llvm dev - Jul 2018 - [RFC][SVE] Supporting SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths

Hi,

Are there any objections to going ahead with this? If not, we'll try to get
the patches reviewed and committed after the 7.0 branch occurs.

-Graham
> On 2 Jul 2018, at 10:53, Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at arm.com>
wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I've updated the RFC slightly based on the discussion within the
thread, reposted below. Let me know if I've missed anything or if more
clarification is needed.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -Graham
> 
> ============================================================> Supporting
SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths
> ============================================================> 
> In this RFC we propose extending LLVM IR to support code-generation for
variable
> length vector architectures like Arm's SVE or RISC-V's 'V'
extension. Our
> approach is backwards compatible and should be as non-intrusive as
possible; the
> only change needed in other backends is how size is queried on vector
types, and
> it only requires a change in which function is called. We have created a
set of
> proof-of-concept patches to represent a simple vectorized loop in IR and
> generate SVE instructions from that IR. These patches (listed in section 7
of
> this rfc) can be found on Phabricator and are intended to illustrate the
scope
> of changes required by the general approach described in this RFC.
> 
> =========> Background
> =========> 
> *ARMv8-A Scalable Vector Extensions* (SVE) is a new vector ISA extension
for
> AArch64 which is intended to scale with hardware such that the same binary
> running on a processor with longer vector registers can take advantage of
the
> increased compute power without recompilation.
> 
> As the vector length is no longer a compile-time known value, the way in
which
> the LLVM vectorizer generates code requires modifications such that certain
> values are now runtime evaluated expressions instead of compile-time
constants.
> 
> Documentation for SVE can be found at
>
https://developer.arm.com/docs/ddi0584/latest/arm-architecture-reference-manual-supplement-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-armv8-a
> 
> =======> Contents
> =======> 
> The rest of this RFC covers the following topics:
> 
> 1. Types -- a proposal to extend VectorType to be able to represent vectors
that
>   have a length which is a runtime-determined multiple of a known base
length.
> 
> 2. Size Queries - how to reason about the size of types for which the size
isn't
>   fully known at compile time.
> 
> 3. Representing the runtime multiple of vector length in IR for use in
address
>   calculations and induction variable comparisons.
> 
> 4. Generating 'constant' values in IR for vectors with a
runtime-determined
>   number of elements.
> 
> 5. An explanation of splitting/concatentating scalable vectors.
> 
> 6. A brief note on code generation of these new operations for AArch64.
> 
> 7. An example of C code and matching IR using the proposed extensions.
> 
> 8. A list of patches demonstrating the changes required to emit SVE
instructions
>   for a loop that has already been vectorized using the extensions
described
>   in this RFC.
> 
> =======> 1. Types
> =======> 
> To represent a vector of unknown length a boolean `Scalable` property has
been
> added to the `VectorType` class, which indicates that the number of
elements in
> the vector is a runtime-determined integer multiple of the `NumElements`
field.
> Most code that deals with vectors doesn't need to know the exact
length, but
> does need to know relative lengths -- e.g. get a vector with the same
number of
> elements but a different element type, or with half or double the number of
> elements.
> 
> In order to allow code to transparently support scalable vectors, we
introduce
> an `ElementCount` class with two members:
> 
> - `unsigned Min`: the minimum number of elements.
> - `bool Scalable`: is the element count an unknown multiple of `Min`?
> 
> For non-scalable vectors (``Scalable=false``) the scale is considered to be
> equal to one and thus `Min` represents the exact number of elements in the
> vector.
> 
> The intent for code working with vectors is to use convenience methods and
avoid
> directly dealing with the number of elements. If needed, calling
> `getElementCount` on a vector type instead of `getVectorNumElements` can be
used
> to obtain the (potentially scalable) number of elements. Overloaded
division and
> multiplication operators allow an ElementCount instance to be used in much
the
> same manner as an integer for most cases.
> 
> This mixture of compile-time and runtime quantities allow us to reason
about the
> relationship between different scalable vector types without knowing their
> exact length.
> 
> The runtime multiple is not expected to change during program execution for
SVE,
> but it is possible. The model of scalable vectors presented in this RFC
assumes
> that the multiple will be constant within a function but not necessarily
across
> functions. As suggested in the recent RISC-V rfc, a new function attribute
to
> inherit the multiple across function calls will allow for function calls
with
> vector arguments/return values and inlining/outlining optimizations.
> 
> IR Textual Form
> ---------------
> 
> The textual form for a scalable vector is:
> 
> ``<scalable <n> x <type>>``
> 
> where `type` is the scalar type of each element, `n` is the minimum number
of
> elements, and the string literal `scalable` indicates that the total number
of
> elements is an unknown multiple of `n`; `scalable` is just an arbitrary
choice
> for indicating that the vector is scalable, and could be substituted by
another.
> For fixed-length vectors, the `scalable` is omitted, so there is no change
in
> the format for existing vectors.
> 
> Scalable vectors with the same `Min` value have the same number of
elements, and
> the same number of bytes if `Min * sizeof(type)` is the same (assuming they
are
> used within the same function):
> 
> ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 4 x i8>`` have the same
number of
>  elements.
> 
> ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 8 x i16>`` have the same
number of
>  bytes.
> 
> IR Bitcode Form
> ---------------
> 
> To serialize scalable vectors to bitcode, a new boolean field is added to
the
> type record. If the field is not present the type will default to a
fixed-length
> vector type, preserving backwards compatibility.
> 
> Alternatives Considered
> -----------------------
> 
> We did consider one main alternative -- a dedicated target type, like the
> x86_mmx type.
> 
> A dedicated target type would either need to extend all existing passes
that
> work with vectors to recognize the new type, or to duplicate all that code
> in order to get reasonable code generation and autovectorization.
> 
> This hasn't been done for the x86_mmx type, and so it is only capable
of
> providing support for C-level intrinsics instead of being used and
recognized by
> passes inside llvm.
> 
> Although our current solution will need to change some of the code that
creates
> new VectorTypes, much of that code doesn't need to care about whether
the types
> are scalable or not -- they can use preexisting methods like
> `getHalfElementsVectorType`. If the code is a little more complex,
> `ElementCount` structs can be used instead of an `unsigned` value to
represent
> the number of elements.
> 
> ==============> 2. Size Queries
> ==============> 
> This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of scalable types
for
> analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, the general
approach
> works well for calculating offsets into structures with scalable types in a
> modified version of ComputeValueVTs in our downstream compiler.
> 
> For current IR types that have a known size, all query functions return a
single
> integer constant. For scalable types a second integer is needed to indicate
the
> number of bytes/bits which need to be scaled by the runtime multiple to
obtain
> the actual length.
> 
> For primitive types, `getPrimitiveSizeInBits()` will function as it does
today,
> except that it will no longer return a size for vector types (it will
return 0,
> as it does for other derived types). The majority of calls to this function
are
> already for scalar rather than vector types.
> 
> For derived types, a function `getScalableSizePairInBits()` will be added,
which
> returns a pair of integers (one to indicate unscaled bits, the other for
bits
> that need to be scaled by the runtime multiple). For backends that do not
need
> to deal with scalable types the existing methods will suffice, but a
debug-only
> assert will be added to them to ensure they aren't used on scalable
types.
> 
> Similar functionality will be added to DataLayout.
> 
> Comparisons between sizes will use the following methods, assuming that X
and
> Y are non-zero integers and the form is of { unscaled, scaled }.
> 
> { X, 0 } <cmp> { Y, 0 }: Normal unscaled comparison.
> 
> { 0, X } <cmp> { 0, Y }: Normal comparison within a function, or
across
>                         functions that inherit vector length. Cannot be
>                         compared across non-inheriting functions.
> 
> { X, 0 } > { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> 
> { X, 0 } = { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> 
> { X, 0 } < { 0, Y }: Can return true.
> 
> { Xu, Xs } <cmp> { Yu, Ys }: Gets complicated, need to subtract
common
>                             terms and try the above comparisons; it
>                             may not be possible to get a good answer.
> 
> It's worth noting that we don't expect the last case (mixed scaled
and
> unscaled sizes) to occur. Richard Sandiford's proposed C extensions
> (http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/2018-May/057830.html) explicitly
> prohibits mixing fixed-size types into sizeless struct.
> 
> I don't know if we need a 'maybe' or 'unknown' result
for cases comparing scaled
> vs. unscaled; I believe the gcc implementation of SVE allows for such
> results, but that supports a generic polynomial length representation.
> 
> My current intention is to rely on functions that clone or copy values to
> check whether they are being used to copy scalable vectors across function
> boundaries without the inherit vlen attribute and raise an error there
instead
> of requiring passing the Function a type size is from for each comparison.
If
> there's a strong preference for moving the check to the size comparison
function
> let me know; I will be starting work on patches for this later in the year
if
> there's no major problems with the idea.
> 
> Future Work
> -----------
> 
> Since we cannot determine the exact size of a scalable vector, the
> existing logic for alias detection won't work when multiple accesses
> share a common base pointer with different offsets.
> 
> However, SVE's predication will mean that a dynamic 'safe'
vector length
> can be determined at runtime, so after initial support has been added we
> can work on vectorizing loops using runtime predication to avoid aliasing
> problems.
> 
> Alternatives Considered
> -----------------------
> 
> Marking scalable vectors as unsized doesn't work well, as many parts of
> llvm dealing with loads and stores assert that 'isSized()' returns
true
> and make use of the size when calculating offsets.
> 
> We have considered introducing multiple helper functions instead of
> using direct size queries, but that doesn't cover all cases. It may
> still be a good idea to introduce them to make the purpose in a given
> case more obvious, e.g. 'requiresSignExtension(Type*,Type*)'.
> 
> =======================================> 3. Representing Vector Length
at Runtime
> =======================================> 
> With a scalable vector type defined, we now need a way to represent the
runtime
> length in IR in order to generate addresses for consecutive vectors in
memory
> and determine how many elements have been processed in an iteration of a
loop.
> 
> We have added an experimental `vscale` intrinsic to represent the runtime
> multiple. Multiplying the result of this intrinsic by the minimum number of
> elements in a vector gives the total number of elements in a scalable
vector.
> 
> Fixed-Length Code
> -----------------
> 
> Assuming a vector type of <4 x <ty>>
> ``
> vector.body:
>  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
>  ;; <loop body>
>  ;; Increment induction var
>  %index.next = add i64 %index, 4
>  ;; <check and branch>
> ``
> Scalable Equivalent
> -------------------
> 
> Assuming a vector type of <scalable 4 x <ty>>
> ``
> vector.body:
>  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
>  ;; <loop body>
>  ;; Increment induction var
>  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>  ;; <check and branch>
> ``
> ==========================> 4. Generating Vector Values
> ==========================> For constant vector values, we cannot
specify all the elements as we can for
> fixed-length vectors; fortunately only a small number of easily synthesized
> patterns are required for autovectorization. The `zeroinitializer` constant
> can be used in the same manner as fixed-length vectors for a constant zero
> splat. This can then be combined with `insertelement` and `shufflevector`
> to create arbitrary value splats in the same manner as fixed-length
vectors.
> 
> For constants consisting of a sequence of values, an experimental
`stepvector`
> intrinsic has been added to represent a simple constant of the form
> `<0, 1, 2... num_elems-1>`. To change the starting value a splat of
the new
> start can be added, and changing the step requires multiplying by a splat.
> 
> Fixed-Length Code
> -----------------
> ``
>  ;; Splat a value
>  %insert = insertelement <4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
>  %splat = shufflevector <4 x i32> %insert, <4 x i32> undef,
<4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>  ;; Add a constant sequence
>  %add = add <4 x i32> %splat, <i32 2, i32 4, i32 6, i32 8>
> ``
> Scalable Equivalent
> -------------------
> ``
>  ;; Splat a value
>  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
>  %splat = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable 4 x
i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>  ;; Splat offset + stride (the same in this case)
>  %insert2 = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> under, i32 2, i32 0
>  %str_off = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert2, <scalable 4
x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>  ;; Create sequence for scalable vector
>  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>  %mulbystride = mul <scalable 4 x i32> %stepvector, %str_off
>  %addoffset = add <scalable 4 x i32> %mulbystride, %str_off
>  ;; Add the runtime-generated sequence
>  %add = add <scalable 4 x i32> %splat, %addoffset
> ``
> Future Work
> -----------
> 
> Intrinsics cannot currently be used for constant folding. Our downstream
> compiler (using Constants instead of intrinsics) relies quite heavily on
this
> for good code generation, so we will need to find new ways to recognize and
> fold these values.
> 
> ==========================================> 5. Splitting and Combining
Scalable Vectors
> ==========================================> 
> Splitting and combining scalable vectors in IR is done in the same manner
as
> for fixed-length vectors, but with a non-constant mask for the
shufflevector.
> 
> The following is an example of splitting a <scalable 4 x double> into
two
> separate <scalable 2 x double> values.
> 
> ``
>  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>  ;; Stepvector generates the element ids for first subvector
>  %sv1 = call <scalable 2 x i64>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv2i64()
>  ;; Add vscale * 2 to get the starting element for the second subvector
>  %ec = mul i64 %vscale64, 2
>  %ec.ins = insertelement <scalable 2 x i64> undef, i64 %ec, i32 0
>  %ec.splat = shufflevector <scalable 2 x i64> %9, <scalable 2 x
i64> undef, <scalable 2 x i32> zeroinitializer
>  %sv2 = add <scalable 2 x i64> %ec.splat, %stepvec64
>  ;; Perform the extracts
>  %res1 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4 x
double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv1
>  %res2 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4 x
double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv2
> ``
> 
> =================> 6. Code Generation
> =================> 
> IR splats will be converted to an experimental splatvector intrinsic in
> SelectionDAGBuilder.
> 
> All three intrinsics are custom lowered and legalized in the AArch64
backend.
> 
> Two new AArch64ISD nodes have been added to represent the same concepts
> at the SelectionDAG level, while splatvector maps onto the existing
> AArch64ISD::DUP.
> 
> GlobalISel
> ----------
> 
> Since GlobalISel was enabled by default on AArch64, it was necessary to add
> scalable vector support to the LowLevelType implementation. A single bit
was
> added to the raw_data representation for vectors and vectors of pointers.
> 
> In addition, types that only exist in destination patterns are planted in
> the enumeration of available types for generated code. While this may not
be
> necessary in future, generating an all-true 'ptrue' value was
necessary to
> convert a predicated instruction into an unpredicated one.
> 
> =========> 7. Example
> =========> 
> The following example shows a simple C loop which assigns the array index
to
> the array elements matching that index. The IR shows how vscale and
stepvector
> are used to create the needed values and to advance the index variable in
the
> loop.
> 
> C Code
> ------
> 
> ``
> void IdentityArrayInit(int *a, int count) {
>  for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
>    a[i] = i;
> }
> ``
> 
> Scalable IR Vector Body
> -----------------------
> 
> ``
> vector.body.preheader:
>  ;; Other setup
>  ;; Stepvector used to create initial identity vector
>  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>  br vector.body
> 
> vector.body
>  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
>  %0 = phi i64 [ %1, %vector.body ], [ 0, %vector.body.preheader ]
> 
>           ;; stepvector used for index identity on entry to loop body ;;
>  %vec.ind7 = phi <scalable 4 x i32> [ %step.add8, %vector.body ],
>                                     [ %stepvector, %vector.body.preheader ]
>  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>  %vscale32 = trunc i64 %vscale64 to i32
>  %1 = add i64 %0, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> 
>           ;; vscale splat used to increment identity vector ;;
>  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 mul (i32
%vscale32, i32 4), i32 0
>  %splat shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable 4 x
i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>  %step.add8 = add <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, %splat
>  %2 = getelementptr inbounds i32, i32* %a, i64 %0
>  %3 = bitcast i32* %2 to <scalable 4 x i32>*
>  store <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, <scalable 4 x i32>* %3,
align 4
> 
>           ;; vscale used to increment loop index
>  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>  %4 = icmp eq i64 %index.next, %n.vec
>  br i1 %4, label %middle.block, label %vector.body, !llvm.loop !5
> ``
> 
> =========> 8. Patches
> =========> 
> List of patches:
> 
> 1. Extend VectorType: https://reviews.llvm.org/D32530
> 2. Vector element type Tablegen constraint: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47768
> 3. LLT support for scalable vectors: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47769
> 4. EVT strings and Type mapping: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47770
> 5. SVE Calling Convention: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47771
> 6. Intrinsic lowering cleanup: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47772
> 7. Add VScale intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47773
> 8. Add StepVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47774
> 9. Add SplatVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47775
> 10. Initial store patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47776
> 11. Initial addition patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47777
> 12. Initial left-shift patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47778
> 13. Implement copy logic for Z regs: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47779
> 14. Prevectorized loop unit test: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47780
>

