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| <div class="doc_title"> LLVM Bytecode File Format </div> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><a href="#abstract">Abstract</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#concepts">Concepts</a> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><a href="#blocks">Blocks</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#lists">Lists</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#fields">Fields</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#align">Alignment</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#vbr">Variable Bit-Rate Encoding</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#encoding">Encoding Primitives</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#slots">Slots</a></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </li> | |
| <li><a href="#general">General Structure</a> </li> | |
| <li><a href="#blockdefs">Block Definitions</a> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><a href="#signature">Signature Block</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#module">Module Block</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#globalinfo">Module Info Block</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#constantpool">Global Constant Pool</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#functiondefs">Function Definition</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#compactiontable">Compaction Table</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#instructionlist">Instruction List</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#symtab">Symbol Table</a></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </li> | |
| <li><a href="#versiondiffs">Version Differences</a> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><a href="#vers12">Version 1.2 Differences From 1.3</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#vers11">Version 1.1 Differences From 1.2</a></li> | |
| <li><a href="#vers10">Version 1.0 Differences From 1.1</a></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <div class="doc_author"> | |
| <p>Written by <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a> | |
| </p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_section"> <a name="abstract">Abstract </a></div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>This document describes the LLVM bytecode file format. It specifies | |
| the binary encoding rules of the bytecode file format so that | |
| equivalent systems can encode bytecode files correctly. The LLVM | |
| bytecode representation is used to store the intermediate | |
| representation on disk in compacted form.</p> | |
| <p>The LLVM bytecode format may change in the future, but LLVM will | |
| always be backwards compatible with older formats. This document will | |
| only describe the most current version of the bytecode format. See <a | |
| href="#versiondiffs">Version Differences</a> for the details on how | |
| the current version is different from previous versions.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_section"> <a name="concepts">Concepts</a> </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>This section describes the general concepts of the bytecode file | |
| format without getting into specific layout details. It is recommended | |
| that you read this section thoroughly before interpreting the detailed | |
| descriptions.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="blocks">Blocks</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>LLVM bytecode files consist simply of a sequence of blocks of bytes | |
| using a binary encoding Each block begins with an header of two | |
| unsigned integers. The first value identifies the type of block and the | |
| second value provides the size of the block in bytes. The block | |
| identifier is used because it is possible for entire blocks to be | |
| omitted from the file if they are empty. The block identifier helps the | |
| reader determine which kind of block is next in the file. Note that | |
| blocks can be nested within other blocks.</p> | |
| <p> All blocks are variable length, and the block header specifies the | |
| size of the block. All blocks begin on a byte index that is aligned to | |
| an even 32-bit boundary. That is, the first block is 32-bit aligned | |
| because it starts at offset 0. Each block is padded with zero fill | |
| bytes to ensure that the next block also starts on a 32-bit boundary.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="lists">Lists</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>LLVM Bytecode blocks often contain lists of things of a similar | |
| type. For example, a function contains a list of instructions and a | |
| function type contains a list of argument types. There are two basic | |
| types of lists: length lists (<a href="#llist">llist</a>), and null | |
| terminated lists (<a href="#zlist">zlist</a>), as described below in | |
| the <a href="#encoding">Encoding Primitives</a>.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="fields">Fields</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Fields are units of information that LLVM knows how to write atomically. Most | |
| fields have a uniform length or some kind of length indication built into their | |
| encoding. For example, a constant string (array of bytes) is written simply as | |
| the length followed by the characters. Although this is similar to a list, | |
| constant strings are treated atomically and are thus fields.</p> | |
| <p>Fields use a condensed bit format specific to the type of information | |
| they must contain. As few bits as possible are written for each field. The | |
| sections that follow will provide the details on how these fields are | |
| written and how the bits are to be interpreted.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="align">Alignment</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>To support cross-platform differences, the bytecode file is aligned on | |
| certain boundaries. This means that a small amount of padding (at most 3 | |
| bytes) will be added to ensure that the next entry is aligned to a 32-bit | |
| boundary.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="vbr">Variable Bit-Rate Encoding</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Most of the values written to LLVM bytecode files are small integers. To | |
| minimize the number of bytes written for these quantities, an encoding scheme | |
| similar to UTF-8 is used to write integer data. The scheme is known as | |
| variable bit rate (vbr) encoding. In this encoding, the high bit of | |
| each byte is used to indicate if more bytes follow. If (byte & | |
| 0x80) is non-zero in any given byte, it means there is another byte | |
| immediately following that also contributes to the value. For the final | |
| byte (byte & 0x80) is false (the high bit is not set). In each byte | |
| only the low seven bits contribute to the value. Consequently 32-bit | |
| quantities can take from one to <em>five</em> bytes to encode. In | |
| general, smaller quantities will encode in fewer bytes, as follows:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th>Byte #</th> | |
| <th>Significant Bits</th> | |
| <th>Maximum Value</th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td>0-6</td> | |
| <td>127</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>2</td> | |
| <td>7-13</td> | |
