = !{!"clang version 3.7.0 (trunk 231150) (llvm/trunk 231154)"}
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithed013cd2015-07-31 18:58:39 +0000273 !11 = !DILocalVariable(name: "X", scope: !4, file: !1, line: 2, type: !12)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000274 !12 = !DIBasicType(name: "int", size: 32, align: 32, encoding: DW_ATE_signed)
275 !13 = !DIExpression()
276 !14 = !DILocation(line: 2, column: 9, scope: !4)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithed013cd2015-07-31 18:58:39 +0000277 !15 = !DILocalVariable(name: "Y", scope: !4, file: !1, line: 3, type: !12)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000278 !16 = !DILocation(line: 3, column: 9, scope: !4)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithed013cd2015-07-31 18:58:39 +0000279 !17 = !DILocalVariable(name: "Z", scope: !18, file: !1, line: 5, type: !12)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000280 !18 = distinct !DILexicalBlock(scope: !4, file: !1, line: 4, column: 5)
281 !19 = !DILocation(line: 5, column: 11, scope: !18)
282 !20 = !DILocation(line: 6, column: 11, scope: !18)
283 !21 = !DILocation(line: 6, column: 9, scope: !18)
284 !22 = !DILocation(line: 8, column: 9, scope: !4)
285 !23 = !DILocation(line: 8, column: 7, scope: !4)
286 !24 = !DILocation(line: 9, column: 3, scope: !4)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000287
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000288
289This example illustrates a few important details about LLVM debugging
290information. In particular, it shows how the ``llvm.dbg.declare`` intrinsic and
291location information, which are attached to an instruction, are applied
292together to allow a debugger to analyze the relationship between statements,
293variable definitions, and the code used to implement the function.
294
295.. code-block:: llvm
296
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000297 call void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata i32* %X, metadata !11, metadata !13), !dbg !14
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000298 ; [debug line = 2:7] [debug variable = X]
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000299
300The first intrinsic ``%llvm.dbg.declare`` encodes debugging information for the
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000301variable ``X``. The metadata ``!dbg !14`` attached to the intrinsic provides
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000302scope information for the variable ``X``.
303
304.. code-block:: llvm
305
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000306 !14 = !DILocation(line: 2, column: 9, scope: !4)
307 !4 = !DISubprogram(name: "foo", scope: !1, file: !1, line: 1, type: !5,
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000308 isLocal: false, isDefinition: true, scopeLine: 1,
309 isOptimized: false, function: void ()* @foo,
310 variables: !2)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000311
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000312Here ``!14`` is metadata providing `location information
Michael Kuperstein605308a2015-05-14 10:58:59 +0000313<LangRef.html#dilocation>`_. In this example, scope is encoded by ``!4``, a
314`subprogram descriptor <LangRef.html#disubprogram>`_. This way the location
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000315information attached to the intrinsics indicates that the variable ``X`` is
316declared at line number 2 at a function level scope in function ``foo``.
317
318Now lets take another example.
319
320.. code-block:: llvm
321
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000322 call void @llvm.dbg.declare(metadata i32* %Z, metadata !17, metadata !13), !dbg !19
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000323 ; [debug line = 5:9] [debug variable = Z]
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000324
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000325The third intrinsic ``%llvm.dbg.declare`` encodes debugging information for
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000326variable ``Z``. The metadata ``!dbg !19`` attached to the intrinsic provides
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000327scope information for the variable ``Z``.
328
329.. code-block:: llvm
330
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000331 !18 = distinct !DILexicalBlock(scope: !4, file: !1, line: 4, column: 5)
332 !19 = !DILocation(line: 5, column: 11, scope: !18)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000333
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000334Here ``!19`` indicates that ``Z`` is declared at line number 5 and column
335number 0 inside of lexical scope ``!18``. The lexical scope itself resides
336inside of subprogram ``!4`` described above.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000337
338The scope information attached with each instruction provides a straightforward
339way to find instructions covered by a scope.
340
341.. _ccxx_frontend:
342
343C/C++ front-end specific debug information
344==========================================
345
346The C and C++ front-ends represent information about the program in a format
347that is effectively identical to `DWARF 3.0
348<http://www.eagercon.com/dwarf/dwarf3std.htm>`_ in terms of information
349content. This allows code generators to trivially support native debuggers by
350generating standard dwarf information, and contains enough information for
351non-dwarf targets to translate it as needed.
352
353This section describes the forms used to represent C and C++ programs. Other
354languages could pattern themselves after this (which itself is tuned to
355representing programs in the same way that DWARF 3 does), or they could choose
356to provide completely different forms if they don't fit into the DWARF model.
357As support for debugging information gets added to the various LLVM
358source-language front-ends, the information used should be documented here.
359
Duncan P. N. Exon Smith936675e2014-10-04 14:56:56 +0000360The following sections provide examples of a few C/C++ constructs and the debug
361information that would best describe those constructs. The canonical
362references are the ``DIDescriptor`` classes defined in
363``include/llvm/IR/DebugInfo.h`` and the implementations of the helper functions
364in ``lib/IR/DIBuilder.cpp``.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000365
366C/C++ source file information
367-----------------------------
368
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000369``llvm::Instruction`` provides easy access to metadata attached with an
370instruction. One can extract line number information encoded in LLVM IR using
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithf032c952015-08-06 18:15:25 +0000371``Instruction::getDebugLoc()`` and ``DILocation::getLine()``.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000372
373.. code-block:: c++
374
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithf032c952015-08-06 18:15:25 +0000375 if (DILocation *Loc = I->getDebugLoc()) { // Here I is an LLVM instruction
376 unsigned Line = Loc->getLine();
377 StringRef File = Loc->getFilename();
378 StringRef Dir = Loc->getDirectory();
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000379 }
380
381C/C++ global variable information
382---------------------------------
383
384Given an integer global variable declared as follows:
385
386.. code-block:: c
387
388 int MyGlobal = 100;
389
390a C/C++ front-end would generate the following descriptors:
391
392.. code-block:: llvm
393
394 ;;
395 ;; Define the global itself.
