- Introduction
- LLVM BackEnds
- Clang BackEnds
- ClangAttrClasses
- ClangAttrParserStringSwitches
- ClangAttrImpl
- ClangAttrList
- ClangAttrPCHRead
- ClangAttrPCHWrite
- ClangAttrSpellings
- ClangAttrSpellingListIndex
- ClangAttrVisitor
- ClangAttrTemplateInstantiate
- ClangAttrParsedAttrList
- ClangAttrParsedAttrImpl
- ClangAttrParsedAttrKinds
- ClangAttrDump
- ClangDiagsDefs
- ClangDiagGroups
- ClangDiagsIndexName
- ClangCommentNodes
- ClangDeclNodes
- ClangStmtNodes
- ClangSACheckers
- ClangCommentHTMLTags
- ClangCommentHTMLTagsProperties
- ClangCommentHTMLNamedCharacterReferences
- ClangCommentCommandInfo
- ClangCommentCommandList
- ArmNeon
- ArmNeonSema
- ArmNeonTest
- AttrDocs
- How to write a back-end
TableGen backends are at the core of TableGen's functionality. The source files provide the semantics to a generated (in memory) structure, but it's up to the backend to print this out in a way that is meaningful to the user (normally a C program including a file or a textual list of warnings, options and error messages).
TableGen is used by both LLVM and Clang with very different goals. LLVM uses it as a way to automate the generation of massive amounts of information regarding instructions, schedules, cores and architecture features. Some backends generate output that is consumed by more than one source file, so they need to be created in a way that is easy to use pre-processor tricks. Some backends can also print C code structures, so that they can be directly included as-is.
Clang, on the other hand, uses it mainly for diagnostic messages (errors, warnings, tips) and attributes, so more on the textual end of the scale.
Warning
This document is raw. Each section below needs three sub-sections: description of its purpose with a list of users, output generated from generic input, and finally why it needed a new backend (in case there's something similar).
Overall, each backend will take the same TableGen file type and transform into similar output for different targets/uses. There is an implicit contract between the TableGen files, the back-ends and their users.
For instance, a global contract is that each back-end produces macro-guarded sections. Based on whether the file is included by a header or a source file, or even in which context of each file the include is being used, you have todefine a macro just before including it, to get the right output:
#define GET_REGINFO_TARGET_DESC
#include "ARMGenRegisterInfo.inc"And just part of the generated file would be included. This is useful if you need the same information in multiple formats (instantiation, initialization, getter/setter functions, etc) from the same source TableGen file without having to re-compile the TableGen file multiple times.
Sometimes, multiple macros might be defined before the same include file to output multiple blocks:
#define GET_REGISTER_MATCHER
#define GET_SUBTARGET_FEATURE_NAME
#define GET_MATCHER_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "ARMGenAsmMatcher.inc"The macros will be undef'd automatically as they're used, in the include file.
On all LLVM back-ends, the llvm-tblgen binary will be executed on the root
TableGen file <Target>.td, which should include all others. This guarantees
that all information needed is accessible, and that no duplication is needed
in the TbleGen files.
Purpose: CodeEmitterGen uses the descriptions of instructions and their fields to construct an automated code emitter: a function that, given a MachineInstr, returns the (currently, 32-bit unsigned) value of the instruction.
Output: C++ code, implementing the target's CodeEmitter
class by overriding the virtual functions as <Target>CodeEmitter::function().
Usage: Used to include directly at the end of <Target>CodeEmitter.cpp, and
with option -mc-emitter to be included in <Target>MCCodeEmitter.cpp.
Purpose: This tablegen backend is responsible for emitting a description of a target register file for a code generator. It uses instances of the Register, RegisterAliases, and RegisterClass classes to gather this information.
Output: C++ code with enums and structures representing the register mappings, properties, masks, etc.
Usage: Both on <Target>BaseRegisterInfo and <Target>MCTargetDesc (headers
and source files) with macros defining in which they are for declaration vs.
initialization issues.
Purpose: This tablegen backend is responsible for emitting a description of the target instruction set for the code generator. (what are the differences from CodeEmitter?)
Output: C++ code with enums and structures representing the register mappings, properties, masks, etc.
Usage: Both on <Target>BaseInstrInfo and <Target>MCTargetDesc (headers
and source files) with macros defining in which they are for declaration vs.
Purpose: Emits an assembly printer for the current target.
Output: Implementation of <Target>InstPrinter::printInstruction(), among
other things.
Usage: Included directly into InstPrinter/<Target>InstPrinter.cpp.
Purpose: Emits a target specifier matcher for
converting parsed assembly operands in the MCInst structures. It also
emits a matcher for custom operand parsing. Extensive documentation is
written on the AsmMatcherEmitter.cpp file.
Output: Assembler parsers' matcher functions, declarations, etc.
Usage: Used in back-ends' AsmParser/<Target>AsmParser.cpp for
building the AsmParser class.
Purpose: Contains disassembler table emitters for various
architectures. Extensive documentation is written on the
DisassemblerEmitter.cpp file.
Output: Decoding tables, static decoding functions, etc.
Usage: Directly included in Disassembler/<Target>Disassembler.cpp
to cater for all default decodings, after all hand-made ones.
Purpose: Generate pseudo instruction lowering.
Output: Implements ARMAsmPrinter::emitPseudoExpansionLowering().
Usage: Included directly into <Target>AsmPrinter.cpp.
Purpose: Responsible for emitting descriptions of the calling conventions supported by this target.
