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This will allow classes to implement the AA interface without deriving from the class or referencing an internal enum of some other class as their return types. Also, to a pretty fundamental extent, concepts such as 'NoAlias', 'MayAlias', and 'MustAlias' are first class concepts in LLVM and we aren't saving anything by scoping them heavily. My mild preference would have been to use a scoped enum, but that feature is essentially completely broken AFAICT. I'm extremely disappointed. For example, we cannot through any reasonable[1] means construct an enum class (or analog) which has scoped names but converts to a boolean in order to test for the possibility of aliasing. [1]: Richard Smith came up with a "solution", but it requires class templates, and lots of boilerplate setting up the enumeration multiple times. Something like Boost.PP could potentially bundle this up, but even that would be quite painful and it doesn't seem realistically worth it. The enum class solution would probably work without the need for a bool conversion. Differential Revision: http://reviews.llvm.org/D10495 git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@240255 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8
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==================================
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LLVM Alias Analysis Infrastructure
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==================================
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.. contents::
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:local:
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Introduction
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============
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Alias Analysis (aka Pointer Analysis) is a class of techniques which attempt to
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determine whether or not two pointers ever can point to the same object in
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memory. There are many different algorithms for alias analysis and many
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different ways of classifying them: flow-sensitive vs. flow-insensitive,
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context-sensitive vs. context-insensitive, field-sensitive
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vs. field-insensitive, unification-based vs. subset-based, etc. Traditionally,
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alias analyses respond to a query with a `Must, May, or No`_ alias response,
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indicating that two pointers always point to the same object, might point to the
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same object, or are known to never point to the same object.
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The LLVM `AliasAnalysis
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<http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__ class is the
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primary interface used by clients and implementations of alias analyses in the
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LLVM system. This class is the common interface between clients of alias
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analysis information and the implementations providing it, and is designed to
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support a wide range of implementations and clients (but currently all clients
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are assumed to be flow-insensitive). In addition to simple alias analysis
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information, this class exposes Mod/Ref information from those implementations
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which can provide it, allowing for powerful analyses and transformations to work
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well together.
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This document contains information necessary to successfully implement this
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interface, use it, and to test both sides. It also explains some of the finer
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points about what exactly results mean. If you feel that something is unclear
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or should be added, please `let me know <mailto:sabre@nondot.org>`_.
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``AliasAnalysis`` Class Overview
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================================
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The `AliasAnalysis <http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__
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class defines the interface that the various alias analysis implementations
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should support. This class exports two important enums: ``AliasResult`` and
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``ModRefResult`` which represent the result of an alias query or a mod/ref
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query, respectively.
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The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface exposes information about memory, represented in
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several different ways. In particular, memory objects are represented as a
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starting address and size, and function calls are represented as the actual
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``call`` or ``invoke`` instructions that performs the call. The
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``AliasAnalysis`` interface also exposes some helper methods which allow you to
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get mod/ref information for arbitrary instructions.
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All ``AliasAnalysis`` interfaces require that in queries involving multiple
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values, values which are not :ref:`constants <constants>` are all
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defined within the same function.
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Representation of Pointers
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--------------------------
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Most importantly, the ``AliasAnalysis`` class provides several methods which are
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used to query whether or not two memory objects alias, whether function calls
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can modify or read a memory object, etc. For all of these queries, memory
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objects are represented as a pair of their starting address (a symbolic LLVM
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``Value*``) and a static size.
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Representing memory objects as a starting address and a size is critically
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important for correct Alias Analyses. For example, consider this (silly, but
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possible) C code:
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.. code-block:: c++
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int i;
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char C[2];
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char A[10];
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/* ... */
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for (i = 0; i != 10; ++i) {
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C[0] = A[i]; /* One byte store */
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C[1] = A[9-i]; /* One byte store */
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}
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In this case, the ``basicaa`` pass will disambiguate the stores to ``C[0]`` and
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``C[1]`` because they are accesses to two distinct locations one byte apart, and
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the accesses are each one byte. In this case, the Loop Invariant Code Motion
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(LICM) pass can use store motion to remove the stores from the loop. In
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constrast, the following code:
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.. code-block:: c++
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int i;
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char C[2];
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char A[10];
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/* ... */
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for (i = 0; i != 10; ++i) {
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((short*)C)[0] = A[i]; /* Two byte store! */
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C[1] = A[9-i]; /* One byte store */
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}
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In this case, the two stores to C do alias each other, because the access to the
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``&C[0]`` element is a two byte access. If size information wasn't available in
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the query, even the first case would have to conservatively assume that the
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accesses alias.