396 ;;
Duncan P. N. Exon Smith985e1b92014-10-04 15:44:01 +0000397 @MyGlobal = global i32 100, align 4
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000398
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000399 ;;
400 ;; List of debug info of globals
401 ;;
402 !llvm.dbg.cu = !{!0}
403
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000404 ;; Some unrelated metadata.
405 !llvm.module.flags = !{!6, !7}
406
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000407 ;; Define the compile unit.
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000408 !0 = !DICompileUnit(language: DW_LANG_C99, file: !1,
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000409 producer:
410 "clang version 3.7.0 (trunk 231150) (llvm/trunk 231154)",
411 isOptimized: false, runtimeVersion: 0, emissionKind: 1,
412 enums: !2, retainedTypes: !2, subprograms: !2, globals:
413 !3, imports: !2)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000414
415 ;;
416 ;; Define the file
417 ;;
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000418 !1 = !DIFile(filename: "/dev/stdin",
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000419 directory: "/Users/dexonsmith/data/llvm/debug-info")
420
421 ;; An empty array.
422 !2 = !{}
423
424 ;; The Array of Global Variables
425 !3 = !{!4}
426
427 ;;
428 ;; Define the global variable itself.
429 ;;
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000430 !4 = !DIGlobalVariable(name: "MyGlobal", scope: !0, file: !1, line: 1,
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000431 type: !5, isLocal: false, isDefinition: true,
432 variable: i32* @MyGlobal)
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000433
434 ;;
435 ;; Define the type
436 ;;
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000437 !5 = !DIBasicType(name: "int", size: 32, align: 32, encoding: DW_ATE_signed)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000438
439 ;; Dwarf version to output.
440 !6 = !{i32 2, !"Dwarf Version", i32 2}
441
442 ;; Debug info schema version.
443 !7 = !{i32 2, !"Debug Info Version", i32 3}
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000444
445C/C++ function information
446--------------------------
447
448Given a function declared as follows:
449
450.. code-block:: c
451
452 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
453 return 0;
454 }
455
456a C/C++ front-end would generate the following descriptors:
457
458.. code-block:: llvm
459
460 ;;
David Blaikiec4fe5db2013-05-29 02:05:13 +0000461 ;; Define the anchor for subprograms.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000462 ;;
Duncan P. N. Exon Smitha9308c42015-04-29 16:38:44 +0000463 !4 = !DISubprogram(name: "main", scope: !1, file: !1, line: 1, type: !5,
Duncan P. N. Exon Smithd937cd92015-03-17 23:41:05 +0000464 isLocal: false, isDefinition: true, scopeLine: 1,
465 flags: DIFlagPrototyped, isOptimized: false,
466 function: i32 (i32, i8**)* @main, variables: !2)
Duncan P. N. Exon Smith936675e2014-10-04 14:56:56 +0000467
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000468 ;;
469 ;; Define the subprogram itself.
470 ;;
471 define i32 @main(i32 %argc, i8** %argv) {
472 ...
473 }
474
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000475Debugging information format
476============================
477
478Debugging Information Extension for Objective C Properties
479----------------------------------------------------------
480
481Introduction
482^^^^^^^^^^^^
483
484Objective C provides a simpler way to declare and define accessor methods using
485declared properties. The language provides features to declare a property and
486to let compiler synthesize accessor methods.
487
488The debugger lets developer inspect Objective C interfaces and their instance
489variables and class variables. However, the debugger does not know anything
490about the properties defined in Objective C interfaces. The debugger consumes
491information generated by compiler in DWARF format. The format does not support
492encoding of Objective C properties. This proposal describes DWARF extensions to
493encode Objective C properties, which the debugger can use to let developers
494inspect Objective C properties.
495
496Proposal
497^^^^^^^^
498
499Objective C properties exist separately from class members. A property can be
500defined only by "setter" and "getter" selectors, and be calculated anew on each
501access. Or a property can just be a direct access to some declared ivar.
502Finally it can have an ivar "automatically synthesized" for it by the compiler,
503in which case the property can be referred to in user code directly using the
504standard C dereference syntax as well as through the property "dot" syntax, but
505there is no entry in the ``@interface`` declaration corresponding to this ivar.
506
507To facilitate debugging, these properties we will add a new DWARF TAG into the
508``DW_TAG_structure_type`` definition for the class to hold the description of a
509given property, and a set of DWARF attributes that provide said description.
510The property tag will also contain the name and declared type of the property.
511
512If there is a related ivar, there will also be a DWARF property attribute placed
513in the ``DW_TAG_member`` DIE for that ivar referring back to the property TAG
514for that property. And in the case where the compiler synthesizes the ivar
515directly, the compiler is expected to generate a ``DW_TAG_member`` for that
516ivar (with the ``DW_AT_artificial`` set to 1), whose name will be the name used
517to access this ivar directly in code, and with the property attribute pointing
518back to the property it is backing.