| <td>16,383</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>3</td> | |
| <td>14-20</td> | |
| <td>2,097,151</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>4</td> | |
| <td>21-27</td> | |
| <td>268,435,455</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>5</td> | |
| <td>28-34</td> | |
| <td>34,359,738,367</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>6</td> | |
| <td>35-41</td> | |
| <td>4,398,046,511,103</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>7</td> | |
| <td>42-48</td> | |
| <td>562,949,953,421,311</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>8</td> | |
| <td>49-55</td> | |
| <td>72,057,594,037,927,935</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>9</td> | |
| <td>56-62</td> | |
| <td>9,223,372,036,854,775,807</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>10</td> | |
| <td>63-69</td> | |
| <td>1,180,591,620,717,411,303,423</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p>Note that in practice, the tenth byte could only encode bit 63 since | |
| the maximum quantity to use this encoding is a 64-bit integer.</p> | |
| <p><em>Signed</em> VBR values are encoded with the standard vbr | |
| encoding, but with the sign bit as the low order bit instead of the | |
| high order bit. This allows small negative quantities to be encoded | |
| efficiently. For example, -3 | |
| is encoded as "((3 << 1) | 1)" and 3 is encoded as "(3 << | |
| 1) | 0)", emitted with the standard vbr encoding above.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="encoding">Encoding Primitives</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Each field in the bytecode format is encoded into the file using a | |
| small set of primitive formats. The table below defines the encoding | |
| rules for the various primitives used and gives them each a type name. | |
| The type names used in the descriptions of blocks and fields in the <a | |
| href="#details">Detailed Layout</a>next section. Any type name with | |
| the suffix <em>_vbr</em> indicates a quantity that is encoded using | |
| variable bit rate encoding as described above.</p> | |
| <table class="doc_table"> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Rule</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="unsigned"><b>unsigned</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A 32-bit unsigned integer that always occupies four | |
| consecutive bytes. The unsigned integer is encoded using LSB first | |
| ordering. That is bits 2<sup>0</sup> through 2<sup>7</sup> are in the | |
| byte with the lowest file offset (little endian).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a name="uint24_vbr"> | |
| <b>uint24_vbr</b></a></td> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">A 24-bit unsigned | |
| integer that occupies from one to four bytes using variable bit rate | |
| encoding.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="uint32_vbr"><b>uint32_vbr</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A 32-bit unsigned integer that occupies from one to | |
| five bytes using variable bit rate encoding.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="uint64_vbr"><b>uint64_vbr</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A 64-bit unsigned integer that occupies from one to ten | |
| bytes using variable bit rate encoding.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="int64_vbr"><b>int64_vbr</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A 64-bit signed integer that occupies from one to ten | |
| bytes using the signed variable bit rate encoding.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="char"><b>char</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A single unsigned character encoded into one byte</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="bit"><b>bit(n-m)</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A set of bit within some larger integer field. The values | |
| of <code>n</code> and <code>m</code> specify the inclusive range of bits | |
| that define the subfield. The value for <code>m</code> may be omitted if | |
| its the same as <code>n</code>.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top;"><b><a name="float"><b>float</b></a></b></td> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">A floating point value encoded | |
| as a 32-bit IEEE value written in little-endian form.<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top;"><b><b><a name="double"><b>double</b></a></b></b></td> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">A floating point value encoded | |
| as a64-bit IEEE value written in little-endian form</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="string"><b>string</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A uint32_vbr indicating the type of the | |
| constant string which also includes its length, immediately followed by | |
| the characters of the string. There is no terminating null byte in the | |
| string.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="data"><b>data</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">An arbitrarily long segment of data to which | |
| no interpretation is implied. This is used for constant initializers.<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="llist"><b>llist(x)</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A length list of x. This means the list is | |
| encoded as an <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> providing the | |
| length of the list, followed by a sequence of that many "x" items. This | |
| implies that the reader should iterate the number of times provided by | |
| the length.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="zlist"><b>zlist(x)</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A zero-terminated list of x. This means the | |
| list is encoded as a sequence of an indeterminate number of "x" items, | |
| followed by an <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> terminating value. | |
| This implies that none of the "x" items can have a zero value (or else | |
| the list terminates).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a name="block"><b>block</b></a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A block of data that is logically related. A | |
| block is an unsigned 32-bit integer that encodes the type of the block | |
| in the low 5 bits and the size of the block in the high 27 bits. The | |
| length does not include the block header or any alignment bytes at the | |
| end of the block. Blocks may compose other blocks. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="notation">Field Notation</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In the detailed block and field descriptions that follow, a regex | |
| like notation is used to describe optional and repeated fields. A very | |
| limited subset of regex is used to describe these, as given in the | |
| following table: </p> | |
| <table class="doc_table"> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Character</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Meaning</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><b><code>?</code></b></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The question mark indicates 0 or 1 | |
| occurrences of the thing preceding it.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><b><code>*</code></b></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The asterisk indicates 0 or more occurrences | |
