Fernando Magno Quintao Pereira
2007-Apr-03 18:40 UTC
[LLVMdev] Live Intervals vs. Live Variables
LiveVariables gives you something like liveness analysis: where each variable is alive, that is, across each basic blocks, where it is defined, and where it is killed. LiveIntervals gives you a linear representation of the variables as a set of intervals. Yes, it handle holes in the live ranges. There is a very nice description of these analysis and related data structures here: http://llvm.org/ProjectsWithLLVM/2004-Fall-CS426-LS.pdf Fernando>> Toward a better register allocator, I'm attempting to understand >> the dataflow information available to the allocator. >> >> What's the difference between LiveInterval information and LiveVariable >> information? If a LiveInterval is based on a linear ordering of >> the machine instructions, isn't it rather conservative in nature? >> >> Let's say I have a typical diamond CFG: >> >> A >> / \ >> B C >> \ / >> D >> >> Now, suppose variable "x" is defined in block A and used in block >> B, after which it is dead. Suppose also that variable "y" is defined >> and used in block C, after which it is dead. >> >> A traditional live variable analysis would say that x and y do not >> interfere. However, what happens if the linear ordering of >> instructions puts block C before block B? Then it seems to me >> that the live intervals overlap and we'd see a false interference. >> >> Does the ability of LiveIntervals to have holes in them take care >> of this problem? Let's say block A has instructions 1-10, block >> C 11-20 and block B 21-30 and that x is defined at instruction 1 >> and last used at instruction 30. Let's say y is defined at >> instructions 11 and last used at instruction 20 >> >> What do the LiveIntervals look like? >> >> x: [1-10] [21-30] y: [11-20] => No interference >> x: [1-30] y: [11-20] => False interference >> x: Something else? y: [11-20] >> >> -Dave >> >> _______________________________________________ >> LLVM Developers mailing list >> LLVMdev at cs.uiuc.edu http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu >> http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev > > > AFAIK, LiveVariables analysis pass > (from $LLVMSRCDIR/lib/CodeGen/LiveVariables.cpp) is used and improved by > LiveIntervals analysis (lies in the same directory). > LiveIntervals analysis handles the false interference case (you've shown > above). You can read about the idea from the paper by Alkis Evlogimenos: > http://llvm.org/ProjectsWithLLVM/2004-Fall-CS426-LS.pdf. > I think the current linearscan implementation of LLVM is based on the same > paper, too. If you want to develop a register allocator for LLVM, the > RegAllocLinearScan.cpp should be the best place to start learning LLVM from. > linearscan gives the best results among LLVM's allocators so it also should > be the first allocator to compete with :) > > If you think about better register allocator I'd suggest you to look at > http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/kong98precise.html and find a paper of > Sid-Ahmed-Ali Touati named "Register Saturation in Instruction Level > Parallelism". These works propose faster and better algorithms than graph > coloring, at least as I understand it. > > Best regards, > Anton. >
Fernando Magno Quintao Pereira wrote:> LiveVariables gives you something like liveness analysis: where each > variable is alive, that is, across each basic blocks, where it is defined, > and where it is killed.If I read this correctly, it means that at each instruction there's a list of live variables? I'm trying to figure out how to get at this information to build the interference graph.> LiveIntervals gives you a linear representation of the variables as a set > of intervals. Yes, it handle holes in the live ranges. There is a very > nice description of these analysis and related data structures here: > > http://llvm.org/ProjectsWithLLVM/2004-Fall-CS426-LS.pdfI've been looking at this paper and reading the code but there are some things I can't figure out. Where is PHI elimination done in the linear scan algorithm? From my reading, allocation happens before PHI nodes are eliminated, so where do PHI nodes get removed? The PNE pass declares that it preserved LiveVariables. I take it then that LiveIntervals are lost? In LiveIntervalsAnalysis.cpp there's a statement in the top block comment that it computes intervals conservatively. I would like to understand what information is lost. What does LiveVariables convey that LiveIntervals cannot? Thanks for your help. -Dave
Fernando Magno Quintao Pereira
2007-Apr-03 22:21 UTC
[LLVMdev] Live Intervals vs. Live Variables
> If I read this correctly, it means that at each instruction there's a > list of live variables? I'm trying to figure out how to get at this > information to build the interference graph.Not necessarily. To build the interference graph, you certainly need liveness analysis. If you have LiveIntervalsAnalysis, you can build the graph on O(N^2) time, where N is the number of intervals. For each interval, just check if they interfere or not.> I've been looking at this paper and reading the code but there are > some things I can't figure out. > > Where is PHI elimination done in the linear scan algorithm? From my > reading, allocation happens before PHI nodes are eliminated, so where > do PHI nodes get removed?In a traditional register allocator, SSA-elimination happens before register allocation, like in LLVM. In a SSA-based allocator, like the one I have implemented, it happens after.> In LiveIntervalsAnalysis.cpp there's a statement in the top block > comment that it computes intervals conservatively. I would like > to understand what information is lost. What does LiveVariables > convey that LiveIntervals cannot?This one I am not sure. I think no information is lost. Fernando
Hi, Anton and Fernando have answered most of your questions. I don't have anything to add there. I do want to comment on the "conservative" nature of LiveIntervalAnalysis. I think the comment is misleading and is probably just a relic of early implementation. The biggest problem with the current implementation is the overly aggressive copy coalescer. Right now the register allocator cannot split live ranges. So if the coalescer has formed a long live interval it will causes lots of interferences (and thus lots of spills). I would encourage those who are interested in implementing new register allocators for LLVM to think about this issue. I do not believe it's possible to build a noticeably "better" allocator if it is relying on the existing live interval information. Cheers, Evan On Apr 3, 2007, at 1:48 PM, David Greene wrote:> Fernando Magno Quintao Pereira wrote: >> LiveVariables gives you something like liveness analysis: where each >> variable is alive, that is, across each basic blocks, where it is >> defined, >> and where it is killed. > > If I read this correctly, it means that at each instruction there's a > list of live variables? I'm trying to figure out how to get at this > information to build the interference graph. > >> LiveIntervals gives you a linear representation of the variables >> as a set >> of intervals. Yes, it handle holes in the live ranges. There is a >> very >> nice description of these analysis and related data structures here: >> >> http://llvm.org/ProjectsWithLLVM/2004-Fall-CS426-LS.pdf > > I've been looking at this paper and reading the code but there are > some things I can't figure out. > > Where is PHI elimination done in the linear scan algorithm? From my > reading, allocation happens before PHI nodes are eliminated, so where > do PHI nodes get removed? > > The PNE pass declares that it preserved LiveVariables. I take it > then that LiveIntervals are lost? > > In LiveIntervalsAnalysis.cpp there's a statement in the top block > comment that it computes intervals conservatively. I would like > to understand what information is lost. What does LiveVariables > convey that LiveIntervals cannot? > > Thanks for your help. > > -Dave > _______________________________________________ > LLVM Developers mailing list > LLVMdev at cs.uiuc.edu http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu > http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev