| # How to submit an LLVM bug report |
| |
| ## Introduction - Got bugs? |
| |
| If you're working with LLVM and encounter a bug, we definitely want to know |
| about it. This document describes what you can do to increase the odds of |
| getting it fixed quickly. |
| |
| 🔒 If you believe that the bug is security related, please follow {ref}`report-security-issue`. 🔒 |
| |
| Basically, you have to do two things at a minimum. First, decide whether the |
| bug {ref}`crashes the compiler <crashes the compiler>` or if the compiler is |
| {ref}`miscompiling <miscompiling>` the program |
| (i.e., the compiler successfully produces an executable, but it doesn't run |
| right). Based on what type of bug it is, follow the instructions in the |
| linked section to narrow down the bug so that the person who fixes it will be |
| able to find the problem more easily. |
| |
| Once you have a reduced test case, go to [the LLVM Bug Tracking System](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues) and fill out the form with the |
| necessary details (note that you don't need to pick a label, just use if you're |
| not sure). The bug description should contain the following information: |
| |
| - All information necessary to reproduce the problem. |
| - The reduced test case that triggers the bug. |
| - The location where you obtained LLVM (if not from our Git |
| repository). |
| |
| Thanks for helping us make LLVM better! |
| |
| (crashes the compiler)= |
| |
| ## Crashing Bugs |
| |
| More often than not, bugs in the compiler cause it to crash---often due to |
| an assertion failure of some sort. The most important piece of the puzzle |
| is to figure out if it is crashing in the Clang front-end or if it is one of |
| the LLVM libraries (e.g., the optimizer or code generator) that has |
| problems. |
| |
| To identify the crashing component (the front-end, middle-end |
| optimizer, or backend code generator), run the `clang` command line as you |
| were when the crash occurred, but with the following extra command line |
| options: |
| |
| - `-emit-llvm -Xclang -disable-llvm-passes`: If `clang` still crashes when |
| passed these options (which disable the optimizer and code generator), then |
| the crash is in the front-end. Jump ahead to {ref}`front-end bugs |
| <frontend-crash>`. |
| - `-emit-llvm`: If `clang` crashes with this option (which disables |
| the code generator), you've found a middle-end optimizer bug. Jump ahead to |
| {ref}`middle-end bugs <middleend-crash>`. |
| - Otherwise, you have a backend code generator crash. Jump ahead to {ref}`code |
| generator bugs <backend-crash>`. |
| |
| (frontend-crash)= |
| |
| ### Front-end bugs |
| |
| On a `clang` crash, the compiler will dump a preprocessed file and a script |
| to replay the `clang` command. For example, you should see something like |
| |
| ```text |
| PLEASE ATTACH THE FOLLOWING FILES TO THE BUG REPORT: |
| Preprocessed source(s) and associated run script(s) are located at: |
| clang: note: diagnostic msg: /tmp/foo-xxxxxx.c |
| clang: note: diagnostic msg: /tmp/foo-xxxxxx.sh |
| ``` |
| |
| The [creduce](https://github.com/csmith-project/creduce) tool helps to |
| reduce the preprocessed file down to the smallest amount of code that still |
| replicates the problem. You're encouraged to use creduce to reduce the code |
| to make the developers' lives easier. The |
| `clang/utils/reduce-clang-crash.py` script can be used on the files |
| that clang dumps to help with automating creating a test to check for the |
| compiler crash. |
| |
| [cvise](https://github.com/marxin/cvise) is an alternative to `creduce`. |
| |
| (middleend-crash)= |
| |
| ### Middle-end optimization bugs |
| |
| If you find that a bug crashes in the optimizer, compile your test-case to a |
| `.bc` file by passing "`-emit-llvm -O1 -Xclang -disable-llvm-passes -c -o |
| foo.bc`". The `-O1` is important because `-O0` adds the `optnone` |
| function attribute to all functions and many passes don't run on `optnone` |
| functions. Then run: |
| |
| ```bash |
| opt -O3 foo.bc -disable-output |
| ``` |
| |
| If this doesn't crash, please follow the instructions for a {ref}`front-end |
| bug <frontend-crash>`. |
| |
| If this does crash, then you can debug this with the {doc}`llvm-reduce |
| <CommandGuide/llvm-reduce>` tool. Create a script that reproduces the |
| crash and run: |
| |
| ```bash |
| llvm-reduce --test=path/to/script foo.bc |
| ``` |
| |
| which should produce reduced IR that reproduces the crash. |
| |
| :::{TIP} |
| `llvm-reduce -j $NUM_THREADS` is multi-threaded and can therefore |
| potentially be much faster. |
| ::: |
| |
| :::{TIP} |
| Reduction is fastest and most effective the simpler the |
| reproduction script is. Ideally, this will be running |
| `opt` with a |
| single pass. The most effective way to extract the IR before a |
| specific point is a two step process. First, run the testcase with |