519
520The following examples will serve as illustration for our discussion:
521
522.. code-block:: objc
523
524 @interface I1 {
525 int n2;
526 }
527
528 @property int p1;
529 @property int p2;
530 @end
531
532 @implementation I1
533 @synthesize p1;
534 @synthesize p2 = n2;
535 @end
536
537This produces the following DWARF (this is a "pseudo dwarfdump" output):
538
539.. code-block:: none
540
541 0x00000100: TAG_structure_type [7] *
542 AT_APPLE_runtime_class( 0x10 )
543 AT_name( "I1" )
544 AT_decl_file( "Objc_Property.m" )
545 AT_decl_line( 3 )
546
547 0x00000110 TAG_APPLE_property
548 AT_name ( "p1" )
549 AT_type ( {0x00000150} ( int ) )
550
551 0x00000120: TAG_APPLE_property
552 AT_name ( "p2" )
553 AT_type ( {0x00000150} ( int ) )
554
555 0x00000130: TAG_member [8]
556 AT_name( "_p1" )
557 AT_APPLE_property ( {0x00000110} "p1" )
558 AT_type( {0x00000150} ( int ) )
559 AT_artificial ( 0x1 )
560
561 0x00000140: TAG_member [8]
562 AT_name( "n2" )
563 AT_APPLE_property ( {0x00000120} "p2" )
564 AT_type( {0x00000150} ( int ) )
565
566 0x00000150: AT_type( ( int ) )
567
568Note, the current convention is that the name of the ivar for an
569auto-synthesized property is the name of the property from which it derives
570with an underscore prepended, as is shown in the example. But we actually
571don't need to know this convention, since we are given the name of the ivar
572directly.
573
574Also, it is common practice in ObjC to have different property declarations in
575the @interface and @implementation - e.g. to provide a read-only property in
576the interface,and a read-write interface in the implementation. In that case,
577the compiler should emit whichever property declaration will be in force in the
578current translation unit.
579
580Developers can decorate a property with attributes which are encoded using
581``DW_AT_APPLE_property_attribute``.
582
583.. code-block:: objc
584
585 @property (readonly, nonatomic) int pr;
586
587.. code-block:: none
588
589 TAG_APPLE_property [8]
590 AT_name( "pr" )
591 AT_type ( {0x00000147} (int) )
592 AT_APPLE_property_attribute (DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_readonly, DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_nonatomic)
593
594The setter and getter method names are attached to the property using
595``DW_AT_APPLE_property_setter`` and ``DW_AT_APPLE_property_getter`` attributes.
596
597.. code-block:: objc
598
599 @interface I1
600 @property (setter=myOwnP3Setter:) int p3;
601 -(void)myOwnP3Setter:(int)a;
602 @end
603
604 @implementation I1
605 @synthesize p3;
606 -(void)myOwnP3Setter:(int)a{ }
607 @end
608
609The DWARF for this would be:
610
611.. code-block:: none
612
613 0x000003bd: TAG_structure_type [7] *
614 AT_APPLE_runtime_class( 0x10 )
615 AT_name( "I1" )
616 AT_decl_file( "Objc_Property.m" )
617 AT_decl_line( 3 )
618
619 0x000003cd TAG_APPLE_property
620 AT_name ( "p3" )
621 AT_APPLE_property_setter ( "myOwnP3Setter:" )
622 AT_type( {0x00000147} ( int ) )
623
624 0x000003f3: TAG_member [8]
625 AT_name( "_p3" )
626 AT_type ( {0x00000147} ( int ) )
627 AT_APPLE_property ( {0x000003cd} )
628 AT_artificial ( 0x1 )
629
630New DWARF Tags
631^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
632
633+-----------------------+--------+
634| TAG | Value |
635+=======================+========+
636| DW_TAG_APPLE_property | 0x4200 |
637+-----------------------+--------+
638
639New DWARF Attributes
640^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
641
642+--------------------------------+--------+-----------+
643| Attribute | Value | Classes |
644+================================+========+===========+
645| DW_AT_APPLE_property | 0x3fed | Reference |
646+--------------------------------+--------+-----------+
647| DW_AT_APPLE_property_getter | 0x3fe9 | String |
648+--------------------------------+--------+-----------+
649| DW_AT_APPLE_property_setter | 0x3fea | String |
650+--------------------------------+--------+-----------+
651| DW_AT_APPLE_property_attribute | 0x3feb | Constant |
652+--------------------------------+--------+-----------+
653
654New DWARF Constants
655^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
656
Frederic Risseea4f882014-10-08 14:59:44 +0000657+--------------------------------------+-------+
658| Name | Value |
659+======================================+=======+
660| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_readonly | 0x01 |
661+--------------------------------------+-------+
662| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_getter | 0x02 |
663+--------------------------------------+-------+
664| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_assign | 0x04 |
665+--------------------------------------+-------+
666| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_readwrite | 0x08 |
667+--------------------------------------+-------+
668| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_retain | 0x10 |
669+--------------------------------------+-------+
670| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_copy | 0x20 |
671+--------------------------------------+-------+
672| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_nonatomic | 0x40 |
673+--------------------------------------+-------+
674| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_setter | 0x80 |
675+--------------------------------------+-------+
676| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_atomic | 0x100 |
677+--------------------------------------+-------+
678| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_weak | 0x200 |
679+--------------------------------------+-------+
680| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_strong | 0x400 |
681+--------------------------------------+-------+
682| DW_APPLE_PROPERTY_unsafe_unretained | 0x800 |
683+--------------------------------+-----+-------+
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000684
685Name Accelerator Tables
686-----------------------
687
688Introduction
689^^^^^^^^^^^^
690
691The "``.debug_pubnames``" and "``.debug_pubtypes``" formats are not what a
692debugger needs. The "``pub``" in the section name indicates that the entries
693in the table are publicly visible names only. This means no static or hidden
694functions show up in the "``.debug_pubnames``". No static variables or private
695class variables are in the "``.debug_pubtypes``". Many compilers add different
696things to these tables, so we can't rely upon the contents between gcc, icc, or
697clang.
