mirror of
				https://github.com/c64scene-ar/llvm-6502.git
				synced 2025-10-30 16:17:05 +00:00 
			
		
		
		
	git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@43545 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
		
			
				
	
	
		
			683 lines
		
	
	
		
			22 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			683 lines
		
	
	
		
			22 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
	
	
| <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
 | |
|                       "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
 | |
| <html>
 | |
| <head>
 | |
|   <title>LLVM: Frequently Asked Questions</title>
 | |
|   <style type="text/css">
 | |
|     @import url("llvm.css");
 | |
|     .question { font-weight: bold }
 | |
|     .answer   { margin-left: 2em  }
 | |
|   </style>
 | |
| </head>
 | |
| <body>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_title">
 | |
|   LLVM: Frequently Asked Questions
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <ol>
 | |
|   <li><a href="#license">License</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|   <li>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
 | |
|   licenses?</li>
 | |
|   <li>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
 | |
|   "open source" license?</li>
 | |
|   <li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</li>
 | |
|   <li>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools
 | |
|   based on it, without redistributing the source?</li>
 | |
|   </ol></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><a href="#source">Source code</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|   <li>In what language is LLVM written?</li>
 | |
|   <li>How portable is the LLVM source code?</li>
 | |
|   </ol></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><a href="#build">Build Problems</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|   <li>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</li>
 | |
|   <li>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
 | |
|   LLVM linker from a previous build.  What do I do?</li>
 | |
|   <li>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</li>
 | |
|   <li>I've updated my source tree from Subversion, and now my build is trying 
 | |
|   to use a file/directory that doesn't exist.</li>
 | |
|   <li>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using
 | |
|   the old version.  What do I do?</li>
 | |
|   <li>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build
 | |
|   errors.</li>
 | |
|   <li>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</li>
 | |
|   <li>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</li>
 | |
|   <li>Compiling LLVM with GCC 3.3.2 fails, what should I do?</li>
 | |
|   <li>When I use the test suite, all of the C Backend tests fail.  What is
 | |
|       wrong?</li>
 | |
|   <li>After Subversion update, rebuilding gives the error "No rule to make
 | |
|       target".</li>
 | |
|   <li><a href="#llvmc">The <tt>llvmc</tt> program gives me errors/doesn't
 | |
|       work.</a></li>
 | |
|   </ol></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><a href="#felangs">Source Languages</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|     <li><a href="#langs">What source languages are supported?</a></li>
 | |
|     <li><a href="#langhlsupp">What support is there for higher level source
 | |
|       language constructs for building a compiler?</a></li>
 | |
|     <li><a href="GetElementPtr.html">I don't understand the GetElementPtr
 | |
|       instruction. Help!</a></li>
 | |
|   </ol>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><a href="#cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|     <li>
 | |
|     When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
 | |
|     thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing
 | |
|     for.  How do I get configure to work correctly?
 | |
|     </li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <li>
 | |
|     When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it
 | |
|     cannot find libcrtend.a.
 | |
|     </li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <li>
 | |
|     How can I disable all optimizations when compiling code using the LLVM GCC front end?
 | |
|     </li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <li><a href="#translatec++">Can I use LLVM to convert C++ code to C code?</a></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   </ol>
 | |
|   </li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><a href="#cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
 | |
|   <ol>
 | |
|      <li><a href="#iosinit">What is this <tt>llvm.global_ctors</tt> and
 | |
|           <tt>_GLOBAL__I__tmp_webcompile...</tt> stuff that happens when I
 | |
|           #include <iostream>?</a></li>
 | |
|      <li><a href="#codedce">Where did all of my code go??</a></li>
 | |
|      <li><a href="#undef">What is this "<tt>undef</tt>" thing that shows up in my code?</a></li>
 | |
|   </ol>
 | |
|   </li>
 | |
| </ol>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_author">
 | |
|   <p>Written by <a href="http://llvm.org">The LLVM Team</a></p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section">
 | |
|   <a name="license">License</a>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Why are the LLVM source code and the front-end distributed under different
 | |
| licenses?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 	
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>The C/C++ front-ends are based on GCC and must be distributed under the GPL.
 | |
| Our aim is to distribute LLVM source code under a <em>much less restrictive</em>
 | |
| license, in particular one that does not compel users who distribute tools based
 | |
| on modifying the source to redistribute the modified source code as well.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Does the University of Illinois Open Source License really qualify as an
 | |
| "open source" license?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>Yes, the license is <a
 | |
| href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/UoI-NCSA.php">certified</a> by the Open
 | |
| Source Initiative (OSI).</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute the modified source?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>Yes.  The modified source distribution must retain the copyright notice and
 | |
| follow the three bulletted conditions listed in the <a
 | |
| href="http://llvm.org/releases/1.3/LICENSE.TXT">LLVM license</a>.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Can I modify LLVM source code and redistribute binaries or other tools based