I strongly suspect that there remains widespread concern with the direction
of this, I know I have them.

I don't think that many of the people who have that concern have had time
to come back to this RFC and make progress on it, likely because of other
commitments or simply the amount of churn around SVE related patches and
such. That is at least why I haven't had time to return to this RFC and try
to write more detailed feedback.

Certainly, I would want to see pretty clear and considered support for this
change to the IR type system from Hal, Chris, Eric and/or other long time
maintainers of core LLVM IR components before it moves forward, and I don't
see that in this thread.

Put differently: I don't think silence is assent here. You really need some
clear signal of consensus.

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 2:23 AM Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at arm.com>
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Are there any objections to going ahead with this? If not, we'll try to
> get the patches reviewed and committed after the 7.0 branch occurs.
>
> -Graham
>
> > On 2 Jul 2018, at 10:53, Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I've updated the RFC slightly based on the discussion within the
thread,
> reposted below. Let me know if I've missed anything or if more
> clarification is needed.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > -Graham
> >
> > ============================================================> >
Supporting SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths
> > ============================================================> >
> > In this RFC we propose extending LLVM IR to support code-generation
for
> variable
> > length vector architectures like Arm's SVE or RISC-V's
'V' extension. Our
> > approach is backwards compatible and should be as non-intrusive as
> possible; the
> > only change needed in other backends is how size is queried on vector
> types, and
> > it only requires a change in which function is called. We have created
a
> set of
> > proof-of-concept patches to represent a simple vectorized loop in IR
and
> > generate SVE instructions from that IR. These patches (listed in
section
> 7 of
> > this rfc) can be found on Phabricator and are intended to illustrate
the
> scope
> > of changes required by the general approach described in this RFC.
> >
> > =========> > Background
> > =========> >
> > *ARMv8-A Scalable Vector Extensions* (SVE) is a new vector ISA
extension
> for
> > AArch64 which is intended to scale with hardware such that the same
> binary
> > running on a processor with longer vector registers can take advantage
> of the
> > increased compute power without recompilation.
> >
> > As the vector length is no longer a compile-time known value, the way
in
> which
> > the LLVM vectorizer generates code requires modifications such that
> certain
> > values are now runtime evaluated expressions instead of compile-time
> constants.
> >
> > Documentation for SVE can be found at
> >
>
https://developer.arm.com/docs/ddi0584/latest/arm-architecture-reference-manual-supplement-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-armv8-a
> >
> > =======> > Contents
> > =======> >
> > The rest of this RFC covers the following topics:
> >
> > 1. Types -- a proposal to extend VectorType to be able to represent
> vectors that
> >   have a length which is a runtime-determined multiple of a known base
> length.
> >
> > 2. Size Queries - how to reason about the size of types for which the
> size isn't
> >   fully known at compile time.
> >
> > 3. Representing the runtime multiple of vector length in IR for use in
> address
> >   calculations and induction variable comparisons.
> >
> > 4. Generating 'constant' values in IR for vectors with a
> runtime-determined
> >   number of elements.
> >
> > 5. An explanation of splitting/concatentating scalable vectors.
> >
> > 6. A brief note on code generation of these new operations for
AArch64.
> >
> > 7. An example of C code and matching IR using the proposed extensions.
> >
> > 8. A list of patches demonstrating the changes required to emit SVE
> instructions
> >   for a loop that has already been vectorized using the extensions
> described
> >   in this RFC.
> >
> > =======> > 1. Types
> > =======> >
> > To represent a vector of unknown length a boolean `Scalable` property
> has been
> > added to the `VectorType` class, which indicates that the number of
> elements in
> > the vector is a runtime-determined integer multiple of the
`NumElements`
> field.
> > Most code that deals with vectors doesn't need to know the exact
length,
> but
> > does need to know relative lengths -- e.g. get a vector with the same
> number of
> > elements but a different element type, or with half or double the
number
> of
> > elements.
> >
> > In order to allow code to transparently support scalable vectors, we
> introduce
> > an `ElementCount` class with two members:
> >
> > - `unsigned Min`: the minimum number of elements.
> > - `bool Scalable`: is the element count an unknown multiple of `Min`?
> >
> > For non-scalable vectors (``Scalable=false``) the scale is considered
to
> be
> > equal to one and thus `Min` represents the exact number of elements in
> the
> > vector.
> >
> > The intent for code working with vectors is to use convenience methods
> and avoid
> > directly dealing with the number of elements. If needed, calling
> > `getElementCount` on a vector type instead of `getVectorNumElements`
can
> be used
> > to obtain the (potentially scalable) number of elements. Overloaded
> division and
> > multiplication operators allow an ElementCount instance to be used in
> much the
> > same manner as an integer for most cases.
> >
> > This mixture of compile-time and runtime quantities allow us to reason
> about the
> > relationship between different scalable vector types without knowing
> their
> > exact length.
> >
> > The runtime multiple is not expected to change during program
execution
> for SVE,
> > but it is possible. The model of scalable vectors presented in this
RFC
> assumes
> > that the multiple will be constant within a function but not
necessarily
> across
> > functions. As suggested in the recent RISC-V rfc, a new function
> attribute to
> > inherit the multiple across function calls will allow for function
calls
> with
> > vector arguments/return values and inlining/outlining optimizations.
> >
> > IR Textual Form
> > ---------------
> >
> > The textual form for a scalable vector is:
> >
> > ``<scalable <n> x <type>>``
> >
> > where `type` is the scalar type of each element, `n` is the minimum
> number of
> > elements, and the string literal `scalable` indicates that the total
> number of
> > elements is an unknown multiple of `n`; `scalable` is just an
arbitrary
> choice
> > for indicating that the vector is scalable, and could be substituted
by
> another.
> > For fixed-length vectors, the `scalable` is omitted, so there is no
> change in
> > the format for existing vectors.
> >
> > Scalable vectors with the same `Min` value have the same number of
> elements, and
> > the same number of bytes if `Min * sizeof(type)` is the same (assuming
> they are
> > used within the same function):
> >
> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 4 x i8>`` have the
same number of
> >  elements.
> >
> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 8 x i16>`` have the
same number of
> >  bytes.
> >
> > IR Bitcode Form
> > ---------------
> >
> > To serialize scalable vectors to bitcode, a new boolean field is added
> to the
> > type record. If the field is not present the type will default to a
> fixed-length
> > vector type, preserving backwards compatibility.
> >
> > Alternatives Considered
> > -----------------------
> >
> > We did consider one main alternative -- a dedicated target type, like
the
> > x86_mmx type.
> >
> > A dedicated target type would either need to extend all existing
passes
> that
> > work with vectors to recognize the new type, or to duplicate all that
> code
> > in order to get reasonable code generation and autovectorization.
> >
> > This hasn't been done for the x86_mmx type, and so it is only
capable of
> > providing support for C-level intrinsics instead of being used and
> recognized by
> > passes inside llvm.
> >
> > Although our current solution will need to change some of the code
that
> creates
> > new VectorTypes, much of that code doesn't need to care about
whether
> the types
> > are scalable or not -- they can use preexisting methods like
> > `getHalfElementsVectorType`. If the code is a little more complex,
> > `ElementCount` structs can be used instead of an `unsigned` value to
> represent
> > the number of elements.
> >
> > ==============> > 2. Size Queries
> > ==============> >
> > This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of scalable
> types for
> > analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, the general
> approach
> > works well for calculating offsets into structures with scalable types
> in a
> > modified version of ComputeValueVTs in our downstream compiler.
> >
> > For current IR types that have a known size, all query functions
return
> a single
> > integer constant. For scalable types a second integer is needed to
> indicate the
> > number of bytes/bits which need to be scaled by the runtime multiple
to
> obtain
> > the actual length.
> >
> > For primitive types, `getPrimitiveSizeInBits()` will function as it
does
> today,
> > except that it will no longer return a size for vector types (it will
> return 0,
> > as it does for other derived types). The majority of calls to this
> function are
> > already for scalar rather than vector types.
> >
> > For derived types, a function `getScalableSizePairInBits()` will be
> added, which
> > returns a pair of integers (one to indicate unscaled bits, the other
for
> bits
> > that need to be scaled by the runtime multiple). For backends that do
> not need
> > to deal with scalable types the existing methods will suffice, but a
> debug-only
> > assert will be added to them to ensure they aren't used on
scalable
> types.
> >
> > Similar functionality will be added to DataLayout.
> >
> > Comparisons between sizes will use the following methods, assuming
that
> X and
> > Y are non-zero integers and the form is of { unscaled, scaled }.
> >
> > { X, 0 } <cmp> { Y, 0 }: Normal unscaled comparison.
> >
> > { 0, X } <cmp> { 0, Y }: Normal comparison within a function, or
across
> >                         functions that inherit vector length. Cannot
be
> >                         compared across non-inheriting functions.
> >
> > { X, 0 } > { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> >
> > { X, 0 } = { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> >
> > { X, 0 } < { 0, Y }: Can return true.
> >
> > { Xu, Xs } <cmp> { Yu, Ys }: Gets complicated, need to subtract
common
> >                             terms and try the above comparisons; it
> >                             may not be possible to get a good answer.
> >
> > It's worth noting that we don't expect the last case (mixed
scaled and
> > unscaled sizes) to occur. Richard Sandiford's proposed C
extensions
> > (http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/2018-May/057830.html)
> explicitly
> > prohibits mixing fixed-size types into sizeless struct.
> >
> > I don't know if we need a 'maybe' or 'unknown'
result for cases
> comparing scaled
> > vs. unscaled; I believe the gcc implementation of SVE allows for such
> > results, but that supports a generic polynomial length representation.
> >
> > My current intention is to rely on functions that clone or copy values
to
> > check whether they are being used to copy scalable vectors across
> function
> > boundaries without the inherit vlen attribute and raise an error there
> instead
> > of requiring passing the Function a type size is from for each
> comparison. If
> > there's a strong preference for moving the check to the size
comparison
> function
> > let me know; I will be starting work on patches for this later in the
> year if
> > there's no major problems with the idea.
> >
> > Future Work
> > -----------
> >
> > Since we cannot determine the exact size of a scalable vector, the
> > existing logic for alias detection won't work when multiple
accesses
> > share a common base pointer with different offsets.
> >
> > However, SVE's predication will mean that a dynamic 'safe'
vector length
> > can be determined at runtime, so after initial support has been added
we
> > can work on vectorizing loops using runtime predication to avoid
aliasing
> > problems.
> >
> > Alternatives Considered
> > -----------------------
> >
> > Marking scalable vectors as unsized doesn't work well, as many
parts of
> > llvm dealing with loads and stores assert that 'isSized()'
returns true
> > and make use of the size when calculating offsets.
> >
> > We have considered introducing multiple helper functions instead of
> > using direct size queries, but that doesn't cover all cases. It
may
> > still be a good idea to introduce them to make the purpose in a given
> > case more obvious, e.g. 'requiresSignExtension(Type*,Type*)'.
> >
> > =======================================> > 3. Representing
Vector Length at Runtime
> > =======================================> >
> > With a scalable vector type defined, we now need a way to represent
the
> runtime
> > length in IR in order to generate addresses for consecutive vectors in
> memory
> > and determine how many elements have been processed in an iteration of
a
> loop.
> >
> > We have added an experimental `vscale` intrinsic to represent the
runtime
> > multiple. Multiplying the result of this intrinsic by the minimum
number
> of
> > elements in a vector gives the total number of elements in a scalable
> vector.
> >
> > Fixed-Length Code
> > -----------------
> >
> > Assuming a vector type of <4 x <ty>>
> > ``
> > vector.body:
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
> %vector.body.preheader ]
> >  ;; <loop body>
> >  ;; Increment induction var
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, 4
> >  ;; <check and branch>
> > ``
> > Scalable Equivalent
> > -------------------
> >
> > Assuming a vector type of <scalable 4 x <ty>>
> > ``
> > vector.body:
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
> %vector.body.preheader ]
> >  ;; <loop body>
> >  ;; Increment induction var
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> >  ;; <check and branch>
> > ``
> > ==========================> > 4. Generating Vector Values
> > ==========================> > For constant vector values, we
cannot specify all the elements as we can
> for
> > fixed-length vectors; fortunately only a small number of easily
> synthesized
> > patterns are required for autovectorization. The `zeroinitializer`
> constant
> > can be used in the same manner as fixed-length vectors for a constant
> zero
> > splat. This can then be combined with `insertelement` and
`shufflevector`
> > to create arbitrary value splats in the same manner as fixed-length
> vectors.
> >
> > For constants consisting of a sequence of values, an experimental
> `stepvector`
> > intrinsic has been added to represent a simple constant of the form
> > `<0, 1, 2... num_elems-1>`. To change the starting value a splat
of the
> new
> > start can be added, and changing the step requires multiplying by a
> splat.
> >
> > Fixed-Length Code
> > -----------------
> > ``
> >  ;; Splat a value
> >  %insert = insertelement <4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
> >  %splat = shufflevector <4 x i32> %insert, <4 x i32>
undef, <4 x i32>
> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Add a constant sequence
> >  %add = add <4 x i32> %splat, <i32 2, i32 4, i32 6, i32 8>
> > ``
> > Scalable Equivalent
> > -------------------
> > ``
> >  ;; Splat a value
> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 %value,
i32 0
> >  %splat = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable
4 x i32>
> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Splat offset + stride (the same in this case)
> >  %insert2 = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> under, i32 2, i32 0
> >  %str_off = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert2,
<scalable 4 x
> i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Create sequence for scalable vector
> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
> >  %mulbystride = mul <scalable 4 x i32> %stepvector, %str_off
> >  %addoffset = add <scalable 4 x i32> %mulbystride, %str_off
> >  ;; Add the runtime-generated sequence
> >  %add = add <scalable 4 x i32> %splat, %addoffset
> > ``
> > Future Work
> > -----------
> >
> > Intrinsics cannot currently be used for constant folding. Our
downstream
> > compiler (using Constants instead of intrinsics) relies quite heavily
on
> this
> > for good code generation, so we will need to find new ways to
recognize
> and
> > fold these values.
> >
> > ==========================================> > 5. Splitting and
Combining Scalable Vectors
> > ==========================================> >
> > Splitting and combining scalable vectors in IR is done in the same
> manner as
> > for fixed-length vectors, but with a non-constant mask for the
> shufflevector.
> >
> > The following is an example of splitting a <scalable 4 x double>
into two
> > separate <scalable 2 x double> values.
> >
> > ``
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  ;; Stepvector generates the element ids for first subvector
> >  %sv1 = call <scalable 2 x i64>
> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv2i64()
> >  ;; Add vscale * 2 to get the starting element for the second
subvector
> >  %ec = mul i64 %vscale64, 2
> >  %ec.ins = insertelement <scalable 2 x i64> undef, i64 %ec, i32
0
> >  %ec.splat = shufflevector <scalable 2 x i64> %9, <scalable 2
x i64>
> undef, <scalable 2 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  %sv2 = add <scalable 2 x i64> %ec.splat, %stepvec64
> >  ;; Perform the extracts
> >  %res1 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4
x double>
> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv1
> >  %res2 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4
x double>
> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv2
> > ``
> >
> > =================> > 6. Code Generation
> > =================> >
> > IR splats will be converted to an experimental splatvector intrinsic
in
> > SelectionDAGBuilder.
> >
> > All three intrinsics are custom lowered and legalized in the AArch64
> backend.
> >
> > Two new AArch64ISD nodes have been added to represent the same
concepts
> > at the SelectionDAG level, while splatvector maps onto the existing
> > AArch64ISD::DUP.
> >
> > GlobalISel
> > ----------
> >
> > Since GlobalISel was enabled by default on AArch64, it was necessary
to
> add
> > scalable vector support to the LowLevelType implementation. A single
bit
> was
> > added to the raw_data representation for vectors and vectors of
pointers.
> >
> > In addition, types that only exist in destination patterns are planted
in
> > the enumeration of available types for generated code. While this may
> not be
> > necessary in future, generating an all-true 'ptrue' value was
necessary
> to
> > convert a predicated instruction into an unpredicated one.
> >
> > =========> > 7. Example
> > =========> >
> > The following example shows a simple C loop which assigns the array
> index to
> > the array elements matching that index. The IR shows how vscale and
> stepvector
> > are used to create the needed values and to advance the index variable
> in the
> > loop.
> >
> > C Code
> > ------
> >
> > ``
> > void IdentityArrayInit(int *a, int count) {
> >  for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
> >    a[i] = i;
> > }
> > ``
> >
> > Scalable IR Vector Body
> > -----------------------
> >
> > ``
> > vector.body.preheader:
> >  ;; Other setup
> >  ;; Stepvector used to create initial identity vector
> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
> >  br vector.body
> >
> > vector.body
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
> %vector.body.preheader ]
> >  %0 = phi i64 [ %1, %vector.body ], [ 0, %vector.body.preheader ]
> >
> >           ;; stepvector used for index identity on entry to loop body
;;
> >  %vec.ind7 = phi <scalable 4 x i32> [ %step.add8, %vector.body
],
> >                                     [ %stepvector,
> %vector.body.preheader ]
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  %vscale32 = trunc i64 %vscale64 to i32
> >  %1 = add i64 %0, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> >
> >           ;; vscale splat used to increment identity vector ;;
> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 mul (i32
> %vscale32, i32 4), i32 0
> >  %splat shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable 4
x i32>
> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  %step.add8 = add <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, %splat
> >  %2 = getelementptr inbounds i32, i32* %a, i64 %0
> >  %3 = bitcast i32* %2 to <scalable 4 x i32>*
> >  store <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, <scalable 4 x i32>*
%3, align 4
> >
> >           ;; vscale used to increment loop index
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> >  %4 = icmp eq i64 %index.next, %n.vec
> >  br i1 %4, label %middle.block, label %vector.body, !llvm.loop !5
> > ``
> >
> > =========> > 8. Patches
> > =========> >
> > List of patches:
> >
> > 1. Extend VectorType: https://reviews.llvm.org/D32530
> > 2. Vector element type Tablegen constraint:
> https://reviews.llvm.org/D47768
> > 3. LLT support for scalable vectors: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47769
> > 4. EVT strings and Type mapping: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47770
> > 5. SVE Calling Convention: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47771
> > 6. Intrinsic lowering cleanup: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47772
> > 7. Add VScale intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47773
> > 8. Add StepVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47774
> > 9. Add SplatVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47775
> > 10. Initial store patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47776
> > 11. Initial addition patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47777
> > 12. Initial left-shift patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47778
> > 13. Implement copy logic for Z regs: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47779
> > 14. Prevectorized loop unit test: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47780
> >
>
>
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(And in case it isn't clear, I *do* think it is reasonable to push on this
thread and lobby to get that feedback! You shouldn't be stalled forever,
I'm just trying to point out that the focus should be on getting the
feedback, not whether there are objections. You want consensus here, not
silence.)

