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Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +00007 <title>LLVM 2.4 Release Notes</title>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +00008</head>
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 Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000015 <li><a href="#subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a></li>
16 <li><a href="#whatsnew">What's New in LLVM?</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
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000054<!-- Unfinished features in 2.4:
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000055 Machine LICM
56 Machine Sinking
57 LegalizeDAGTypes
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000058 llc -enable-value-prop, propagation of value info (sign/zero ext info) from
59 one MBB to another
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000060 -->
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000061
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000062 <!-- for announcement email:
63 mention dev mtg
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +000064 Xcode 3.1 and 3.1.1.
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +000065 -->
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +000066
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000067<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
68<div class="doc_section">
69 <a name="subproj">Sub-project Status Update</a>
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +000070</div>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000071<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +000072
73<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000074<p>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000075The LLVM 2.4 distribution currently consists of code from the core LLVM
76repository (which roughly contains the LLVM optimizers, code generators and
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000077supporting tools) and the llvm-gcc repository. In addition to this code, the
78LLVM Project includes other sub-projects that are in development. The two which
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +000079are the most actively developed are the <a href="#clang">Clang Project</a> and
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +000080<a href="#vmkit">vmkit Project</a>.
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000081</p>
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000082
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000083</div>
84
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000085
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000086<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +000087<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +000088<a name="clang">Clang</a>
89</div>
90
91<div class="doc_text">
92
93<p>The <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/">Clang project</a> is an effort to build
94a set of new 'LLVM native' front-end technologies for the LLVM optimizer
95and code generator. Clang is continuing to make major strides forward in all
96areas. Its C and Objective-C parsing support is very solid, and the code
97generation support is far enough along to build many C applications. While not
98yet production quality, it is progressing very nicely. In addition, C++
99front-end work has started to make significant progress.</p>
100
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000101<p>Codegen progress/state
102</p>
103
104<p>
105<a href="http://clang.llvm.org/StaticAnalysis.html">static analysis tool</a>
106</p>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000107
108</div>
109
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000110<!--=========================================================================-->
111<div class="doc_subsection">
112<a name="vmkit">vmkit</a>
113</div>
114
115<div class="doc_text">
116<p>
117The <a href="http://vmkit.llvm.org/">"vmkit" project</a> is an implementation of
118a JVM and a CLI Virtual Machines (Microsoft .NET is an
119implementation of the CLI) using the Just-In-Time compiler of LLVM.</p>
120
121<p>...</p>
122
123</div>
124
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000125
126<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
127<div class="doc_section">
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000128 <a name="whatsnew">What's New in LLVM?</a>
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000129</div>
130<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
131
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000132<div class="doc_text">
133
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000134<p>This release includes a huge number of bug fixes, performance tweaks and
135minor improvements. Some of the major improvements and new features are listed
136in this section.
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000137</p>
138</div>
139
Chris Lattnerc75fd522008-06-08 21:58:17 +0000140<!--=========================================================================-->
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000141<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000142<a name="majorfeatures">Major New Features</a>
143</div>
144
145<div class="doc_text">
146
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000147<p>LLVM 2.4 includes several major new capabilities:</p>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000148
