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Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +00007 <title>LLVM 2.4 Release Notes</title>
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9<body>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000010
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000011<div class="doc_title">LLVM 2.4 Release Notes</div>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000012
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000013<ol>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000014 <li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000015 <li><a href="#changes">Major Changes and Sub-project Status</a></li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000016 <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New?</a></li>
Chris Lattner77a51732004-04-30 22:17:12 +000017 <li><a href="GettingStarted.html">Installation Instructions</a></li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000018 <li><a href="#portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a></li>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000019 <li><a href="#knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000020 <li><a href="#additionalinfo">Additional Information</a></li>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000021</ol>
22
Chris Lattner020e1fc2004-05-23 21:07:27 +000023<div class="doc_author">
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +000024 <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a><p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000025</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000026
27<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000028<div class="doc_section">
29 <a name="intro">Introduction</a>
30</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000031<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
32
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000033<div class="doc_text">
34
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000035<p>This document contains the release notes for the LLVM Compiler
36Infrastructure, release 2.4. Here we describe the status of LLVM, including
37major improvements from the previous release and significant known problems.
38All LLVM releases may be downloaded from the <a
39href="http://llvm.org/releases/">LLVM releases web site</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +000040
Chris Lattnerb5bb5972004-12-07 08:04:13 +000041<p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +000042release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM
Chris Lattnere7525b52003-10-07 21:38:31 +000043web site</a>. If you have questions or comments, the <a
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000044href="http://mail.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM Developer's Mailing
45List</a> is a good place to send them.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000046
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000047<p>Note that if you are reading this file from a Subversion checkout or the
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +000048main LLVM web page, this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the
49current one. To see the release notes for a specific releases, please see the
50<a href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000051
52</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000053
54<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000055<div class="doc_section">
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000056 <a name="changes">Major Changes and Sub-project Status</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000057</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +000058<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
59
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000060<p>If you're already an LLVM user, this section lists some "gotchas" that you
61may run into upgrading from the previous release. It also includes some status
62updates on subprojects of LLVM.</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +000063
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +000064<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerba7bd472003-12-06 20:22:41 +000065
Chris Lattner21a90402004-05-24 04:50:25 +000066</div>
67
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000068<!-- Unfinished features in 2.4:
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000069 Machine LICM
70 Machine Sinking
71 LegalizeDAGTypes
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000072 llc -enable-value-prop, propagation of value info (sign/zero ext info) from
73 one MBB to another
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000074 -->
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000075
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000076 <!-- for announcement email:
77 mention dev mtg
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +000078 Xcode 3.1 and 3.1.1.
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000079 -->
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000080
Chris Lattnerba7bd472003-12-06 20:22:41 +000081<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattner406bddf2005-05-15 05:44:51 +000082<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +000083<a name="otherprojects">Other LLVM Sub-Projects</a>
84</div>
85
86<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000087<p>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000088The core LLVM 2.4 distribution currently consists of code from the core LLVM
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000089repository (which roughly contains the LLVM optimizer, code generators and
90supporting tools) and the llvm-gcc repository. In addition to this code, the
91LLVM Project includes other sub-projects that are in development. The two which
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000092are the most actively developed are the <a href="#clang">Clang Project</a> and
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000093<a href="#vmkit">vmkit Project</a>.
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000094</p>
95</div>
96
97<!--=========================================================================-->
98<div class="doc_subsubsection">
99<a name="vmkit">vmkit</a>
100</div>
101
102<div class="doc_text">
103<p>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000104The <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/">"vmkit" project</a> is an implementation of
105a JVM and a CLI Virtual Machines (Microsoft .NET is an
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000106implementation of the CLI) using the Just-In-Time compiler of LLVM.</p>
107
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000108<p>...</p>
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000109
110</div>
111
112<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000113<div class="doc_subsubsection">
114<a name="clang">Clang</a>
115</div>
116
117<div class="doc_text">
118
119<p>The <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">Clang project</a> is an effort to build
120a set of new 'LLVM native' front-end technologies for the LLVM optimizer
121and code generator. Clang is continuing to make major strides forward in all
122areas. Its C and Objective-C parsing support is very solid, and the code
123generation support is far enough along to build many C applications. While not
124yet production quality, it is progressing very nicely. In addition, C++
125front-end work has started to make significant progress.</p>
126
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000127<p>Codegen progress/state
128</p>
129
130<p>
131<a href="http://clang.llvm.org/StaticAnalysis.html">static analysis tool</a>
132</p>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000133
134</div>
135
136
137<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
138<div class="doc_section">
139 <a name="whatsnew">What's New?</a>
140</div>
141<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
142
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000143<div class="doc_text">
144
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000145<p>This release includes a huge number of bug fixes, performance tweaks and
146minor improvements. Some of the major improvements and new features are listed
147in this section.