On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 3:34 AM Chandler Carruth <chandlerc at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I strongly suspect that there remains widespread concern with the
> direction of this, I know I have them.
>
> I don't think that many of the people who have that concern have had
time
> to come back to this RFC and make progress on it, likely because of other
> commitments or simply the amount of churn around SVE related patches and
> such. That is at least why I haven't had time to return to this RFC and
try
> to write more detailed feedback.
>
> Certainly, I would want to see pretty clear and considered support for
> this change to the IR type system from Hal, Chris, Eric and/or other long
> time maintainers of core LLVM IR components before it moves forward, and I
> don't see that in this thread.
>
> Put differently: I don't think silence is assent here. You really need
> some clear signal of consensus.
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 2:23 AM Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Are there any objections to going ahead with this? If not, we'll
try to
>> get the patches reviewed and committed after the 7.0 branch occurs.
>>
>> -Graham
>>
>> > On 2 Jul 2018, at 10:53, Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I've updated the RFC slightly based on the discussion within
the
>> thread, reposted below. Let me know if I've missed anything or if
more
>> clarification is needed.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > -Graham
>> >
>> >
============================================================>> >
Supporting SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths
>> >
============================================================>> >
>> > In this RFC we propose extending LLVM IR to support
code-generation for
>> variable
>> > length vector architectures like Arm's SVE or RISC-V's
'V' extension.
>> Our
>> > approach is backwards compatible and should be as non-intrusive as
>> possible; the
>> > only change needed in other backends is how size is queried on
vector
>> types, and
>> > it only requires a change in which function is called. We have
created
>> a set of
>> > proof-of-concept patches to represent a simple vectorized loop in
IR and
>> > generate SVE instructions from that IR. These patches (listed in
>> section 7 of
>> > this rfc) can be found on Phabricator and are intended to
illustrate
>> the scope
>> > of changes required by the general approach described in this RFC.
>> >
>> > =========>> > Background
>> > =========>> >
>> > *ARMv8-A Scalable Vector Extensions* (SVE) is a new vector ISA
>> extension for
>> > AArch64 which is intended to scale with hardware such that the
same
>> binary
>> > running on a processor with longer vector registers can take
advantage
>> of the
>> > increased compute power without recompilation.
>> >
>> > As the vector length is no longer a compile-time known value, the
way
>> in which
>> > the LLVM vectorizer generates code requires modifications such
that
>> certain
>> > values are now runtime evaluated expressions instead of
compile-time
>> constants.
>> >
>> > Documentation for SVE can be found at
>> >
>>
https://developer.arm.com/docs/ddi0584/latest/arm-architecture-reference-manual-supplement-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-armv8-a
>> >
>> > =======>> > Contents
>> > =======>> >
>> > The rest of this RFC covers the following topics:
>> >
>> > 1. Types -- a proposal to extend VectorType to be able to
represent
>> vectors that
>> >   have a length which is a runtime-determined multiple of a known
base
>> length.
>> >
>> > 2. Size Queries - how to reason about the size of types for which
the
>> size isn't
>> >   fully known at compile time.
>> >
>> > 3. Representing the runtime multiple of vector length in IR for
use in
>> address
>> >   calculations and induction variable comparisons.
>> >
>> > 4. Generating 'constant' values in IR for vectors with a
>> runtime-determined
>> >   number of elements.
>> >
>> > 5. An explanation of splitting/concatentating scalable vectors.
>> >
>> > 6. A brief note on code generation of these new operations for
AArch64.
>> >
>> > 7. An example of C code and matching IR using the proposed
extensions.
>> >
>> > 8. A list of patches demonstrating the changes required to emit
SVE
>> instructions
>> >   for a loop that has already been vectorized using the extensions
>> described
>> >   in this RFC.
>> >
>> > =======>> > 1. Types
>> > =======>> >
>> > To represent a vector of unknown length a boolean `Scalable`
property
>> has been
>> > added to the `VectorType` class, which indicates that the number
of
>> elements in
>> > the vector is a runtime-determined integer multiple of the
>> `NumElements` field.
>> > Most code that deals with vectors doesn't need to know the
exact
>> length, but
>> > does need to know relative lengths -- e.g. get a vector with the
same
>> number of
>> > elements but a different element type, or with half or double the
>> number of
>> > elements.
>> >
>> > In order to allow code to transparently support scalable vectors,
we
>> introduce
>> > an `ElementCount` class with two members:
>> >
>> > - `unsigned Min`: the minimum number of elements.
>> > - `bool Scalable`: is the element count an unknown multiple of
`Min`?
>> >
>> > For non-scalable vectors (``Scalable=false``) the scale is
considered
>> to be
>> > equal to one and thus `Min` represents the exact number of
elements in
>> the
>> > vector.
>> >
>> > The intent for code working with vectors is to use convenience
methods
>> and avoid
>> > directly dealing with the number of elements. If needed, calling
>> > `getElementCount` on a vector type instead of
`getVectorNumElements`
>> can be used
>> > to obtain the (potentially scalable) number of elements.
Overloaded
>> division and
>> > multiplication operators allow an ElementCount instance to be used
in
>> much the
>> > same manner as an integer for most cases.
>> >
>> > This mixture of compile-time and runtime quantities allow us to
reason
>> about the
>> > relationship between different scalable vector types without
knowing
>> their
>> > exact length.
>> >
>> > The runtime multiple is not expected to change during program
execution
>> for SVE,
>> > but it is possible. The model of scalable vectors presented in
this RFC
>> assumes
>> > that the multiple will be constant within a function but not
>> necessarily across
>> > functions. As suggested in the recent RISC-V rfc, a new function
>> attribute to
>> > inherit the multiple across function calls will allow for function
>> calls with
>> > vector arguments/return values and inlining/outlining
optimizations.
>> >
>> > IR Textual Form
>> > ---------------
>> >
>> > The textual form for a scalable vector is:
>> >
>> > ``<scalable <n> x <type>>``
>> >
>> > where `type` is the scalar type of each element, `n` is the
minimum
>> number of
>> > elements, and the string literal `scalable` indicates that the
total
>> number of
>> > elements is an unknown multiple of `n`; `scalable` is just an
arbitrary
>> choice
>> > for indicating that the vector is scalable, and could be
substituted by
>> another.
>> > For fixed-length vectors, the `scalable` is omitted, so there is
no
>> change in
>> > the format for existing vectors.
>> >
>> > Scalable vectors with the same `Min` value have the same number of
>> elements, and
>> > the same number of bytes if `Min * sizeof(type)` is the same
(assuming
>> they are
>> > used within the same function):
>> >
>> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 4 x i8>`` have
the same number of
>> >  elements.
>> >
>> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 8 x i16>`` have
the same number
>> of
>> >  bytes.
>> >
>> > IR Bitcode Form
>> > ---------------
>> >
>> > To serialize scalable vectors to bitcode, a new boolean field is
added
>> to the
>> > type record. If the field is not present the type will default to
a
>> fixed-length
>> > vector type, preserving backwards compatibility.
>> >
>> > Alternatives Considered
>> > -----------------------
>> >
>> > We did consider one main alternative -- a dedicated target type,
like
>> the
>> > x86_mmx type.
>> >
>> > A dedicated target type would either need to extend all existing
passes
>> that
>> > work with vectors to recognize the new type, or to duplicate all
that
>> code
>> > in order to get reasonable code generation and autovectorization.
>> >
>> > This hasn't been done for the x86_mmx type, and so it is only
capable of
>> > providing support for C-level intrinsics instead of being used and
>> recognized by
>> > passes inside llvm.
>> >
>> > Although our current solution will need to change some of the code
that
>> creates
>> > new VectorTypes, much of that code doesn't need to care about
whether
>> the types
>> > are scalable or not -- they can use preexisting methods like
>> > `getHalfElementsVectorType`. If the code is a little more complex,
>> > `ElementCount` structs can be used instead of an `unsigned` value
to
>> represent
>> > the number of elements.
>> >
>> > ==============>> > 2. Size Queries
>> > ==============>> >
>> > This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of
scalable
>> types for
>> > analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, the
general
>> approach
>> > works well for calculating offsets into structures with scalable
types
>> in a
>> > modified version of ComputeValueVTs in our downstream compiler.
>> >
>> > For current IR types that have a known size, all query functions
return
>> a single
>> > integer constant. For scalable types a second integer is needed to
>> indicate the
>> > number of bytes/bits which need to be scaled by the runtime
multiple to
>> obtain
>> > the actual length.
>> >
>> > For primitive types, `getPrimitiveSizeInBits()` will function as
it
>> does today,
>> > except that it will no longer return a size for vector types (it
will
>> return 0,
>> > as it does for other derived types). The majority of calls to this
>> function are
>> > already for scalar rather than vector types.
>> >
>> > For derived types, a function `getScalableSizePairInBits()` will
be
>> added, which
>> > returns a pair of integers (one to indicate unscaled bits, the
other
>> for bits
>> > that need to be scaled by the runtime multiple). For backends that
do
>> not need
>> > to deal with scalable types the existing methods will suffice, but
a
>> debug-only
>> > assert will be added to them to ensure they aren't used on
scalable
>> types.
>> >
>> > Similar functionality will be added to DataLayout.
>> >
>> > Comparisons between sizes will use the following methods, assuming
that
>> X and
>> > Y are non-zero integers and the form is of { unscaled, scaled }.
>> >
>> > { X, 0 } <cmp> { Y, 0 }: Normal unscaled comparison.
>> >
>> > { 0, X } <cmp> { 0, Y }: Normal comparison within a
function, or across
>> >                         functions that inherit vector length.
Cannot be
>> >                         compared across non-inheriting functions.
>> >
>> > { X, 0 } > { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
>> >
>> > { X, 0 } = { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
>> >
>> > { X, 0 } < { 0, Y }: Can return true.
>> >
>> > { Xu, Xs } <cmp> { Yu, Ys }: Gets complicated, need to
subtract common
>> >                             terms and try the above comparisons;
it
>> >                             may not be possible to get a good
answer.
>> >
>> > It's worth noting that we don't expect the last case
(mixed scaled and
>> > unscaled sizes) to occur. Richard Sandiford's proposed C
extensions
>> > (http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/2018-May/057830.html)
>> explicitly
>> > prohibits mixing fixed-size types into sizeless struct.
>> >
>> > I don't know if we need a 'maybe' or 'unknown'
result for cases
>> comparing scaled
>> > vs. unscaled; I believe the gcc implementation of SVE allows for
such
>> > results, but that supports a generic polynomial length
representation.
>> >
>> > My current intention is to rely on functions that clone or copy
values
>> to
>> > check whether they are being used to copy scalable vectors across
