1===============
2LLVM Extensions
3===============
4
5.. contents::
6   :local:
7
8.. toctree::
9   :hidden:
10
11Introduction
12============
13
14This document describes extensions to tools and formats LLVM seeks compatibility
15with.
16
17General Assembly Syntax
18===========================
19
20C99-style Hexadecimal Floating-point Constants
21----------------------------------------------
22
23LLVM's assemblers allow floating-point constants to be written in C99's
24hexadecimal format instead of decimal if desired.
25
26.. code-block:: gas
27
28  .section .data
29  .float 0x1c2.2ap3
30
31Machine-specific Assembly Syntax
32================================
33
34X86/COFF-Dependent
35------------------
36
37Relocations
38^^^^^^^^^^^
39
40The following additional relocation types are supported:
41
42**@IMGREL** (AT&T syntax only) generates an image-relative relocation that
43corresponds to the COFF relocation types ``IMAGE_REL_I386_DIR32NB`` (32-bit) or
44``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_ADDR32NB`` (64-bit).
45
46.. code-block:: text
47
48  .text
49  fun:
50    mov foo@IMGREL(%ebx, %ecx, 4), %eax
51
52  .section .pdata
53    .long fun@IMGREL
54    .long (fun@imgrel + 0x3F)
55    .long $unwind$fun@imgrel
56
57**.secrel32** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
58types ``IMAGE_REL_I386_SECREL`` (32-bit) or ``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_SECREL`` (64-bit).
59
60**.secidx** relocation generates an index of the section that contains
61the target.  It corresponds to the COFF relocation types
62``IMAGE_REL_I386_SECTION`` (32-bit) or ``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_SECTION`` (64-bit).
63
64.. code-block:: none
65
66  .section .debug$S,"rn"
67    .long 4
68    .long 242
69    .long 40
70    .secrel32 _function_name + 0
71    .secidx   _function_name
72    ...
73
74``.linkonce`` Directive
75^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
76
77Syntax:
78
79   ``.linkonce [ comdat type ]``
80
81Supported COMDAT types:
82
83``discard``
84   Discards duplicate sections with the same COMDAT symbol. This is the default
85   if no type is specified.
86
87``one_only``
88   If the symbol is defined multiple times, the linker issues an error.
89
90``same_size``
91   Duplicates are discarded, but the linker issues an error if any have
92   different sizes.
93
94``same_contents``
95   Duplicates are discarded, but the linker issues an error if any duplicates
96   do not have exactly the same content.
97
98``largest``
99   Links the largest section from among the duplicates.
100
101``newest``
102   Links the newest section from among the duplicates.
103
104
105.. code-block:: gas
106
107  .section .text$foo
108  .linkonce
109    ...
110
111``.section`` Directive
112^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
113
114MC supports passing the information in ``.linkonce`` at the end of
115``.section``. For example,  these two codes are equivalent
116
117.. code-block:: gas
118
119  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol1"
120  .globl Symbol1
121  Symbol1:
122  .long 1
123
124.. code-block:: gas
125
126  .section secName, "dr"
127  .linkonce discard
128  .globl Symbol1
129  Symbol1:
130  .long 1
131
132Note that in the combined form the COMDAT symbol is explicit. This
133extension exists to support multiple sections with the same name in
134different COMDATs:
135
136
137.. code-block:: gas
138
139  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol1"
140  .globl Symbol1
141  Symbol1:
142  .long 1
143
144  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol2"
145  .globl Symbol2
146  Symbol2:
147  .long 1
148
149In addition to the types allowed with ``.linkonce``, ``.section`` also accepts
150``associative``. The meaning is that the section is linked  if a certain other
151COMDAT section is linked. This other section is indicated by the comdat symbol
152in this directive. It can be any symbol defined in the associated section, but
153is usually the associated section's comdat.
154
155   The following restrictions apply to the associated section:
156
157   1. It must be a COMDAT section.
158   2. It cannot be another associative COMDAT section.
159
160In the following example the symbol ``sym`` is the comdat symbol of ``.foo``
161and ``.bar`` is associated to ``.foo``.