149<ul>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000150<li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000151 <p>MRVs got generalized to FCAs. getresult is gone, ret with multiple values
152 is gone.</p>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000153 </li>
154
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000155<li><p>-O0 compile times overall much faster</p></li>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000156
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000157<li><p>Attrs changes?</p></li>
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000158
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000159
160<li><p>Initial PIC16 port</p></li>
161
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000162<li><p> Support the rest of the atomic __sync builtins</p></li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000163
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000164<li><p>...</p></li>
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000165
Chris Lattner458e79f2008-02-10 08:18:42 +0000166</ul>
167
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000168</div>
169
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000170
171<!--=========================================================================-->
172<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner625a3d82008-06-08 21:34:41 +0000173<a name="llvm-gcc">llvm-gcc 4.2 Improvements</a>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000174</div>
175
176<div class="doc_text">
177
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000178<p>LLVM 2.4 fully supports the llvm-gcc 4.2 front-end, and includes support
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000179for the C, C++, Objective-C, Ada, and Fortran front-ends.</p>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000180
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000181<p>
182<ul>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000183<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerb7bc2aa2008-06-08 22:59:35 +0000184
Gabor Greif7f39fb52008-06-09 06:06:18 +0000185</ul>
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000186
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000187</div>
188
189
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000190<!--=========================================================================-->
191<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000192<a name="coreimprovements">LLVM Core Improvements</a>
193</div>
194
195<div class="doc_text">
196<p>New features include:
197</p>
198
Chris Lattnerb7112222008-06-05 06:25:56 +0000199<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000200<li>vector shifts in the IR: no codegen support yet</li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000201<li>use diet patch landed: saved 15% IR memory footprint</li>
202<li>LLVM IR now directly represents "common" linkage, instead of
203 representing it as a form of weak linkage.</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000204<li>DebugInfoBuilder</li>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000205<li>.ll printing format change: %3 = add i32 4, 2</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000206<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000207</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000208
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000209</div>
210
211<!--=========================================================================-->
212<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000213<a name="optimizer">Optimizer Improvements</a>
214</div>
215
216<div class="doc_text">
217
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000218<p>In addition to a huge array of bug fixes and minor performance tweaks, the
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000219LLVM 2.4 optimizers support a few major enhancements:</p>
Chris Lattner2b8a52e2008-02-10 07:46:44 +0000220
221<ul>
222
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000223<li>GVN now does local PRE?</li>
224
225<li>Matthijs' Dead argument elimination rewrite</li>
226
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000227<li>Old-ADCE used control dependence and deleted output-free infinite loops.
228Added a new Loop deletion pass (for deleting output free provably-finite loops)
229and rewrote ADCE to be simpler faster, and not need control dependence.</li>
230
231<li>SparsePropagation framework for lattice-based dataflow solvers.</li>
232
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000233<li>Tail duplication was removed from the standard optimizer sequence.</li>
Chris Lattner63969522008-10-12 18:30:33 +0000234
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000235<li>Various helper functions (ComputeMaskedBits, ComputeNumSignBits, etc) were
236pulled out of instcombine and put into a new ValueTracking.h file, where they
237can be reused by other passes.</li>
238
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000239<li>MarkModRef etc</li>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000240</ul>
241
242</div>
243
244<!--=========================================================================-->
245<div class="doc_subsection">
246<a name="codegen">Code Generator Improvements</a>
247</div>
248
249<div class="doc_text">
250
251<p>We put a significant amount of work into the code generator infrastructure,
252which allows us to implement more aggressive algorithms and make it run
253faster:</p>
254
