X-Git-Url: http://demsky.eecs.uci.edu/git/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=docs%2FGetElementPtr.html;h=710273fb6dafe972cfc051b92b93cd565dc7ff1c;hb=b361ec31979b2ac40af00d5258b9571239954103;hp=e16e056d2296e40ab0f22b67631cd51664539c2d;hpb=50739225f44e0c0308e97a0ef2dac30f0c54c9be;p=oota-llvm.git diff --git a/docs/GetElementPtr.html b/docs/GetElementPtr.html index e16e056d229..710273fb6da 100644 --- a/docs/GetElementPtr.html +++ b/docs/GetElementPtr.html @@ -56,12 +56,12 @@ this leads to the following questions, all of which are answered in the following sections.

    -
  1. What is the first index of the GEP instruction? +
  2. What is the first index of the GEP instruction?
  3. -
  4. Why is the extra 0 index required?
  5. -
  6. What is dereferenced by GEP?
  7. -
  8. Why don't GEP x,0,0,1 and GEP x,1 alias?
  9. -
  10. Why do GEP x,1,0,0 and GEP x,1 alias?
  11. +
  12. Why is the extra 0 index required?
  13. +
  14. What is dereferenced by GEP?
  15. +
  16. Why don't GEP x,0,0,1 and GEP x,1 alias?
  17. +
  18. Why do GEP x,1,0,0 and GEP x,1 alias?
@@ -77,21 +77,25 @@
   AType* Foo;
   ...
-  X = Foo[1];
-

it is natural to think that there is only one index, the constant value - 1. This results from C allowing you to treat pointers and arrays as - equivalent. LLVM doesn't. In this example, Foo is a pointer. That pointer must - be indexed. To arrive at the same address location as the C code, you would - provide the GEP instruction with two indices. The first indexes through the - pointer, the second index the second element of the array.

+ X = &Foo->F; +

it is natural to think that there is only one index, the selection of the + field F. However, in this example, Foo is a pointer. That + pointer must be indexed explicitly in LLVM. C, on the other hand, indexs + through it transparently. To arrive at the same address location as the C + code, you would provide the GEP instruction with two index operands. The + first operand indexes through the pointer; the second operand indexes the + field F of the structure, just as if you wrote:

+
+  X = &Foo[0].F;

Sometimes this question gets rephrased as:

-
Why is it okay to index through the first pointer, but - subsequent pointers won't be dereferenced?
+

Why is it okay to index through the first pointer, but + subsequent pointers won't be dereferenced?

The answer is simply because memory does not have to be accessed to perform the computation. The first operand to the GEP instruction must be a value of a pointer type. The value of the pointer is provided directly to - the GEP instruction without any need for accessing memory. It must, - therefore be indexed like any other operand. Consider this example:

+ the GEP instruction as an operand without any need for accessing memory. It + must, therefore be indexed and requires an index operand. Consider this + example:

   struct munger_struct {
     int f1;
@@ -108,20 +112,21 @@
   

In this "C" example, the front end compiler (llvm-gcc) will generate three GEP instructions for the three indices through "P" in the assignment statement. The function argument P will be the first operand of each - of these GEP instructions. The second operand will be the field offset into - the struct munger_struct type, for either the f1 or + of these GEP instructions. The second operand indexes through that pointer. + The third operand will be the field offset into the + struct munger_struct type, for either the f1 or f2 field. So, in LLVM assembly the munge function looks like:

   void %munge(%struct.munger_struct* %P) {
   entry:
-    %tmp = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, int 1, uint 0
-    %tmp = load int* %tmp
-    %tmp6 = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, int 2, uint 1
-    %tmp7 = load int* %tmp6
-    %tmp8 = add int %tmp7, %tmp
-    %tmp9 = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, int 0, uint 0
-    store int %tmp8, int* %tmp9
+    %tmp = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, i32 1, i32 0
+    %tmp = load i32* %tmp
+    %tmp6 = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, i32 2, i32 1
+    %tmp7 = load i32* %tmp6
+    %tmp8 = add i32 %tmp7, %tmp
+    %tmp9 = getelementptr %struct.munger_struct* %P, i32 0, i32 0
+    store i32 %tmp8, i32* %tmp9
     ret void
   }

In each case the first operand is the pointer through which the GEP @@ -129,11 +134,11 @@ argument, allocated memory, or a global variable.