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.. _alias:
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The ``alias`` method
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--------------------
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The ``alias`` method is the primary interface used to determine whether or not
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two memory objects alias each other. It takes two memory objects as input and
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returns MustAlias, PartialAlias, MayAlias, or NoAlias as appropriate.
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Like all ``AliasAnalysis`` interfaces, the ``alias`` method requires that either
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the two pointer values be defined within the same function, or at least one of
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the values is a :ref:`constant <constants>`.
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.. _Must, May, or No:
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Must, May, and No Alias Responses
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The ``NoAlias`` response may be used when there is never an immediate dependence
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between any memory reference *based* on one pointer and any memory reference
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*based* the other. The most obvious example is when the two pointers point to
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non-overlapping memory ranges. Another is when the two pointers are only ever
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used for reading memory. Another is when the memory is freed and reallocated
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between accesses through one pointer and accesses through the other --- in this
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case, there is a dependence, but it's mediated by the free and reallocation.
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As an exception to this is with the :ref:`noalias <noalias>` keyword;
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the "irrelevant" dependencies are ignored.
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The ``MayAlias`` response is used whenever the two pointers might refer to the
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same object.
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The ``PartialAlias`` response is used when the two memory objects are known to
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be overlapping in some way, but do not start at the same address.
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The ``MustAlias`` response may only be returned if the two memory objects are
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guaranteed to always start at exactly the same location. A ``MustAlias``
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response implies that the pointers compare equal.
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The ``getModRefInfo`` methods
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-----------------------------
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The ``getModRefInfo`` methods return information about whether the execution of
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an instruction can read or modify a memory location. Mod/Ref information is
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always conservative: if an instruction **might** read or write a location,
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``ModRef`` is returned.
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The ``AliasAnalysis`` class also provides a ``getModRefInfo`` method for testing
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dependencies between function calls. This method takes two call sites (``CS1``
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& ``CS2``), returns ``NoModRef`` if neither call writes to memory read or
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written by the other, ``Ref`` if ``CS1`` reads memory written by ``CS2``,
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``Mod`` if ``CS1`` writes to memory read or written by ``CS2``, or ``ModRef`` if
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``CS1`` might read or write memory written to by ``CS2``. Note that this
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relation is not commutative.
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Other useful ``AliasAnalysis`` methods
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--------------------------------------
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Several other tidbits of information are often collected by various alias
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analysis implementations and can be put to good use by various clients.
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The ``pointsToConstantMemory`` method
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The ``pointsToConstantMemory`` method returns true if and only if the analysis
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can prove that the pointer only points to unchanging memory locations
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(functions, constant global variables, and the null pointer). This information
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can be used to refine mod/ref information: it is impossible for an unchanging
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memory location to be modified.
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.. _never access memory or only read memory:
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The ``doesNotAccessMemory`` and ``onlyReadsMemory`` methods
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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These methods are used to provide very simple mod/ref information for function
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calls. The ``doesNotAccessMemory`` method returns true for a function if the
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analysis can prove that the function never reads or writes to memory, or if the
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function only reads from constant memory. Functions with this property are
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side-effect free and only depend on their input arguments, allowing them to be
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eliminated if they form common subexpressions or be hoisted out of loops. Many
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common functions behave this way (e.g., ``sin`` and ``cos``) but many others do
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not (e.g., ``acos``, which modifies the ``errno`` variable).
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The ``onlyReadsMemory`` method returns true for a function if analysis can prove
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that (at most) the function only reads from non-volatile memory. Functions with
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this property are side-effect free, only depending on their input arguments and
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the state of memory when they are called. This property allows calls to these
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functions to be eliminated and moved around, as long as there is no store
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instruction that changes the contents of memory. Note that all functions that
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satisfy the ``doesNotAccessMemory`` method also satisfies ``onlyReadsMemory``.