255<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000256<li>asm writers split out to their own library to avoid JITs having to link
257 them in.</li>
258<li>Big asm writer refactoring + TargetAsmInfo</li>
259<li>2-addr pass and coalescer can now remat trivial insts to avoid a copy.</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000260<li>spiller to commute instructions in order to fold a reload</li>
261<li>Stack slot coloring?</li>
262<li>Live intervals renumbering? Is this useful to external people?</li>
263<li>'is as cheap as a move' instruction flag</li>
264<li>Improvements to selection dag viewing</li>
265<li>fast isel</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000266<li>Selection dag speedups</li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000267<li>asmwriter + raw_ostream -> fastah</li>
Chris Lattner3fc6e592008-10-13 17:12:51 +0000268<li>Partitioned Boolean Quadratic Programming (PBQP) based register
269allocator.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000270<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner7795ea92008-06-08 02:45:07 +0000271
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000272</ul>
273
274</div>
275
276
277<!--=========================================================================-->
278<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000279<a name="x86specific">X86/X86-64 Specific Improvements</a>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000280</div>
Chris Lattner727c3742007-05-18 06:33:02 +0000281
Chris Lattner89e761c2006-04-18 06:32:08 +0000282<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattnerdd6acc02008-02-10 08:17:19 +0000283<p>New target-specific features include:
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000284</p>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000285
286<ul>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000287<li>Exception handling is supported by default on Linux/x86-64.</li>
Duncan Sands719f7782008-10-13 17:32:15 +0000288<li>Position Independent Code (PIC) is now supported on Linux/x86-64.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000289<li>...</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000290
Chris Lattner8ce1ba42007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000291</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000292
Chris Lattner8ce1ba42007-05-17 21:41:31 +0000293</div>
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000294
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000295<!--=========================================================================-->
296<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000297<a name="targetspecific">Other Target Specific Improvements</a>
298</div>
299
300<div class="doc_text">
301<p>New target-specific features include:
302</p>
303
304<ul>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000305<li>MIPS floating point support?</li>
Duncan Sands719f7782008-10-13 17:32:15 +0000306<li>PowerPC now supports trampolines.</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000307<li>....</li>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000308</ul>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000309
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000310</div>
Chris Lattner6cb64032008-06-05 08:02:49 +0000311
312
313<!--=========================================================================-->
314<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000315<a name="otherimprovements">Other Improvements</a>
316</div>
317
318<div class="doc_text">
319<p>New features include:
320</p>
321
322<ul>
Mikhail Glushenkovd3ec89e2008-10-13 02:46:01 +0000323<li><tt>llvmc2</tt> (the generic compiler driver) gained plugin
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000324 support. It is now easier to experiment with <tt>llvmc2</tt> and
325 build your own tools based on it. </li>
Chris Lattnerc4d68542008-10-12 19:47:48 +0000326<li>raw_ostream + formatting</li>
Chris Lattnere3df07e2008-10-12 22:57:58 +0000327<li>Recycler + pool allocation stuff?</li>
Chris Lattnerd8b33e02008-10-11 18:18:28 +0000328<li>...</li>
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000329</ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000330
Chris Lattner0a1fd102007-09-21 03:54:09 +0000331</div>
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000332
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000333<!--=========================================================================-->
334<div class="doc_subsection">
335<a name="changes">Major Changes and Removed Features</a>
336</div>
337
338<div class="doc_text">
339
Chris Lattnerf5cd9862008-10-13 18:01:01 +0000340<p>If you're already an LLVM user, this section lists some "gotchas" that you
341may run into upgrading from the previous release.</p>
342
Chris Lattner1e4d5bc2008-10-13 17:57:36 +0000343<p>The LLVM IR generated by llvm-gcc now doesn't name instructions. Use the
344 instnamer pass if you want them.</p>
345
346<li>LoadVN and GCSE are completely gone.</li>
347
348
349<p>LLVM API Changes:</p>
350
351<ul>
352
353<li>... Attributes changes ... </li>
354
355<li>The <tt>DbgStopPointInst</tt> methods <tt>getDirectory</tt> and
356<tt>getFileName</tt> now return <tt>Value*</tt> instead of strings. These can be
357converted to strings using <tt>llvm::GetConstantStringInfo</tt> defined via
358"llvm/Analysis/ValueTracking.h".</li>
359
360<li>API change: BinaryOperator::create -> Create (CmpInst, CastInst too)</li>
361<li>Various header files like "llvm/ADT/iterator" were given a .h suffix.