698
699The typical query given by users tends not to match up with the contents of
700these tables. For example, the DWARF spec states that "In the case of the name
701of a function member or static data member of a C++ structure, class or union,
702the name presented in the "``.debug_pubnames``" section is not the simple name
703given by the ``DW_AT_name attribute`` of the referenced debugging information
704entry, but rather the fully qualified name of the data or function member."
705So the only names in these tables for complex C++ entries is a fully
706qualified name. Debugger users tend not to enter their search strings as
707"``a::b::c(int,const Foo&) const``", but rather as "``c``", "``b::c``" , or
708"``a::b::c``". So the name entered in the name table must be demangled in
709order to chop it up appropriately and additional names must be manually entered
710into the table to make it effective as a name lookup table for debuggers to
711se.
712
713All debuggers currently ignore the "``.debug_pubnames``" table as a result of
714its inconsistent and useless public-only name content making it a waste of
715space in the object file. These tables, when they are written to disk, are not
716sorted in any way, leaving every debugger to do its own parsing and sorting.
717These tables also include an inlined copy of the string values in the table
718itself making the tables much larger than they need to be on disk, especially
719for large C++ programs.
720
721Can't we just fix the sections by adding all of the names we need to this
722table? No, because that is not what the tables are defined to contain and we
723won't know the difference between the old bad tables and the new good tables.
724At best we could make our own renamed sections that contain all of the data we
725need.
726
727These tables are also insufficient for what a debugger like LLDB needs. LLDB
728uses clang for its expression parsing where LLDB acts as a PCH. LLDB is then
729often asked to look for type "``foo``" or namespace "``bar``", or list items in
730namespace "``baz``". Namespaces are not included in the pubnames or pubtypes
731tables. Since clang asks a lot of questions when it is parsing an expression,
732we need to be very fast when looking up names, as it happens a lot. Having new
733accelerator tables that are optimized for very quick lookups will benefit this
734type of debugging experience greatly.
735
736We would like to generate name lookup tables that can be mapped into memory
737from disk, and used as is, with little or no up-front parsing. We would also
738be able to control the exact content of these different tables so they contain
739exactly what we need. The Name Accelerator Tables were designed to fix these
740issues. In order to solve these issues we need to:
741
742* Have a format that can be mapped into memory from disk and used as is
743* Lookups should be very fast
744* Extensible table format so these tables can be made by many producers
745* Contain all of the names needed for typical lookups out of the box
746* Strict rules for the contents of tables
747
748Table size is important and the accelerator table format should allow the reuse
749of strings from common string tables so the strings for the names are not
750duplicated. We also want to make sure the table is ready to be used as-is by
751simply mapping the table into memory with minimal header parsing.
752
753The name lookups need to be fast and optimized for the kinds of lookups that
754debuggers tend to do. Optimally we would like to touch as few parts of the
755mapped table as possible when doing a name lookup and be able to quickly find
756the name entry we are looking for, or discover there are no matches. In the
757case of debuggers we optimized for lookups that fail most of the time.
758
759Each table that is defined should have strict rules on exactly what is in the
760accelerator tables and documented so clients can rely on the content.
761
762Hash Tables
763^^^^^^^^^^^
764
765Standard Hash Tables
766""""""""""""""""""""
767
768Typical hash tables have a header, buckets, and each bucket points to the
769bucket contents:
770
771.. code-block:: none
772
773 .------------.
774 | HEADER |
775 |------------|
776 | BUCKETS |
777 |------------|
778 | DATA |
779 `------------'
780
781The BUCKETS are an array of offsets to DATA for each hash:
782
783.. code-block:: none
784
785 .------------.
786 | 0x00001000 | BUCKETS[0]
787 | 0x00002000 | BUCKETS[1]
788 | 0x00002200 | BUCKETS[2]
789 | 0x000034f0 | BUCKETS[3]
790 | | ...
791 | 0xXXXXXXXX | BUCKETS[n_buckets]
792 '------------'
793
794So for ``bucket[3]`` in the example above, we have an offset into the table
7950x000034f0 which points to a chain of entries for the bucket. Each bucket must
796contain a next pointer, full 32 bit hash value, the string itself, and the data
797for the current string value.
798
799.. code-block:: none
800
801 .------------.
802 0x000034f0: | 0x00003500 | next pointer
803 | 0x12345678 | 32 bit hash
804 | "erase" | string value
805 | data[n] | HashData for this bucket
806 |------------|
807 0x00003500: | 0x00003550 | next pointer
808 | 0x29273623 | 32 bit hash
809 | "dump" | string value
810 | data[n] | HashData for this bucket
811 |------------|
812 0x00003550: | 0x00000000 | next pointer
813 | 0x82638293 | 32 bit hash
814 | "main" | string value
815 | data[n] | HashData for this bucket
816 `------------'
817
818The problem with this layout for debuggers is that we need to optimize for the
819negative lookup case where the symbol we're searching for is not present. So
820if we were to lookup "``printf``" in the table above, we would make a 32 hash
821for "``printf``", it might match ``bucket[3]``. We would need to go to the
822offset 0x000034f0 and start looking to see if our 32 bit hash matches. To do
823so, we need to read the next pointer, then read the hash, compare it, and skip
824to the next bucket. Each time we are skipping many bytes in memory and
825touching new cache pages just to do the compare on the full 32 bit hash. All
826of these accesses then tell us that we didn't have a match.
