LLVM and dynamic linking

Carter Schonwald carter.schonwald at gmail.com
Wed Jan 1 23:53:39 UTC 2014


7.8 should have working dylib support on the llvm backend. (i believe some
of the relevant patches are in head already, though Ben Gamari can opine on
that)

why do you want ghc to be built with llvm? (i know i've tried myself in the
past, and it should be doable with 7.8 using 7.8 soon too)


On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 5:38 PM, Aaron Friel <aaron at frieltek.com> wrote:

>  Replying to include the email list. You’re right, the llvm backend and
> the gmp licensing issues are orthogonal - or should be. The problem is I
> get build errors when trying to build GHC with LLVM and dynamic libraries.
>
>  The result is that I get a few different choices when producing a
> platform image for development, with some uncomfortable tradeoffs:
>
>
>    1. LLVM-built GHC, dynamic libs - doesn’t build.
>    2. LLVM-built GHC, static libs - potential licensing oddities with me
>    shipping a statically linked ghc binary that is now gpled. I am not a
>    lawyer, but the situation makes me uncomfortable.
>    3. GCC/ASM-built GHC, dynamic libs - this is the *standard* for most
>    platforms shipping ghc binaries, but it means that one of the biggest and
>    most critical users of the LLVM backend is neglecting it. It also
>    bifurcates development resources for GHC. Optimization work is duplicated
>    and already devs are getting into the uncomfortable position of suggesting
>    to users that they should trust GHC to build your programs in a particular
>    way, but not itself.
>    4. GCC/ASM-built GHC, static libs - worst of all possible worlds.
>
>
>  Because of this, the libgmp and llvm-backend issues aren’t entirely
> orthogonal. Trac ticket #7885 is exactly the issue I get when trying to
> compile #1.
>
>  *From:* Carter Schonwald <carter.schonwald at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* ‎Monday‎, ‎December‎ ‎30‎, ‎2013 ‎1‎:‎05‎ ‎PM
> *To:* Aaron Friel <aaron at frieltek.com>
>
>  Good question but you forgot to email the mailing list too :-)
>
>  Using llvm has nothing to do with Gmp. Use the native code gen (it's
> simper) and integer-simple.
>
>  That said, standard ghc dylinks to a system copy of Gmp anyways (I think
> ). Building ghc as a Dylib is orthogonal.
>
> -Carter
>
> On Dec 30, 2013, at 1:58 PM, Aaron Friel <aaron at frieltek.com> wrote:
>
>   Excellent research - I’m curious if this is the right thread to inquire
> about the status of trying to link GHC itself dynamically.
>
>  I’ve been attempting to do so with various LLVM versions (3.2, 3.3, 3.4)
> using snapshot builds of GHC (within the past week) from git, and I hit
> ticket #7885 [https://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/7885] every time
> (even the exact same error message).
>
>  I’m interested in dynamically linking GHC with LLVM to avoid the
> entanglement with libgmp’s license.
>
>  If this is the wrong thread or if I should reply instead to the trac
> item, please let me know.
>
>  *From:* Carter Schonwald <carter.schonwald at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* ‎Friday‎, ‎December‎ ‎27‎, ‎2013 ‎2‎:‎41‎ ‎PM
> *To:* Ben Gamari <bgamari.foss at gmail.com>
> *Cc:* ghc-devs at haskell.org
>
>  great work! :)
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 27, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Ben Gamari <bgamari.foss at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Simon Marlow <marlowsd at gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > This sounds right to me.  Did you submit a patch?
>> >
>> > Note that dynamic linking with LLVM is likely to produce significantly
>> > worse code that with the NCG right now, because the LLVM back end uses
>> > dynamic references even for symbols in the same package, whereas the NCG
>> > back-end uses direct static references for these.