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Writing a new ``AliasAnalysis`` Implementation
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==============================================
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Writing a new alias analysis implementation for LLVM is quite straight-forward.
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There are already several implementations that you can use for examples, and the
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following information should help fill in any details. For a examples, take a
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look at the `various alias analysis implementations`_ included with LLVM.
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Different Pass styles
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---------------------
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The first step to determining what type of :doc:`LLVM pass <WritingAnLLVMPass>`
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you need to use for your Alias Analysis. As is the case with most other
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analyses and transformations, the answer should be fairly obvious from what type
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of problem you are trying to solve:
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#. If you require interprocedural analysis, it should be a ``Pass``.
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#. If you are a function-local analysis, subclass ``FunctionPass``.
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#. If you don't need to look at the program at all, subclass ``ImmutablePass``.
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In addition to the pass that you subclass, you should also inherit from the
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``AliasAnalysis`` interface, of course, and use the ``RegisterAnalysisGroup``
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template to register as an implementation of ``AliasAnalysis``.
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Required initialization calls
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-----------------------------
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Your subclass of ``AliasAnalysis`` is required to invoke two methods on the
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``AliasAnalysis`` base class: ``getAnalysisUsage`` and
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``InitializeAliasAnalysis``. In particular, your implementation of
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``getAnalysisUsage`` should explicitly call into the
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``AliasAnalysis::getAnalysisUsage`` method in addition to doing any declaring
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any pass dependencies your pass has. Thus you should have something like this:
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.. code-block:: c++
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void getAnalysisUsage(AnalysisUsage &AU) const {
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AliasAnalysis::getAnalysisUsage(AU);
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// declare your dependencies here.
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}
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Additionally, your must invoke the ``InitializeAliasAnalysis`` method from your
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analysis run method (``run`` for a ``Pass``, ``runOnFunction`` for a
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``FunctionPass``, or ``InitializePass`` for an ``ImmutablePass``). For example
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(as part of a ``Pass``):
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.. code-block:: c++
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bool run(Module &M) {
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InitializeAliasAnalysis(this);
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// Perform analysis here...
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return false;
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}
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Required methods to override
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----------------------------
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You must override the ``getAdjustedAnalysisPointer`` method on all subclasses
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of ``AliasAnalysis``. An example implementation of this method would look like:
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.. code-block:: c++
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void *getAdjustedAnalysisPointer(const void* ID) override {
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if (ID == &AliasAnalysis::ID)
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return (AliasAnalysis*)this;
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return this;
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}
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Interfaces which may be specified
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---------------------------------
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All of the `AliasAnalysis
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<http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__ virtual methods
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default to providing :ref:`chaining <aliasanalysis-chaining>` to another alias
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analysis implementation, which ends up returning conservatively correct
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information (returning "May" Alias and "Mod/Ref" for alias and mod/ref queries
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respectively). Depending on the capabilities of the analysis you are
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implementing, you just override the interfaces you can improve.
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.. _aliasanalysis-chaining:
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``AliasAnalysis`` chaining behavior
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-----------------------------------
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With only one special exception (the :ref:`-no-aa <aliasanalysis-no-aa>` pass)
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every alias analysis pass chains to another alias analysis implementation (for
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example, the user can specify "``-basicaa -ds-aa -licm``" to get the maximum
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benefit from both alias analyses). The alias analysis class automatically
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takes care of most of this for methods that you don't override. For methods
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that you do override, in code paths that return a conservative MayAlias or
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Mod/Ref result, simply return whatever the superclass computes. For example:
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.. code-block:: c++
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AliasResult alias(const Value *V1, unsigned V1Size,
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const Value *V2, unsigned V2Size) {
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if (...)
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return NoAlias;
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...
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// Couldn't determine a must or no-alias result.
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return AliasAnalysis::alias(V1, V1Size, V2, V2Size);
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}
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In addition to analysis queries, you must make sure to unconditionally pass LLVM
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`update notification`_ methods to the superclass as well if you override them,
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which allows all alias analyses in a change to be updated.
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.. _update notification:
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Updating analysis results for transformations
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---------------------------------------------
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Alias analysis information is initially computed for a static snapshot of the
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program, but clients will use this information to make transformations to the
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code. All but the most trivial forms of alias analysis will need to have their
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analysis results updated to reflect the changes made by these transformations.