827
828Name Hash Tables
829""""""""""""""""
830
831To solve the issues mentioned above we have structured the hash tables a bit
832differently: a header, buckets, an array of all unique 32 bit hash values,
833followed by an array of hash value data offsets, one for each hash value, then
834the data for all hash values:
835
836.. code-block:: none
837
838 .-------------.
839 | HEADER |
840 |-------------|
841 | BUCKETS |
842 |-------------|
843 | HASHES |
844 |-------------|
845 | OFFSETS |
846 |-------------|
847 | DATA |
848 `-------------'
849
850The ``BUCKETS`` in the name tables are an index into the ``HASHES`` array. By
851making all of the full 32 bit hash values contiguous in memory, we allow
852ourselves to efficiently check for a match while touching as little memory as
853possible. Most often checking the 32 bit hash values is as far as the lookup
854goes. If it does match, it usually is a match with no collisions. So for a
855table with "``n_buckets``" buckets, and "``n_hashes``" unique 32 bit hash
856values, we can clarify the contents of the ``BUCKETS``, ``HASHES`` and
857``OFFSETS`` as:
858
859.. code-block:: none
860
861 .-------------------------.
862 | HEADER.magic | uint32_t
863 | HEADER.version | uint16_t
864 | HEADER.hash_function | uint16_t
865 | HEADER.bucket_count | uint32_t
866 | HEADER.hashes_count | uint32_t
867 | HEADER.header_data_len | uint32_t
868 | HEADER_DATA | HeaderData
869 |-------------------------|
Eric Christopher7e66bd32013-03-18 20:21:47 +0000870 | BUCKETS | uint32_t[n_buckets] // 32 bit hash indexes
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000871 |-------------------------|
Eric Christopher7e66bd32013-03-18 20:21:47 +0000872 | HASHES | uint32_t[n_hashes] // 32 bit hash values
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000873 |-------------------------|
Eric Christopher7e66bd32013-03-18 20:21:47 +0000874 | OFFSETS | uint32_t[n_hashes] // 32 bit offsets to hash value data
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +0000875 |-------------------------|
876 | ALL HASH DATA |
877 `-------------------------'
878
879So taking the exact same data from the standard hash example above we end up
880with:
881
882.. code-block:: none
883
884 .------------.
885 | HEADER |
886 |------------|
887 | 0 | BUCKETS[0]
888 | 2 | BUCKETS[1]
889 | 5 | BUCKETS[2]
890 | 6 | BUCKETS[3]
891 | | ...
892 | ... | BUCKETS[n_buckets]
893 |------------|
894 | 0x........ | HASHES[0]
895 | 0x........ | HASHES[1]
896 | 0x........ | HASHES[2]
897 | 0x........ | HASHES[3]
898 | 0x........ | HASHES[4]
899 | 0x........ | HASHES[5]
900 | 0x12345678 | HASHES[6] hash for BUCKETS[3]
901 | 0x29273623 | HASHES[7] hash for BUCKETS[3]
902 | 0x82638293 | HASHES[8] hash for BUCKETS[3]
903 | 0x........ | HASHES[9]
904 | 0x........ | HASHES[10]
905 | 0x........ | HASHES[11]
906 | 0x........ | HASHES[12]
907 | 0x........ | HASHES[13]
908 | 0x........ | HASHES[n_hashes]
909 |------------|
910 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[0]
911 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[1]
912 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[2]
913 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[3]
914 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[4]
915 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[5]
916 | 0x000034f0 | OFFSETS[6] offset for BUCKETS[3]
917 | 0x00003500 | OFFSETS[7] offset for BUCKETS[3]
918 | 0x00003550 | OFFSETS[8] offset for BUCKETS[3]
919 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[9]
920 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[10]
921 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[11]
922 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[12]
923 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[13]
924 | 0x........ | OFFSETS[n_hashes]
925 |------------|
926 | |
927 | |
928 | |
929 | |
930 | |
931 |------------|
932 0x000034f0: | 0x00001203 | .debug_str ("erase")
933 | 0x00000004 | A 32 bit array count - number of HashData with name "erase"
934 | 0x........ | HashData[0]
935 | 0x........ | HashData[1]
936 | 0x........ | HashData[2]
937 | 0x........ | HashData[3]
938 | 0x00000000 | String offset into .debug_str (terminate data for hash)
939 |------------|
940 0x00003500: | 0x00001203 | String offset into .debug_str ("collision")
941 | 0x00000002 | A 32 bit array count - number of HashData with name "collision"
942 | 0x........ | HashData[0]
943 | 0x........ | HashData[1]
944 | 0x00001203 | String offset into .debug_str ("dump")
945 | 0x00000003 | A 32 bit array count - number of HashData with name "dump"
946 | 0x........ | HashData[0]
947 | 0x........ | HashData[1]
948 | 0x........ | HashData[2]
949 | 0x00000000 | String offset into .debug_str (terminate data for hash)
950 |------------|
951 0x00003550: | 0x00001203 | String offset into .debug_str ("main")
952 | 0x00000009 | A 32 bit array count - number of HashData with name "main"
953 | 0x........ | HashData[0]
954 | 0x........ | HashData[1]
955 | 0x........ | HashData[2]
956 | 0x........ | HashData[3]
957 | 0x........ | HashData[4]
958 | 0x........ | HashData[5]
959 | 0x........ | HashData[6]
960 | 0x........ | HashData[7]
961 | 0x........ | HashData[8]
962 | 0x00000000 | String offset into .debug_str (terminate data for hash)
963 `------------'
964
965So we still have all of the same data, we just organize it more efficiently for
966debugger lookup. If we repeat the same "``printf``" lookup from above, we
967would hash "``printf``" and find it matches ``BUCKETS[3]`` by taking the 32 bit
968hash value and modulo it by ``n_buckets``. ``BUCKETS[3]`` contains "6" which
969is the index into the ``HASHES`` table. We would then compare any consecutive
97032 bit hashes values in the ``HASHES`` array as long as the hashes would be in
971``BUCKETS[3]``. We do this by verifying that each subsequent hash value modulo
972``n_buckets`` is still 3. In the case of a failed lookup we would access the
973memory for ``BUCKETS[3]``, and then compare a few consecutive 32 bit hashes
974before we know that we have no match. We don't end up marching through
975multiple words of memory and we really keep the number of processor data cache
976lines being accessed as small as possible.