362 Change your code to #include "llvm/ADT/iterator.h" instead.</li>
363
364</ul>
365
366</div>
367
368
369
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000370<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000371<div class="doc_section">
372 <a name="portability">Portability and Supported Platforms</a>
373</div>
Chris Lattner62495762003-10-02 16:38:05 +0000374<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
375
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000376<div class="doc_text">
377
John Criswell64307722004-12-08 20:35:47 +0000378<p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000379
380<ul>
Mikhail Glushenkov024f7cf2008-10-13 02:08:34 +0000381<li>Intel and AMD machines (IA32) running Red Hat Linux, Fedora Core and FreeBSD
Reid Spencer9803b402005-05-17 02:47:27 +0000382 (and probably other unix-like systems).</li>
Chris Lattner7422bce2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000383<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 +0000384 64-bit modes.</li>
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000385<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 using MinGW libraries (native).</li>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000386<li>Intel and AMD machines running on Win32 with the Cygwin libraries (limited
387 support is available for native builds with Visual C++).</li>
Gabor Greif80ae8a72008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000388<li>Sun UltraSPARC workstations running Solaris 10.</li>
John Criswelld5234922005-05-13 20:28:15 +0000389<li>Alpha-based machines running Debian GNU/Linux.</li>
Gabor Greif80ae8a72008-06-05 18:39:01 +0000390<li>Itanium-based (IA64) machines running Linux and HP-UX.</li>
Chris Lattner2c7b0872004-06-01 18:22:41 +0000391</ul>
392
Chris Lattner618a99f2008-06-05 06:57:39 +0000393<p>The core LLVM infrastructure uses GNU autoconf to adapt itself
Brian Gaekee3e557e2004-05-09 05:28:35 +0000394to the machine and operating system on which it is built. However, minor
395porting may be required to get LLVM to work on new platforms. We welcome your
396portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000397
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000398</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000399
400<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000401<div class="doc_section">
402 <a name="knownproblems">Known Problems</a>
403</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000404<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
405
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000406<div class="doc_text">
407
408<p>This section contains all known problems with the LLVM system, listed by
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000409component. As new problems are discovered, they will be added to these
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000410sections. If you run into a problem, please check the <a
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000411href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000412there isn't already one.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000413
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000414</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000415
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000416<!-- ======================================================================= -->
417<div class="doc_subsection">
418 <a name="experimental">Experimental features included with this release</a>
419</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000420
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000421<div class="doc_text">
422
Misha Brukmanfa50a222004-05-12 21:46:05 +0000423<p>The following components of this LLVM release are either untested, known to
424be broken or unreliable, or are in early development. These components should
425not be relied on, and bugs should not be filed against them, but they may be
426useful to some people. In particular, if you would like to work on one of these
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000427components, please contact us on the <a
428href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVMdev list</a>.</p>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000429
430<ul>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000431<li>The MSIL, IA64, Alpha, SPU, and MIPS backends are experimental.</li>
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000432<li>The llc "<tt>-filetype=asm</tt>" (the default) is the only supported
Chris Lattner7422bce2008-02-06 06:30:34 +0000433 value for this option.</li>
Chris Lattnerb911de42004-03-14 02:03:02 +0000434</ul>
435
436</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000437
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000438<!-- ======================================================================= -->
439<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000440 <a name="x86-be">Known problems with the X86 back-end</a>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000441</div>
442
443<div class="doc_text">
444
445<ul>
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000446 <li>The X86 backend does not yet support
447 all <a href="http://llvm.org/PR879">inline assembly that uses the X86
448 floating point stack</a>. It supports the 'f' and 't' constraints, but not
449 'u'.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000450 <li>The X86 backend generates inefficient floating point code when configured
451 to generate code for systems that don't have SSE2.</li>
Duncan Sands0bc15262008-06-08 19:38:43 +0000452 <li>Win64 code generation wasn't widely tested. Everything should work, but we
Anton Korobeynikov486c7d32008-06-08 10:24:13 +0000453 expect small issues to happen. Also, llvm-gcc cannot build mingw64 runtime
454 currently due
455 to <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2255">several</a>
Chris Lattner54d12102008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000456 <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2257">bugs</a> due to lack of support for the
457 'u' inline assembly constraint and X87 floating point inline assembly.</li>
Dan Gohman721b3722008-06-08 23:05:11 +0000458 <li>The X86-64 backend does not yet support the LLVM IR instruction
459 <tt>va_arg</tt>. Currently, the llvm-gcc front-end supports variadic
460 argument constructs on X86-64 by lowering them manually.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000461</ul>
462
463</div>
464
465<!-- ======================================================================= -->
466<div class="doc_subsection">
467 <a name="ppc-be">Known problems with the PowerPC back-end</a>
468</div>
469
470<div class="doc_text">
471
472<ul>
Nicolas Geoffray77d99502007-05-15 09:21:28 +0000473<li>The Linux PPC32/ABI support needs testing for the interpreter and static
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000474compilation, and lacks support for debug information.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000475</ul>
476
477</div>
478
479<!-- ======================================================================= -->
480<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000481 <a name="arm-be">Known problems with the ARM back-end</a>
482</div>
483
484<div class="doc_text">
485
486<ul>
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000487<li>Thumb mode works only on ARMv6 or higher processors. On sub-ARMv6
Duncan Sands47fc0a22007-09-26 15:59:54 +0000488processors, thumb programs can crash or produce wrong
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000489results (<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1388">PR1388</a>).</li>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000490<li>Compilation for ARM Linux OABI (old ABI) is supported, but not fully tested.
