[llvm-dev] [RFC] Error handling in LLVM libraries.

David Blaikie via llvm-dev
Wed, 10 Feb 2016 16:10:51 -0000

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 6:47 AM, Rafael Espíndola <llvm-dev at
lists.llvm.org>
wrote:

> >> This highlights why I think it is important to keep diagnostics
and
> >> errors separate. In the solution you have there is a need to
allocate
> >> a std::string, even if that is never used.
> >
> > Errors are only constructed on the error path. There is no
construction
> on
> > the success path.
>
> But they are always created, even if it as error the caller wants to
> ignore. For example, you will always create a "file foo.o in bar.a is
> not a bitcode" message (or copy sufficient information for that to be
> created). With a dignostic handler no copying is needed, since the
> call happens in the context where the error is found. It is easy to
> see us in a position where a lot of context is copied because some
> client somewhere might want it.
>
> So I am worried we are coding for the hypothetical and adding
> complexity. In particular, if we are going this way I think it is
> critical that your patch *removes* the existing diagnostic handlers
> (while making sure test/Bitcode/invalid.ll still passes) so that we
> don't end up with two overlapping solutions.


Removes diagnostic handlers in other parts of LLVM (& Clang) - the IR
verifier's diagnostic handling is what you're referring to here ^?

I don't think that would be an improvement - it seems like different
situations call for different tools (as I was saying yesterday on this
thread). In some places a diagnostic handler is the right tool, and in some
places error codes/results/etc are the right tool. We already live in that
world & it seems like a reasonable one (there doesn't seem to be a
fundamental conflict between our bool+std::string or error_code returns and
existing diagnostic handlers - I think they can reasonably coexist in
different parts of the codebase for different use cases)


> We were still not even
> done converting away from bool+std::string :-(
>
> Cheers,
> Rafael
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