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The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface exposes four methods which are used to
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communicate program changes from the clients to the analysis implementations.
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Various alias analysis implementations should use these methods to ensure that
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their internal data structures are kept up-to-date as the program changes (for
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example, when an instruction is deleted), and clients of alias analysis must be
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sure to call these interfaces appropriately.
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The ``deleteValue`` method
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The ``deleteValue`` method is called by transformations when they remove an
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instruction or any other value from the program (including values that do not
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use pointers). Typically alias analyses keep data structures that have entries
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for each value in the program. When this method is called, they should remove
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any entries for the specified value, if they exist.
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The ``copyValue`` method
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The ``copyValue`` method is used when a new value is introduced into the
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program. There is no way to introduce a value into the program that did not
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exist before (this doesn't make sense for a safe compiler transformation), so
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this is the only way to introduce a new value. This method indicates that the
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new value has exactly the same properties as the value being copied.
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The ``replaceWithNewValue`` method
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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This method is a simple helper method that is provided to make clients easier to
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use. It is implemented by copying the old analysis information to the new
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value, then deleting the old value. This method cannot be overridden by alias
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analysis implementations.
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The ``addEscapingUse`` method
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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The ``addEscapingUse`` method is used when the uses of a pointer value have
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changed in ways that may invalidate precomputed analysis information.
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Implementations may either use this callback to provide conservative responses
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for points whose uses have change since analysis time, or may recompute some or
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all of their internal state to continue providing accurate responses.
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In general, any new use of a pointer value is considered an escaping use, and
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must be reported through this callback, *except* for the uses below:
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* A ``bitcast`` or ``getelementptr`` of the pointer
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* A ``store`` through the pointer (but not a ``store`` *of* the pointer)
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* A ``load`` through the pointer
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Efficiency Issues
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-----------------
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From the LLVM perspective, the only thing you need to do to provide an efficient
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alias analysis is to make sure that alias analysis **queries** are serviced
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quickly. The actual calculation of the alias analysis results (the "run"
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method) is only performed once, but many (perhaps duplicate) queries may be
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performed. Because of this, try to move as much computation to the run method
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as possible (within reason).
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Limitations
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-----------
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The AliasAnalysis infrastructure has several limitations which make writing a
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new ``AliasAnalysis`` implementation difficult.
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There is no way to override the default alias analysis. It would be very useful
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to be able to do something like "``opt -my-aa -O2``" and have it use ``-my-aa``
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for all passes which need AliasAnalysis, but there is currently no support for
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that, short of changing the source code and recompiling. Similarly, there is
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also no way of setting a chain of analyses as the default.
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There is no way for transform passes to declare that they preserve
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``AliasAnalysis`` implementations. The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface includes
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``deleteValue`` and ``copyValue`` methods which are intended to allow a pass to
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keep an AliasAnalysis consistent, however there's no way for a pass to declare
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in its ``getAnalysisUsage`` that it does so. Some passes attempt to use
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``AU.addPreserved<AliasAnalysis>``, however this doesn't actually have any
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effect.
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``AliasAnalysisCounter`` (``-count-aa``) and ``AliasDebugger`` (``-debug-aa``)
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are implemented as ``ModulePass`` classes, so if your alias analysis uses
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``FunctionPass``, it won't be able to use these utilities. If you try to use
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them, the pass manager will silently route alias analysis queries directly to
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``BasicAliasAnalysis`` instead.
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Similarly, the ``opt -p`` option introduces ``ModulePass`` passes between each
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pass, which prevents the use of ``FunctionPass`` alias analysis passes.
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The ``AliasAnalysis`` API does have functions for notifying implementations when
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values are deleted or copied, however these aren't sufficient. There are many
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other ways that LLVM IR can be modified which could be relevant to
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``AliasAnalysis`` implementations which can not be expressed.
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The ``AliasAnalysisDebugger`` utility seems to suggest that ``AliasAnalysis``
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implementations can expect that they will be informed of any relevant ``Value``
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before it appears in an alias query. However, popular clients such as ``GVN``
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don't support this, and are known to trigger errors when run with the
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``AliasAnalysisDebugger``.