 | |
| on it, without redistributing the source?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>Yes, this is why we distribute LLVM under a less restrictive license than
 | |
| GPL, as explained in the first question above.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section">
 | |
|   <a name="source">Source Code</a>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>In what language is LLVM written?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>All of the LLVM tools and libraries are written in C++ with extensive use of
 | |
| the STL.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>How portable is the LLVM source code?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>The LLVM source code should be portable to most modern UNIX-like operating
 | |
| systems.  Most of the code is written in standard C++ with operating system
 | |
| services abstracted to a support library.  The tools required to build and test
 | |
| LLVM have been ported to a plethora of platforms.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Some porting problems may exist in the following areas:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <ul>
 | |
|   <li>The GCC front end code is not as portable as the LLVM suite, so it may not
 | |
|       compile as well on unsupported platforms.</li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li>The LLVM build system relies heavily on UNIX shell tools, like the Bourne
 | |
|       Shell and sed.  Porting to systems without these tools (MacOS 9, Plan 9)
 | |
|       will require more effort.</li>
 | |
| </ul>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section">
 | |
|   <a name="build">Build Problems</a>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script attempts to locate first <tt>gcc</tt> and then
 | |
| <tt>cc</tt>, unless it finds compiler paths set in <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
 | |
| for the C and C++ compiler, respectively.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>If <tt>configure</tt> finds the wrong compiler, either adjust your
 | |
| <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable or set <tt>CC</tt> and <tt>CXX</tt>
 | |
| explicitly.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
 | |
| LLVM linker from a previous build.  What do I do?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>The <tt>configure</tt> script uses the <tt>PATH</tt> to find executables, so
 | |
| if it's grabbing the wrong linker/assembler/etc, there are two ways to fix
 | |
| it:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <ol>
 | |
|   <li><p>Adjust your <tt>PATH</tt> environment variable so that the correct
 | |
|       program appears first in the <tt>PATH</tt>.  This may work, but may not be
 | |
|       convenient when you want them <i>first</i> in your path for other
 | |
|       work.</p></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><p>Run <tt>configure</tt> with an alternative <tt>PATH</tt> that is
 | |
|       correct. In a Borne compatible shell, the syntax would be:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % PATH=[the path without the bad program] ./configure ...
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <p>This is still somewhat inconvenient, but it allows <tt>configure</tt>
 | |
|          to do its work without having to adjust your <tt>PATH</tt>
 | |
|          permanently.</p></li>
 | |
| </ol>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>Under some operating systems (i.e. Linux), libtool does not work correctly if
 | |
| GCC was compiled with the --disable-shared option.  To work around this, install
 | |
| your own version of GCC that has shared libraries enabled by default.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>I've updated my source tree from Subversion, and now my build is trying to 
 | |
| use a file/directory that doesn't exist.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>You need to re-run configure in your object directory.  When new Makefiles
 | |
| are added to the source tree, they have to be copied over to the object tree in
 | |
| order to be used by the build.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>I've modified a Makefile in my source tree, but my build tree keeps using the
 | |
| old version.  What do I do?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>If the Makefile already exists in your object tree, you
 | |
| can just run the following command in the top level directory of your object
 | |
| tree:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>% ./config.status <relative path to Makefile></pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>If the Makefile is new, you will have to modify the configure script to copy
 | |
| it over.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>I've upgraded to a new version of LLVM, and I get strange build errors.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Sometimes, changes to the LLVM source code alters how the build system works.
 | |
| Changes in libtool, autoconf, or header file dependencies are especially prone
 | |
| to this sort of problem.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The best thing to try is to remove the old files and re-build.  In most
 | |
| cases, this takes care of the problem.  To do this, just type <tt>make
 | |
| clean</tt> and then <tt>make</tt> in the directory that fails to build.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>I've built LLVM and am testing it, but the tests freeze.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>This is most likely occurring because you built a profile or release
 | |
| (optimized) build of LLVM and have not specified the same information on the
 | |
| <tt>gmake</tt> command line.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>For example, if you built LLVM with the command:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>% gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>...then you must run the tests with the following commands:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % cd llvm/test
 | |
| % gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Why do test results differ when I perform different types of builds?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>The LLVM test suite is dependent upon several features of the LLVM tools and
 | |
| libraries.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>First, the debugging assertions in code are not enabled in optimized or
 | |
| profiling builds.  Hence, tests that used to fail may pass.</p>
 | |
| 	
 | |