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000148</p>
149</div>
150
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000151<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000152<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000153<a name="majorfeatures">Major New Features</a>
154</div>
155
156<div class="doc_text">
157
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000158<p>LLVM 2.4 includes several major new capabilities:</p>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000159
160<ul>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000161<li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000162 <p>MRVs got generalized to FCAs. getresult is gone, ret with multiple values
163 is gone.</p>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000164 </li>
165
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000166<li><p>-O0 compile times overall much faster</p></li>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000167
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000168<li><p>Attrs changes?</p></li>
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000169
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000170
171<li><p>Initial PIC16 port</p></li>
172
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000173<li><p> Support the rest of the atomic __sync builtins</p></li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000174
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000175<li><p>...</p></li>
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000176
Chris Lattner458e79f2008-02-10 08:18:42 +0000177</ul>
178
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000179</div>
180
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000181
182<!--=========================================================================-->
183<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000184<a name="llvm-gcc">llvm-gcc 4.2 Improvements</a>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000185</div>
186
187<div class="doc_text">
188
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000189<p>LLVM 2.4 fully supports the llvm-gcc 4.2 front-end, and includes support
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000190for the C, C++, Objective-C, Ada, and Fortran front-ends.</p>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000191
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000192<p>
193<ul>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000194<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000195
Gabor Greif7f39fb52008-06-09 06:06:18 +0000196</ul>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000197
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000198</div>
199
200
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000201<!--=========================================================================-->
202<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000203<a name="coreimprovements">LLVM Core Improvements</a>
204</div>
205
206<div class="doc_text">
207<p>New features include:
208</p>
209
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000210<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000211<li>vector shifts in the IR: no codegen support yet</li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000212<li>use diet patch landed: saved 15% IR memory footprint</li>
213<li>LLVM IR now directly represents "common" linkage, instead of
214 representing it as a form of weak linkage.</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000215<li>DebugInfoBuilder</li>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000216<li>.ll printing format change: %3 = add i32 4, 2</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000217<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000218</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000219
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000220</div>
221
222<!--=========================================================================-->
223<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000224<a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a>
225</div>
226
227<div class="doc_text">
228
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000229<p>In addition to a huge array of bug fixes and minor performance tweaks, the
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000230LLVM 2.4 optimizers support a few major enhancements:</p>
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000231
232<ul>
233
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000234<li>GVN now does local PRE?</li>
235
236<li>Matthijs' Dead argument elimination rewrite</li>
237
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000238<li>Old-ADCE used control dependence and deleted output-free infinite loops.
239Added a new Loop deletion pass (for deleting output free provably-finite loops)
240and rewrote ADCE to be simpler faster, and not need control dependence.</li>
241
242<li>SparsePropagation framework for lattice-based dataflow solvers.</li>
243
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000244<li>Tail duplication was removed from the standard optimizer sequence.</li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000245
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000246<li>Various helper functions (ComputeMaskedBits, ComputeNumSignBits, etc) were
247pulled out of instcombine and put into a new ValueTracking.h file, where they
248can be reused by other passes.</li>
249
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000250<li>MarkModRef etc</li>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000251</ul>
252
253</div>
254