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Due to several of the above limitations, the most obvious use for the
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``AliasAnalysisCounter`` utility, collecting stats on all alias queries in a
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compilation, doesn't work, even if the ``AliasAnalysis`` implementations don't
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use ``FunctionPass``. There's no way to set a default, much less a default
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sequence, and there's no way to preserve it.
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The ``AliasSetTracker`` class (which is used by ``LICM``) makes a
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non-deterministic number of alias queries. This can cause stats collected by
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``AliasAnalysisCounter`` to have fluctuations among identical runs, for
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example. Another consequence is that debugging techniques involving pausing
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execution after a predetermined number of queries can be unreliable.
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Many alias queries can be reformulated in terms of other alias queries. When
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multiple ``AliasAnalysis`` queries are chained together, it would make sense to
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start those queries from the beginning of the chain, with care taken to avoid
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infinite looping, however currently an implementation which wants to do this can
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only start such queries from itself.
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Using alias analysis results
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============================
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There are several different ways to use alias analysis results. In order of
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preference, these are:
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Using the ``MemoryDependenceAnalysis`` Pass
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-------------------------------------------
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The ``memdep`` pass uses alias analysis to provide high-level dependence
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information about memory-using instructions. This will tell you which store
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feeds into a load, for example. It uses caching and other techniques to be
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efficient, and is used by Dead Store Elimination, GVN, and memcpy optimizations.
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.. _AliasSetTracker:
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Using the ``AliasSetTracker`` class
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-----------------------------------
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Many transformations need information about alias **sets** that are active in
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some scope, rather than information about pairwise aliasing. The
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`AliasSetTracker <http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasSetTracker.html>`__
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class is used to efficiently build these Alias Sets from the pairwise alias
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analysis information provided by the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface.
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First you initialize the AliasSetTracker by using the "``add``" methods to add
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information about various potentially aliasing instructions in the scope you are
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interested in. Once all of the alias sets are completed, your pass should
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simply iterate through the constructed alias sets, using the ``AliasSetTracker``
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``begin()``/``end()`` methods.
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|
The ``AliasSet``\s formed by the ``AliasSetTracker`` are guaranteed to be
|
|
disjoint, calculate mod/ref information and volatility for the set, and keep
|
|
track of whether or not all of the pointers in the set are Must aliases. The
|
|
AliasSetTracker also makes sure that sets are properly folded due to call
|
|
instructions, and can provide a list of pointers in each set.
|
|
|
|
As an example user of this, the `Loop Invariant Code Motion
|
|
<doxygen/structLICM.html>`_ pass uses ``AliasSetTracker``\s to calculate alias
|
|
sets for each loop nest. If an ``AliasSet`` in a loop is not modified, then all
|
|
load instructions from that set may be hoisted out of the loop. If any alias
|
|
sets are stored to **and** are must alias sets, then the stores may be sunk
|
|
to outside of the loop, promoting the memory location to a register for the
|
|
duration of the loop nest. Both of these transformations only apply if the
|
|
pointer argument is loop-invariant.
|
|
|
|
The AliasSetTracker implementation
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The AliasSetTracker class is implemented to be as efficient as possible. It
|
|
uses the union-find algorithm to efficiently merge AliasSets when a pointer is
|
|
inserted into the AliasSetTracker that aliases multiple sets. The primary data
|
|
structure is a hash table mapping pointers to the AliasSet they are in.
|
|
|
|
The AliasSetTracker class must maintain a list of all of the LLVM ``Value*``\s
|
|
that are in each AliasSet. Since the hash table already has entries for each
|
|
LLVM ``Value*`` of interest, the AliasesSets thread the linked list through
|
|
these hash-table nodes to avoid having to allocate memory unnecessarily, and to
|
|
make merging alias sets extremely efficient (the linked list merge is constant
|
|
time).
|
|
|
|
You shouldn't need to understand these details if you are just a client of the
|
|
AliasSetTracker, but if you look at the code, hopefully this brief description
|
|
will help make sense of why things are designed the way they are.