>> function
>> > boundaries without the inherit vlen attribute and raise an error
there
>> instead
>> > of requiring passing the Function a type size is from for each
>> comparison. If
>> > there's a strong preference for moving the check to the size
comparison
>> function
>> > let me know; I will be starting work on patches for this later in
the
>> year if
>> > there's no major problems with the idea.
>> >
>> > Future Work
>> > -----------
>> >
>> > Since we cannot determine the exact size of a scalable vector, the
>> > existing logic for alias detection won't work when multiple
accesses
>> > share a common base pointer with different offsets.
>> >
>> > However, SVE's predication will mean that a dynamic
'safe' vector length
>> > can be determined at runtime, so after initial support has been
added we
>> > can work on vectorizing loops using runtime predication to avoid
>> aliasing
>> > problems.
>> >
>> > Alternatives Considered
>> > -----------------------
>> >
>> > Marking scalable vectors as unsized doesn't work well, as many
parts of
>> > llvm dealing with loads and stores assert that 'isSized()'
returns true
>> > and make use of the size when calculating offsets.
>> >
>> > We have considered introducing multiple helper functions instead
of
>> > using direct size queries, but that doesn't cover all cases.
It may
>> > still be a good idea to introduce them to make the purpose in a
given
>> > case more obvious, e.g.
'requiresSignExtension(Type*,Type*)'.
>> >
>> > =======================================>> > 3.
Representing Vector Length at Runtime
>> > =======================================>> >
>> > With a scalable vector type defined, we now need a way to
represent the
>> runtime
>> > length in IR in order to generate addresses for consecutive
vectors in
>> memory
>> > and determine how many elements have been processed in an
iteration of
>> a loop.
>> >
>> > We have added an experimental `vscale` intrinsic to represent the
>> runtime
>> > multiple. Multiplying the result of this intrinsic by the minimum
>> number of
>> > elements in a vector gives the total number of elements in a
scalable
>> vector.
>> >
>> > Fixed-Length Code
>> > -----------------
>> >
>> > Assuming a vector type of <4 x <ty>>
>> > ``
>> > vector.body:
>> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>> %vector.body.preheader ]
>> >  ;; <loop body>
>> >  ;; Increment induction var
>> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, 4
>> >  ;; <check and branch>
>> > ``
>> > Scalable Equivalent
>> > -------------------
>> >
>> > Assuming a vector type of <scalable 4 x <ty>>
>> > ``
>> > vector.body:
>> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>> %vector.body.preheader ]
>> >  ;; <loop body>
>> >  ;; Increment induction var
>> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>> >  ;; <check and branch>
>> > ``
>> > ==========================>> > 4. Generating Vector
Values
>> > ==========================>> > For constant vector
values, we cannot specify all the elements as we
>> can for
>> > fixed-length vectors; fortunately only a small number of easily
>> synthesized
>> > patterns are required for autovectorization. The `zeroinitializer`
>> constant
>> > can be used in the same manner as fixed-length vectors for a
constant
>> zero
>> > splat. This can then be combined with `insertelement` and
>> `shufflevector`
>> > to create arbitrary value splats in the same manner as
fixed-length
>> vectors.
>> >
>> > For constants consisting of a sequence of values, an experimental
>> `stepvector`
>> > intrinsic has been added to represent a simple constant of the
form
>> > `<0, 1, 2... num_elems-1>`. To change the starting value a
splat of the
>> new
>> > start can be added, and changing the step requires multiplying by
a
>> splat.
>> >
>> > Fixed-Length Code
>> > -----------------
>> > ``
>> >  ;; Splat a value
>> >  %insert = insertelement <4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
>> >  %splat = shufflevector <4 x i32> %insert, <4 x i32>
undef, <4 x i32>
>> zeroinitializer
>> >  ;; Add a constant sequence
>> >  %add = add <4 x i32> %splat, <i32 2, i32 4, i32 6, i32
8>
>> > ``
>> > Scalable Equivalent
>> > -------------------
>> > ``
>> >  ;; Splat a value
>> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32
%value, i32 0
>> >  %splat = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert,
<scalable 4 x i32>
>> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>> >  ;; Splat offset + stride (the same in this case)
>> >  %insert2 = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> under, i32 2,
i32 0
>> >  %str_off = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert2,
<scalable 4 x
>> i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>> >  ;; Create sequence for scalable vector
>> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
>> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>> >  %mulbystride = mul <scalable 4 x i32> %stepvector, %str_off
>> >  %addoffset = add <scalable 4 x i32> %mulbystride, %str_off
>> >  ;; Add the runtime-generated sequence
>> >  %add = add <scalable 4 x i32> %splat, %addoffset
>> > ``
>> > Future Work
>> > -----------
>> >
>> > Intrinsics cannot currently be used for constant folding. Our
downstream
>> > compiler (using Constants instead of intrinsics) relies quite
heavily
>> on this
>> > for good code generation, so we will need to find new ways to
recognize
>> and
>> > fold these values.
>> >
>> > ==========================================>> > 5.
Splitting and Combining Scalable Vectors
>> > ==========================================>> >
>> > Splitting and combining scalable vectors in IR is done in the same
>> manner as
>> > for fixed-length vectors, but with a non-constant mask for the
>> shufflevector.
>> >
>> > The following is an example of splitting a <scalable 4 x
double> into
>> two
>> > separate <scalable 2 x double> values.
>> >
>> > ``
>> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>> >  ;; Stepvector generates the element ids for first subvector
>> >  %sv1 = call <scalable 2 x i64>
>> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv2i64()
>> >  ;; Add vscale * 2 to get the starting element for the second
subvector
>> >  %ec = mul i64 %vscale64, 2
>> >  %ec.ins = insertelement <scalable 2 x i64> undef, i64 %ec,
i32 0
>> >  %ec.splat = shufflevector <scalable 2 x i64> %9,
<scalable 2 x i64>
>> undef, <scalable 2 x i32> zeroinitializer
>> >  %sv2 = add <scalable 2 x i64> %ec.splat, %stepvec64
>> >  ;; Perform the extracts
>> >  %res1 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in,
<scalable 4 x double>
>> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv1
>> >  %res2 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in,
<scalable 4 x double>
>> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv2
>> > ``
>> >
>> > =================>> > 6. Code Generation
>> > =================>> >
>> > IR splats will be converted to an experimental splatvector
intrinsic in
>> > SelectionDAGBuilder.
>> >
>> > All three intrinsics are custom lowered and legalized in the
AArch64
>> backend.
>> >
>> > Two new AArch64ISD nodes have been added to represent the same
concepts
>> > at the SelectionDAG level, while splatvector maps onto the
existing
>> > AArch64ISD::DUP.
>> >
>> > GlobalISel
>> > ----------
>> >
>> > Since GlobalISel was enabled by default on AArch64, it was
necessary to
>> add
>> > scalable vector support to the LowLevelType implementation. A
single
>> bit was
>> > added to the raw_data representation for vectors and vectors of
>> pointers.
>> >
>> > In addition, types that only exist in destination patterns are
planted
>> in
>> > the enumeration of available types for generated code. While this
may
>> not be
>> > necessary in future, generating an all-true 'ptrue' value
was necessary
>> to
>> > convert a predicated instruction into an unpredicated one.
>> >
>> > =========>> > 7. Example
>> > =========>> >
>> > The following example shows a simple C loop which assigns the
array
>> index to
>> > the array elements matching that index. The IR shows how vscale
and
>> stepvector
>> > are used to create the needed values and to advance the index
variable
>> in the
>> > loop.
>> >
>> > C Code
>> > ------
>> >
>> > ``
>> > void IdentityArrayInit(int *a, int count) {
>> >  for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
>> >    a[i] = i;
>> > }
>> > ``
>> >
>> > Scalable IR Vector Body
>> > -----------------------
>> >
>> > ``
>> > vector.body.preheader:
>> >  ;; Other setup
>> >  ;; Stepvector used to create initial identity vector
>> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
>> @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>> >  br vector.body
>> >
>> > vector.body
>> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>> %vector.body.preheader ]
>> >  %0 = phi i64 [ %1, %vector.body ], [ 0, %vector.body.preheader ]
>> >
>> >           ;; stepvector used for index identity on entry to loop
body ;;
>> >  %vec.ind7 = phi <scalable 4 x i32> [ %step.add8,
%vector.body ],
>> >                                     [ %stepvector,
>> %vector.body.preheader ]
>> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>> >  %vscale32 = trunc i64 %vscale64 to i32
>> >  %1 = add i64 %0, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>> >
>> >           ;; vscale splat used to increment identity vector ;;
>> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 mul
(i32
>> %vscale32, i32 4), i32 0
>> >  %splat shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert,
<scalable 4 x i32>
>> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>> >  %step.add8 = add <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, %splat
>> >  %2 = getelementptr inbounds i32, i32* %a, i64 %0
>> >  %3 = bitcast i32* %2 to <scalable 4 x i32>*
>> >  store <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, <scalable 4 x
i32>* %3, align 4
>> >
>> >           ;; vscale used to increment loop index
>> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>> >  %4 = icmp eq i64 %index.next, %n.vec
>> >  br i1 %4, label %middle.block, label %vector.body, !llvm.loop !5
>> > ``
>> >
>> > =========>> > 8. Patches
>> > =========>> >
>> > List of patches:
>> >
>> > 1. Extend VectorType: https://reviews.llvm.org/D32530
>> > 2. Vector element type Tablegen constraint:
>> https://reviews.llvm.org/D47768
>> > 3. LLT support for scalable vectors:
https://reviews.llvm.org/D47769
>> > 4. EVT strings and Type mapping: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47770
>> > 5. SVE Calling Convention: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47771
>> > 6. Intrinsic lowering cleanup: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47772
>> > 7. Add VScale intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47773
>> > 8. Add StepVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47774
>> > 9. Add SplatVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47775
>> > 10. Initial store patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47776
>> > 11. Initial addition patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47777
>> > 12. Initial left-shift patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47778
>> > 13. Implement copy logic for Z regs:
https://reviews.llvm.org/D47779
>> > 14. Prevectorized loop unit test: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47780
>> >
>>
>>
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Chandler Carruth wrote:
> I strongly suspect that there remains widespread concern with the
> direction of this, I know I have them.
>
> I don't think that many of the people who have that concern have had
> time to come back to this RFC and make progress on it, likely because
> of other commitments or simply the amount of churn around SVE related
> patches and such. That is at least why I haven't had time to return to
> this RFC and try to write more detailed feedback.
We believe ARM SVE will be an important architecture going forward.  As
such, it's important to us that these questions and concerns get posted
and discussed, whatever the outcome may be.  If there are objections,
alternative proposals would be helpful.