255<!--=========================================================================-->
256<div class="doc_subsection">
257<a name="codegen">Code Generator Improvements</a>
258</div>
259
260<div class="doc_text">
261
262<p>We put a significant amount of work into the code generator infrastructure,
263which allows us to implement more aggressive algorithms and make it run
264faster:</p>
265
266<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000267<li>asm writers split out to their own library to avoid JITs having to link
268 them in.</li>
269<li>Big asm writer refactoring + TargetAsmInfo</li>
270<li>2-addr pass and coalescer can now remat trivial insts to avoid a copy.</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000271<li>spiller to commute instructions in order to fold a reload</li>
272<li>Stack slot coloring?</li>
273<li>Live intervals renumbering? Is this useful to external people?</li>
274<li>'is as cheap as a move' instruction flag</li>
275<li>Improvements to selection dag viewing</li>
276<li>fast isel</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000277<li>Selection dag speedups</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000278<li>asmwriter + raw_ostream -> fastah</li>
Chris Lattner3fc6e592008-10-13 17:12:51 +0000279<li>Partitioned Boolean Quadratic Programming (PBQP) based register
280allocator.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000281<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000282
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000283</ul>
284
285</div>
286
287
288<!--=========================================================================-->
289<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000290<a name="x86specific">X86/X86-64 Specific Improvements</a>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000291</div>
Chris Lattner727c3742007-05-18 06:33:02 +0000292
Chris Lattner89e761c2006-04-18 06:32:08 +0000293<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000294<p>New target-specific features include:
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000295</p>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000296
297<ul>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000298<li>Exception handling is supported by default on Linux/x86-64.</li>
Duncan Sands719f7782008-10-13 17:32:15 +0000299<li>Position Independent Code (PIC) is now supported on Linux/x86-64.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000300<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000301
Chris Lattner8ce1ba42007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000302</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000303
Chris Lattner8ce1ba42007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000304</div>
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000305
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000306<!--=========================================================================-->
307<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000308<a name="targetspecific">Other Target Specific Improvements</a>
309</div>
310
311<div class="doc_text">
312<p>New target-specific features include:
313</p>
314
315<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000316<li>MIPS floating point support?</li>
Duncan Sands719f7782008-10-13 17:32:15 +0000317<li>PowerPC now supports trampolines.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000318<li>....</li>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000319</ul>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000320
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000321</div>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000322
323
324<!--=========================================================================-->
325<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000326<a name="otherimprovements">Other Improvements</a>
327</div>
328
329<div class="doc_text">
330<p>New features include:
331</p>
332
333<ul>
Mikhail Glushenkovd3ec89e2008-10-13 02:46:01 +0000334<li><tt>llvmc2</tt> (the generic compiler driver) gained plugin
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000335 support. It is now easier to experiment with <tt>llvmc2</tt> and
336 build your own tools based on it. </li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000337<li>raw_ostream + formatting</li>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000338<li>Recycler + pool allocation stuff?</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000339<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000340</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000341
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000342</div>
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000343
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000344<!--=========================================================================-->
345<div class="doc_subsection">
346<a name="changes">Major Changes and Removed Features</a>
347</div>
348
349<div class="doc_text">
350
351<p>The LLVM IR generated by llvm-gcc now doesn't name instructions. Use the
352 instnamer pass if you want them.</p>
353
354<li>LoadVN and GCSE are completely gone.</li>
355
356
357<p>LLVM API Changes:</p>
358
359<ul>
360
361<li>... Attributes changes ... </li>
362
363<li>The <tt>DbgStopPointInst</tt> methods <tt>getDirectory</tt> and
364<tt>getFileName</tt> now return <tt>Value*</tt> instead of strings. These can be
365converted to strings using <tt>llvm::GetConstantStringInfo</tt> defined via
366"llvm/Analysis/ValueTracking.h".</li>
367
368<li>API change: BinaryOperator::create -> Create (CmpInst, CastInst too)</li>
369<li>Various header files like "llvm/ADT/iterator" were given a .h suffix.