To make this clear, let's consider a more obtuse example:

-  %MyVar = unintialized global int
+  %MyVar = unintialized global i32
   ...
-  %idx1 = getelementptr int* %MyVar, long 0
-  %idx2 = getelementptr int* %MyVar, long 1
-  %idx3 = getelementptr int* %MyVar, long 2
+ %idx1 = getelementptr i32* %MyVar, i64 0 + %idx2 = getelementptr i32* %MyVar, i64 1 + %idx3 = getelementptr i32* %MyVar, i64 2

These GEP instructions are simply making address computations from the base address of MyVar. They compute, as follows (using C syntax):

@@ -142,14 +147,14 @@
  • idx2 = (char*) &MyVar + 4
  • idx3 = (char*) &MyVar + 8
  • -

    Since the type int is known to be four bytes long, the indices +

    Since the type i32 is known to be four bytes long, the indices 0, 1 and 2 translate into memory offsets of 0, 4, and 8, respectively. No memory is accessed to make these computations because the address of %MyVar is passed directly to the GEP instructions.

    The obtuse part of this example is in the cases of %idx2 and %idx3. They result in the computation of addresses that point to memory past the end of the %MyVar global, which is only one - int long, not three ints long. While this is legal in LLVM, + i32 long, not three i32s long. While this is legal in LLVM, it is inadvisable because any load or store with the pointer that results from these GEP instructions would produce undefined results.

    @@ -164,29 +169,29 @@

    This question arises most often when the GEP instruction is applied to a global variable which is always a pointer type. For example, consider this:

    -  %MyStruct = uninitialized global { float*, int }
    +  %MyStruct = uninitialized global { float*, i32 }
       ...
    -  %idx = getelementptr { float*, int }* %MyStruct, long 0, ubyte 1
    -

    The GEP above yields an int* by indexing the int typed + %idx = getelementptr { float*, i32 }* %MyStruct, i64 0, i32 1 +

    The GEP above yields an i32* by indexing the i32 typed field of the structure %MyStruct. When people first look at it, they - wonder why the long 0 index is needed. However, a closer inspection + wonder why the i64 0 index is needed. However, a closer inspection of how globals and GEPs work reveals the need. Becoming aware of the following facts will dispell the confusion:

      -
    1. The type of %MyStruct is not { float*, int } - but rather { float*, int }*. That is, %MyStruct is a +
    2. The type of %MyStruct is not { float*, i32 } + but rather { float*, i32 }*. That is, %MyStruct is a pointer to a structure containing a pointer to a float and an - int.
    3. + i32.
    4. Point #1 is evidenced by noticing the type of the first operand of the GEP instruction (%MyStruct) which is - { float*, int }*.
    5. -
    6. The first index, long 0 is required to step over the global + { float*, i32 }*.
    7. +
    8. The first index, i64 0 is required to step over the global variable %MyStruct. Since the first argument to the GEP instruction must always be a value of pointer type, the first index steps through that pointer. A value of 0 means 0 elements offset from that pointer.
    9. -
    10. The second index, ubyte 1 selects the second field of the - structure (the int).
    11. +
    12. The second index, i32 1 selects the second field of the + structure (the i32).
    @@ -201,9 +206,9 @@ GEP is only involved in the computation of addresses. For example, consider this:

    -  %MyVar = uninitialized global { [40 x int ]* }
    +  %MyVar = uninitialized global { [40 x i32 ]* }
       ...
    -  %idx = getelementptr { [40 x int]* }* %MyVar, long 0, ubyte 0, long 0, long 17
    + %idx = getelementptr { [40 x i32]* }* %MyVar, i64 0, i32 0, i64 0, i64 17

    In this example, we have a global variable, %MyVar that is a pointer to a structure containing a pointer to an array of 40 ints. The GEP instruction seems to be accessing the 18th integer of the structure's @@ -214,19 +219,19 @@

    In order to access the 18th integer in the array, you would need to do the following:

    -  %idx = getelementptr { [40 x int]* }* %, long 0, ubyte 0
    -  %arr = load [40 x int]** %idx
    -  %idx = getelementptr [40 x int]* %arr, long 0, long 17
    + %idx = getelementptr { [40 x i32]* }* %, i64 0, i32 0 + %arr = load [40 x i32]** %idx + %idx = getelementptr [40 x i32]* %arr, i64 0, i64 17

    In this case, we have to load the pointer in the structure with a load instruction before we can index into the array. If the example was changed to:

    -  %MyVar = uninitialized global { [40 x int ] }
    +  %MyVar = uninitialized global { [40 x i32 ] }
       ...
    -  %idx = getelementptr { [40 x int] }*, long 0, ubyte 0, long 17
    + %idx = getelementptr { [40 x i32] }*, i64 0, i32 0, i64 17

    then everything works fine. In this case, the structure does not contain a pointer and the GEP instruction can index through the global variable, - into the first field of the structure and access the 18th int in the + into the first field of the structure and access the 18th i32 in the array there.

    @@ -240,14 +245,14 @@ instructions you find that they are different (0 and 1), therefore the address computation diverges with that index. Consider this example:

    -  %MyVar = global { [10 x int ] }
    -  %idx1 = getlementptr { [10 x int ] }* %MyVar, long 0, ubyte 0, long 1
    -  %idx2 = getlementptr { [10 x int ] }* %MyVar, long 1
    + %MyVar = global { [10 x i32 ] } + %idx1 = getlementptr { [10 x i32 ] }* %MyVar, i64 0, i32 0, i64 1 + %idx2 = getlementptr { [10 x i32 ] }* %MyVar, i64 1

    In this example, idx1 computes the address of the second integer in the array that is in the structure in %MyVar, that is MyVar+4. The - type of idx1 is int*. However, idx2 computes the + type of idx1 is i32*. However, idx2 computes the address of the next structure after %MyVar. The type of - idx2 is { [10 x int] }* and its value is equivalent + idx2 is { [10 x i32] }* and its value is equivalent to MyVar + 40 because it indexes past the ten 4-byte integers in MyVar. Obviously, in such a situation, the pointers don't alias.

    @@ -255,7 +260,7 @@
    - Why do GEP x,1,0,0 and GEP x,1 alias? + Why do GEP x,1,0,0 and GEP x,1 alias?

    Quick Answer: They compute the same address location.

    @@ -263,12 +268,12 @@ through the 0th element does not change the address. However, it does change the type. Consider this example:

    -  %MyVar = global { [10 x int ] }
    -  %idx1 = getlementptr { [10 x int ] }* %MyVar, long 1, ubyte 0, long 0
    -  %idx2 = getlementptr { [10 x int ] }* %MyVar, long 1
    + %MyVar = global { [10 x i32 ] } + %idx1 = getlementptr { [10 x i32 ] }* %MyVar, i64 1, i32 0, i64 0 + %idx2 = getlementptr { [10 x i32 ] }* %MyVar, i64 1

    In this example, the value of %idx1 is %MyVar+40 and - its type is int*. The value of %idx2 is also - MyVar+40 but its type is { [10 x int] }*.

    + its type is i32*. The value of %idx2 is also + MyVar+40 but its type is { [10 x i32] }*.