977
978The string hash that is used for these lookup tables is the Daniel J.
979Bernstein hash which is also used in the ELF ``GNU_HASH`` sections. It is a
980very good hash for all kinds of names in programs with very few hash
981collisions.
982
983Empty buckets are designated by using an invalid hash index of ``UINT32_MAX``.
984
985Details
986^^^^^^^
987
988These name hash tables are designed to be generic where specializations of the
989table get to define additional data that goes into the header ("``HeaderData``"),
990how the string value is stored ("``KeyType``") and the content of the data for each
991hash value.
992
993Header Layout
994"""""""""""""
995
996The header has a fixed part, and the specialized part. The exact format of the
997header is:
998
999.. code-block:: c
1000
1001 struct Header
1002 {
1003 uint32_t magic; // 'HASH' magic value to allow endian detection
1004 uint16_t version; // Version number
1005 uint16_t hash_function; // The hash function enumeration that was used
1006 uint32_t bucket_count; // The number of buckets in this hash table
1007 uint32_t hashes_count; // The total number of unique hash values and hash data offsets in this table
1008 uint32_t header_data_len; // The bytes to skip to get to the hash indexes (buckets) for correct alignment
1009 // Specifically the length of the following HeaderData field - this does not
1010 // include the size of the preceding fields
1011 HeaderData header_data; // Implementation specific header data
1012 };
1013
1014The header starts with a 32 bit "``magic``" value which must be ``'HASH'``
1015encoded as an ASCII integer. This allows the detection of the start of the
1016hash table and also allows the table's byte order to be determined so the table
1017can be correctly extracted. The "``magic``" value is followed by a 16 bit
1018``version`` number which allows the table to be revised and modified in the
1019future. The current version number is 1. ``hash_function`` is a ``uint16_t``
1020enumeration that specifies which hash function was used to produce this table.
1021The current values for the hash function enumerations include:
1022
1023.. code-block:: c
1024
1025 enum HashFunctionType
1026 {
1027 eHashFunctionDJB = 0u, // Daniel J Bernstein hash function
1028 };
1029
1030``bucket_count`` is a 32 bit unsigned integer that represents how many buckets
1031are in the ``BUCKETS`` array. ``hashes_count`` is the number of unique 32 bit
1032hash values that are in the ``HASHES`` array, and is the same number of offsets
1033are contained in the ``OFFSETS`` array. ``header_data_len`` specifies the size
1034in bytes of the ``HeaderData`` that is filled in by specialized versions of
1035this table.
1036
1037Fixed Lookup
1038""""""""""""
1039
1040The header is followed by the buckets, hashes, offsets, and hash value data.
1041
1042.. code-block:: c
1043
1044 struct FixedTable
1045 {
1046 uint32_t buckets[Header.bucket_count]; // An array of hash indexes into the "hashes[]" array below
1047 uint32_t hashes [Header.hashes_count]; // Every unique 32 bit hash for the entire table is in this table
1048 uint32_t offsets[Header.hashes_count]; // An offset that corresponds to each item in the "hashes[]" array above
1049 };
1050
1051``buckets`` is an array of 32 bit indexes into the ``hashes`` array. The
1052``hashes`` array contains all of the 32 bit hash values for all names in the
1053hash table. Each hash in the ``hashes`` table has an offset in the ``offsets``
1054array that points to the data for the hash value.
1055
1056This table setup makes it very easy to repurpose these tables to contain
1057different data, while keeping the lookup mechanism the same for all tables.
1058This layout also makes it possible to save the table to disk and map it in
1059later and do very efficient name lookups with little or no parsing.
1060
1061DWARF lookup tables can be implemented in a variety of ways and can store a lot
1062of information for each name. We want to make the DWARF tables extensible and
1063able to store the data efficiently so we have used some of the DWARF features
1064that enable efficient data storage to define exactly what kind of data we store
1065for each name.
1066
1067The ``HeaderData`` contains a definition of the contents of each HashData chunk.
1068We might want to store an offset to all of the debug information entries (DIEs)
1069for each name. To keep things extensible, we create a list of items, or
1070Atoms, that are contained in the data for each name. First comes the type of
1071the data in each atom:
1072
1073.. code-block:: c
1074
1075 enum AtomType
1076 {
1077 eAtomTypeNULL = 0u,
1078 eAtomTypeDIEOffset = 1u, // DIE offset, check form for encoding
1079 eAtomTypeCUOffset = 2u, // DIE offset of the compiler unit header that contains the item in question
1080 eAtomTypeTag = 3u, // DW_TAG_xxx value, should be encoded as DW_FORM_data1 (if no tags exceed 255) or DW_FORM_data2
1081 eAtomTypeNameFlags = 4u, // Flags from enum NameFlags
1082 eAtomTypeTypeFlags = 5u, // Flags from enum TypeFlags
1083 };
1084
1085The enumeration values and their meanings are:
1086
1087.. code-block:: none
1088
1089 eAtomTypeNULL - a termination atom that specifies the end of the atom list
1090 eAtomTypeDIEOffset - an offset into the .debug_info section for the DWARF DIE for this name
1091 eAtomTypeCUOffset - an offset into the .debug_info section for the CU that contains the DIE
1092 eAtomTypeDIETag - The DW_TAG_XXX enumeration value so you don't have to parse the DWARF to see what it is
1093 eAtomTypeNameFlags - Flags for functions and global variables (isFunction, isInlined, isExternal...)