I see a lot of SVE patches on Phab that are described as "not for
review."  I don't know how helpful that is.  It would be more helpful
to
have actual patches intended for review/commit.  It is difficult to know
which is which in Phab.  Could patches not intended for review either be
removed if not needed, or their subjects updated to indicate they are
not for review but for discussion purposes so that it's easier to filter
search results?

                                  -David

On 07/30/2018 05:34 AM, Chandler Carruth wrote:
> I strongly suspect that there remains widespread concern with the
> direction of this, I know I have them.
>
> I don't think that many of the people who have that concern have had
> time to come back to this RFC and make progress on it, likely because
> of other commitments or simply the amount of churn around SVE related
> patches and such. That is at least why I haven't had time to return to
> this RFC and try to write more detailed feedback.
>
> Certainly, I would want to see pretty clear and considered support for
> this change to the IR type system from Hal, Chris, Eric and/or other
> long time maintainers of core LLVM IR components before it moves
> forward, and I don't see that in this thread.
At a high level, I'm happy with this approach. I think it will be
important for LLVM to support runtime-determined vector lengths - I see
the customizability and power-efficiency constraints that motivate these
designs continuing to increase in importance. I'm still undecided on
whether this makes vector code nicer even for fixed-vector-length
architectures, but some of the design decisions that it forces, such as
having explicit intrinsics for reductions and other horizontal
operations, seem like the right direction regardless. I have two questions:

1.
> This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of scalable
> types for
> > analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, 
Is this still true? The details here need to all work out, obviously,
and we should make sure that any issues are identified.

2. I know that there has been some discussion around support for
changing the vector length during program execution (e.g., to account
for some (proposed?) RISC-V feature), perhaps even during the execution
of a single function. I'm very concerned about this idea because it is
not at all clear to me how to limit information transfer contaminated
with the vector size from propagating between different regions. As a
result, I'm concerned about trying to add this on later, and so if this
is part of the plan, I think that we need to think through the details
up front because it could have a major impact on the design.