370 Change your code to #include "llvm/ADT/iterator.h" instead.</li>
371
372</ul>
373
374</div>
375
376
377
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000378<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000379<div class="doc_section">
380 <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a>
381</div>
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000382<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
383
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000384<div class="doc_text">
385
John Criswell64307722004-12-08 20:35:47 +0000386<p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000387
388<ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000389<li>Intel and AMD machines (IA32) running Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core and FreeBSD
Reid Spencer9803b402005-05-17 02:47:27 +0000390 (and probably other unix-like systems).</li>
Chris Lattner7422bce2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000391<li>PowerPC and X86-based Mac OS X systems, running 10.3 and above in 32-bit and
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000392 64-bit modes.</li>
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000393<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native).</li>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000394<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited
395 support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li>
Gabor Greif80ae8a72008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000396<li>Sun UltraSPARC workstations running Solaris 10.</li>
John Criswelld5234922005-05-13 20:28:15 +0000397<li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li>
Gabor Greif80ae8a72008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000398<li>Itanium-based (IA64) machines running Linux and HP-UX.</li>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000399</ul>
400
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000401<p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses GNU autoconf to adapt itself
Brian Gaekee3e557e2004-05-09 05:28:35 +0000402to the machine and operating system on which it is built. However, minor
403porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms. We welcome your
404portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000405
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000406</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000407
408<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000409<div class="doc_section">
410 <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
411</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000412<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
413
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000414<div class="doc_text">
415
416<p>This section contains all known problems with the LLVM system, listed by
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000417component. As new problems are discovered, they will be added to these
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000418sections. If you run into a problem, please check the <a
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000419href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000420there isn't already one.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000421
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000422</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000423
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000424<!-- ======================================================================= -->
425<div class="doc_subsection">
426 <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a>
427</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000428
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000429<div class="doc_text">
430
Misha Brukmanfa50a222004-05-12 21:46:05 +0000431<p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to
432be broken or unreliable, or are in early development. These components should
433not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be
434useful to some people. In particular, if you would like to work on one of these
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000435components, please contact us on the <a
436href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000437
438<ul>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000439<li>The MSIL, IA64, Alpha, SPU, and MIPS backends are experimental.</li>
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000440<li>The llc "<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only supported
Chris Lattner7422bce2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000441 value for this option.</li>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000442</ul>
443
444</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000445
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000446<!-- ======================================================================= -->
447<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000448 <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000449</div>
450
451<div class="doc_text">
452
453<ul>
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000454 <li>The X86 backend does not yet support
455 all <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline assembly that uses the X86
456 floating point stack</a>. It supports the 'f' and 't' constraints, but not
457 'u'.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000458 <li>The X86 backend generates inefficient floating point code when configured
459 to generate code for systems that don't have SSE2.</li>
Duncan Sands0bc15262008-06-08 19:38:43 +0000460 <li>Win64 code generation wasn't widely tested. Everything should work, but we
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000461 expect small issues to happen. Also, llvm-gcc cannot build mingw64 runtime
462 currently due
463 to <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2255">several</a>
Chris Lattner54d12102008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000464 <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2257">bugs</a> due to lack of support for the
465 'u' inline assembly constraint and X87 floating point inline assembly.</li>
Dan Gohman721b3722008-06-08 23:05:11 +0000466 <li>The X86-64 backend does not yet support the LLVM IR instruction
467 <tt>va_arg</tt>. Currently, the llvm-gcc front-end supports variadic
468 argument constructs on X86-64 by lowering them manually.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000469</ul>
470
471</div>
472
473<!-- ======================================================================= -->
474<div class="doc_subsection">
475 <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a>
476</div>
477
478<div class="doc_text">
479
480<ul>
Nicolas Geoffray77d99502007-05-15 09:21:28 +0000481<li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000482compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000483</ul>
484
485</div>
486
487<!-- ======================================================================= -->
488<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000489 <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a>
490</div>
491
492<div class="doc_text">
493
494<ul>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000495<li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6
Duncan Sands47fc0a22007-09-26 15:59:54 +0000496processors, thumb programs can crash or produce wrong
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000497results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000498<li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported, but not fully tested.
499</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000500<li>There is a bug in QEMU-ARM (&lt;= 0.9.0) which causes it to incorrectly
501 execute
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000502programs compiled with LLVM. Please use more recent versions of QEMU.</li>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000503</ul>
504
505</div>
506
507<!-- ======================================================================= -->
508<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000509 <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a>
510</div>
511
512<div class="doc_text">
513
514<ul>
515<li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32), it does not
516 support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li>
517</ul>
518
519</div>
520
521<!-- ======================================================================= -->
522<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000523 <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a>
524</div>
525
526<div class="doc_text">
527
528<ul>
529
530<li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the
531appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li>
532
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000533</ul>
534</div>
535
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000536<!-- ======================================================================= -->
537<div class="doc_subsection">
538 <a name="ia64-be">Known problems with the IA64 back-end</a>
539</div>
540
541<div class="doc_text">
542
543<ul>
Chris Lattner54d12102008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000544<li>The Itanium backend is highly experimental, and has a number of known
545 issues. We are looking for a maintainer for the Itanium backend. If you
546 are interested, please contact the llvmdev mailing list.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000547</ul>
548
549</div>
550
551<!-- ======================================================================= -->
552<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000553 <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000554</div>
555
556<div class="doc_text">
557
558<ul>
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000559<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend has only basic support for
560 inline assembly code</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner8e061162007-09-26 06:01:35 +0000561<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR1658">The C backend violates the ABI of common
562 C++ programs</a>, preventing intermixing between C++ compiled by the CBE and
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000563 C++ code compiled with llc or native compilers.</li>
Duncan Sandse09506a2008-02-10 13:40:55 +0000564<li>The C backend does not support all exception handling constructs.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000565</ul>
566
567</div>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000568
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000569
570<!-- ======================================================================= -->
571<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000572 <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C front-end</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000573</div>
Chris Lattner178f3db2003-10-02 05:07:23 +0000574
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000575<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000576
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000577<p>llvm-gcc does not currently support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR869">Link-Time
578Optimization</a> on most platforms "out-of-the-box". Please inquire on the
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000579llvmdev mailing list if you are interested.</p>
Chris Lattner44124232006-08-08 17:27:28 +0000580
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000581<p>The only major language feature of GCC not supported by llvm-gcc is
582 the <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> family of builtins. However, some extensions
583 are only supported on some targets. For example, trampolines are only
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000584 supported on some targets (these are used when you take the address of a
585 nested function).</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000586
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000587<p>If you run into GCC extensions which are not supported, please let us know.