162
163.. code-block:: gas
164
165	.section	.foo,"bw",discard, "sym"
166	.section	.bar,"rd",associative, "sym"
167
168MC supports these flags in the COFF ``.section`` directive:
169
170  - ``b``: BSS section (``IMAGE_SCN_CNT_INITIALIZED_DATA``)
171  - ``d``: Data section (``IMAGE_SCN_CNT_UNINITIALIZED_DATA``)
172  - ``n``: Section is not loaded (``IMAGE_SCN_LNK_REMOVE``)
173  - ``r``: Read-only
174  - ``s``: Shared section
175  - ``w``: Writable
176  - ``x``: Executable section
177  - ``y``: Not readable
178  - ``D``: Discardable (``IMAGE_SCN_MEM_DISCARDABLE``)
179
180These flags are all compatible with gas, with the exception of the ``D`` flag,
181which gnu as does not support. For gas compatibility, sections with a name
182starting with ".debug" are implicitly discardable.
183
184
185ARM64/COFF-Dependent
186--------------------
187
188Relocations
189^^^^^^^^^^^
190
191The following additional symbol variants are supported:
192
193**:secrel_lo12:** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
194types ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_LOW12A`` or ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_LOW12L``.
195
196**:secrel_hi12:** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
197type ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_HIGH12A``.
198
199.. code-block:: gas
200
201    add x0, x0, :secrel_hi12:symbol
202    ldr x0, [x0, :secrel_lo12:symbol]
203
204    add x1, x1, :secrel_hi12:symbol
205    add x1, x1, :secrel_lo12:symbol
206    ...
207
208
209ELF-Dependent
210-------------
211
212``.section`` Directive
213^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
214
215In order to support creating multiple sections with the same name and comdat,
216it is possible to add an unique number at the end of the ``.section`` directive.
217For example, the following code creates two sections named ``.text``.
218
219.. code-block:: gas
220
221	.section	.text,"ax",@progbits,unique,1
222        nop
223
224	.section	.text,"ax",@progbits,unique,2
225        nop
226
227
228The unique number is not present in the resulting object at all. It is just used
229in the assembler to differentiate the sections.
230
231The 'o' flag is mapped to SHF_LINK_ORDER. If it is present, a symbol
232must be given that identifies the section to be placed is the
233.sh_link.
234
235.. code-block:: gas
236
237        .section .foo,"a",@progbits
238        .Ltmp:
239        .section .bar,"ao",@progbits,.Ltmp
240
241which is equivalent to just
242
243.. code-block:: gas
244
245        .section .foo,"a",@progbits
246        .section .bar,"ao",@progbits,.foo
247
248``.linker-options`` Section (linker options)
249^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
250
251In order to support passing linker options from the frontend to the linker, a
252special section of type ``SHT_LLVM_LINKER_OPTIONS`` (usually named
253``.linker-options`` though the name is not significant as it is identified by
254the type).  The contents of this section is a simple pair-wise encoding of
255directives for consideration by the linker.  The strings are encoded as standard
256null-terminated UTF-8 strings.  They are emitted inline to avoid having the
257linker traverse the object file for retrieving the value.  The linker is
258permitted to not honour the option and instead provide a warning/error to the
259user that the requested option was not honoured.
260
261The section has type ``SHT_LLVM_LINKER_OPTIONS`` and has the ``SHF_EXCLUDE``
262flag to ensure that the section is treated as opaque by linkers which do not
263support the feature and will not be emitted into the final linked binary.
264
265This would be equivalent to the follow raw assembly:
266
267.. code-block:: gas
268
269  .section ".linker-options","e",@llvm_linker_options
270  .asciz "option 1"
271  .asciz "value 1"
272  .asciz "option 2"
273  .asciz "value 2"
274
275The following directives are specified:
276
277  - lib
278
279    The parameter identifies a library to be linked against.  The library will
280    be looked up in the default and any specified library search paths
281    (specified to this point).
282
283  - libpath
284
285    The parameter identifies an additional library search path to be considered
286    when looking up libraries after the inclusion of this option.
287
288``SHT_LLVM_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES`` Section (Dependent Libraries)
289^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
290
291This section contains strings specifying libraries to be added to the link by
292the linker.