1094 eAtomTypeTypeFlags - Flags for types (isCXXClass, isObjCClass, ...)
1095
1096Then we allow each atom type to define the atom type and how the data for each
1097atom type data is encoded:
1098
1099.. code-block:: c
1100
1101 struct Atom
1102 {
1103 uint16_t type; // AtomType enum value
1104 uint16_t form; // DWARF DW_FORM_XXX defines
1105 };
1106
1107The ``form`` type above is from the DWARF specification and defines the exact
1108encoding of the data for the Atom type. See the DWARF specification for the
1109``DW_FORM_`` definitions.
1110
1111.. code-block:: c
1112
1113 struct HeaderData
1114 {
1115 uint32_t die_offset_base;
1116 uint32_t atom_count;
1117 Atoms atoms[atom_count0];
1118 };
1119
1120``HeaderData`` defines the base DIE offset that should be added to any atoms
1121that are encoded using the ``DW_FORM_ref1``, ``DW_FORM_ref2``,
1122``DW_FORM_ref4``, ``DW_FORM_ref8`` or ``DW_FORM_ref_udata``. It also defines
1123what is contained in each ``HashData`` object -- ``Atom.form`` tells us how large
1124each field will be in the ``HashData`` and the ``Atom.type`` tells us how this data
1125should be interpreted.
1126
1127For the current implementations of the "``.apple_names``" (all functions +
1128globals), the "``.apple_types``" (names of all types that are defined), and
1129the "``.apple_namespaces``" (all namespaces), we currently set the ``Atom``
1130array to be:
1131
1132.. code-block:: c
1133
1134 HeaderData.atom_count = 1;
1135 HeaderData.atoms[0].type = eAtomTypeDIEOffset;
1136 HeaderData.atoms[0].form = DW_FORM_data4;
1137
1138This defines the contents to be the DIE offset (eAtomTypeDIEOffset) that is
Eric Christopher911f1d32013-03-19 23:10:26 +00001139encoded as a 32 bit value (DW_FORM_data4). This allows a single name to have
1140multiple matching DIEs in a single file, which could come up with an inlined
1141function for instance. Future tables could include more information about the
1142DIE such as flags indicating if the DIE is a function, method, block,
1143or inlined.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001144
1145The KeyType for the DWARF table is a 32 bit string table offset into the
Eric Christopher911f1d32013-03-19 23:10:26 +00001146".debug_str" table. The ".debug_str" is the string table for the DWARF which
1147may already contain copies of all of the strings. This helps make sure, with
1148help from the compiler, that we reuse the strings between all of the DWARF
1149sections and keeps the hash table size down. Another benefit to having the
1150compiler generate all strings as DW_FORM_strp in the debug info, is that
1151DWARF parsing can be made much faster.
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001152
1153After a lookup is made, we get an offset into the hash data. The hash data
Eric Christopher911f1d32013-03-19 23:10:26 +00001154needs to be able to deal with 32 bit hash collisions, so the chunk of data
1155at the offset in the hash data consists of a triple:
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001156
1157.. code-block:: c
1158
1159 uint32_t str_offset
1160 uint32_t hash_data_count
1161 HashData[hash_data_count]
1162
1163If "str_offset" is zero, then the bucket contents are done. 99.9% of the
Eric Christopher911f1d32013-03-19 23:10:26 +00001164hash data chunks contain a single item (no 32 bit hash collision):
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001165
1166.. code-block:: none
1167
1168 .------------.
1169 | 0x00001023 | uint32_t KeyType (.debug_str[0x0001023] => "main")
1170 | 0x00000004 | uint32_t HashData count
1171 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[0] DIE offset
1172 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[1] DIE offset
1173 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[2] DIE offset
1174 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[3] DIE offset
1175 | 0x00000000 | uint32_t KeyType (end of hash chain)
1176 `------------'
1177
1178If there are collisions, you will have multiple valid string offsets:
1179
1180.. code-block:: none
1181
1182 .------------.
1183 | 0x00001023 | uint32_t KeyType (.debug_str[0x0001023] => "main")
1184 | 0x00000004 | uint32_t HashData count
1185 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[0] DIE offset
1186 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[1] DIE offset
1187 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[2] DIE offset
1188 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[3] DIE offset
1189 | 0x00002023 | uint32_t KeyType (.debug_str[0x0002023] => "print")
1190 | 0x00000002 | uint32_t HashData count
1191 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[0] DIE offset
1192 | 0x........ | uint32_t HashData[1] DIE offset
1193 | 0x00000000 | uint32_t KeyType (end of hash chain)
1194 `------------'
1195
1196Current testing with real world C++ binaries has shown that there is around 1
119732 bit hash collision per 100,000 name entries.
1198
1199Contents
1200^^^^^^^^
1201
1202As we said, we want to strictly define exactly what is included in the
1203different tables. For DWARF, we have 3 tables: "``.apple_names``",
1204"``.apple_types``", and "``.apple_namespaces``".
