[cfe-dev] A howto or template for adding a transformation pass

[Ted Kremenek]

On Aug 8, 2008, at 6:38 AM, Hiren Patel wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I'd like to find the best method of adding a transformation pass  
> that uses the AST and the CFG. Is there a template or a how-to on  
> this?
>
> My goal in summary is to:
>
> 1. Determine declarations of certain new statements (beginD and  
> endD) in the C source (without changing the front-end; they are  
> simple macros).

I admit that I'm a little confused.  I'm not quite certain what you  
mean by "determine declarations of certain new statements."  Are you  
talking about determining where in a function/method body you would  
want to insert code, or are you scanning for particular statements to  
replace?

>
> 2. Replace the statements with certain macros with additional labels.

Which statements are you replacing?  Inserting macros should be fairly  
straightforward by using the rewriter (this is a textual translation  
by editing the source code, not editing the ASTs).
>
> 4. Output the changed C file.

If you are using the rewriter to do your edits, this is very  
straightforward.  I would like at how the Objective-C -> C translator  
(RewriteObjC) uses the Rewriter to make edits to the source file and  
then blast the new source to disk.

>
>
> I've successfully tried the following:
>
> - Added an Analysis consumer, but I noticed that this Analysis  
> consumer method is invoked twice; once for each function in the C  
> source. I'd like to have access to the full Analysis and then walk  
> it using walker methods.
> - Added an ASTConsumer, but again, this is invoked twice. Once per  
> function.
>

I'm not certain what you mean by the "invoked twice" part.   
ASTConsumer implements an action/visitor interface where it receives  
callbacks for each top level declaration (HandleTopLevelDecl) as well  
as a single call back once the entire translation unit has been parsed  
(HandleTranslationUnit).

I don't have enough context for what you are trying to accomplish, so  
it's difficult for me to advise you on the best course of action.  For  
example, I'm not certain what you need the CFGs for, so it's hard for  
me to say whether you should just implement another callback function  
for AnalysisConsumer (to implement a new analysis) or implement a new  
ASTConsumer.  The Objective-C rewriter, for example, is implemented as  
an ASTConsumer, where the major rewriting work is done in  
HandleTranslationUnit.

My gut feeling is that you want to use the Objective-C rewriter as  
your model, and that you want to rewrite pieces of the C source file  
by removing some statements and inserting others.  You're probably  
just going to want to write a fresh ASTConsumer that contains a  
Rewriter object.  You can either scan for functions/methods to edit  
using HandleTopLevelDecl, or you can wait until HandleTranslationUnit  
is called to scan all the declarations at once.  In  
HandleTranlsationUnit you would also call the appropriate methods on  
the Rewriter to emit your changed source code to disk.  If you need  
CFGs, it's very easy to create a CFG using a single method:  
CFG::BuildCFG (just pass as an argument the Stmt* that represents the  
body of the function or method you want to analyze).

Best,
Ted