    @@ -291,332 +296,6 @@ - -
    Appendix: Discussion
    - -
    -

    The following is a real discussion from the - #llvm IRC channel about the GEP - instruction. You may find this instructive as it was the basis for this - document.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    UserComment
    YorionIf x & y must alias, are [ getelementptr x,0,0,1,2 ] and [ getelementptr x,1,2 ] aliased? (they obviously have different types, but they should alias...)
    Yorionoops, for the second one I meant [ getelementptr y,1,2 ]
    ReidI don't see how that could be, Yorion but I'm not the authority on this
    Yorionhmm..
    Reidthe two geps, by definition, are going to produce different pointers which are not aliased
    Yorionwould [ GEP x,1,0 ] and [ GEP y,1 ] be aliased?
    Reidif the second gep was [gep y,0,0,1,2] then they should be aliased as well
    Reidno, I wouldn't expect that to work either :)
    Reidyou can't just arbitrarily drop leading or trailing indices :)
    Reid(.. leading or trailing 0 indices, I mean)
    Reidthis instruction walks through a data structure and generates a pointer to the resulting thing
    Reidif the number of indices are different, you're ending up at a different place and by definition they'll have different addresses
    Yorionoh, I see, because of different types, [ GEP x,0,1 ] - & [ GEP x,1 ] actually might refer to different fields, but might also refer to the same ones...
    Reidor, at least, that's my crude understanding of it :)
    Reidno, they'll definitely refer to different fields
    nicholasGEP x,0,1 ==> &((*(x+0))+1)? vs. GEP x,1 ==> &(*(x+1))?
    Reidlemme grok that for a sec
    Reidthat might be true in some limited definition of x, but it wouldn't be generally
    nicholasoh. fields of different sizes in a structure.
    Reidyup
    Yorionis perhaps the type unification the reason why [ GEP x,0,1 ] and [ GEP x,1 ] cannot alias?
    Reidno
    Reidthey may or may not have the same type, but they are definitely different pointers
    Reidlets use a concrete example for "x"
    Reidsuppose x is "struct {int a, float b} *"
    ReidGEP X,0,1 is going to return the address of b
    ReidGEP X,1 is going to return the address of the *second* "a" (after the first b)
    Yorionah, I see...
    Yoriontrailing zeros are still a bit confusing...
    Reidsame thing .. you're just selecting the 0th member of an array or structure
    Yorionyou don't move away from the pointer, only the type is changed
    Reidno, you still move away from the pointer .. the type might change, or not
    Reidthe pointer definitely changes
    Reidlets look at an example for trailing zero
    Reidsuppose x is "int x[10][10][10][10]" (in C)
    ReidGEP X,0,0 will yield you a 3 dimensional array
    ReidGEP X,0,0,0,0,0 will yield you an "int"
    Reidmake sense?
    Yorionyes
    Reidso, I think there's a law here: if the number of indices in two GEP instructions are not equivalent, there is no way the resulting pointers can alias
    Reid(assuming the x and y alias)
    YorionI was confused with some code in BasicAliasAnalysis that says that two pointers are equal if they differ only in trailing zeros
    YorionBasicAliasAnalysis.cpp:504-518
    Reidlemme look
    nicholasif y1 = GEP X, 0, 0 and y2 = GEP X, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 (from Reid's example)
    nicholasthen doesn't *y1 and *y2 both refer to the same "int"?
    Reidthey shouldn't
    Reidhmm .. actually, maybe you're right :)
    Reidthey definitely have different *types*
    Yoriontrue
    nicholasdifferent types just doesn't cut it. :)
    Reid.. thinking on this :)
    nicholassimilarly, i could create a yucky with a struct that has a char *, then have you GEP right through the pointer into the pointed-to data. That could mean that the resulting point might alias anything.
    Yorionmy theory (after reading BAA) is that all zeros can be omitted, and that the pointers alias if they have the same sequence of indices
    Yorionhowever, this screws the typing, so that's why zeros are for
    Yorionnicholas, does that match your hunch?