| of the thing preceding it.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><b><code>+</code></b></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The plus sign indicates 1 or more occurrences | |
| of the thing preceding it.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><b><code>()</code></b></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Parentheses are used for grouping.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><b><code>,</code></b></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The comma separates sequential fields.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p>So, for example, consider the following specifications:</p> | |
| <div class="doc_code"> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li><code>string?</code></li> | |
| <li><code>(uint32_vbr,uin32_vbr)+</code></li> | |
| <li><code>(unsigned?,uint32_vbr)*</code></li> | |
| <li><code>(llist(unsigned))?</code></li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </div> | |
| <p>with the following interpretations:</p> | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>An optional string. Matches either nothing or a single string</li> | |
| <li>One or more pairs of uint32_vbr.</li> | |
| <li>Zero or more occurrences of either an unsigned followed by a | |
| uint32_vbr or just a uint32_vbr.</li> | |
| <li>An optional length list of unsigned values.</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="slots">Slots</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The bytecode format uses the notion of a "slot" to reference Types | |
| and Values. Since the bytecode file is a <em>direct</em> representation of | |
| LLVM's intermediate representation, there is a need to represent pointers in | |
| the file. Slots are used for this purpose. For example, if one has the following | |
| assembly: | |
| </p> | |
| <div class="doc_code"><code> %MyType = type { int, sbyte }<br> | |
| %MyVar = external global %MyType | |
| </code></div> | |
| <p>there are two definitions. The definition of <tt>%MyVar</tt> uses <tt>%MyType</tt>. | |
| In the C++ IR this linkage between <tt>%MyVar</tt> and <tt>%MyType</tt> | |
| is explicit through the use of C++ pointers. In bytecode, however, there's no | |
| ability to store memory addresses. Instead, we compute and write out | |
| slot numbers for every Type and Value written to the file.</p> | |
| <p>A slot number is simply an unsigned 32-bit integer encoded in the variable | |
| bit rate scheme (see <a href="#encoding">encoding</a>). This ensures that | |
| low slot numbers are encoded in one byte. Through various bits of magic LLVM | |
| attempts to always keep the slot numbers low. The first attempt is to associate | |
| slot numbers with their "type plane". That is, Values of the same type | |
| are written to the bytecode file in a list (sequentially). Their order in | |
| that list determines their slot number. This means that slot #1 doesn't mean | |
| anything unless you also specify for which type you want slot #1. Types are | |
| handled specially and are always written to the file first (in the <a | |
| href="#globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a>) and in such a way that both forward | |
| and backward references of the types can often be resolved with a single pass | |
| through the type pool. </p> | |
| <p>Slot numbers are also kept small by rearranging their order. Because | |
| of the structure of LLVM, certain values are much more likely to be used | |
| frequently in the body of a function. For this reason, a compaction table is | |
| provided in the body of a function if its use would make the function body | |
| smaller. Suppose you have a function body that uses just the types "int*" and | |
| "{double}" but uses them thousands of time. Its worthwhile to ensure that the | |
| slot number for these types are low so they can be encoded in a single byte | |
| (via vbr). This is exactly what the compaction table does.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_section"> <a name="general">General Structure</a> </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>This section provides the general structure of the LLVM bytecode | |
| file format. The bytecode file format requires blocks to be in a | |
| certain order and nested in a particular way so that an LLVM module can | |
| be constructed efficiently from the contents of the file. This ordering | |
| defines a general structure for bytecode files as shown below. The | |
| table below shows the order in which all block types may appear. Please | |
| note that some of the blocks are optional and some may be repeated. The | |
| structure is fairly loose because optional blocks, if empty, are | |
| completely omitted from the file.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th>ID</th> | |
| <th>Parent</th> | |
| <th>Optional?</th> | |
| <th>Repeated?</th> | |
| <th>Level</th> | |
| <th>Block Type</th> | |
| <th>Description</th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>N/A</td> | |
| <td>File</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>0</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#signature">Signature</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This contains the file signature (magic | |
| number) that identifies the file as LLVM bytecode.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x01</td> | |
| <td>File</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>0</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#module">Module</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This is the top level block in a bytecode | |
| file. It contains all the other blocks. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x06</td> | |
| <td>Module</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a href="#globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This block contains all the global (module) | |
| level types.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x05</td> | |
| <td>Module</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a href="#globalinfo">Module Globals Info</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This block contains the type, constness, and | |
| linkage for each of the global variables in the module. It also | |
| contains the type of the functions and the constant initializers.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x03</td> | |
| <td>Module</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a href="#constantpool">Module Constant Pool</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This block contains all the global constants | |
| except function arguments, global values and constant strings.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x02</td> | |
| <td>Module</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a href="#functiondefs">Function Definitions</a>*</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">One function block is written for each | |
| function in the module. The function block contains the instructions, | |
| compaction table, type constant pool, and symbol table for the function.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x03</td> | |
| <td>Function</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>2</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a | |
| href="#constantpool">Function Constant Pool</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Any constants (including types) used solely | |
