<li><a href="#build">Build Problems</a>
<ol>
<li>When I run configure, it finds the wrong C compiler.</li>
- <li>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</li>
<li>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
LLVM linker from a previous build. What do I do?</li>
<li>When creating a dynamic library, I get a strange GLIBC error.</li>
<li>When I use the test suite, all of the C Backend tests fail. What is
wrong?</li>
<li>After CVS update, rebuilding gives the error "No rule to make
- target".</li>
+ target".</li>
+ <li><a href="#llvmc">The <tt>llvmc</tt> program gives me errors/doesn't
+ work.</li></a>
</ol></li>
+ <li><a href="#felangs">Source Languages</a>
+ <ol>
+ <li><a href="#langs">What source languages are supported?</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#langhlsupp">What support is there for higher level source
+ language constructs for building a compiler?</a></li>
+ <li><a href="GetElementPtr.html">I don't understand the GetElementPtr
+ instruction. Help!</a></li>
+ </ol>
+
<li><a href="#cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
<ol>
<li>
How can I disable all optimizations when compiling code using the LLVM GCC front end?
</li>
+ <li><a href="#translatec++">Can I use LLVM to convert C++ code to C code?</a></li>
+
</ol>
</li>
</div>
-<div class="question">
-<p>I compile the code, and I get some error about <tt>/localhome</tt>.</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="answer">
-
-<p>There are several possible causes for this. The first is that you didn't set
-a pathname properly when using <tt>configure</tt>, and it defaulted to a
-pathname that we use on our research machines.</p>
-
-<p>Another possibility is that we hardcoded a path in our Makefiles. If you see
-this, please email the LLVM bug mailing list with the name of the offending
-Makefile and a description of what is wrong with it.</p>
-
-</div>
-
<div class="question">
<p>The <tt>configure</tt> script finds the right C compiler, but it uses the
LLVM linker from a previous build. What do I do?</p>
<p>For example, if you built LLVM with the command:</p>
-<p><tt>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt>
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1
+</pre>
+</div>
<p>...then you must run the tests with the following commands:</p>
-<p><tt>cd llvm/test<br>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt></p>
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% cd llvm/test
+% gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1
+</pre>
+</div>
</div>
<p>If the error is of the form:</p>
<div class="doc_code">
-<tt>
+<pre>
gmake[2]: *** No rule to make target `/path/to/somefile', needed by
`/path/to/another/file.d'.<br>
Stop.
-</tt>
+</pre>
</div>
<p>This may occur anytime files are moved within the CVS repository or removed
rebuilding.</p>
</div>
+<div class="question">
+ <a name="llvmc"<p>The <tt>llvmc</tt> program gives me errors/doesn't
+ work.</p></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="answer">
+ <p><tt>llvmc</tt> is experimental and isn't really supported. We suggest
+ using <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> instead.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+<div class="doc_section"><a name="felangs">Source Languages</a></div>
+
+<div class="question"><p>
+ <a name="langs">What source languages are supported?</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="answer">
+ <p>LLVM currently has full support for C and C++ source languages. These are
+ available through a special version of GCC that LLVM calls the
+ <a href="#cfe">C Front End</a></p>
+ <p>There is an incomplete version of a Java front end available in the
+ <tt>llvm-java</tt> CVS repository. There is no documentation on this yet so
+ you'll need to download the code, compile it, and try it.</p>
+ <p>In the <tt>examples/BFtoLLVM</tt> directory is a translator for the
+ BrainF*** language (2002 Language Specification).</p>
+ <p>In the <tt>projects/Stacker</tt> directory is a compiler and runtime
+ library for the Stacker language, a "toy" language loosely based on Forth.</p>
+ <p>The PyPy developers are working on integrating LLVM into the PyPy backend
+ so that PyPy language can translate to LLVM.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="question"><a name="langhlsupp">
+ <p>What support is there for a higher level source language constructs for
+ building a compiler?</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="answer">
+ <p>Currently, there isn't much. LLVM supports an intermediate representation
+ which is useful for code representation but will not support the high level
+ (abstract syntax tree) representation needed by most compilers. There are no
+ facilities for lexical nor semantic analysis. There is, however, a <i>mostly
+ implemented</i> configuration-driven
+ <a href="CompilerDriver.html">compiler driver</a> which simplifies the task
+ of running optimizations, linking, and executable generation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="question"><a name="langhlsupp">
+ <p>I don't understand the GetElementPtr
+ instruction. Help!</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="answer">
+ <p>See <a href="GetElementPtr.html">The Often Misunderstood GEP
+ Instruction</a>.</li>
+</div>
+
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section">
<a name="cfe">Using the GCC Front End</a>
<p>
To work around this, perform the following steps:
</p>
-
<ol>
- <li>
- Make sure the CC and CXX environment variables contains the full path to the
- LLVM GCC front end.
