llvm dev - Mar 2017 - Distributing llc and opt with own package?

Hi Matthias,

I’m trying to see if I can make do with the clang interface only.
How do I pass flags to opt or llc? Say I want to enable/disable tbaa,
which could be done with `--enable-tbaa=true/false` or `-mem2reg` or
`-globalopt`? Would the `-llvm` switch be, what I’m looking for or the
`-Xclang`, or something else entirely?

Cheers,
 Moritz
> On Mar 11, 2017, at 2:26 AM, Matthias Braun <mbraun at apple.com>
wrote:
> 
> Just a word of warning:
> 
> llc and opt are primarily developed as debugging tools to support LLVM
testing. They are not intended to be shipped or used as code generators for
frontends. They do often work in these settings but you may hit rough edges that
nobody will care to fix and the behavior or commandline interface may change
every release... A more stable alternative is usually to feed .ir/.bc files to
clang or better link to the llvm libraries and generate the code from there.
> 
> - Matthias
> 
>> On Mar 10, 2017, at 6:31 AM, Moritz Angermann via llvm-dev <llvm-dev
at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I was wondering, if someone could point me into the right direction,
>> towards building just llc and opt (potentially 4.0 + patches) to
distribute
>> them in the interim with compiler?  The idea is that we’d like to pin
our
>> llvm ir code generator to a specific set of llc and opt tools, with
>> potential patches applied, until we manage to get all those patches
>> upstreamed.
>> 
>> I’d like to find answers to the following question:
>> - How trivially can I build just llc and opt into (maybe static?)
>> distributable binaries?
>> - Would generating them for multiple architectures pose any specific
>> complications?
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Moritz
>> _______________________________________________
>> LLVM Developers mailing list
>> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
>> http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev
>

-mllvm xxx will pass options directly to the llvm libraries though for that the
same caveats apply in that they are more of a developer/debug tool than a stable
interface.
The stable interface to clang is the usual flags like -O0/-O3/-fXXX/-mXXX ...

If you find yourself in a position that you want to control the pass pipeline
down to single passes (why would you want to enable/disable mem2reg really?)
then you are relying on LLVM internals anyway. If you need/want that level of
control then your best bet would be to link against the LLVM libraries or I
guess shipping and relying on llc/opt is similarily good/bad. It will work but
you will have to do more work to keep track with llvm releases, development of
new passes, new behaviors, ...

- Matthias
> Am 10.03.2017 um 23:50 schrieb Moritz Angermann <moritz.angermann at
gmail.com>:
> 
> Hi Matthias,
> 
> I’m trying to see if I can make do with the clang interface only.
> How do I pass flags to opt or llc? Say I want to enable/disable tbaa,
> which could be done with `--enable-tbaa=true/false` or `-mem2reg` or
> `-globalopt`? Would the `-llvm` switch be, what I’m looking for or the
> `-Xclang`, or something else entirely?
> 
> Cheers,
> Moritz
> 
>> On Mar 11, 2017, at 2:26 AM, Matthias Braun <mbraun at apple.com>
wrote:
>> 
>> Just a word of warning:
>> 
>> llc and opt are primarily developed as debugging tools to support LLVM
testing. They are not intended to be shipped or used as code generators for
frontends. They do often work in these settings but you may hit rough edges that
nobody will care to fix and the behavior or commandline interface may change
every release... A more stable alternative is usually to feed .ir/.bc files to
clang or better link to the llvm libraries and generate the code from there.
>> 
>> - Matthias
>> 
>>> On Mar 10, 2017, at 6:31 AM, Moritz Angermann via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I was wondering, if someone could point me into the right
direction,
>>> towards building just llc and opt (potentially 4.0 + patches) to
distribute
>>> them in the interim with compiler?  The idea is that we’d like to
pin our
>>> llvm ir code generator to a specific set of llc and opt tools, with
>>> potential patches applied, until we manage to get all those patches
>>> upstreamed.
>>> 
>>> I’d like to find answers to the following question:
>>> - How trivially can I build just llc and opt into (maybe static?)
>>> distributable binaries?
>>> - Would generating them for multiple architectures pose any
specific
>>> complications?
>>> 
>>> Cheers,
>>> Moritz
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> LLVM Developers mailing list
>>> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
>>> http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev
>> 
>

Hi Matthias,

what I’m observing right now is that replacing opt+llc with an clang invocation,
and
subsequently fewer intermediate files, increases the consumed time with -O0 by
200%.
We used to always run opt with -mem2reg -globalopt, and I believe those are not
part
of -O0 (is there an easy way to list all passes that -OX flags to clang imply
for the
optimizer and code gen?).

Could the IR imply certain optimization passes to be required? Could llvm be
taught
that say a certain calling convention needs a pass to run?

Cheers,
 Moritz
> On Mar 12, 2017, at 3:41 AM, Matthias Braun <matze at braunis.de>
wrote:
> 
> -mllvm xxx will pass options directly to the llvm libraries though for that
the same caveats apply in that they are more of a developer/debug tool than a
stable interface.
> The stable interface to clang is the usual flags like -O0/-O3/-fXXX/-mXXX
...
> 
> If you find yourself in a position that you want to control the pass
pipeline down to single passes (why would you want to enable/disable mem2reg
really?) then you are relying on LLVM internals anyway. If you need/want that
level of control then your best bet would be to link against the LLVM libraries
or I guess shipping and relying on llc/opt is similarily good/bad. It will work
but you will have to do more work to keep track with llvm releases, development
of new passes, new behaviors, ...
> 
> - Matthias
> 
>> Am 10.03.2017 um 23:50 schrieb Moritz Angermann <moritz.angermann at
gmail.com>:
>> 
>> Hi Matthias,
>> 
>> I’m trying to see if I can make do with the clang interface only.
>> How do I pass flags to opt or llc? Say I want to enable/disable tbaa,
>> which could be done with `--enable-tbaa=true/false` or `-mem2reg` or
>> `-globalopt`? Would the `-llvm` switch be, what I’m looking for or the
>> `-Xclang`, or something else entirely?
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> Moritz
>> 
>>> On Mar 11, 2017, at 2:26 AM, Matthias Braun <mbraun at
apple.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Just a word of warning:
>>> 
>>> llc and opt are primarily developed as debugging tools to support
LLVM testing. They are not intended to be shipped or used as code generators for
frontends. They do often work in these settings but you may hit rough edges that
nobody will care to fix and the behavior or commandline interface may change
every release... A more stable alternative is usually to feed .ir/.bc files to
clang or better link to the llvm libraries and generate the code from there.
>>> 
>>> - Matthias
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 10, 2017, at 6:31 AM, Moritz Angermann via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi,
>>>> 
>>>> I was wondering, if someone could point me into the right
direction,
>>>> towards building just llc and opt (potentially 4.0 + patches)
to distribute
>>>> them in the interim with compiler?  The idea is that we’d like
to pin our
>>>> llvm ir code generator to a specific set of llc and opt tools,
with
>>>> potential patches applied, until we manage to get all those
patches
>>>> upstreamed.
>>>> 
>>>> I’d like to find answers to the following question:
>>>> - How trivially can I build just llc and opt into (maybe
static?)
>>>> distributable binaries?
>>>> - Would generating them for multiple architectures pose any
specific
>>>> complications?
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Moritz
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> LLVM Developers mailing list
>>>> llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
>>>> http://lists.llvm.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev
>>> 
>>