>> >
>>  Today with the help of Edward Yang I examined the code produced by the
>> LLVM backend in light of this statement. I was surprised to find that
>> LLVM's code appears to be no worse than the NCG with respect to
>> intra-package references.
>>
>> My test case can be found here[2] and can be built with the included
>> `build.sh` script. The test consists of two modules build into a shared
>> library. One module, `LibTest`, exports a few simple members while the
>> other module (`LibTest2`) defines members that consume them. Care is
>> taken to ensure the members are not inlined.
>>
>> The tests were done on x86_64 running LLVM 3.4 and GHC HEAD with the
>> patches[1] I referred to in my last message. Please let me know if I've
>> missed something.
>>
>>
>>
>> # Evaluation
>>
>> ## First example ##
>>
>> The first member is a simple `String` (defined in `LibTest`),
>>
>>     helloWorld :: String
>>     helloWorld = "Hello World!"
>>
>> The use-site is quite straightforward,
>>
>>     testHelloWorld :: IO String
>>     testHelloWorld = return helloWorld
>>
>> With `-O1` the code looks reasonable in both cases. Most importantly,
>> both backends use IP relative addressing to find the symbol.
>>
>> ### LLVM ###
>>
>>     0000000000000ef8 <rKw_info>:
>>          ef8:   48 8b 45 00             mov    0x0(%rbp),%rax
>>          efc:   48 8d 1d cd 11 20 00    lea    0x2011cd(%rip),%rbx
>>  # 2020d0 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_closure>
>>          f03:   ff e0                   jmpq   *%rax
>>
>>     0000000000000f28 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest2_testHelloWorld_info>:
>>          f28:   eb ce                   jmp    ef8 <rKw_info>
>>          f2a:   66 0f 1f 44 00 00       nopw   0x0(%rax,%rax,1)
>>
>> ### NCG ###
>>
>>     0000000000000d58 <rH1_info>:
>>      d58:       48 8d 1d 71 13 20 00    lea    0x201371(%rip),%rbx
>>  # 2020d0 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_closure>
>>      d5f:       ff 65 00                jmpq   *0x0(%rbp)
>>
>>     0000000000000d88 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest2_testHelloWorld_info>:
>>      d88:       eb ce                   jmp    d58 <rH1_info>
>>
>>
>> With `-O0` the code is substantially longer but the relocation behavior
>> is still correct, as one would expect.
>>
>> Looking at the definition of `helloWorld`[3] itself it becomes clear that
>> the LLVM backend is more likely to use PLT relocations over GOT. In
>> general, `stg_*` primitives are called through the PLT. As far as I can
>> tell, both of these call mechanisms will incur two memory
>> accesses. However, in the case of the PLT the call will consist of two
>> JMPs whereas the GOT will consist of only one. Is this a cause for
>> concern? Could these two jumps interfere with prediction?
>>
>> In general the LLVM backend produces a few more instructions than the
>> NCG although this doesn't appear to be related to handling of
>> relocations. For instance, the inexplicable (to me) `mov` at the
>> beginning of LLVM's `rKw_info`.
>>
>>
>> ## Second example ##
>>
>> The second example demonstrates an actual call,
>>
>>     -- Definition (in LibTest)
>>     infoRef :: Int -> Int
>>     infoRef n = n + 1
>>
>>     -- Call site
>>     testInfoRef :: IO Int
>>     testInfoRef = return (infoRef 2)
>>
>> With `-O1` this produces the following code,
>>
>> ### LLVM ###
>>
>>     0000000000000fb0 <rLy_info>:
>>          fb0:   48 8b 45 00             mov    0x0(%rbp),%rax
>>          fb4:   48 8d 1d a5 10 20 00    lea    0x2010a5(%rip),%rbx
>>  # 202060 <rLx_closure>
>>          fbb:   ff e0                   jmpq   *%rax
>>
>>     0000000000000fe0 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest2_testInfoRef_info>:
>>          fe0:   eb ce                   jmp    fb0 <rLy_info>
>>
>> ### NCG ###
>>
>>     0000000000000e10 <rI3_info>:
>>      e10:       48 8d 1d 51 12 20 00    lea    0x201251(%rip),%rbx