|
|
|
|
Using the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface directly
|
|
----------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
If neither of these utility class are what your pass needs, you should use the
|
|
interfaces exposed by the ``AliasAnalysis`` class directly. Try to use the
|
|
higher-level methods when possible (e.g., use mod/ref information instead of the
|
|
`alias`_ method directly if possible) to get the best precision and efficiency.
|
|
|
|
Existing alias analysis implementations and clients
|
|
===================================================
|
|
|
|
If you're going to be working with the LLVM alias analysis infrastructure, you
|
|
should know what clients and implementations of alias analysis are available.
|
|
In particular, if you are implementing an alias analysis, you should be aware of
|
|
the `the clients`_ that are useful for monitoring and evaluating different
|
|
implementations.
|
|
|
|
.. _various alias analysis implementations:
|
|
|
|
Available ``AliasAnalysis`` implementations
|
|
-------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
This section lists the various implementations of the ``AliasAnalysis``
|
|
interface. With the exception of the :ref:`-no-aa <aliasanalysis-no-aa>`
|
|
implementation, all of these :ref:`chain <aliasanalysis-chaining>` to other
|
|
alias analysis implementations.
|
|
|
|
.. _aliasanalysis-no-aa:
|
|
|
|
The ``-no-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-no-aa`` pass is just like what it sounds: an alias analysis that never
|
|
returns any useful information. This pass can be useful if you think that alias
|
|
analysis is doing something wrong and are trying to narrow down a problem.
|
|
|
|
The ``-basicaa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-basicaa`` pass is an aggressive local analysis that *knows* many
|
|
important facts:
|
|
|
|
* Distinct globals, stack allocations, and heap allocations can never alias.
|
|
* Globals, stack allocations, and heap allocations never alias the null pointer.
|
|
* Different fields of a structure do not alias.
|
|
* Indexes into arrays with statically differing subscripts cannot alias.
|
|
* Many common standard C library functions `never access memory or only read
|
|
memory`_.
|
|
* Pointers that obviously point to constant globals "``pointToConstantMemory``".
|
|
* Function calls can not modify or references stack allocations if they never
|
|
escape from the function that allocates them (a common case for automatic
|
|
arrays).
|
|
|
|
The ``-globalsmodref-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
This pass implements a simple context-sensitive mod/ref and alias analysis for
|
|
internal global variables that don't "have their address taken". If a global
|
|
does not have its address taken, the pass knows that no pointers alias the
|
|
global. This pass also keeps track of functions that it knows never access
|
|
memory or never read memory. This allows certain optimizations (e.g. GVN) to
|
|
eliminate call instructions entirely.
|
|
|
|
The real power of this pass is that it provides context-sensitive mod/ref
|
|
information for call instructions. This allows the optimizer to know that calls
|
|
to a function do not clobber or read the value of the global, allowing loads and
|
|
stores to be eliminated.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
This pass is somewhat limited in its scope (only support non-address taken
|
|
globals), but is very quick analysis.
|
|
|
|
The ``-steens-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-steens-aa`` pass implements a variation on the well-known "Steensgaard's
|
|
algorithm" for interprocedural alias analysis. Steensgaard's algorithm is a
|
|
unification-based, flow-insensitive, context-insensitive, and field-insensitive
|
|
alias analysis that is also very scalable (effectively linear time).
|
|
|
|
The LLVM ``-steens-aa`` pass implements a "speculatively field-**sensitive**"
|
|
version of Steensgaard's algorithm using the Data Structure Analysis framework.
|
|
This gives it substantially more precision than the standard algorithm while
|
|
maintaining excellent analysis scalability.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
``-steens-aa`` is available in the optional "poolalloc" module. It is not part
|
|
of the LLVM core.
|
|
|
|
The ``-ds-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-ds-aa`` pass implements the full Data Structure Analysis algorithm. Data
|
|
Structure Analysis is a modular unification-based, flow-insensitive,
|
|
context-**sensitive**, and speculatively field-**sensitive** alias
|
|
analysis that is also quite scalable, usually at ``O(n * log(n))``.
|
|
|
|
This algorithm is capable of responding to a full variety of alias analysis
|
|
queries, and can provide context-sensitive mod/ref information as well. The
|
|
only major facility not implemented so far is support for must-alias
|
|
information.