| the `-print-pass-numbers` flag. This will print the name of a |
| pass and an integer ID. You can then use the last ID printed before |
| the crash and add 3 flags, |
| `-print-before-pass-number=<integer-id> -print-module-scope -ir-dump-directory=/my/debug/path`. |
| This will place failing IR files in the given directory. |
| `-print-before-pass-number` is the minimum required flag, but |
| will not produce an output directly consumable by a tool. It will |
| print to stderr, and will be incomplete in most situations without |
| `-print-module-scope`. |
| |
| A more brute force approach is to use the `--print-before-all |
| --print-module-scope` flags to dump the IR before every pass. Be |
| warned that this is very verbose. |
| ::: |
| |
| (backend-crash)= |
| |
| ### Backend code generator bugs |
| |
| If you find a bug that crashes clang in the code generator, compile your |
| source file to a `.bc` file by passing "`-emit-llvm -c -o foo.bc`" to |
| clang (in addition to the options you already pass). Once you have |
| `foo.bc`, one of the following commands should fail: |
| |
| 1. `llc foo.bc` |
| 2. `llc foo.bc -relocation-model=pic` |
| 3. `llc foo.bc -relocation-model=static` |
| |
| If none of these crash, please follow the instructions for a |
| {ref}`front-end bug<frontend-crash>`. If one of these crashes, you |
| should be able to reduce this with {doc}`llvm-reduce |
| <CommandGuide/llvm-reduce>`, similar to middle end bugs. In this |
| case, your test script should use {doc}`llc <CommandGuide/llc>` |
| instead of `opt`. |
| |
| Please run this, then file a bug with the instructions and reduced |
| `.bc` file that `llvm-reduce` emits. If something goes wrong |
| with `llvm-reduce`, please submit the `foo.bc` file and the |
| option that |
| `llc` crashes with. |
| |
| ### LTO bugs |
| |
| If you encounter a bug that leads to crashes in the LLVM LTO phase when using |
| the `-flto` option, follow these steps to diagnose and report the issue: |
| |
| Compile your source file to a `.bc` (Bitcode) file with the following options, |
| in addition to your existing compilation options: |
| |
| ```bash |
| export CFLAGS="-flto -fuse-ld=lld" CXXFLAGS="-flto -fuse-ld=lld" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-plugin-opt=save-temps" |
| ``` |
| |
| These options enable LTO and save temporary files generated during compilation |
| for later analysis. |
| |
| On Windows, use lld-link as the linker. Adjust your compilation |
| flags as follows: |
| |
| - Add `/lldsavetemps` to the linker flags. |
| - When linking from the compiler driver, add `/link /lldsavetemps` in order to forward that flag to the linker. |
| |
| Using the specified flags will generate four intermediate bytecode files: |
| |
| 1. a.out.0.0.preopt.bc (Before any link-time optimizations (LTO) are applied) |
| 2. a.out.0.2.internalize.bc (After initial optimizations are applied) |
| 3. a.out.0.4.opt.bc (After an extensive set of optimizations) |
| 4. a.out.0.5.precodegen.bc (After LTO but before translating into machine code) |
| |
| Execute one of the following commands to identify the source of the problem: |
| |
| 1. `opt "-passes=lto<O3>" a.out.0.2.internalize.bc` |
| 2. `llc a.out.0.5.precodegen.bc` |
| |
| If one of these do crash, you should be able to reduce |
| this with {program}`llvm-reduce` |
| command line (use the bc file corresponding to the command above that failed): |
| |
| ```bash |
| llvm-reduce --test reduce.sh a.out.0.2.internalize.bc |
| ``` |
| |
| Example of `reduce.sh` script |
| |
| ```bash |
| $ cat reduce.sh |
| #!/bin/bash -e |
| |
| path/to/not --crash path/to/opt "-passes=lto<O3>" $1 -o temp.bc 2> err.log |
| grep -q "It->second == &Insn" err.log |
| ``` |
| |
| Here we have grepped for the failed assert message. |
| |
| Please run this, then file a bug with the instructions and reduced `.bc` file |
| that llvm-reduce emits. |
| |
| (miscompiling)= |
| |
| ## Miscompilations |
| |
| If clang successfully produces an executable, but that executable doesn't run |
| right, this is either a bug in the code or a bug in the compiler. The first |
| thing to check is to make sure it is not using undefined behavior (e.g., |
| reading a variable before it is defined). In particular, check to see if the |
| program is clean under various [sanitizers](https://github.com/google/sanitizers) (e.g., `clang |
| -fsanitize=undefined,address`) and [valgrind](http://valgrind.org/). Many |
| "LLVM bugs" that we have chased down ended up being bugs in the program being |
| compiled, not LLVM. |
| |
| Once you determine that the program itself is not buggy, you should work on |
| reducing the inputs required to reproduce the miscompilation. The |
| {doc}`OptBisect <OptBisect>` page shows how to find the optimization pass |
| causing the miscompile. You can use {doc}`llvm-reduce <CommandGuide/llvm-reduce>` |
| to minimize the bitcode necessary to reproduce the miscompilation. |