Thanks again,
Hal
>
> Put differently: I don't think silence is assent here. You really need
> some clear signal of consensus.
>
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 2:23 AM Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at arm.com
> <mailto:Graham.Hunter at arm.com>> wrote:
>
>     Hi,
>
>     Are there any objections to going ahead with this? If not, we'll
>     try to get the patches reviewed and committed after the 7.0 branch
>     occurs.
>
>     -Graham
>
>     > On 2 Jul 2018, at 10:53, Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com
>     <mailto:Graham.Hunter at arm.com>> wrote:
>     >
>     > Hi,
>     >
>     > I've updated the RFC slightly based on the discussion within
the
>     thread, reposted below. Let me know if I've missed anything or if
>     more clarification is needed.
>     >
>     > Thanks,
>     >
>     > -Graham
>     >
>     > ============================================================>  
> Supporting SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths
>     > ============================================================>  
>
>     > In this RFC we propose extending LLVM IR to support
>     code-generation for variable
>     > length vector architectures like Arm's SVE or RISC-V's
'V'
>     extension. Our
>     > approach is backwards compatible and should be as non-intrusive
>     as possible; the
>     > only change needed in other backends is how size is queried on
>     vector types, and
>     > it only requires a change in which function is called. We have
>     created a set of
>     > proof-of-concept patches to represent a simple vectorized loop
>     in IR and
>     > generate SVE instructions from that IR. These patches (listed in
>     section 7 of
>     > this rfc) can be found on Phabricator and are intended to
>     illustrate the scope
>     > of changes required by the general approach described in this RFC.
>     >
>     > =========>     > Background
>     > =========>     >
>     > *ARMv8-A Scalable Vector Extensions* (SVE) is a new vector ISA
>     extension for
>     > AArch64 which is intended to scale with hardware such that the
>     same binary
>     > running on a processor with longer vector registers can take
>     advantage of the
>     > increased compute power without recompilation.
>     >
>     > As the vector length is no longer a compile-time known value,
>     the way in which
>     > the LLVM vectorizer generates code requires modifications such
>     that certain
>     > values are now runtime evaluated expressions instead of
>     compile-time constants.
>     >
>     > Documentation for SVE can be found at
>     >
>    
https://developer.arm.com/docs/ddi0584/latest/arm-architecture-reference-manual-supplement-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-armv8-a
>     >
>     > =======>     > Contents
>     > =======>     >
>     > The rest of this RFC covers the following topics:
>     >
>     > 1. Types -- a proposal to extend VectorType to be able to
>     represent vectors that
>     >   have a length which is a runtime-determined multiple of a
>     known base length.
>     >
>     > 2. Size Queries - how to reason about the size of types for
>     which the size isn't
>     >   fully known at compile time.
>     >
>     > 3. Representing the runtime multiple of vector length in IR for
>     use in address
>     >   calculations and induction variable comparisons.
>     >
>     > 4. Generating 'constant' values in IR for vectors with a
>     runtime-determined
>     >   number of elements.
>     >
>     > 5. An explanation of splitting/concatentating scalable vectors.
>     >
>     > 6. A brief note on code generation of these new operations for
>     AArch64.
>     >
>     > 7. An example of C code and matching IR using the proposed
>     extensions.
>     >
>     > 8. A list of patches demonstrating the changes required to emit
>     SVE instructions
>     >   for a loop that has already been vectorized using the
>     extensions described
>     >   in this RFC.
>     >
>     > =======>     > 1. Types
>     > =======>     >
>     > To represent a vector of unknown length a boolean `Scalable`
>     property has been
>     > added to the `VectorType` class, which indicates that the number
>     of elements in
>     > the vector is a runtime-determined integer multiple of the
>     `NumElements` field.
>     > Most code that deals with vectors doesn't need to know the
exact
>     length, but
>     > does need to know relative lengths -- e.g. get a vector with the
>     same number of
>     > elements but a different element type, or with half or double
>     the number of
>     > elements.
>     >
>     > In order to allow code to transparently support scalable
>     vectors, we introduce
>     > an `ElementCount` class with two members:
>     >
>     > - `unsigned Min`: the minimum number of elements.
>     > - `bool Scalable`: is the element count an unknown multiple of
>     `Min`?
>     >
>     > For non-scalable vectors (``Scalable=false``) the scale is
>     considered to be
>     > equal to one and thus `Min` represents the exact number of
>     elements in the
>     > vector.
>     >
>     > The intent for code working with vectors is to use convenience
>     methods and avoid
>     > directly dealing with the number of elements. If needed, calling
>     > `getElementCount` on a vector type instead of
>     `getVectorNumElements` can be used
>     > to obtain the (potentially scalable) number of elements.
>     Overloaded division and
>     > multiplication operators allow an ElementCount instance to be
>     used in much the
>     > same manner as an integer for most cases.
>     >
>     > This mixture of compile-time and runtime quantities allow us to
>     reason about the
>     > relationship between different scalable vector types without
>     knowing their
>     > exact length.
>     >
>     > The runtime multiple is not expected to change during program
>     execution for SVE,
>     > but it is possible. The model of scalable vectors presented in
>     this RFC assumes
>     > that the multiple will be constant within a function but not
>     necessarily across
>     > functions. As suggested in the recent RISC-V rfc, a new function
>     attribute to
>     > inherit the multiple across function calls will allow for
>     function calls with
>     > vector arguments/return values and inlining/outlining
optimizations.
>     >
>     > IR Textual Form
>     > ---------------
>     >
>     > The textual form for a scalable vector is:
>     >
>     > ``<scalable <n> x <type>>``
>     >
>     > where `type` is the scalar type of each element, `n` is the
>     minimum number of
>     > elements, and the string literal `scalable` indicates that the
>     total number of
>     > elements is an unknown multiple of `n`; `scalable` is just an
>     arbitrary choice
>     > for indicating that the vector is scalable, and could be
>     substituted by another.
>     > For fixed-length vectors, the `scalable` is omitted, so there is
>     no change in
>     > the format for existing vectors.
>     >
>     > Scalable vectors with the same `Min` value have the same number
>     of elements, and
>     > the same number of bytes if `Min * sizeof(type)` is the same
>     (assuming they are
>     > used within the same function):
>     >
>     > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 4 x i8>`` have
the same
>     number of
>     >  elements.
>     >
>     > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 8 x i16>`` have
the same
>     number of
>     >  bytes.
>     >
>     > IR Bitcode Form
>     > ---------------
>     >
>     > To serialize scalable vectors to bitcode, a new boolean field is
>     added to the
>     > type record. If the field is not present the type will default
>     to a fixed-length
>     > vector type, preserving backwards compatibility.
>     >
>     > Alternatives Considered
>     > -----------------------
>     >
>     > We did consider one main alternative -- a dedicated target type,
>     like the
>     > x86_mmx type.
>     >
>     > A dedicated target type would either need to extend all existing
>     passes that
>     > work with vectors to recognize the new type, or to duplicate all
>     that code
>     > in order to get reasonable code generation and autovectorization.
>     >
>     > This hasn't been done for the x86_mmx type, and so it is only
>     capable of
>     > providing support for C-level intrinsics instead of being used
>     and recognized by
>     > passes inside llvm.
>     >
>     > Although our current solution will need to change some of the
>     code that creates
>     > new VectorTypes, much of that code doesn't need to care about
>     whether the types
>     > are scalable or not -- they can use preexisting methods like
>     > `getHalfElementsVectorType`. If the code is a little more complex,
>     > `ElementCount` structs can be used instead of an `unsigned`
>     value to represent
>     > the number of elements.
>     >
>     > ==============>     > 2. Size Queries
>     > ==============>     >
>     > This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of
>     scalable types for
>     > analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, the
>     general approach
>     > works well for calculating offsets into structures with scalable
>     types in a
>     > modified version of ComputeValueVTs in our downstream compiler.
>     >
>     > For current IR types that have a known size, all query functions
>     return a single
>     > integer constant. For scalable types a second integer is needed
>     to indicate the
>     > number of bytes/bits which need to be scaled by the runtime
>     multiple to obtain
>     > the actual length.
>     >
>     > For primitive types, `getPrimitiveSizeInBits()` will function as
>     it does today,
>     > except that it will no longer return a size for vector types (it
>     will return 0,
>     > as it does for other derived types). The majority of calls to
>     this function are
>     > already for scalar rather than vector types.
>     >
>     > For derived types, a function `getScalableSizePairInBits()` will
>     be added, which
>     > returns a pair of integers (one to indicate unscaled bits, the
>     other for bits
>     > that need to be scaled by the runtime multiple). For backends
>     that do not need
>     > to deal with scalable types the existing methods will suffice,
>     but a debug-only
>     > assert will be added to them to ensure they aren't used on
>     scalable types.
>     >
>     > Similar functionality will be added to DataLayout.
>     >
>     > Comparisons between sizes will use the following methods,
>     assuming that X and
>     > Y are non-zero integers and the form is of { unscaled, scaled }.
>     >
>     > { X, 0 } <cmp> { Y, 0 }: Normal unscaled comparison.
>     >
>     > { 0, X } <cmp> { 0, Y }: Normal comparison within a
function, or
>     across
>     >                         functions that inherit vector length.
>     Cannot be
>     >                         compared across non-inheriting functions.
>     >
>     > { X, 0 } > { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
>     >
>     > { X, 0 } = { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
>     >
>     > { X, 0 } < { 0, Y }: Can return true.
>     >
>     > { Xu, Xs } <cmp> { Yu, Ys }: Gets complicated, need to
subtract
>     common
>     >                             terms and try the above comparisons;
it
>     >                             may not be possible to get a good
>     answer.
>     >
>     > It's worth noting that we don't expect the last case
(mixed
>     scaled and
>     > unscaled sizes) to occur. Richard Sandiford's proposed C
extensions
>     > (http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/2018-May/057830.html)
>     explicitly
>     > prohibits mixing fixed-size types into sizeless struct.
>     >
>     > I don't know if we need a 'maybe' or 'unknown'
result for cases
>     comparing scaled
>     > vs. unscaled; I believe the gcc implementation of SVE allows for
>     such
>     > results, but that supports a generic polynomial length
>     representation.
>     >
>     > My current intention is to rely on functions that clone or copy
>     values to
>     > check whether they are being used to copy scalable vectors
>     across function