| within the function are emitted here in the function constant pool. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x08</td> | |
| <td>Function</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>2</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a | |
| href="#compactiontable">Compaction Table</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This table reduces bytecode size by providing | |
| a funtion-local mapping of type and value slot numbers to their global | |
| slot numbers</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x07</td> | |
| <td>Function</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>2</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a | |
| href="#instructionlist">Instruction List</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This block contains all the instructions of | |
| the function. The basic blocks are inferred by terminating | |
| instructions. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x04</td> | |
| <td>Function</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>2</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a | |
| href="#symtab">Function Symbol Table</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This symbol table provides the names for the | |
| function specific values used (basic block labels mostly).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0x04</td> | |
| <td>Module</td> | |
| <td>Yes</td> | |
| <td>No</td> | |
| <td>1</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"> <a href="#symtab">Module Symbol Table</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">This symbol table provides the names for the | |
| various entries in the file that are not function specific (global | |
| vars, and functions mostly).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p>Use the links in the table for details about the contents of each of | |
| the block types.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_section"> <a name="blockdefs">Block Definitions</a> </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>This section provides the detailed layout of the individual block | |
| types in the LLVM bytecode file format. </p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="signature">Signature Block</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The signature occurs in every LLVM bytecode file and is always first. | |
| It simply provides a few bytes of data to identify the file as being an LLVM | |
| bytecode file. This block is always four bytes in length and differs from the | |
| other blocks because there is no identifier and no block length at the start | |
| of the block. Essentially, this block is just the "magic number" for the file. | |
| </p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#char">char</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Constant "l" (0x6C)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#char">char</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Constant "l" (0x6C)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#char">char</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Constant "v" (0x76)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#char">char</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Constant "m" (0x6D)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="module">Module Block</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The module block contains a small pre-amble and all the other blocks in | |
| the file. The table below shows the structure of the module block. Note that it | |
| only provides the module identifier, size of the module block, and the format | |
| information. Everything else is contained in other blocks, described in other | |
| sections.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a><br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Module Block Identifier (0x01) and Size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#format">Format Information</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#globalinfo">Module Globals Info</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#constantpool">Module Constant Pool</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a>*</td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#functiondefs">Function Definitions</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left"><a href="#symboltable">Module Symbol Table</a></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="format">Format Information</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The format information field is encoded into a <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> | |
| as shown in the following table.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(0)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Target is big endian?</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(1)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">On target pointers are 64-bit?</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(2)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Target has no endianess?</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(3)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Target has no pointer size?</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(4-31)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Bytecode format version</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p> | |
| Of particular note, the bytecode format number is simply a 28-bit | |
| monotonically increase integer that identifies the version of the bytecode | |
| format (which is not directly related to the LLVM release number). The | |
| bytecode versions defined so far are (note that this document only | |
| describes the latest version, 1.3):</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li>#0: LLVM 1.0 & 1.1</li> | |
| <li>#1: LLVM 1.2</li> | |
| <li>#2: LLVM 1.2.5 (not released)</li> | |
| <li>#3: LLVM 1.3<br> | |
| </li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>Note that we plan to eventually expand the target description | |
| capabilities | |
| of bytecode files to <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR263">target | |
| triples</a>. | |
| </p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The global type pool consists of type definitions. Their order of appearance | |
| in the file determines their slot number (0 based). Slot numbers are | |
| used to replace pointers in the intermediate representation. Each slot number | |
| uniquely identifies one entry in a type plane (a collection of values of the | |
| same type). Since all values have types and are associated with the order in | |
| which the type pool is written, the global type pool <em>must</em> be written | |
| as the first block of a module. If it is not, attempts to read the file will | |
| fail because both forward and backward type resolution will not be possible.</p> | |
| <p>The type pool is simply a list of type definitions, as shown in the | |
| table below.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type Pool Identifier (0x06) + Size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#llist">llist</a>(<a href="#type">type</a>)</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A length list of type definitions.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="type">Type Definitions</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Types in the type pool are defined using a different format for each kind | |