| <p>Second, some tests may rely upon debugging options or behavior that is only
 | |
| available in the debug build.  These tests will fail in an optimized or profile
 | |
| build.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>Compiling LLVM with GCC 3.3.2 fails, what should I do?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>This is <a href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR?13392">a bug in GCC</a>, and 
 | |
| affects projects other than LLVM.  Try upgrading or downgrading your GCC.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>After Subversion update, rebuilding gives the error "No rule to make
 | |
| target".</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>If the error is of the form:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| gmake[2]: *** No rule to make target `/path/to/somefile', needed by
 | |
| `/path/to/another/file.d'.<br>
 | |
| Stop.
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>This may occur anytime files are moved within the Subversion repository or 
 | |
| removed entirely.  In this case, the best solution is to erase all 
 | |
| <tt>.d</tt> files, which list dependencies for source files, and rebuild:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % cd $LLVM_OBJ_DIR
 | |
| % rm -f `find . -name \*\.d` 
 | |
| % gmake 
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>In other cases, it may be necessary to run <tt>make clean</tt> before
 | |
| rebuilding.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question"><p><a name="llvmc">
 | |
| The <tt>llvmc</tt> program gives me errors/doesn't work.</a></p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p><tt>llvmc</tt> is experimental and isn't really supported. We suggest
 | |
| using <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> instead.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section"><a name="felangs">Source Languages</a></div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question"><p>
 | |
|   <a name="langs">What source languages are supported?</a></p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
|   <p>LLVM currently has full support for C and C++ source languages. These are
 | |
|   available through a special version of GCC that LLVM calls the 
 | |
|   <a href="#cfe">C Front End</a></p>
 | |
|   <p>There is an incomplete version of a Java front end available in the
 | |
|   <tt>java</tt> module. There is no documentation on this yet so
 | |
|   you'll need to download the code, compile it, and try it.</p>
 | |
|   <p>In the <tt>stacker</tt> module is a compiler and runtime
 | |
|   library for the Stacker language, a "toy" language loosely based on Forth.</p>
 | |
|   <p>The PyPy developers are working on integrating LLVM into the PyPy backend
 | |
|   so that PyPy language can translate to LLVM.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <div class="question"><p><a name="langhlsupp">
 | |
|   What support is there for a higher level source language constructs for 
 | |
|   building a compiler?</a></p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
|   <p>Currently, there isn't much. LLVM supports an intermediate representation
 | |
|   which is useful for code representation but will not support the high level
 | |
|   (abstract syntax tree) representation needed by most compilers. There are no
 | |
|   facilities for lexical nor semantic analysis. There is, however, a <i>mostly
 | |
|     implemented</i> configuration-driven 
 | |
|   <a href="CompilerDriver.html">compiler driver</a> which simplifies the task
 | |
|   of running optimizations, linking, and executable generation.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question"><p><a name="langhlsupp">
 | |
|   I don't understand the GetElementPtr instruction. Help!</a></p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
|   <p>See <a href="GetElementPtr.html">The Often Misunderstood GEP
 | |
|    Instruction</a>.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section">
 | |
|   <a name="cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| When I compile software that uses a configure script, the configure script
 | |
| thinks my system has all of the header files and libraries it is testing for.
 | |
| How do I get configure to work correctly?
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| The configure script is getting things wrong because the LLVM linker allows
 | |
| symbols to be undefined at link time (so that they can be resolved during JIT
 | |
| or translation to the C back end).  That is why configure thinks your system
 | |
| "has everything."
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| To work around this, perform the following steps:
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| <ol>
 | |
|   <li>Make sure the CC and CXX environment variables contains the full path to 
 | |
|   the LLVM GCC front end.</li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li>Make sure that the regular C compiler is first in your PATH. </li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li>Add the string "-Wl,-native" to your CFLAGS environment variable.</li>
 | |
| </ol>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| This will allow the <tt>llvm-ld</tt> linker to create a native code executable 
 | |
| instead of shell script that runs the JIT.  Creating native code requires 
 | |
| standard linkage, which in turn will allow the configure script to find out if 
 | |
| code is not linking on your system because the feature isn't available on your 
 | |
| system.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| When I compile code using the LLVM GCC front end, it complains that it cannot
 | |
| find libcrtend.a.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| The only way this can happen is if you haven't installed the runtime library. To
 | |
| correct this, do:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % cd llvm/runtime
 | |
| % make clean ; make install-bytecode
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| How can I disable all optimizations when compiling code using the LLVM GCC front end?
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| Passing "-Wa,-disable-opt -Wl,-disable-opt" will disable *all* cleanup and
 | |
| optimizations done at the llvm level, leaving you with the truly horrible
 | |
| code that you desire.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| <a name="translatec++">Can I use LLVM to convert C++ code to C code?</a>
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>Yes, you can use LLVM to convert code from any language LLVM supports to C.
 | |