>>  # 202068 <rI2_closure>
>>      e17:       ff 65 00                jmpq   *0x0(%rbp)
>>
>>     0000000000000e40 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest2_testInfoRef_info>:
>>      e40:       eb ce                   jmp    e10 <rI3_info>
>>
>> Again, it seems that LLVM is a bit more verbose but seems to handle
>> intra-package calls efficiently.
>>
>>
>>
>> [1] https://github.com/bgamari/ghc/commits/llvm-dynamic
>> [2] https://github.com/bgamari/ghc-linking-tests/tree/master/ghc-test
>> [3] `helloWorld` definitions:
>>
>> LLVM:
>>     00000000000010a8 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info>:
>>         10a8:   50                      push   %rax
>>         10a9:   4c 8d 75 f0             lea    -0x10(%rbp),%r14
>>         10ad:   4d 39 fe                cmp    %r15,%r14
>>         10b0:   73 07                   jae    10b9
>> <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info+0x11>
>>         10b2:   49 8b 45 f0             mov    -0x10(%r13),%rax
>>         10b6:   5a                      pop    %rdx
>>         10b7:   ff e0                   jmpq   *%rax
>>         10b9:   4c 89 ef                mov    %r13,%rdi
>>         10bc:   48 89 de                mov    %rbx,%rsi
>>         10bf:   e8 0c fd ff ff          callq  dd0 <newCAF at plt>
>>         10c4:   48 85 c0                test   %rax,%rax
>>         10c7:   74 22                   je     10eb
>> <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info+0x43>
>>         10c9:   48 8b 0d 18 0f 20 00    mov    0x200f18(%rip),%rcx
>>  # 201fe8 <_DYNAMIC+0x228>
>>         10d0:   48 89 4d f0             mov    %rcx,-0x10(%rbp)
>>         10d4:   48 89 45 f8             mov    %rax,-0x8(%rbp)
>>         10d8:   48 8d 05 21 00 00 00    lea    0x21(%rip),%rax        #
>> 1100 <cJC_str>
>>         10df:   4c 89 f5                mov    %r14,%rbp
>>         10e2:   49 89 c6                mov    %rax,%r14
>>         10e5:   58                      pop    %rax
>>         10e6:   e9 b5 fc ff ff          jmpq   da0
>> <ghczmprim_GHCziCString_unpackCStringzh_info at plt>
>>         10eb:   48 8b 03                mov    (%rbx),%rax
>>         10ee:   5a                      pop    %rdx
>>         10ef:   ff e0                   jmpq   *%rax
>>
>>
>> NCG:
>>
>>     0000000000000ef8 <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info>:
>>      ef8:       48 8d 45 f0             lea    -0x10(%rbp),%rax
>>      efc:       4c 39 f8                cmp    %r15,%rax
>>      eff:       72 3f                   jb     f40
>> <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info+0x48>
>>      f01:       4c 89 ef                mov    %r13,%rdi
>>      f04:       48 89 de                mov    %rbx,%rsi
>>      f07:       48 83 ec 08             sub    $0x8,%rsp
>>      f0b:       b8 00 00 00 00          mov    $0x0,%eax
>>      f10:       e8 1b fd ff ff          callq  c30 <newCAF at plt>
>>      f15:       48 83 c4 08             add    $0x8,%rsp
>>      f19:       48 85 c0                test   %rax,%rax
>>      f1c:       74 20                   je     f3e
>> <libtestzm0zi1zi0zi0_LibTest_helloWorld_info+0x46>
>>      f1e:       48 8b 1d cb 10 20 00    mov    0x2010cb(%rip),%rbx
>>  # 201ff0 <_DYNAMIC+0x238>
>>      f25:       48 89 5d f0             mov    %rbx,-0x10(%rbp)
>>      f29:       48 89 45 f8             mov    %rax,-0x8(%rbp)
>>      f2d:       4c 8d 35 1c 00 00 00    lea    0x1c(%rip),%r14        #
>> f50 <cGG_str>
>>      f34:       48 83 c5 f0             add    $0xfffffffffffffff0,%rbp
>>      f38:       ff 25 7a 10 20 00       jmpq   *0x20107a(%rip)        #
>> 201fb8 <_DYNAMIC+0x200>
>>      f3e:       ff 23                   jmpq   *(%rbx)
>>      f40:       41 ff 65 f0             jmpq   *-0x10(%r13)
>>
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>>
>>
>
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