| of type, as given in the following sections.</p> | |
| <h3>Primitive Types</h3> | |
| <p>The primitive types encompass the basic integer and floating point | |
| types</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID for the primitive types (values 1 to | |
| 11) <sup>1</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| Notes: | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>The values for the Type IDs for the primitive types are provided | |
| by the definition of the <code>llvm::Type::TypeID</code> enumeration | |
| in <code>include/llvm/Type.h</code>. The enumeration gives the | |
| following mapping: | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>bool</li> | |
| <li>ubyte</li> | |
| <li>sbyte</li> | |
| <li>ushort</li> | |
| <li>short</li> | |
| <li>uint</li> | |
| <li>int</li> | |
| <li>ulong</li> | |
| <li>long</li> | |
| <li>float</li> | |
| <li>double</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <h3>Function Types</h3> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID for function types (13)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of function's return type.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#llist">llist</a>(<a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a>)</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of each argument's type.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a>?</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Value 0 if this is a varargs function, | |
| missing otherwise.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <h3>Structure Types</h3> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID for structure types (14)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#zlist">zlist</a>(<a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a>)</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of each of the element's fields.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <h3>Array Types</h3> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID for Array Types (15)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of array's element type.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The number of elements in the array.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <h3>Pointer Types</h3> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID For Pointer Types (16)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of pointer's element type.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <h3>Opaque Types</h3> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type ID For Opaque Types (17)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="globalinfo">Module Global Info</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The module global info block contains the definitions of all global | |
| variables including their initializers and the <em>declaration</em> of | |
| all functions. The format is shown in the table below:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Module global info identifier (0x05) + size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#zlist">zlist</a>(<a href="#globalvar">globalvar</a>)</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A zero terminated list of global var | |
| definitions occuring in the module.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#zlist">zlist</a>(<a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a>)</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A zero terminated list of function types | |
| occuring in the module.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="#llist">llist</a>(<a | |
| href="#string">string</a>)<br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">A length list | |
| of strings that specify the names of the libraries that this module | |
| depends upon.<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top;"><a href="#string">string</a><br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;">The target | |
| triple for the module (blank means no target triple specified, i.e. a | |
| platform independent module).<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="globalvar">Global Variable Field</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Global variables are written using an <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> | |
| that encodes information about the global variable and a list of the | |
| constant initializers for the global var, if any.</p> | |
| <p>The table below provides the bit layout of the first <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> that describes the global variable.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(0)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Is constant?</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(1)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Has initializer? Note that this bit | |
| determines whether the constant initializer field (described below) | |
| follows. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(2-4)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Linkage type: 0=External, 1=Weak, | |
| 2=Appending, 3=Internal, 4=LinkOnce</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#bit">bit(5-31)</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of type for the global variable.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p>The table below provides the format of the constant initializers for | |
| the global variable field, if it has one.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>(<a href="#zlist">zlist</a>(<a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a>))? | |
| </td> | |
| <td class="td_left">An optional zero-terminated list of slot | |
| numbers of the global variable's constant initializer.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="constantpool">Constant Pool</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>A constant pool defines as set of constant values. There are | |
| actually two types of constant pool blocks: one for modules and one for | |
| functions. For modules, the block begins with the constant strings | |
| encountered anywhere in the module. For functions, the block begins | |
| with types only encountered in the function. In both cases the header | |
| is identical. The tables that follow, show the header, module constant | |
| pool preamble, function constant pool preamble, and the part common to | |
| both function and module constant pools.</p> | |
| <p><b>Common Block Header</b></p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Constant pool identifier (0x03) + size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p><b>Module Constant Pool Preamble (constant strings)</b></p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The number of constant strings that follow.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Zero. This identifies the following "plane" | |
| as containing the constant strings. This is needed to identify it | |
| uniquely from other constant planes that follow. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of the constant string's type. | |
| Note that the constant string's type implicitly defines the length of | |
| the string. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p><b>Function Constant Pool Preamble (function types)</b></p> | |
| <p>The structure of the types for functions is identical to the <a | |
| href="#globaltypes">Global Type Pool</a>. Please refer to that section | |