    nicholasI have to admit, I've had much grief with GEPIs already. I wish the semantics were plainly documented as part of their own language, instead of just relying on C aliasing rules and C semantics...
    nicholasYorion: leading zeroes can't be omitted.
    Reidokay, if you have two GEPs and their leading indices are an exact match, if the one with more indices only has trailing 0s then they should alias
    nicholasmust alias, i think.
    Reidyes, must alias, sorry
    Yorionokay
    YorionI'm glad we cleared this up
    Reidso, if y1 = GEP X, 1,2,0 and if y2 = GEP X, 1,2,0,0,0 then y1 "must alias" y2 :)
    Reidbut that doesn't work for leading 0s :)
    Yorionyes, true... I was wrong
    ReidI too have been having fun with GEP recently :)
    Yorionbut, there're cases like [a = GEP x,1,0; b = GEP a,1,0; c = GEP b,1,0], and that should be equivalent to GEP x,1,0,1,0,1
    Reidnot quite
    nicholasI'm sure another rule can be written for GEPIs, but they would only apply to type-safe code.
    nicholasanother *tautology
    YorionReid: why not, only the type should be different...
    Reidits should be equivalent to GEP x,1,0,1,0,1,0
    Yorionand that must alias GEP x,1,0,1,0,1
    Reidhmm, by the previous rule, I guess you're right :)
    YorionI'm a bit scared that even you're a bit confused about GEP
    ReidI'm glad I'm not the only one that gets a little confused wrapping my head around this stuff :)
    ReidGEP has always confused me .. partly because I think its wrong :)
    Reidwell, actually, not so much that GEP is wrong, but that gvars being pointers without storage
    Reidi.e. when you say "%x = global int" in LLVM, the type of X is int*
    Reidyet, there is no storage for that pointer
    Reidits magically deduced
    nicholaswell, it makes no sense to have globals be SSA...
    Reidheh
    Reidyeah, well .. practicalities :)
    Yoriontrue
    Yorionsabre gave me a reference on how globals are handled in SSA
    Reidanyway, gotta run
    Yorionthe paper was crappy, but I do understand now why is it implemented that way in LLVM
    Yorionthx for the interesting discussion Reid
    Reidheh .. its one that Chris and I keep having .. he just tells me that C has rotted my brain :)
    nicholaslol
    Yorionhehehe
    Reidhe might be right :)
    Yorionsabre: have you seen the discussion on GEP?
    sabreno
    sabreI'll read the backlog, j/s
    sabreok, there's a lot
    sabrewhat's the executive summary?
    sabredo you have a q?
    Yorionis it possible that GEP x,0,0,1 and GEP x,1 alias?
    sabreno
    Yorionand b) GEP x,1,0,0 and GEP x,1 should alias, right?
    sabreI assume you mean for size = 1 ?
    sabreb) yes
    Yorionalthough they have different types
    sabreright
    Yorionokay
    YorionI'm still not 100% convinced that: a=GEP x,1,0; b=GEP a,1,0; c=GEP b,1,0 cannot alias Z=GEP x,1,1,1
    Yorion(that c and z cannot alias)
    sabrethat's becuse they do alias
    sabremustalias in fact
    Yorionbut then: GEP x,1,0,1,0,1,0 = GEP x,1,1,1
    sabreYorion: no
    sabrec != GEP x,1,0,1,0,1,0
    sabrethe first index doesn't work like that
    Yorionhow does then the first index work? c and z must alias, but GEP x,1,0,1,0 != GEP x,1,1 ??
    sabre*sigh*
    Reid:)
    Reidwe need an FAQ on this
    sabreYorion: how did you get
    sabre"GEP x,1,0,1,0"?
    Yorionlook
    sabreyou can't just concatenate subscripts
    Yorionwhy?
    sabrebecause... it doesn't work that way?
    sabreconsider C
    Yorionhow does it work?
    sabreif I have blah* P
    sabreP[0][1][2][3][4]
    sabrethis is *not* the same as:
    sabret = &P[0][1][2] ... t[3][4]
    sabreYorion: Consider: struct *P
    sabreP->X == P[0].X
    sabreYou're losing the 0.
    sabreP->X->Y == P[0].X[0].Y
    sabreNot P.X.Y
    sabreactually that's a bad analogy
    sabrebecause C dereferences in this case
    sabreTry: (&(P->X))->Y
    Yorionso, a=GEP x,1,0; b=GEP a,1,0; c=GEP b,1,0, can you construct the definition of c in terms of x?
    sabreyes, but you're going out of bounds :)
    sabreconsider this:
    sabre{ float, { double , { int } } } *P
    sabreint *X = gep P, 0, 1, 1, 0
    sabredo you understand the leading zero?
    sabrealternatively:
    sabret = gep P, 0, 1
    sabret2 = gep t, 0, 1
    sabreX = gep t, 0, 0