| Note that the generated C code will be very low level (all loops are lowered
 | |
| to gotos, etc) and not very pretty (comments are stripped, original source
 | |
| formatting is totally lost, variables are renamed, expressions are regrouped), 
 | |
| so this may not be what you're looking for.  However, this is a good way to add
 | |
| C++ support for a processor that does not otherwise have a C++ compiler.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Use commands like this:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <ol>
 | |
|   <li><p>Compile your program as normal with llvm-g++:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % llvm-g++ x.cpp -o program
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <p>or:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % llvm-g++ a.cpp -c
 | |
| % llvm-g++ b.cpp -c
 | |
| % llvm-g++ a.o b.o -o program
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <p>With llvm-gcc3, this will generate program and program.bc.  The .bc
 | |
|          file is the LLVM version of the program all linked together.</p></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <li><p>Convert the LLVM code to C code, using the LLC tool with the C
 | |
|       backend:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % llc -march=c program.bc -o program.c
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <li><p>Finally, compile the C file:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| % cc x.c
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div></li>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </ol>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Note that, by default, the C backend does not support exception handling.  If
 | |
| you want/need it for a certain program, you can enable it by passing
 | |
| "-enable-correct-eh-support" to the llc program.  The resultant code will use
 | |
| setjmp/longjmp to implement exception support that is correct but relatively
 | |
| slow.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Also note: this specific sequence of commands won't work if you use a
 | |
| function defined in the C++ runtime library (or any other C++ library).  To
 | |
| access an external C++ library, you must manually compile libstdc++ to LLVM
 | |
| bitcode, statically link it into your program, then use the commands above to
 | |
| convert the whole result into C code.  Alternatively, you can compile the
 | |
| libraries and your application into two different chunks of C code and link
 | |
| them.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| <div class="doc_section">
 | |
|   <a name="cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question">
 | |
| <a name="iosinit"></a>
 | |
| <p> What is this <tt>llvm.global_ctors</tt> and
 | |
| <tt>_GLOBAL__I__tmp_webcompile...</tt> stuff that happens when I #include
 | |
| <iostream>?</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>If you #include the <iostream> header into a C++ translation unit, the
 | |
| file will probably use the <tt>std::cin</tt>/<tt>std::cout</tt>/... global
 | |
| objects.  However, C++ does not guarantee an order of initialization between
 | |
| static objects in different translation units, so if a static ctor/dtor in your
 | |
| .cpp file used <tt>std::cout</tt>, for example, the object would not necessarily
 | |
| be automatically initialized before your use.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>To make <tt>std::cout</tt> and friends work correctly in these scenarios, the
 | |
| STL that we use declares a static object that gets created in every translation
 | |
| unit that includes <tt><iostream></tt>.  This object has a static
 | |
| constructor and destructor that initializes and destroys the global iostream
 | |
| objects before they could possibly be used in the file.  The code that you see
 | |
| in the .ll file corresponds to the constructor and destructor registration code.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>If you would like to make it easier to <b>understand</b> the LLVM code
 | |
| generated by the compiler in the demo page, consider using <tt>printf()</tt>
 | |
| instead of <tt>iostream</tt>s to print values.</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!--=========================================================================-->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question"><p>
 | |
| <a name="codedce"></a>
 | |
| Where did all of my code go??
 | |
| </p></div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| If you are using the LLVM demo page, you may often wonder what happened to all
 | |
| of the code that you typed in.  Remember that the demo script is running the
 | |
| code through the LLVM optimizers, so if your code doesn't actually do anything
 | |
| useful, it might all be deleted.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| To prevent this, make sure that the code is actually needed.  For example, if
 | |
| you are computing some expression, return the value from the function instead of
 | |
| leaving it in a local variable.  If you really want to constrain the optimizer,
 | |
| you can read from and assign to <tt>volatile</tt> global variables.
 | |
| </p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!--=========================================================================-->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="question"><p>
 | |
| <a name="undef"></a>
 | |
| <p>What is this "<tt>undef</tt>" thing that shows up in my code?
 | |
| </p></div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="answer">
 | |
| <p>
 | |
| <a href="LangRef.html#undef"><tt>undef</tt></a> is the LLVM way of representing
 | |
| a value that is not defined.  You can get these if you do not initialize a 
 | |
| variable before you use it.  For example, the C function:</p>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <div class="doc_code">
 | |
| <pre>
 | |
| int X() { int i; return i; }
 | |
| </pre>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <p>Is compiled to "<tt>ret i32 undef</tt>" because "<tt>i</tt>" never has
 | |
| a value specified for it.</p>
 | |
| </div>
 | |
| 
 | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
 | |
| 
 | |
| <hr>
 | |
| <address>
 | |
|   <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img
 | |
|   src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a>
 | |
|   <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img
 | |
|   src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!"></a>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
 | |
|   Last modified: $Date$
 | |
| </address>
 | |
| 
 | |
| </body>
 | |
| </html>
 |