>     > boundaries without the inherit vlen attribute and raise an error
>     there instead
>     > of requiring passing the Function a type size is from for each
>     comparison. If
>     > there's a strong preference for moving the check to the size
>     comparison function
>     > let me know; I will be starting work on patches for this later
>     in the year if
>     > there's no major problems with the idea.
>     >
>     > Future Work
>     > -----------
>     >
>     > Since we cannot determine the exact size of a scalable vector, the
>     > existing logic for alias detection won't work when multiple
accesses
>     > share a common base pointer with different offsets.
>     >
>     > However, SVE's predication will mean that a dynamic
'safe'
>     vector length
>     > can be determined at runtime, so after initial support has been
>     added we
>     > can work on vectorizing loops using runtime predication to avoid
>     aliasing
>     > problems.
>     >
>     > Alternatives Considered
>     > -----------------------
>     >
>     > Marking scalable vectors as unsized doesn't work well, as many
>     parts of
>     > llvm dealing with loads and stores assert that 'isSized()'
>     returns true
>     > and make use of the size when calculating offsets.
>     >
>     > We have considered introducing multiple helper functions instead
of
>     > using direct size queries, but that doesn't cover all cases.
It may
>     > still be a good idea to introduce them to make the purpose in a
>     given
>     > case more obvious, e.g.
'requiresSignExtension(Type*,Type*)'.
>     >
>     > =======================================>     > 3.
Representing Vector Length at Runtime
>     > =======================================>     >
>     > With a scalable vector type defined, we now need a way to
>     represent the runtime
>     > length in IR in order to generate addresses for consecutive
>     vectors in memory
>     > and determine how many elements have been processed in an
>     iteration of a loop.
>     >
>     > We have added an experimental `vscale` intrinsic to represent
>     the runtime
>     > multiple. Multiplying the result of this intrinsic by the
>     minimum number of
>     > elements in a vector gives the total number of elements in a
>     scalable vector.
>     >
>     > Fixed-Length Code
>     > -----------------
>     >
>     > Assuming a vector type of <4 x <ty>>
>     > ``
>     > vector.body:
>     >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>     %vector.body.preheader ]
>     >  ;; <loop body>
>     >  ;; Increment induction var
>     >  %index.next = add i64 %index, 4
>     >  ;; <check and branch>
>     > ``
>     > Scalable Equivalent
>     > -------------------
>     >
>     > Assuming a vector type of <scalable 4 x <ty>>
>     > ``
>     > vector.body:
>     >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>     %vector.body.preheader ]
>     >  ;; <loop body>
>     >  ;; Increment induction var
>     >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>     >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>     >  ;; <check and branch>
>     > ``
>     > ==========================>     > 4. Generating Vector
Values
>     > ==========================>     > For constant vector
values, we cannot specify all the elements
>     as we can for
>     > fixed-length vectors; fortunately only a small number of easily
>     synthesized
>     > patterns are required for autovectorization. The
>     `zeroinitializer` constant
>     > can be used in the same manner as fixed-length vectors for a
>     constant zero
>     > splat. This can then be combined with `insertelement` and
>     `shufflevector`
>     > to create arbitrary value splats in the same manner as
>     fixed-length vectors.
>     >
>     > For constants consisting of a sequence of values, an
>     experimental `stepvector`
>     > intrinsic has been added to represent a simple constant of the
form
>     > `<0, 1, 2... num_elems-1>`. To change the starting value a
splat
>     of the new
>     > start can be added, and changing the step requires multiplying
>     by a splat.
>     >
>     > Fixed-Length Code
>     > -----------------
>     > ``
>     >  ;; Splat a value
>     >  %insert = insertelement <4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
>     >  %splat = shufflevector <4 x i32> %insert, <4 x i32>
undef, <4 x
>     i32> zeroinitializer
>     >  ;; Add a constant sequence
>     >  %add = add <4 x i32> %splat, <i32 2, i32 4, i32 6, i32
8>
>     > ``
>     > Scalable Equivalent
>     > -------------------
>     > ``
>     >  ;; Splat a value
>     >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32
%value, i32 0
>     >  %splat = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert,
<scalable 4
>     x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>     >  ;; Splat offset + stride (the same in this case)
>     >  %insert2 = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> under, i32 2,
i32 0
>     >  %str_off = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert2,
<scalable
>     4 x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>     >  ;; Create sequence for scalable vector
>     >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
>     @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>     >  %mulbystride = mul <scalable 4 x i32> %stepvector, %str_off
>     >  %addoffset = add <scalable 4 x i32> %mulbystride, %str_off
>     >  ;; Add the runtime-generated sequence
>     >  %add = add <scalable 4 x i32> %splat, %addoffset
>     > ``
>     > Future Work
>     > -----------
>     >
>     > Intrinsics cannot currently be used for constant folding. Our
>     downstream
>     > compiler (using Constants instead of intrinsics) relies quite
>     heavily on this
>     > for good code generation, so we will need to find new ways to
>     recognize and
>     > fold these values.
>     >
>     > ==========================================>     > 5.
Splitting and Combining Scalable Vectors
>     > ==========================================>     >
>     > Splitting and combining scalable vectors in IR is done in the
>     same manner as
>     > for fixed-length vectors, but with a non-constant mask for the
>     shufflevector.
>     >
>     > The following is an example of splitting a <scalable 4 x
double>
>     into two
>     > separate <scalable 2 x double> values.
>     >
>     > ``
>     >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>     >  ;; Stepvector generates the element ids for first subvector
>     >  %sv1 = call <scalable 2 x i64>
>     @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv2i64()
>     >  ;; Add vscale * 2 to get the starting element for the second
>     subvector
>     >  %ec = mul i64 %vscale64, 2
>     >  %ec.ins = insertelement <scalable 2 x i64> undef, i64 %ec,
i32 0
>     >  %ec.splat = shufflevector <scalable 2 x i64> %9,
<scalable 2 x
>     i64> undef, <scalable 2 x i32> zeroinitializer
>     >  %sv2 = add <scalable 2 x i64> %ec.splat, %stepvec64
>     >  ;; Perform the extracts
>     >  %res1 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in,
<scalable 4 x
>     double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv1
>     >  %res2 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in,
<scalable 4 x
>     double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv2
>     > ``
>     >
>     > =================>     > 6. Code Generation
>     > =================>     >
>     > IR splats will be converted to an experimental splatvector
>     intrinsic in
>     > SelectionDAGBuilder.
>     >
>     > All three intrinsics are custom lowered and legalized in the
>     AArch64 backend.
>     >
>     > Two new AArch64ISD nodes have been added to represent the same
>     concepts
>     > at the SelectionDAG level, while splatvector maps onto the
existing
>     > AArch64ISD::DUP.
>     >
>     > GlobalISel
>     > ----------
>     >
>     > Since GlobalISel was enabled by default on AArch64, it was
>     necessary to add
>     > scalable vector support to the LowLevelType implementation. A
>     single bit was
>     > added to the raw_data representation for vectors and vectors of
>     pointers.
>     >
>     > In addition, types that only exist in destination patterns are
>     planted in
>     > the enumeration of available types for generated code. While
>     this may not be
>     > necessary in future, generating an all-true 'ptrue' value
was
>     necessary to
>     > convert a predicated instruction into an unpredicated one.
>     >
>     > =========>     > 7. Example
>     > =========>     >
>     > The following example shows a simple C loop which assigns the
>     array index to
>     > the array elements matching that index. The IR shows how vscale
>     and stepvector
>     > are used to create the needed values and to advance the index
>     variable in the
>     > loop.
>     >
>     > C Code
>     > ------
>     >
>     > ``
>     > void IdentityArrayInit(int *a, int count) {
>     >  for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
>     >    a[i] = i;
>     > }
>     > ``
>     >
>     > Scalable IR Vector Body
>     > -----------------------
>     >
>     > ``
>     > vector.body.preheader:
>     >  ;; Other setup
>     >  ;; Stepvector used to create initial identity vector
>     >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
>     @llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
>     >  br vector.body
>     >
>     > vector.body
>     >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
>     %vector.body.preheader ]
>     >  %0 = phi i64 [ %1, %vector.body ], [ 0, %vector.body.preheader ]
>     >
>     >           ;; stepvector used for index identity on entry to loop
>     body ;;
>     >  %vec.ind7 = phi <scalable 4 x i32> [ %step.add8,
%vector.body ],
>     >                                     [ %stepvector,
>     %vector.body.preheader ]
>     >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
>     >  %vscale32 = trunc i64 %vscale64 to i32
>     >  %1 = add i64 %0, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>     >
>     >           ;; vscale splat used to increment identity vector ;;
>     >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 mul
(i32
>     %vscale32, i32 4), i32 0
>     >  %splat shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert,
<scalable 4 x
>     i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
>     >  %step.add8 = add <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, %splat
>     >  %2 = getelementptr inbounds i32, i32* %a, i64 %0
>     >  %3 = bitcast i32* %2 to <scalable 4 x i32>*
>     >  store <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, <scalable 4 x
i32>* %3, align 4
>     >
>     >           ;; vscale used to increment loop index
>     >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
>     >  %4 = icmp eq i64 %index.next, %n.vec
>     >  br i1 %4, label %middle.block, label %vector.body, !llvm.loop !5
>     > ``
>     >
>     > =========>     > 8. Patches
>     > =========>     >
>     > List of patches:
>     >
>     > 1. Extend VectorType: https://reviews.llvm.org/D32530
>     > 2. Vector element type Tablegen constraint:
>     https://reviews.llvm.org/D47768
>     > 3. LLT support for scalable vectors:
https://reviews.llvm.org/D47769
>     > 4. EVT strings and Type mapping: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47770
>     > 5. SVE Calling Convention: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47771
>     > 6. Intrinsic lowering cleanup: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47772
>     > 7. Add VScale intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47773
>     > 8. Add StepVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47774
>     > 9. Add SplatVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47775
>     > 10. Initial store patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47776
>     > 11. Initial addition patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47777
>     > 12. Initial left-shift patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47778
>     > 13. Implement copy logic for Z regs:
https://reviews.llvm.org/D47779
>     > 14. Prevectorized loop unit test: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47780
>     >
>
-- 
Hal Finkel
Lead, Compiler Technology and Programming Languages
Leadership Computing Facility
Argonne National Laboratory