| for the details. </p> | |
| <p><b>Common Part (other constants)</b></p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Number of entries in this type plane.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Type slot number of this plane.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#constant">constant</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The definition of a constant (see below).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="constant">Constant Field</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Constants come in many shapes and flavors. The sections that followe | |
| define the format for each of them. All constants start with a <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> encoded integer that provides the | |
| number of operands for the constant. For primitive, structure, and | |
| array constants, this will always be zero since those types of | |
| constants have no operands. In this case, we have the following field | |
| definitions:</p> | |
| <ul> | |
| <li><b>Bool</b>. This is written as an <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> | |
| of value 1U or 0U.</li> | |
| <li><b>Signed Integers (sbyte,short,int,long)</b>. These are written | |
| as an <a href="#int64_vbr">int64_vbr</a> with the corresponding value.</li> | |
| <li><b>Unsigned Integers (ubyte,ushort,uint,ulong)</b>. These are | |
| written as an <a href="#uint64_vbr">uint64_vbr</a> with the | |
| corresponding value. </li> | |
| <li><b>Floating Point</b>. Both the float and double types are | |
| written literally in binary format.</li> | |
| <li><b>Arrays</b>. Arrays are written simply as a list of <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> encoded slot numbers to the constant | |
| element values.</li> | |
| <li><b>Structures</b>. Structures are written simply as a list of <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> encoded slot numbers to the constant | |
| field values of the structure.</li> | |
| </ul> | |
| <p>When the number of operands to the constant is non-zero, we have a | |
| constant expression and its field format is provided in the table below.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Op code of the instruction for the constant | |
| expression.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The slot number of the constant value for an | |
| operand.<sup>1</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The slot number for the type of the constant | |
| value for an operand.<sup>1</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| Notes: | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Both these fields are repeatable but only in pairs.</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="functiondefs">Function Definition</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Function definitions contain the linkage, constant pool or | |
| compaction table, instruction list, and symbol table for a function. | |
| The following table shows the structure of a function definition.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a><br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Function definition block identifier (0x02) + | |
| size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The linkage type of the function: 0=External, | |
| 1=Weak, 2=Appending, 3=Internal, 4=LinkOnce<sup>1</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The <a href="#constantpool">constant pool</a> | |
| block for this function.<sup>2</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The <a href="#compactiontable">compaction | |
| table</a> block for the function.<sup>2</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The <a href="#instructionlist">instruction | |
| list</a> for the function.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The function's <a href="#symboltable">symbol | |
| table</a> containing only those symbols pertinent to the function | |
| (mostly block labels).</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| Notes: | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Note that if the linkage type is "External" then none of the | |
| other fields will be present as the function is defined elsewhere.</li> | |
| <li>Note that only one of the constant pool or compaction table will | |
| be written. Compaction tables are only written if they will actually | |
| save bytecode space. If not, then a regular constant pool is written.</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="compactiontable">Compaction Table</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>Compaction tables are part of a function definition. They are merely | |
| a device for reducing the size of bytecode files. The size of a | |
| bytecode file is dependent on the <em>value</em> of the slot numbers | |
| used because larger values use more bytes in the variable bit rate | |
| encoding scheme. Furthermore, the compressed instruction format | |
| reserves only six bits for the type of the instruction. In large | |
| modules, declaring hundreds or thousands of types, the values of the | |
| slot numbers can be quite large. However, functions may use only a | |
| small fraction of the global types. In such cases a compaction table is | |
| created that maps the global type and value slot numbers to smaller | |
| values used by a function. Functions will contain either a | |
| function-specific constant pool <em>or</em> a compaction table but not | |
| both. Compaction tables have the format shown in the table below.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The number of types that follow</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The slot number in the global type plane of | |
| the type that will be referenced in the function with the index of this | |
| entry in the compaction table.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#type_len">type_len</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">An encoding of the type and number of values | |
| that follow. This field's encoding varies depending on the size of the | |
| type plane. See <a href="#type_len">Type and Length</a> for further | |
| details.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The slot number in the globals of the value | |
| that will be referenced in the function with the index of this entry in | |
| the compaction table</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="type_len">Type and Length</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The type and length of a compaction table type plane is encoded | |
| differently depending on the length of the plane. For planes of length | |
| 1 or 2, the length is encoded into bits 0 and 1 of a <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> and the type is encoded into bits | |
| 2-31. Because type numbers are often small, this often saves an extra | |
| byte per plane. If the length of the plane is greater than 2 then the | |
| encoding uses a <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> for each of the | |
| length and type, in that order.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="instructionlist">Instruction List</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>The instructions in a function are written as a simple list. Basic | |
| blocks are inferred by the terminating instruction types. The format of | |
| the block is given in the following table.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a><br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Instruction list identifier (0x07) + size<br> | |