    Yorionwhat's t2 for?
    sabreoh
    sabresorry :)
    sabreX = gep t2, 0, 0
    Yoriongive me a minute please
    sabreok
    Yorionsabre: shouldn't the type be: { float, { double, { int }* } }* P ?
    sabrenope
    sabrewhy the extra * ?
    sabreif it helps, the type of t is { double, {int}}* and t2 is {int}* and X is int*
    Yorionwait... 0 represents dereference, natural number i - represents &A[i] ?
    sabregep does no dereferences, ever
    sabregep P, 0, 1 is equivalent to &P[0].X
    sabreaka &P->X
    sabregep P, 1 == &P[1] aka P+1
    sabreso gep P, 0, 1 can't alias gep P, 1 just like - &P->Y can't alias P+1
    sabreassuming P is a pointer to struct {X, Y }
    Yorionsabre: is it possible to come up with a general rule for "arithmetic of GEP indices"?
    sabreYorion: of course, it's very simple
    sabrejust not what you're expecting :)
    sabreSee langref.html
    Yorionfor example, a=GEP x,0,0,1 b=GEP a,0,0,1, c=GEP b,0,0,1, that should be equal to GEP x,0,1,1,0, right?
    YorionI did
    Yorionoops, equal to GEP x,0,1,1,1,0
    sabrethat would be:
    sabreGEP X, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1
    Yorionyou're killing me
    sabreThe basic rule when turning: A = GEP B, C D = GEP A, 0, E
    sabreis that you drop the 0, turning it into
    sabreGEP B, C, E
    Yorionokay, that's good. any other rules?
    nicholaswhat if it isn't a 0?
    sabremore generally: A = GEP Ptr, B, C, ... D = GEP A, 0, E, F, ...
    sabreD = GEP Ptr, B, C, ... E, F, ...
    sabreif it's not zero, you generally cannot concatenate them
    sabreunless the first gep has one subscript
    sabrein which case you drop the zero
    sabreif you look in InstCombiner::visitGetElementPtrInst, it should have this logic
    Yorionwhat if there is no zero? how can I compute the offset from the base pointer in that case?
    Yorionlike A=GEP B,C and D=GEP A,E,F
    sabreyou don't have to combine them to compute an offset
    sabreare you *just* trying to get a byte offset from the pointer?
    YorionI'm trying to get offset of D from B
    sabrewhy didn't you say so? :)
    sabrewith all constant subscripts, it's trivial
    sabrelook at SelectionDAGLowering::visitGetElementPtr
    sabrein CodeGen/SelectionDAG/SelectionDAGISel.cpp
    sabrebasically the rule is that you multiply the index by the size of the thing indexed
    sabrethere is also a Support/GetElementPtrIterator or something
    sabrethat makes it trivial to see what type is indexed by which subscript
    sabrefor each subscript it gives you a type
    sabreFor an array subscript you multiply the index by the indexed type
    sabrefor a struct subscript, you add the field offset
    sabres/array/sequentialtype/ if you're in a pedantic mood
    Yorionlet's focus on structs: in that case, the above given example would be: D = GEP B,C,E,F?
    sabreno
    sabreyou drop the E if it's zero
    sabreif it's not you can't concat
    sabreare you trying to trick me into saying "yes, just append the indices"? :)
    Yorionokay, let's assume E is not zero, how do I compute offset from B for D for a struct?
    sabreWhy are you framing this in terms of concatenation?
    Yorionno, I'm trying to understand it
    sabrecomputing an offset and concatenating are entirely different
    sabreLets consider a specific example
    Yorionbecause I want to express certain properties in the terms of base pointers either globals or parameters
    YorionI want to eliminate locals from my analysis
    sabreyou realize that parmeters can point into the middle of structs?
    Yorionyes
    sabreyou realize invalid access paths can be constructed with geps/
    sabre?
    Yorionwhat do you mean by invalid access paths?
    Yorionlike offseting out of the struct which is passed to the function?
    sabreThe case where the subscript isn't zero is invalid code
    sabrefrom a type-safety perspective
    DannyBhe means untypesafe things that seem valid :)
    DannyBIE they point somewhere in the struct, but not to any particular field
    DannyB(or whatever)
    sabreright
    Yorionokay
    sabreor they might point in some other struct :)
    sabreIt's the equivalent to saying:
    sabrestruct Foo { int A, int B; }
    sabreFoo* P =
    sabreT = &P->B;
    sabreS = T+1
    sabrethat is:
    sabreT = gep 0, 1
    sabreS = gep T, 1
    sabreyou can't concat those and get a type-safe access path
    sabreremember T = &P->B === T = &P[0].B
    sabreunderstand?
    Yorionlet me think for a minute
    sabreConsider what the C case does, it will be most clear if you're used to C
    sabre:)
    sabreConsider the byte offset and why it doesn't point into P-> anything
    sabreit points into P[1] not P[0]
    Yorionit's perfectly fine if GEP offsets out of the type. I'd still need to express GEP in the terms of base pointers. Take the example above: T=GEP P,0,1; S=GEP T,1
    Yoriontype safety is not crucial in my case
    sabreThat specific example is GEP P, 1, 0
    sabrehowever, you can form geps that are NOT equivalent to anything else
    sabrefor example, consider:
    sabrestruct X { int, char}
    Yorionthat is fine. they're equivalent to something in the calling context
    sabrethe same sequence points into padding
    sabreand there is no gep that can do that
    Yorionthe bottom line is: if the program is valid, interprocedural analysis will match that offset with something in one of the functions on the call stack
    Yorionand that's all I care about
    Yorioncan you give me a formula for structs for computing - offsets that takes into account the case GEP T,&lt:non_zeros> and the size of the structs/fields?
    sabreyes, I did above
    sabreTwo things:
    sabreGEP Ptr, A, X, Y, Z
    sabreThe result is Ptr + A * sizeof(struct) + fieldoffs(X) + fieldoffs(Y) + fieldoffs(Z)
    sabresimple enough?
    sabreyou see why "A" is special?
    Yoriongive me a min, I'm constructing an example
    Reidsabre: I think I finally understand
    Reidyour comment that GEP *never* dereferences makes a lot of sense
    Reidit is only doing address calculation, so the first one is taking the address of the var
    sabreIf C didn't conflate lvalues and rvalues, GEP would be much easier to understand for people
    Reidyeah
    Yorionso, for example: M=GEP A,B,C; N=GEP M,D,E; N = [ A + B*sizeof(struct) + fieldoffs(C) ]:(of type T) + D*sizeof(T) + fieldoffs(E)
    ReidI just remember learning a hard lesson about the difference between char* A and char A[] .. long time ago when I was learning C
    sabreof type T*
    sabreotherwise fine
    Yorionokay, I think I finally understand it
    sabrewithout the T* your D sizeof will be wrong
    Yoriona suggestion: the formula you gave above explains it all
    YorionI'd suggest explaining it that way in documentation
    sabreThat's not right though
    sabreit doesn't include arrays or packed types
    sabreso it is, at best, a half truth
    Yoriontell me, how to compute the fieldoffs for an index?
    sabrearrays can be in structs :)
    Yorionin bytes
    sabreidx * sizeof(arrayelt)
    sabrejust like for pointers (the first index)
    sabreThere are two cases: structs and sequentials
    sabrefor sequentials you use idx*sizeof(sequenced type)
    sabrefor structs you add their offset
    sabreit's really very simple :)
    sabrethe first index of a gep is always over the pointer
    Yorionno I meant in LLVM, how do I convert the field offset into bytes?
    sabrewhich is why it's strange
    sabreif you only think about structs
    sabreTargetData::getFieldOffset
    sabreor something
    sabrelook in SelectionDAGISel.cpp (visitGEP) as I suggested.
    Yoriondo you still have the energy to go over sequential types? :-)
    Yorionwhat is the offset formula for sequential types?
    Reidwe just went over that: idx * sizeof(elementType)
    Yorionso, if there's an array hidden somewhere in the struct, essentially I need to compute idx*sizeof() instead of fieldoffs() and that's it?
    sabreyes
    Reidyes
    Yorionexcellent.
    sabreThere are two cases: structs and sequentials
    sabre[9:17pm] sabre: for sequentials you use idx*sizeof(sequenced type)
    sabre[9:17pm] sabre: for structs you add their offset
    sabre[9:17pm] sabre: it's really very simple :)
    Yorionnow when I understand it, it is simple...
    Yorionthx
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