491</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000492<li>There is a bug in QEMU-ARM (&lt;= 0.9.0) which causes it to incorrectly
493 execute
Chris Lattnerbee7b322007-05-23 04:39:32 +0000494programs compiled with LLVM. Please use more recent versions of QEMU.</li>
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000495</ul>
496
497</div>
498
499<!-- ======================================================================= -->
500<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000501 <a name="sparc-be">Known problems with the SPARC back-end</a>
502</div>
503
504<div class="doc_text">
505
506<ul>
507<li>The SPARC backend only supports the 32-bit SPARC ABI (-m32), it does not
508 support the 64-bit SPARC ABI (-m64).</li>
509</ul>
510
511</div>
512
513<!-- ======================================================================= -->
514<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000515 <a name="alpha-be">Known problems with the Alpha back-end</a>
516</div>
517
518<div class="doc_text">
519
520<ul>
521
522<li>On 21164s, some rare FP arithmetic sequences which may trap do not have the
523appropriate nops inserted to ensure restartability.</li>
524
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000525</ul>
526</div>
527
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000528<!-- ======================================================================= -->
529<div class="doc_subsection">
530 <a name="ia64-be">Known problems with the IA64 back-end</a>
531</div>
532
533<div class="doc_text">
534
535<ul>
Chris Lattner54d12102008-06-08 23:12:47 +0000536<li>The Itanium backend is highly experimental, and has a number of known
537 issues. We are looking for a maintainer for the Itanium backend. If you
538 are interested, please contact the llvmdev mailing list.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000539</ul>
540
541</div>
542
543<!-- ======================================================================= -->
544<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000545 <a name="c-be">Known problems with the C back-end</a>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000546</div>
547
548<div class="doc_text">
549
550<ul>
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000551<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR802">The C backend has only basic support for
552 inline assembly code</a>.</li>
Chris Lattner8e061162007-09-26 06:01:35 +0000553<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR1658">The C backend violates the ABI of common
554 C++ programs</a>, preventing intermixing between C++ compiled by the CBE and
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000555 C++ code compiled with llc or native compilers.</li>
Duncan Sandse09506a2008-02-10 13:40:55 +0000556<li>The C backend does not support all exception handling constructs.</li>
Chris Lattnerb81f10e2006-11-18 07:51:14 +0000557</ul>
558
559</div>
John Criswell3bdbd302005-11-08 21:11:33 +0000560
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000561
562<!-- ======================================================================= -->
563<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000564 <a name="c-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C front-end</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000565</div>
Chris Lattner178f3db2003-10-02 05:07:23 +0000566
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000567<div class="doc_text">
Chris Lattner72a269f2006-03-03 00:34:26 +0000568
Chris Lattnercdc44ed2008-02-06 18:00:06 +0000569<p>llvm-gcc does not currently support <a href="http://llvm.org/PR869">Link-Time
570Optimization</a> on most platforms "out-of-the-box". Please inquire on the
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000571llvmdev mailing list if you are interested.</p>
Chris Lattner44124232006-08-08 17:27:28 +0000572
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000573<p>The only major language feature of GCC not supported by llvm-gcc is
574 the <tt>__builtin_apply</tt> family of builtins. However, some extensions
575 are only supported on some targets. For example, trampolines are only
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000576 supported on some targets (these are used when you take the address of a
577 nested function).</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000578
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000579<p>If you run into GCC extensions which are not supported, please let us know.