Output: Implement static functions to deal with calling conventions chained by matching styles, returning false on no match.
Usage: Used in ISelLowering and FastIsel as function pointers to implementation returned by a CC sellection function.
Purpose: Generate a DAG instruction selector.
Output: Creates huge functions for automating DAG selection.
Usage: Included in <Target>ISelDAGToDAG.cpp inside the target's
implementation of SelectionDAGISel.
Purpose: This class parses the Schedule.td file and produces an API that can be used to reason about whether an instruction can be added to a packet on a VLIW architecture. The class internally generates a deterministic finite automaton (DFA) that models all possible mappings of machine instructions to functional units as instructions are added to a packet.
Output: Scheduling tables for GPU back-ends (Hexagon, AMD).
Usage: Included directly on <Target>InstrInfo.cpp.
Purpose: This tablegen backend emits code for use by the "fast" instruction selection algorithm. See the comments at the top of lib/CodeGen/SelectionDAG/FastISel.cpp for background. This file scans through the target's tablegen instruction-info files and extracts instructions with obvious-looking patterns, and it emits code to look up these instructions by type and operator.
Output: Generates Predicate and FastEmit methods.
Usage: Implements private methods of the targets' implementation
of FastISel class.
Purpose: Generate subtarget enumerations.
Output: Enums, globals, local tables for sub-target information.
Usage: Populates <Target>Subtarget and
MCTargetDesc/<Target>MCTargetDesc files (both headers and source).
Purpose: Generate (target) intrinsic information.
Purpose: Print enum values for a class.
Purpose: This tablegen backend emits an index of definitions in ctags(1) format. A helper script, utils/TableGen/tdtags, provides an easier-to-use interface; run 'tdtags -H' for documentation.
Purpose: Creates Attrs.inc, which contains semantic attribute class
declarations for any attribute in Attr.td that has not set ASTNode = 0.
This file is included as part of Attr.h.
Purpose: Creates AttrParserStringSwitches.inc, which contains
StringSwitch::Case statements for parser-related string switches. Each switch
is given its own macro (such as CLANG_ATTR_ARG_CONTEXT_LIST, or
CLANG_ATTR_IDENTIFIER_ARG_LIST), which is expected to be defined before
including AttrParserStringSwitches.inc, and undefined after.
Purpose: Creates AttrImpl.inc, which contains semantic attribute class
definitions for any attribute in Attr.td that has not set ASTNode = 0.
This file is included as part of AttrImpl.cpp.
Purpose: Creates AttrList.inc, which is used when a list of semantic
attribute identifiers is required. For instance, AttrKinds.h includes this
file to generate the list of attr::Kind enumeration values. This list is
separated out into multiple categories: attributes, inheritable attributes, and
inheritable parameter attributes. This categorization happens automatically
based on information in Attr.td and is used to implement the classof
functionality required for dyn_cast and similar APIs.
Purpose: Creates AttrPCHRead.inc, which is used to deserialize attributes
in the ASTReader::ReadAttributes function.
Purpose: Creates AttrPCHWrite.inc, which is used to serialize attributes in
the ASTWriter::WriteAttributes function.
Purpose: Creates AttrSpellings.inc, which is used to implement the
__has_attribute feature test macro.
Purpose: Creates AttrSpellingListIndex.inc, which is used to map parsed
attribute spellings (including which syntax or scope was used) to an attribute
spelling list index. These spelling list index values are internal
implementation details exposed via
AttributeList::getAttributeSpellingListIndex.
Purpose: Creates AttrVisitor.inc, which is used when implementing recursive AST visitors.
Purpose: Creates AttrTemplateInstantiate.inc, which implements the
instantiateTemplateAttribute function, used when instantiating a template
that requires an attribute to be cloned.
Purpose: Creates AttrParsedAttrList.inc, which is used to generate the
AttributeList::Kind parsed attribute enumeration.
Purpose: Creates AttrParsedAttrImpl.inc, which is used by
AttributeList.cpp to implement several functions on the AttributeList
class. This functionality is implemented via the AttrInfoMap ParsedAttrInfo
array, which contains one element per parsed attribute object.
Purpose: Creates AttrParsedAttrKinds.inc, which is used to implement the
AttributeList::getKind function, mapping a string (and syntax) to a parsed
attribute AttributeList::Kind enumeration.
Purpose: Creates AttrDump.inc, which dumps information about an attribute.
It is used to implement ASTDumper::dumpAttr.
Generate Clang diagnostics definitions.
Generate Clang diagnostic groups.
Generate Clang diagnostic name index.
Generate Clang AST comment nodes.
Generate Clang AST declaration nodes.
Generate Clang AST statement nodes.
Generate Clang Static Analyzer checkers.
Generate efficient matchers for HTML tag names that are used in documentation comments.
Generate efficient matchers for HTML tag properties.
Generate function to translate named character references to UTF-8 sequences.
Generate command properties for commands that are used in documentation comments.
Generate list of commands that are used in documentation comments.
Generate arm_neon.h for clang.
Generate ARM NEON sema support for clang.
Generate ARM NEON tests for clang.
Purpose: Creates AttributeReference.rst from AttrDocs.td, and is
used for documenting user-facing attributes.
TODO.
Until we get a step-by-step HowTo for writing TableGen backends, you can at least grab the boilerplate (build system, new files, etc.) from Clang's r173931.
TODO: How they work, how to write one. This section should not contain details
about any particular backend, except maybe -print-enums as an example. This
should highlight the APIs in TableGen/Record.h.