588</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000589
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000590</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000591
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000592<!-- ======================================================================= -->
593<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000594 <a name="c++-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C++ front-end</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000595</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000596
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000597<div class="doc_text">
598
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000599<p>The C++ front-end is considered to be fully
Chris Lattnerb5bb5972004-12-07 08:04:13 +0000600tested and works for a number of non-trivial programs, including LLVM
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000601itself, Qt, Mozilla, etc.</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000602
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000603<ul>
Anton Korobeynikov28f08aa2008-10-11 18:27:16 +0000604<li>Exception handling works well on the X86 and PowerPC targets. Currently
605 only linux and darwin targets are supported (both 32 and 64 bit).</li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000606</ul>
Chris Lattner46ecf612003-10-07 22:14:37 +0000607
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000608</div>
609
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000610
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000611<!-- ======================================================================= -->
612<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000613 <a name="ada-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Ada front-end</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000614</div>
615
616<div class="doc_text">
617The llvm-gcc 4.2 Ada compiler works fairly well, however this is not a mature
618technology and problems should be expected.
619<ul>
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000620<li>The Ada front-end currently only builds on X86-32. This is mainly due
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000621to lack of trampoline support (pointers to nested functions) on other platforms,
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000622however it <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2006">also fails to build on X86-64</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000623which does support trampolines.</li>
624<li>The Ada front-end <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2007">fails to bootstrap</a>.
625Workaround: configure with --disable-bootstrap.</li>
Duncan Sandsaef747f2008-10-13 17:27:23 +0000626<li>The c380004, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a>
627and <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2421">cxg2021</a> ACATS tests fail
628(c380004 also fails with gcc-4.2 mainline).</li>
629<li>Some gcc specific Ada tests continue to crash the compiler.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000630<li>The -E binder option (exception backtraces)
631<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1982">does not work</a> and will result in programs
632crashing if an exception is raised. Workaround: do not use -E.</li>
633<li>Only discrete types <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1981">are allowed to start
634or finish at a non-byte offset</a> in a record. Workaround: do not pack records
635or use representation clauses that result in a field of a non-discrete type
636starting or finishing in the middle of a byte.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000637<li>The <tt>lli</tt> interpreter <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2009">considers
638'main' as generated by the Ada binder to be invalid</a>.
639Workaround: hand edit the file to use pointers for <tt>argv</tt> and
640<tt>envp</tt> rather than integers.</li>
641<li>The <tt>-fstack-check</tt> option <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2008">is
642ignored</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000643</ul>
644</div>
645
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000646<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000647<div class="doc_section">
648 <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a>
649</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000650<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
651
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000652<div class="doc_text">
653
Chris Lattnercb5596d2005-05-16 17:13:10 +0000654<p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a
Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000655href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a
656href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section. The web page also
Reid Spencerc7f87f22007-07-09 08:04:31 +0000657contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the
658Subversion version of the source code.
Misha Brukman96158092005-03-30 19:14:24 +0000659You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going
660into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000661
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000662<p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000663us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000664lists</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000665
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000666</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000667
668<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000669
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000670<hr>
Misha Brukman68aab3b2003-11-22 01:23:39 +0000671<address>
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Misha Brukman68aab3b2003-11-22 01:23:39 +0000676
Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000677 <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
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