293
294The section should be consumed by the linker and not written to the output.
295
296The strings are encoded as standard null-terminated UTF-8 strings.
297
298For example:
299
300.. code-block:: gas
301
302  .section ".deplibs","MS",@llvm_dependent_libraries,1
303  .asciz "library specifier 1"
304  .asciz "library specifier 2"
305
306The interpretation of the library specifiers is defined by the consuming linker.
307
308``SHT_LLVM_CALL_GRAPH_PROFILE`` Section (Call Graph Profile)
309^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
310
311This section is used to pass a call graph profile to the linker which can be
312used to optimize the placement of sections.  It contains a sequence of
313(from symbol, to symbol, weight) tuples.
314
315It shall have a type of ``SHT_LLVM_CALL_GRAPH_PROFILE`` (0x6fff4c02), shall
316have the ``SHF_EXCLUDE`` flag set, the ``sh_link`` member shall hold the section
317header index of the associated symbol table, and shall have a ``sh_entsize`` of
31816.  It should be named ``.llvm.call-graph-profile``.
319
320The contents of the section shall be a sequence of ``Elf_CGProfile`` entries.
321
322.. code-block:: c
323
324  typedef struct {
325    Elf_Word cgp_from;
326    Elf_Word cgp_to;
327    Elf_Xword cgp_weight;
328  } Elf_CGProfile;
329
330cgp_from
331  The symbol index of the source of the edge.
332
333cgp_to
334  The symbol index of the destination of the edge.
335
336cgp_weight
337  The weight of the edge.
338
339This is represented in assembly as:
340
341.. code-block:: gas
342
343  .cg_profile from, to, 42
344
345``.cg_profile`` directives are processed at the end of the file.  It is an error
346if either ``from`` or ``to`` are undefined temporary symbols.  If either symbol
347is a temporary symbol, then the section symbol is used instead.  If either
348symbol is undefined, then that symbol is defined as if ``.weak symbol`` has been
349written at the end of the file.  This forces the symbol to show up in the symbol
350table.
351
352``SHT_LLVM_ADDRSIG`` Section (address-significance table)
353^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
354
355This section is used to mark symbols as address-significant, i.e. the address
356of the symbol is used in a comparison or leaks outside the translation unit. It
357has the same meaning as the absence of the LLVM attributes ``unnamed_addr``
358and ``local_unnamed_addr``.
359
360Any sections referred to by symbols that are not marked as address-significant
361in any object file may be safely merged by a linker without breaking the
362address uniqueness guarantee provided by the C and C++ language standards.
363
364The contents of the section are a sequence of ULEB128-encoded integers
365referring to the symbol table indexes of the address-significant symbols.
366
367There are two associated assembly directives:
368
369.. code-block:: gas
370
371  .addrsig
372
373This instructs the assembler to emit an address-significance table. Without
374this directive, all symbols are considered address-significant.
375
376.. code-block:: gas
377
378  .addrsig_sym sym
379
380This marks ``sym`` as address-significant.
381
382``SHT_LLVM_SYMPART`` Section (symbol partition specification)
383^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
384
385This section is used to mark symbols with the `partition`_ that they
386belong to. An ``.llvm_sympart`` section consists of a null-terminated string
387specifying the name of the partition followed by a relocation referring to
388the symbol that belongs to the partition. It may be constructed as follows:
389
390.. code-block:: gas
391
392  .section ".llvm_sympart","",@llvm_sympart
393  .asciz "libpartition.so"
394  .word symbol_in_partition
395
396.. _partition: https://lld.llvm.org/Partitions.html
397
398``SHT_LLVM_BB_ADDR_MAP`` Section (basic block address map)
399^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
400This section stores the binary address of basic blocks along with other related
401metadata. This information can be used to map binary profiles (like perf
402profiles) directly to machine basic blocks.
403This section is emitted with ``-basic-block-sections=labels`` and will contain
404a BB address map table for every function.
405
406The ``SHT_LLVM_BB_ADDR_MAP`` type provides backward compatibility to allow
407reading older versions of the BB address map generated by older compilers. Each
408function entry starts with a version byte which specifies the encoding version
409to use. The following versioning schemes are currently supported.