1205
1206"``.apple_names``" sections should contain an entry for each DWARF DIE whose
1207``DW_TAG`` is a ``DW_TAG_label``, ``DW_TAG_inlined_subroutine``, or
1208``DW_TAG_subprogram`` that has address attributes: ``DW_AT_low_pc``,
1209``DW_AT_high_pc``, ``DW_AT_ranges`` or ``DW_AT_entry_pc``. It also contains
1210``DW_TAG_variable`` DIEs that have a ``DW_OP_addr`` in the location (global and
1211static variables). All global and static variables should be included,
1212including those scoped within functions and classes. For example using the
1213following code:
1214
1215.. code-block:: c
1216
1217 static int var = 0;
1218
1219 void f ()
1220 {
1221 static int var = 0;
1222 }
1223
1224Both of the static ``var`` variables would be included in the table. All
1225functions should emit both their full names and their basenames. For C or C++,
1226the full name is the mangled name (if available) which is usually in the
1227``DW_AT_MIPS_linkage_name`` attribute, and the ``DW_AT_name`` contains the
1228function basename. If global or static variables have a mangled name in a
1229``DW_AT_MIPS_linkage_name`` attribute, this should be emitted along with the
1230simple name found in the ``DW_AT_name`` attribute.
1231
1232"``.apple_types``" sections should contain an entry for each DWARF DIE whose
1233tag is one of:
1234
1235* DW_TAG_array_type
1236* DW_TAG_class_type
1237* DW_TAG_enumeration_type
1238* DW_TAG_pointer_type
1239* DW_TAG_reference_type
1240* DW_TAG_string_type
1241* DW_TAG_structure_type
1242* DW_TAG_subroutine_type
1243* DW_TAG_typedef
1244* DW_TAG_union_type
1245* DW_TAG_ptr_to_member_type
1246* DW_TAG_set_type
1247* DW_TAG_subrange_type
1248* DW_TAG_base_type
1249* DW_TAG_const_type
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001250* DW_TAG_file_type
1251* DW_TAG_namelist
1252* DW_TAG_packed_type
1253* DW_TAG_volatile_type
1254* DW_TAG_restrict_type
1255* DW_TAG_interface_type
1256* DW_TAG_unspecified_type
1257* DW_TAG_shared_type
1258
1259Only entries with a ``DW_AT_name`` attribute are included, and the entry must
1260not be a forward declaration (``DW_AT_declaration`` attribute with a non-zero
1261value). For example, using the following code:
1262
1263.. code-block:: c
1264
1265 int main ()
1266 {
1267 int *b = 0;
1268 return *b;
1269 }
1270
1271We get a few type DIEs:
1272
1273.. code-block:: none
1274
1275 0x00000067: TAG_base_type [5]
1276 AT_encoding( DW_ATE_signed )
1277 AT_name( "int" )
1278 AT_byte_size( 0x04 )
1279
1280 0x0000006e: TAG_pointer_type [6]
1281 AT_type( {0x00000067} ( int ) )
1282 AT_byte_size( 0x08 )
1283
1284The DW_TAG_pointer_type is not included because it does not have a ``DW_AT_name``.
1285
1286"``.apple_namespaces``" section should contain all ``DW_TAG_namespace`` DIEs.
1287If we run into a namespace that has no name this is an anonymous namespace, and
1288the name should be output as "``(anonymous namespace)``" (without the quotes).
1289Why? This matches the output of the ``abi::cxa_demangle()`` that is in the
1290standard C++ library that demangles mangled names.
1291
1292
1293Language Extensions and File Format Changes
1294^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1295
1296Objective-C Extensions
1297""""""""""""""""""""""
1298
1299"``.apple_objc``" section should contain all ``DW_TAG_subprogram`` DIEs for an
1300Objective-C class. The name used in the hash table is the name of the
1301Objective-C class itself. If the Objective-C class has a category, then an
1302entry is made for both the class name without the category, and for the class
1303name with the category. So if we have a DIE at offset 0x1234 with a name of
1304method "``-[NSString(my_additions) stringWithSpecialString:]``", we would add
1305an entry for "``NSString``" that points to DIE 0x1234, and an entry for
1306"``NSString(my_additions)``" that points to 0x1234. This allows us to quickly
1307track down all Objective-C methods for an Objective-C class when doing
1308expressions. It is needed because of the dynamic nature of Objective-C where
1309anyone can add methods to a class. The DWARF for Objective-C methods is also
1310emitted differently from C++ classes where the methods are not usually
1311contained in the class definition, they are scattered about across one or more
1312compile units. Categories can also be defined in different shared libraries.
1313So we need to be able to quickly find all of the methods and class functions
1314given the Objective-C class name, or quickly find all methods and class
1315functions for a class + category name. This table does not contain any
1316selector names, it just maps Objective-C class names (or class names +
1317category) to all of the methods and class functions. The selectors are added
1318as function basenames in the "``.debug_names``" section.
1319
1320In the "``.apple_names``" section for Objective-C functions, the full name is
1321the entire function name with the brackets ("``-[NSString
1322stringWithCString:]``") and the basename is the selector only
1323("``stringWithCString:``").
1324
1325Mach-O Changes
1326""""""""""""""
1327
Alp Tokerf907b892013-12-05 05:44:44 +00001328The sections names for the apple hash tables are for non-mach-o files. For
Dmitri Gribenko6ac1de42012-11-22 11:56:02 +00001329mach-o files, the sections should be contained in the ``__DWARF`` segment with
1330names as follows:
1331
1332* "``.apple_names``" -> "``__apple_names``"
1333* "``.apple_types``" -> "``__apple_types``"
1334* "``.apple_namespaces``" -> "``__apple_namespac``" (16 character limit)
1335* "``.apple_objc``" -> "``__apple_objc``"
1336