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Hi Chandler,
> On 30 Jul 2018, at 11:34, Chandler Carruth <chandlerc at gmail.com>
wrote:
> 
> I strongly suspect that there remains widespread concern with the direction
of this, I know I have them.
> 
> I don't think that many of the people who have that concern have had
time to come back to this RFC and make progress on it, likely because of other
commitments or simply the amount of churn around SVE related patches and such.
That is at least why I haven't had time to return to this RFC and try to
write more detailed feedback.
The core IR patches (listed in the RFC) haven't really changed much and are
ready for review. I appreciate that Sander has pushed a lot of SVE-related
patches for MC through recently though.
> Certainly, I would want to see pretty clear and considered support for this
change to the IR type system from Hal, Chris, Eric and/or other long time
maintainers of core LLVM IR components before it moves forward, and I don't
see that in this thread.
> 
> Put differently: I don't think silence is assent here. You really need
some clear signal of consensus.
Understood. Thankfully there seems to be more interest in this now... I guess
people will be busy with the release in the near future but I can work on
responding to all the new messages now. I'll try to log in to irc during the
evenings (UK time) if that would help.

-Graham
> On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 2:23 AM Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Are there any objections to going ahead with this? If not, we'll try to
get the patches reviewed and committed after the 7.0 branch occurs.
> 
> -Graham
> 
> > On 2 Jul 2018, at 10:53, Graham Hunter <Graham.Hunter at
arm.com> wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I've updated the RFC slightly based on the discussion within the
thread, reposted below. Let me know if I've missed anything or if more
clarification is needed.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > 
> > -Graham
> > 
> > ============================================================> >
Supporting SIMD instruction sets with variable vector lengths
> > ============================================================> > 
> > In this RFC we propose extending LLVM IR to support code-generation
for variable
> > length vector architectures like Arm's SVE or RISC-V's
'V' extension. Our
> > approach is backwards compatible and should be as non-intrusive as
possible; the
> > only change needed in other backends is how size is queried on vector
types, and
> > it only requires a change in which function is called. We have created
a set of
> > proof-of-concept patches to represent a simple vectorized loop in IR
and
> > generate SVE instructions from that IR. These patches (listed in
section 7 of
> > this rfc) can be found on Phabricator and are intended to illustrate
the scope
> > of changes required by the general approach described in this RFC.
> > 
> > =========> > Background
> > =========> > 
> > *ARMv8-A Scalable Vector Extensions* (SVE) is a new vector ISA
extension for
> > AArch64 which is intended to scale with hardware such that the same
binary
> > running on a processor with longer vector registers can take advantage
of the
> > increased compute power without recompilation.
> > 
> > As the vector length is no longer a compile-time known value, the way
in which
> > the LLVM vectorizer generates code requires modifications such that
certain
> > values are now runtime evaluated expressions instead of compile-time
constants.
> > 
> > Documentation for SVE can be found at
> >
https://developer.arm.com/docs/ddi0584/latest/arm-architecture-reference-manual-supplement-the-scalable-vector-extension-sve-for-armv8-a
> > 
> > =======> > Contents
> > =======> > 
> > The rest of this RFC covers the following topics:
> > 
> > 1. Types -- a proposal to extend VectorType to be able to represent
vectors that
> >   have a length which is a runtime-determined multiple of a known base
length.
> > 
> > 2. Size Queries - how to reason about the size of types for which the
size isn't
> >   fully known at compile time.
> > 
> > 3. Representing the runtime multiple of vector length in IR for use in
address
> >   calculations and induction variable comparisons.
> > 
> > 4. Generating 'constant' values in IR for vectors with a
runtime-determined
> >   number of elements.
> > 
> > 5. An explanation of splitting/concatentating scalable vectors.
> > 
> > 6. A brief note on code generation of these new operations for
AArch64.
> > 
> > 7. An example of C code and matching IR using the proposed extensions.
> > 
> > 8. A list of patches demonstrating the changes required to emit SVE
instructions
> >   for a loop that has already been vectorized using the extensions
described
> >   in this RFC.
> > 
> > =======> > 1. Types
> > =======> > 
> > To represent a vector of unknown length a boolean `Scalable` property
has been
> > added to the `VectorType` class, which indicates that the number of
elements in
> > the vector is a runtime-determined integer multiple of the
`NumElements` field.
> > Most code that deals with vectors doesn't need to know the exact
length, but
> > does need to know relative lengths -- e.g. get a vector with the same
number of
> > elements but a different element type, or with half or double the
number of
> > elements.
> > 
> > In order to allow code to transparently support scalable vectors, we
introduce
> > an `ElementCount` class with two members:
> > 
> > - `unsigned Min`: the minimum number of elements.
> > - `bool Scalable`: is the element count an unknown multiple of `Min`?
> > 
> > For non-scalable vectors (``Scalable=false``) the scale is considered
to be
> > equal to one and thus `Min` represents the exact number of elements in
the
> > vector.
> > 
> > The intent for code working with vectors is to use convenience methods
and avoid
> > directly dealing with the number of elements. If needed, calling
> > `getElementCount` on a vector type instead of `getVectorNumElements`
can be used
> > to obtain the (potentially scalable) number of elements. Overloaded
division and
> > multiplication operators allow an ElementCount instance to be used in
much the
> > same manner as an integer for most cases.
> > 
> > This mixture of compile-time and runtime quantities allow us to reason
about the
> > relationship between different scalable vector types without knowing
their
> > exact length.
> > 
> > The runtime multiple is not expected to change during program
execution for SVE,
> > but it is possible. The model of scalable vectors presented in this
RFC assumes
> > that the multiple will be constant within a function but not
necessarily across
> > functions. As suggested in the recent RISC-V rfc, a new function
attribute to
> > inherit the multiple across function calls will allow for function
calls with
> > vector arguments/return values and inlining/outlining optimizations.
> > 
> > IR Textual Form
> > ---------------
> > 
> > The textual form for a scalable vector is:
> > 
> > ``<scalable <n> x <type>>``
> > 
> > where `type` is the scalar type of each element, `n` is the minimum
number of
> > elements, and the string literal `scalable` indicates that the total
number of
> > elements is an unknown multiple of `n`; `scalable` is just an
arbitrary choice
> > for indicating that the vector is scalable, and could be substituted
by another.
> > For fixed-length vectors, the `scalable` is omitted, so there is no
change in
> > the format for existing vectors.
> > 
> > Scalable vectors with the same `Min` value have the same number of
elements, and
> > the same number of bytes if `Min * sizeof(type)` is the same (assuming
they are
> > used within the same function):
> > 
> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 4 x i8>`` have the
same number of
> >  elements.
> > 
> > ``<scalable 4 x i32>`` and ``<scalable 8 x i16>`` have the
same number of
> >  bytes.
> > 
> > IR Bitcode Form
> > ---------------
> > 
> > To serialize scalable vectors to bitcode, a new boolean field is added
to the
> > type record. If the field is not present the type will default to a
fixed-length
> > vector type, preserving backwards compatibility.
> > 
> > Alternatives Considered
> > -----------------------
> > 
> > We did consider one main alternative -- a dedicated target type, like
the
> > x86_mmx type.
> > 
> > A dedicated target type would either need to extend all existing
passes that
> > work with vectors to recognize the new type, or to duplicate all that
code
> > in order to get reasonable code generation and autovectorization.
> > 
> > This hasn't been done for the x86_mmx type, and so it is only
capable of
> > providing support for C-level intrinsics instead of being used and
recognized by
> > passes inside llvm.
> > 
> > Although our current solution will need to change some of the code
that creates
> > new VectorTypes, much of that code doesn't need to care about
whether the types
> > are scalable or not -- they can use preexisting methods like
> > `getHalfElementsVectorType`. If the code is a little more complex,
> > `ElementCount` structs can be used instead of an `unsigned` value to
represent
> > the number of elements.
> > 
> > ==============> > 2. Size Queries
> > ==============> > 
> > This is a proposal for how to deal with querying the size of scalable
types for
> > analysis of IR. While it has not been implemented in full, the general
approach
> > works well for calculating offsets into structures with scalable types
in a
> > modified version of ComputeValueVTs in our downstream compiler.
> > 
> > For current IR types that have a known size, all query functions
return a single
> > integer constant. For scalable types a second integer is needed to
indicate the
> > number of bytes/bits which need to be scaled by the runtime multiple
to obtain
> > the actual length.
> > 
> > For primitive types, `getPrimitiveSizeInBits()` will function as it
does today,
> > except that it will no longer return a size for vector types (it will
return 0,
> > as it does for other derived types). The majority of calls to this
function are
> > already for scalar rather than vector types.
> > 
> > For derived types, a function `getScalableSizePairInBits()` will be
added, which
> > returns a pair of integers (one to indicate unscaled bits, the other
for bits
> > that need to be scaled by the runtime multiple). For backends that do
not need
> > to deal with scalable types the existing methods will suffice, but a
debug-only
> > assert will be added to them to ensure they aren't used on
scalable types.
> > 
> > Similar functionality will be added to DataLayout.
> > 
> > Comparisons between sizes will use the following methods, assuming
that X and
> > Y are non-zero integers and the form is of { unscaled, scaled }.
> > 
> > { X, 0 } <cmp> { Y, 0 }: Normal unscaled comparison.
> > 
> > { 0, X } <cmp> { 0, Y }: Normal comparison within a function, or
across
> >                         functions that inherit vector length. Cannot
be
> >                         compared across non-inheriting functions.
> > 
> > { X, 0 } > { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> > 
> > { X, 0 } = { 0, Y }: Cannot return true.
> > 
> > { X, 0 } < { 0, Y }: Can return true.
> > 
> > { Xu, Xs } <cmp> { Yu, Ys }: Gets complicated, need to subtract
common
> >                             terms and try the above comparisons; it
> >                             may not be possible to get a good answer.
> > 
> > It's worth noting that we don't expect the last case (mixed
scaled and
> > unscaled sizes) to occur. Richard Sandiford's proposed C
extensions
> > (http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/cfe-dev/2018-May/057830.html)
explicitly
> > prohibits mixing fixed-size types into sizeless struct.
> > 
> > I don't know if we need a 'maybe' or 'unknown'
result for cases comparing scaled
> > vs. unscaled; I believe the gcc implementation of SVE allows for such
> > results, but that supports a generic polynomial length representation.
> > 
> > My current intention is to rely on functions that clone or copy values
to
> > check whether they are being used to copy scalable vectors across
function
> > boundaries without the inherit vlen attribute and raise an error there
instead
> > of requiring passing the Function a type size is from for each
comparison. If
> > there's a strong preference for moving the check to the size
comparison function
> > let me know; I will be starting work on patches for this later in the
year if
> > there's no major problems with the idea.
> > 
> > Future Work
> > -----------
> > 
> > Since we cannot determine the exact size of a scalable vector, the
> > existing logic for alias detection won't work when multiple
accesses
> > share a common base pointer with different offsets.
> > 
> > However, SVE's predication will mean that a dynamic 'safe'
vector length
> > can be determined at runtime, so after initial support has been added
we
> > can work on vectorizing loops using runtime predication to avoid
aliasing
> > problems.
> > 
> > Alternatives Considered
> > -----------------------
> > 
> > Marking scalable vectors as unsized doesn't work well, as many
parts of
> > llvm dealing with loads and stores assert that 'isSized()'
returns true
> > and make use of the size when calculating offsets.
> > 
> > We have considered introducing multiple helper functions instead of
> > using direct size queries, but that doesn't cover all cases. It
may
> > still be a good idea to introduce them to make the purpose in a given
> > case more obvious, e.g. 'requiresSignExtension(Type*,Type*)'.
> > 
> > =======================================> > 3. Representing
Vector Length at Runtime
> > =======================================> > 
> > With a scalable vector type defined, we now need a way to represent
the runtime
> > length in IR in order to generate addresses for consecutive vectors in
memory
> > and determine how many elements have been processed in an iteration of
a loop.
> > 
> > We have added an experimental `vscale` intrinsic to represent the
runtime
> > multiple. Multiplying the result of this intrinsic by the minimum
number of
> > elements in a vector gives the total number of elements in a scalable
vector.
> > 
> > Fixed-Length Code
> > -----------------
> > 
> > Assuming a vector type of <4 x <ty>>
> > ``
> > vector.body:
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
> >  ;; <loop body>
> >  ;; Increment induction var
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, 4
> >  ;; <check and branch>
> > ``
> > Scalable Equivalent
> > -------------------
> > 
> > Assuming a vector type of <scalable 4 x <ty>>
> > ``
> > vector.body:
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
> >  ;; <loop body>
> >  ;; Increment induction var
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> >  ;; <check and branch>
> > ``
> > ==========================> > 4. Generating Vector Values
> > ==========================> > For constant vector values, we
cannot specify all the elements as we can for
> > fixed-length vectors; fortunately only a small number of easily
synthesized
> > patterns are required for autovectorization. The `zeroinitializer`
constant
> > can be used in the same manner as fixed-length vectors for a constant
zero
> > splat. This can then be combined with `insertelement` and
`shufflevector`
> > to create arbitrary value splats in the same manner as fixed-length
vectors.
> > 
> > For constants consisting of a sequence of values, an experimental
`stepvector`
> > intrinsic has been added to represent a simple constant of the form
> > `<0, 1, 2... num_elems-1>`. To change the starting value a splat
of the new
> > start can be added, and changing the step requires multiplying by a
splat.
> > 
> > Fixed-Length Code
> > -----------------
> > ``
> >  ;; Splat a value
> >  %insert = insertelement <4 x i32> undef, i32 %value, i32 0
> >  %splat = shufflevector <4 x i32> %insert, <4 x i32>
undef, <4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Add a constant sequence
> >  %add = add <4 x i32> %splat, <i32 2, i32 4, i32 6, i32 8>
> > ``
> > Scalable Equivalent
> > -------------------
> > ``
> >  ;; Splat a value
> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 %value,
i32 0
> >  %splat = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable
4 x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Splat offset + stride (the same in this case)
> >  %insert2 = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> under, i32 2, i32 0
> >  %str_off = shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert2,
<scalable 4 x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  ;; Create sequence for scalable vector
> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
> >  %mulbystride = mul <scalable 4 x i32> %stepvector, %str_off
> >  %addoffset = add <scalable 4 x i32> %mulbystride, %str_off
> >  ;; Add the runtime-generated sequence
> >  %add = add <scalable 4 x i32> %splat, %addoffset
> > ``
> > Future Work
> > -----------
> > 
> > Intrinsics cannot currently be used for constant folding. Our
downstream
> > compiler (using Constants instead of intrinsics) relies quite heavily
on this
> > for good code generation, so we will need to find new ways to
recognize and
> > fold these values.
> > 
> > ==========================================> > 5. Splitting and
Combining Scalable Vectors
> > ==========================================> > 
> > Splitting and combining scalable vectors in IR is done in the same
manner as
> > for fixed-length vectors, but with a non-constant mask for the
shufflevector.
> > 
> > The following is an example of splitting a <scalable 4 x double>
into two
> > separate <scalable 2 x double> values.
> > 
> > ``
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  ;; Stepvector generates the element ids for first subvector
> >  %sv1 = call <scalable 2 x i64>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv2i64()
> >  ;; Add vscale * 2 to get the starting element for the second
subvector
> >  %ec = mul i64 %vscale64, 2
> >  %ec.ins = insertelement <scalable 2 x i64> undef, i64 %ec, i32
0
> >  %ec.splat = shufflevector <scalable 2 x i64> %9, <scalable 2
x i64> undef, <scalable 2 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  %sv2 = add <scalable 2 x i64> %ec.splat, %stepvec64
> >  ;; Perform the extracts
> >  %res1 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4
x double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv1
> >  %res2 = shufflevector <scalable 4 x double> %in, <scalable 4
x double> undef, <scalable 2 x i64> %sv2
> > ``
> > 
> > =================> > 6. Code Generation
> > =================> > 
> > IR splats will be converted to an experimental splatvector intrinsic
in
> > SelectionDAGBuilder.
> > 
> > All three intrinsics are custom lowered and legalized in the AArch64
backend.
> > 
> > Two new AArch64ISD nodes have been added to represent the same
concepts
> > at the SelectionDAG level, while splatvector maps onto the existing
> > AArch64ISD::DUP.
> > 
> > GlobalISel
> > ----------
> > 
> > Since GlobalISel was enabled by default on AArch64, it was necessary
to add
> > scalable vector support to the LowLevelType implementation. A single
bit was
> > added to the raw_data representation for vectors and vectors of
pointers.
> > 
> > In addition, types that only exist in destination patterns are planted
in
> > the enumeration of available types for generated code. While this may
not be
> > necessary in future, generating an all-true 'ptrue' value was
necessary to
> > convert a predicated instruction into an unpredicated one.
> > 
> > =========> > 7. Example
> > =========> > 
> > The following example shows a simple C loop which assigns the array
index to
> > the array elements matching that index. The IR shows how vscale and
stepvector
> > are used to create the needed values and to advance the index variable
in the
> > loop.
> > 
> > C Code
> > ------
> > 
> > ``
> > void IdentityArrayInit(int *a, int count) {
> >  for (int i = 0; i < count; ++i)
> >    a[i] = i;
> > }
> > ``
> > 
> > Scalable IR Vector Body
> > -----------------------
> > 
> > ``
> > vector.body.preheader:
> >  ;; Other setup
> >  ;; Stepvector used to create initial identity vector
> >  %stepvector = call <scalable 4 x i32>
@llvm.experimental.vector.stepvector.nxv4i32()
> >  br vector.body
> > 
> > vector.body
> >  %index = phi i64 [ %index.next, %vector.body ], [ 0,
%vector.body.preheader ]
> >  %0 = phi i64 [ %1, %vector.body ], [ 0, %vector.body.preheader ]
> > 
> >           ;; stepvector used for index identity on entry to loop body
;;
> >  %vec.ind7 = phi <scalable 4 x i32> [ %step.add8, %vector.body
],
> >                                     [ %stepvector,
%vector.body.preheader ]
> >  %vscale64 = call i64 @llvm.experimental.vector.vscale.64()
> >  %vscale32 = trunc i64 %vscale64 to i32
> >  %1 = add i64 %0, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> > 
> >           ;; vscale splat used to increment identity vector ;;
> >  %insert = insertelement <scalable 4 x i32> undef, i32 mul (i32
%vscale32, i32 4), i32 0
> >  %splat shufflevector <scalable 4 x i32> %insert, <scalable 4
x i32> undef, <scalable 4 x i32> zeroinitializer
> >  %step.add8 = add <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, %splat
> >  %2 = getelementptr inbounds i32, i32* %a, i64 %0
> >  %3 = bitcast i32* %2 to <scalable 4 x i32>*
> >  store <scalable 4 x i32> %vec.ind7, <scalable 4 x i32>*
%3, align 4
> > 
> >           ;; vscale used to increment loop index
> >  %index.next = add i64 %index, mul (i64 %vscale64, i64 4)
> >  %4 = icmp eq i64 %index.next, %n.vec
> >  br i1 %4, label %middle.block, label %vector.body, !llvm.loop !5
> > ``
> > 
> > =========> > 8. Patches
> > =========> > 
> > List of patches:
> > 
> > 1. Extend VectorType: https://reviews.llvm.org/D32530
> > 2. Vector element type Tablegen constraint:
https://reviews.llvm.org/D47768
> > 3. LLT support for scalable vectors: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47769
> > 4. EVT strings and Type mapping: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47770
> > 5. SVE Calling Convention: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47771
> > 6. Intrinsic lowering cleanup: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47772
> > 7. Add VScale intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47773
> > 8. Add StepVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47774
> > 9. Add SplatVector intrinsic: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47775
> > 10. Initial store patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47776
> > 11. Initial addition patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47777
> > 12. Initial left-shift patterns: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47778
> > 13. Implement copy logic for Z regs: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47779
> > 14. Prevectorized loop unit test: https://reviews.llvm.org/D47780
> > 
>