| </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#instruction">instruction</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">An instruction. Instructions have a variety | |
| of formats. See <a href="#instruction">Instructions</a> for details.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="instruction">Instructions</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>For brevity, instructions are written in one of four formats, | |
| depending on the number of operands to the instruction. Each | |
| instruction begins with a <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> that | |
| encodes the type of the instruction as well as other things. The tables | |
| that follow describe the format of this first word of each instruction.</p> | |
| <p><b>Instruction Format 0</b></p> | |
| <p>This format is used for a few instructions that can't easily be | |
| optimized because they have large numbers of operands (e.g. PHI Node or | |
| getelementptr). Each of the opcode, type, and operand fields is as | |
| successive fields.</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the opcode of the instruction. Note | |
| that for compatibility with the other instruction formats, the opcode | |
| is shifted left by 2 bits. Bits 0 and 1 must have value zero for this | |
| format.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint24_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Provides the slot number of the result type | |
| of the instruction</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The number of operands that follow.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The slot number of the value(s) for the | |
| operand(s). <sup>1</sup></td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| Notes: | |
| <ol> | |
| <li>Note that if the instruction is a getelementptr and the type of | |
| the operand is a sequential type (array or pointer) then the slot | |
| number is shifted up two bits and the low order bits will encode the | |
| type of index used, as follows: 0=uint, 1=int, 2=ulong, 3=long.</li> | |
| </ol> | |
| <p><b>Instruction Format 1</b></p> | |
| <p>This format encodes the opcode, type and a single operand into a | |
| single <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> as follows:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Bits</b></th> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0-1</td> | |
| <td>constant "1"</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">These two bits must be the value 1 which | |
| identifies this as an instruction of format 1.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>2-7</td> | |
| <td><a href="#opcodes">opcode</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the opcode of the instruction. Note | |
| that the maximum opcode value is 63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>8-19</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the type for | |
| this instruction. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>12</sup>-1=4095.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>20-31</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the first operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>12</sup>-1=4095. Note | |
| that the value 2<sup>12</sup>-1 denotes zero operands.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p><b>Instruction Format 2</b></p> | |
| <p>This format encodes the opcode, type and two operands into a single <a | |
| href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> as follows:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Bits</b></th> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0-1</td> | |
| <td>constant "2"</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">These two bits must be the value 2 which | |
| identifies this as an instruction of format 2.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>2-7</td> | |
| <td><a href="#opcodes">opcode</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the opcode of the instruction. Note | |
| that the maximum opcode value is 63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>8-15</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the type for | |
| this instruction. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>8</sup>-1=255.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>16-23</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the first operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>8</sup>-1=255.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>24-31</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the second operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>8</sup>-1=255.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| <p><b>Instruction Format 3</b></p> | |
| <p>This format encodes the opcode, type and three operands into a | |
| single <a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a> as follows:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Bits</b></th> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>0-1</td> | |
| <td>constant "3"</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">These two bits must be the value 3 which | |
| identifies this as an instruction of format 3.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>2-7</td> | |
| <td><a href="#opcodes">opcode</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the opcode of the instruction. Note | |
| that the maximum opcode value is 63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>8-13</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the type for | |
| this instruction. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>6</sup>-1=63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>14-19</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the first operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>6</sup>-1=63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>20-25</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the second operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>6</sup>-1=63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td>26-31</td> | |
| <td><a href="#unsigned">unsigned</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Specifies the slot number of the value for | |
| the third operand. Maximum slot number is 2<sup>6</sup>-1=63.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="symtab">Symbol Table</a> </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>A symbol table can be put out in conjunction with a module or a function. | |
| A symbol table is a list of type planes. Each type plane starts with the number | |
| of entries in the plane and the type plane's slot number (so the type | |
| can be looked up in the global type pool). For each entry in a type | |
| plane, the slot number of the value and the name associated with that | |
| value are written. The format is given in the table below. </p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#block">block</a><br> | |
| </td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Symbol Table Identifier (0x04)</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Number of entries in type plane</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#symtab_entry">symtab_entry</a>*</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Provides the slot number of the type and its | |