410
411Version 1 (newest): basic block address offsets are computed relative to the end
412of previous blocks.
413
414Example:
415
416.. code-block:: gas
417
418  .section  ".llvm_bb_addr_map","",@llvm_bb_addr_map
419  .byte     1                             # version number
420  .byte     0                             # feature byte (reserved for future use)
421  .quad     .Lfunc_begin0                 # address of the function
422  .byte     2                             # number of basic blocks
423  # BB record for BB_0
424   .uleb128  .Lfunc_beign0-.Lfunc_begin0  # BB_0 offset relative to function entry (always zero)
425   .uleb128  .LBB_END0_0-.Lfunc_begin0    # BB_0 size
426   .byte     x                            # BB_0 metadata
427  # BB record for BB_1
428   .uleb128  .LBB0_1-.LBB_END0_0          # BB_1 offset relative to the end of last block (BB_0).
429   .uleb128  .LBB_END0_1-.LBB0_1          # BB_1 size
430   .byte     y                            # BB_1 metadata
431
432Version 0: basic block address offsets are computed relative to the function
433address. This uses the unversioned ``SHT_LLVM_BB_ADDR_MAP_V0`` section type and
434is semantically equivalent to using ``SHT_LLVM_BB_ADDR_MAP`` with a zero
435version field.
436
437Example:
438
439.. code-block:: gas
440
441  .section  ".llvm_bb_addr_map","",@llvm_bb_addr_map_v0
442  .quad     .Lfunc_begin0                 # address of the function
443  .byte     2                             # number of basic blocks
444  # BB record for BB_0
445   .uleb128  .Lfunc_beign0-.Lfunc_begin0  # BB_0 offset relative to the function entry (always zero)
446   .uleb128  .LBB_END0_0-.Lfunc_begin0    # BB_0 size
447   .byte     x                            # BB_0 metadata
448  # BB record for BB_1
449   .uleb128  .LBB0_1-.Lfunc_begin0        # BB_1 offset relative to the function entry
450   .uleb128  .LBB_END0_1-.LBB0_1          # BB_1 size
451   .byte     y                            # BB_1 metadata
452
453``SHT_LLVM_OFFLOADING`` Section (offloading data)
454^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
455This section stores the binary data used to perform offloading device linking
456and execution, creating a fat binary. This section is emitted during compilation
457of offloading languages such as OpenMP or CUDA. If the data is intended to be
458used by the device linker only, it should use the ``SHF_EXCLUDE`` flag so it is
459automatically stripped from the final executable or shared library.
460
461The binary data stored in this section conforms to a custom binary format used
462for storing offloading metadata. This format is effectively a string table
463containing metadata accompanied by a device image.
464
465CodeView-Dependent
466------------------
467
468``.cv_file`` Directive
469^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
470Syntax:
471  ``.cv_file`` *FileNumber FileName* [ *checksum* ] [ *checksumkind* ]
472
473``.cv_func_id`` Directive
474^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
475Introduces a function ID that can be used with ``.cv_loc``.
476
477Syntax:
478  ``.cv_func_id`` *FunctionId*
479
480``.cv_inline_site_id`` Directive
481^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
482Introduces a function ID that can be used with ``.cv_loc``. Includes
483``inlined at`` source location information for use in the line table of the
484caller, whether the caller is a real function or another inlined call site.
485
486Syntax:
487  ``.cv_inline_site_id`` *FunctionId* ``within`` *Function* ``inlined_at`` *FileNumber Line* [ *Column* ]
488
489``.cv_loc`` Directive
490^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
491The first number is a file number, must have been previously assigned with a
492``.file`` directive, the second number is the line number and optionally the
493third number is a column position (zero if not specified).  The remaining
494optional items are ``.loc`` sub-directives.