580</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000581
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000582</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000583
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000584<!-- ======================================================================= -->
585<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000586 <a name="c++-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc C++ front-end</a>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000587</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000588
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000589<div class="doc_text">
590
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000591<p>The C++ front-end is considered to be fully
Chris Lattnerb5bb5972004-12-07 08:04:13 +0000592tested and works for a number of non-trivial programs, including LLVM
Chris Lattner97beb512007-05-14 06:56:09 +0000593itself, Qt, Mozilla, etc.</p>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000594
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000595<ul>
Anton Korobeynikov28f08aa2008-10-11 18:27:16 +0000596<li>Exception handling works well on the X86 and PowerPC targets. Currently
597 only linux and darwin targets are supported (both 32 and 64 bit).</li>
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000598</ul>
Chris Lattner46ecf612003-10-07 22:14:37 +0000599
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000600</div>
601
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000602
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000603<!-- ======================================================================= -->
604<div class="doc_subsection">
Chris Lattnera1a4c9a2008-06-05 06:35:40 +0000605 <a name="ada-fe">Known problems with the llvm-gcc Ada front-end</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000606</div>
607
608<div class="doc_text">
609The llvm-gcc 4.2 Ada compiler works fairly well, however this is not a mature
610technology and problems should be expected.
611<ul>
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000612<li>The Ada front-end currently only builds on X86-32. This is mainly due
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000613to lack of trampoline support (pointers to nested functions) on other platforms,
Duncan Sands56448462008-06-08 20:18:35 +0000614however it <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2006">also fails to build on X86-64</a>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000615which does support trampolines.</li>
616<li>The Ada front-end <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2007">fails to bootstrap</a>.
617Workaround: configure with --disable-bootstrap.</li>
Duncan Sandsaef747f2008-10-13 17:27:23 +0000618<li>The c380004, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2010">c393010</a>
619and <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2421">cxg2021</a> ACATS tests fail
620(c380004 also fails with gcc-4.2 mainline).</li>
621<li>Some gcc specific Ada tests continue to crash the compiler.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000622<li>The -E binder option (exception backtraces)
623<a href="http://llvm.org/PR1982">does not work</a> and will result in programs
624crashing if an exception is raised. Workaround: do not use -E.</li>
625<li>Only discrete types <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1981">are allowed to start
626or finish at a non-byte offset</a> in a record. Workaround: do not pack records
627or use representation clauses that result in a field of a non-discrete type
628starting or finishing in the middle of a byte.</li>
Chris Lattnerb076b002008-06-08 21:19:07 +0000629<li>The <tt>lli</tt> interpreter <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2009">considers
630'main' as generated by the Ada binder to be invalid</a>.
631Workaround: hand edit the file to use pointers for <tt>argv</tt> and
632<tt>envp</tt> rather than integers.</li>
633<li>The <tt>-fstack-check</tt> option <a href="http://llvm.org/PR2008">is
634ignored</a>.</li>
Chris Lattnere38ac152008-02-12 06:29:45 +0000635</ul>
636</div>
637
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000638<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000639<div class="doc_section">
640 <a name="additionalinfo">Additional Information</a>
641</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000642<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
643
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000644<div class="doc_text">
645
Chris Lattnercb5596d2005-05-16 17:13:10 +0000646<p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a
Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000647href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, in particular in the <a
648href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> section. The web page also
Reid Spencerc7f87f22007-07-09 08:04:31 +0000649contains versions of the API documentation which is up-to-date with the
650Subversion version of the source code.
Misha Brukman96158092005-03-30 19:14:24 +0000651You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going
652into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000653
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000654<p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact
Chris Lattnera69595e2005-10-29 07:07:09 +0000655us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing
Chris Lattnerb84f3322003-12-12 21:22:16 +0000656lists</a>.</p>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000657
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000658</div>
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000659
660<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
Chris Lattner3d482502003-10-02 04:57:28 +0000661
Misha Brukman80731b92003-11-22 00:38:41 +0000662<hr>
Misha Brukman68aab3b2003-11-22 01:23:39 +0000663<address>
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Chris Lattnere0c1df42007-05-18 00:44:29 +0000669 <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
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