| name.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#symtab_plane">symtab_plane</a>*</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">A type plane containing value slot number and | |
| name for all values of the same type.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="symtab_plane">Symbol Table | |
| Plane</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>A symbol table plane provides the symbol table entries for all | |
| values of a common type. The encoding is given in the following table:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Number of entries in this plane.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of type for this plane.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#symtab_entry">symtab_entry</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The symbol table entries for this plane.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection"> <a name="symtab_entry">Symbol Table | |
| Entry</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>A symbol table entry provides the assocation between a type or | |
| value's slot number and the name given to that type or value. The | |
| format is given in the following table:</p> | |
| <table> | |
| <tbody> | |
| <tr> | |
| <th><b>Type</b></th> | |
| <th class="td_left"><b>Field Description</b></th> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint24_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Slot number of the type or value being given | |
| a name. </td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#uint32_vbr">uint32_vbr</a></td> | |
| <td class="td_left">Length of the character array that follows.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| <tr> | |
| <td><a href="#char">char</a>+</td> | |
| <td class="td_left">The characters of the name.</td> | |
| </tr> | |
| </tbody> | |
| </table> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_section"> <a name="versiondiffs">Version Differences</a> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>This section describes the differences in the Bytecode Format across | |
| LLVM | |
| versions. The versions are listed in reverse order because it assumes | |
| the current version is as documented in the previous sections. Each | |
| section here | |
| describes the differences between that version and the one that <i>follows</i>. | |
| </p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="vers12">Version 1.2 Differences | |
| From 1.3</a></div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Type Derives From Value</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.2, the Type class in the LLVM IR derives from the Value | |
| class. This is not the case in version 1.3. Consequently, in version | |
| 1.2 the notion of a "Type Type" was used to write out values that were | |
| Types. The types always occuped plane 12 (corresponding to the | |
| TypeTyID) of any type planed set of values. In 1.3 this representation | |
| is not convenient because the TypeTyID (12) is not present and its | |
| value is now used for LabelTyID. Consequently, the data structures | |
| written that involve types do so by writing all the types first and | |
| then each of the value planes according to those types. In version 1.2, | |
| the types would have been written intermingled with the values.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Restricted getelementptr Types</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.2, the getelementptr instruction required a ubyte type | |
| index for accessing a structure field and a long type index for | |
| accessing an array element. Consequently, it was only possible to | |
| access structures of 255 or fewer elements. Starting in version 1.3, | |
| this restriction was lifted. Structures must now be indexed with uint | |
| constants. Arrays may now be indexed with int, uint, long, or ulong | |
| typed values. The consequence of this was that the bytecode format had | |
| to change in order to accommodate the larger range of structure indices.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Short Block Headers</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.2, block headers were always 8 bytes being comprised of | |
| both an unsigned integer type and an unsigned integer size. For very | |
| small modules, these block headers turn out to be a large fraction of | |
| the total bytecode file size. In an attempt to make these small files | |
| smaller, the type and size information was encoded into a single | |
| unsigned integer (4 bytes) comprised of 5 bits for the block type | |
| (maximum 31 block types) and 27 bits for the block size (max | |
| ~134MBytes). These limits seemed sufficient for any blocks or sizes | |
| forseen in the future. Note that the module block, which encloses all | |
| the other blocks is still written as 8 bytes since bytecode files | |
| larger than 134MBytes might be possible.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Dependent Libraries and Target Triples</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.2, the bytecode format does not store module's target | |
| triple or dependent. These fields have been added to the end of the <a | |
| href="#globalinfo">module global info block</a>. The purpose of these | |
| fields is to allow a front end compiler to specifiy that the generated | |
| module is specific to a particular target triple (operating | |
| system/manufacturer/processor) which makes it non-portable; and to | |
| allow front end compilers to specify the list of libraries that the | |
| module depends on for successful linking.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Types Restricted to 24-bits</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.2, type slot identifiers were written as 32-bit VBR | |
| quantities. In 1.3 this has been reduced to 24-bits in order to ensure | |
| that it is not possible to overflow the type field of a global variable | |
| definition. 24-bits for type slot numbers is deemed sufficient for any | |
| practical use of LLVM.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="vers11">Version 1.1 Differences | |
| From 1.2 </a></div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Explicit Primitive Zeros</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.1, the zero value for primitives was explicitly encoded | |
| into the bytecode format. Since these zero values are constant values | |
| in the LLVM IR and never change, there is no reason to explicitly | |
| encode them. This explicit encoding was removed in version 1.2.</p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsubsection">Inconsistent Module Global Info</div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>In version 1.1, the Module Global Info block was not aligned causing | |
| the next block to be read in on an unaligned boundary. This problem was | |
| corrected in version 1.2.<br> | |
| <br> | |
| </p> | |
| </div> | |
| <!-- _______________________________________________________________________ --> | |
| <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="vers10">Version 1.0 Differences | |
| From 1.1</a></div> | |
| <div class="doc_text"> | |
| <p>None. Version 1.0 and 1.1 bytecode formats are identical.</p> | |
| </div> | |
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| href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br> | |
| <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br> | |
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