- </li>
+ <li>Make sure the CC and CXX environment variables contains the full path to
+ the LLVM GCC front end.</li>
- <li>
- Make sure that the regular C compiler is first in your PATH.
- </li>
+ <li>Make sure that the regular C compiler is first in your PATH. </li>
- <li>
- Add the string "-Wl,-native" to your CFLAGS environment variable.
- </li>
+ <li>Add the string "-Wl,-native" to your CFLAGS environment variable.</li>
</ol>
<p>
-This will allow the gccld linker to create a native code executable instead of
-a shell script that runs the JIT. Creating native code requires standard
-linkage, which in turn will allow the configure script to find out if code is
-not linking on your system because the feature isn't available on your system.
-</p>
+This will allow the <tt>llvm-ld</tt> linker to create a native code executable
+instead of shell script that runs the JIT. Creating native code requires
+standard linkage, which in turn will allow the configure script to find out if
+code is not linking on your system because the feature isn't available on your
+system.</p>
</div>
<div class="question">
<p>
The only way this can happen is if you haven't installed the runtime library. To
correct this, do:</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
<pre>
- % cd llvm/runtime
- % make clean ; make install-bytecode
+% cd llvm/runtime
+% make clean ; make install-bytecode
</pre>
</div>
+</div>
<div class="question">
<p>
</p>
</div>
+
+<div class="question">
+<p>
+<a name="translatec++">Can I use LLVM to convert C++ code to C code?</a>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="answer">
+<p>Yes, you can use LLVM to convert code from any language LLVM supports to C.
+Note that the generated C code will be very low level (all loops are lowered
+to gotos, etc) and not very pretty (comments are stripped, original source
+formatting is totally lost, variables are renamed, expressions are regrouped),
+so this may not be what you're looking for. However, this is a good way to add
+C++ support for a processor that does not otherwise have a C++ compiler.
+</p>
+
+<p>Use commands like this:</p>
+
+<ol>
+<li><p>Compile your program as normal with llvm-g++:</p></li>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% llvm-g++ x.cpp -o program
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>or:</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% llvm-g++ a.cpp -c
+% llvm-g++ b.cpp -c
+% llvm-g++ a.o b.o -o program
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>With llvm-gcc3, this will generate program and program.bc. The .bc file is
+the LLVM version of the program all linked together.</p>
+
+<li><p>Convert the LLVM code to C code, using the LLC tool with the C
+backend:</p></li>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% llc -march=c program.bc -o program.c
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<li><p>Finally, compile the c file:</p></li>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+% cc x.c
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+</ol>
+
+<p>Note that, by default, the C backend does not support exception handling.
+If you want/need it for a certain program, you can enable it by passing
+"-enable-correct-eh-support" to the llc program. The resultant code will
+use setjmp/longjmp to implement exception support that is correct but
+relatively slow.
+</p>
+
+<p>Also note: this specific sequence of commands won't work if you use a
+function defined in the C++ runtime library (or any other C++ library). To
+access an external C++ library, you must manually
+compile libstdc++ to LLVM bytecode, statically link it into your program, then
+use the commands above to convert the whole result into C code. Alternatively,
+you can compile the libraries and your application into two different chunks
+of C code and link them.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section">
<a name="cfe_code">Questions about code generated by the GCC front-end</a>
variable before you use it. For example, the C function:</p>
<div class="doc_code">
- <tt>int X() { int i; return i; }</tt>
+<pre>
+int X() { int i; return i; }
+</pre>
</div>
-<p>Is compiled to "<tt>ret int undef</tt>" because "i" never has a value
-specified for it.
-</p>
+<p>Is compiled to "<tt>ret i32 undef</tt>" because "<tt>i</tt>" never has
+a value specified for it.</p>
</div>
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->