495
496Syntax:
497  ``.cv_loc`` *FunctionId FileNumber* [ *Line* ] [ *Column* ] [ *prologue_end* ] [ ``is_stmt`` *value* ]
498
499``.cv_linetable`` Directive
500^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
501Syntax:
502  ``.cv_linetable`` *FunctionId* ``,`` *FunctionStart* ``,`` *FunctionEnd*
503
504``.cv_inline_linetable`` Directive
505^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
506Syntax:
507  ``.cv_inline_linetable`` *PrimaryFunctionId* ``,`` *FileNumber Line FunctionStart FunctionEnd*
508
509``.cv_def_range`` Directive
510^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
511The *GapStart* and *GapEnd* options may be repeated as needed.
512
513Syntax:
514  ``.cv_def_range`` *RangeStart RangeEnd* [ *GapStart GapEnd* ] ``,`` *bytes*
515
516``.cv_stringtable`` Directive
517^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
518
519``.cv_filechecksums`` Directive
520^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
521
522``.cv_filechecksumoffset`` Directive
523^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
524Syntax:
525  ``.cv_filechecksumoffset`` *FileNumber*
526
527``.cv_fpo_data`` Directive
528^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
529Syntax:
530  ``.cv_fpo_data`` *procsym*
531
532Target Specific Behaviour
533=========================
534
535X86
536---
537
538Relocations
539^^^^^^^^^^^
540
541**@ABS8** can be applied to symbols which appear as immediate operands to
542instructions that have an 8-bit immediate form for that operand. It causes
543the assembler to use the 8-bit form and an 8-bit relocation (e.g. ``R_386_8``
544or ``R_X86_64_8``) for the symbol.
545
546For example:
547
548.. code-block:: gas
549
550  cmpq $foo@ABS8, %rdi
551
552This causes the assembler to select the form of the 64-bit ``cmpq`` instruction
553that takes an 8-bit immediate operand that is sign extended to 64 bits, as
554opposed to ``cmpq $foo, %rdi`` which takes a 32-bit immediate operand. This
555is also not the same as ``cmpb $foo, %dil``, which is an 8-bit comparison.
556
557
558**@GOTPCREL_NORELAX** can be used in place of ``@GOTPCREL`` to guarantee that
559the assembler emits an ``R_X86_64_GOTPCREL`` relocation instead of a relaxable
560``R_X86_64[_REX]_GOTPCRELX`` relocation.
561
562Windows on ARM
563--------------
564
565Stack Probe Emission
566^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
567
568The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2012) emits stack probes
569in the following fashion:
570
571.. code-block:: gas
572
573  movw r4, #constant
574  bl __chkstk
575  sub.w sp, sp, r4
576
577However, this has the limitation of 32 MiB (±16MiB).  In order to accommodate
578larger binaries, LLVM supports the use of ``-mcmodel=large`` to allow a 4GiB
579range via a slight deviation.  It will generate an indirect jump as follows:
580
581.. code-block:: gas
582
583  movw r4, #constant
584  movw r12, :lower16:__chkstk
585  movt r12, :upper16:__chkstk
586  blx r12
587  sub.w sp, sp, r4
588
589Variable Length Arrays
590^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
591
592The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2012) does not permit the
593emission of Variable Length Arrays (VLAs).
594
595The Windows ARM Itanium ABI extends the base ABI by adding support for emitting
596a dynamic stack allocation.  When emitting a variable stack allocation, a call
597to ``__chkstk`` is emitted unconditionally to ensure that guard pages are setup
598properly.  The emission of this stack probe emission is handled similar to the
599standard stack probe emission.
600
601The MSVC environment does not emit code for VLAs currently.
602
603Windows on ARM64
604----------------
605
606Stack Probe Emission
607^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
608
609The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2017) emits stack probes
610in the following fashion:
611
612.. code-block:: gas
613
614  mov x15, #constant
615  bl __chkstk
616  sub sp, sp, x15, lsl #4
617
618However, this has the limitation of 256 MiB (±128MiB).  In order to accommodate
619larger binaries, LLVM supports the use of ``-mcmodel=large`` to allow a 8GiB
620(±4GiB) range via a slight deviation.  It will generate an indirect jump as
621follows:
622
623.. code-block:: gas
624
625  mov x15, #constant
626  adrp x16, __chkstk
627  add x16, x16, :lo12:__chkstk
628  blr x16
629  sub sp, sp, x15, lsl #4
630
631