|
|
|
|
.. note::
|
|
|
|
``-ds-aa`` is available in the optional "poolalloc" module. It is not part of
|
|
the LLVM core.
|
|
|
|
The ``-scev-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-scev-aa`` pass implements AliasAnalysis queries by translating them into
|
|
ScalarEvolution queries. This gives it a more complete understanding of
|
|
``getelementptr`` instructions and loop induction variables than other alias
|
|
analyses have.
|
|
|
|
Alias analysis driven transformations
|
|
-------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
LLVM includes several alias-analysis driven transformations which can be used
|
|
with any of the implementations above.
|
|
|
|
The ``-adce`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-adce`` pass, which implements Aggressive Dead Code Elimination uses the
|
|
``AliasAnalysis`` interface to delete calls to functions that do not have
|
|
side-effects and are not used.
|
|
|
|
The ``-licm`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-licm`` pass implements various Loop Invariant Code Motion related
|
|
transformations. It uses the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface for several different
|
|
transformations:
|
|
|
|
* It uses mod/ref information to hoist or sink load instructions out of loops if
|
|
there are no instructions in the loop that modifies the memory loaded.
|
|
|
|
* It uses mod/ref information to hoist function calls out of loops that do not
|
|
write to memory and are loop-invariant.
|
|
|
|
* If uses alias information to promote memory objects that are loaded and stored
|
|
to in loops to live in a register instead. It can do this if there are no may
|
|
aliases to the loaded/stored memory location.
|
|
|
|
The ``-argpromotion`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-argpromotion`` pass promotes by-reference arguments to be passed in
|
|
by-value instead. In particular, if pointer arguments are only loaded from it
|
|
passes in the value loaded instead of the address to the function. This pass
|
|
uses alias information to make sure that the value loaded from the argument
|
|
pointer is not modified between the entry of the function and any load of the
|
|
pointer.
|
|
|
|
The ``-gvn``, ``-memcpyopt``, and ``-dse`` passes
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
These passes use AliasAnalysis information to reason about loads and stores.
|
|
|
|
.. _the clients:
|
|
|
|
Clients for debugging and evaluation of implementations
|
|
-------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
These passes are useful for evaluating the various alias analysis
|
|
implementations. You can use them with commands like:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
% opt -ds-aa -aa-eval foo.bc -disable-output -stats
|
|
|
|
The ``-print-alias-sets`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-print-alias-sets`` pass is exposed as part of the ``opt`` tool to print
|
|
out the Alias Sets formed by the `AliasSetTracker`_ class. This is useful if
|
|
you're using the ``AliasSetTracker`` class. To use it, use something like:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
% opt -ds-aa -print-alias-sets -disable-output
|
|
|
|
The ``-count-aa`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-count-aa`` pass is useful to see how many queries a particular pass is
|
|
making and what responses are returned by the alias analysis. As an example:
|
|
|
|
.. code-block:: bash
|
|
|
|
% opt -basicaa -count-aa -ds-aa -count-aa -licm
|
|
|
|
will print out how many queries (and what responses are returned) by the
|
|
``-licm`` pass (of the ``-ds-aa`` pass) and how many queries are made of the
|
|
``-basicaa`` pass by the ``-ds-aa`` pass. This can be useful when debugging a
|
|
transformation or an alias analysis implementation.
|
|
|
|
The ``-aa-eval`` pass
|
|
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
|
|
|
|
The ``-aa-eval`` pass simply iterates through all pairs of pointers in a
|
|
function and asks an alias analysis whether or not the pointers alias. This
|
|
gives an indication of the precision of the alias analysis. Statistics are
|
|
printed indicating the percent of no/may/must aliases found (a more precise
|
|
algorithm will have a lower number of may aliases).
|
|
|
|
Memory Dependence Analysis
|
|
==========================
|
|
|
|
If you're just looking to be a client of alias analysis information, consider
|
|
using the Memory Dependence Analysis interface instead. MemDep is a lazy,
|
|
caching layer on top of alias analysis that is able to answer the question of
|
|
what preceding memory operations a given instruction depends on, either at an
|
|
intra- or inter-block level. Because of its laziness and caching policy, using
|
|
MemDep can be a significant performance win over accessing alias analysis
|
|
directly.
|