[cfe-dev] RFC: How should Clang/LLVM runtime libraries be installed and found during link steps?

[Ruben Van Boxem]

2011/11/23 Chandler Carruth <chandlerc at google.com>

> It has come up when reviewing Kostya's patch to add the necessary support
> fort linking in the Address Sanitizer runtime library that we need a proper
> scheme and plan for deploying runtime libraries along with Clang.
>
> I've CC'ed llvmdev on this for compiler-rt developers' input.
>
> The key issues I see when locating runtime libraries are the following:
>
> - These libraries should be shipped with Clang, not installed separately
> on the system.
> - They are likely to be somewhat tied to specific versions of Clang/LLVM.
> - To support cross-compiling, we should be able to install multiple copies
> of these libraries in a single Clang installation, and use the appropriate
> one when targeting a particular platform.
> - The above cross-compiling concern extends to ABI compatibility -- many
> of the ABIs are already fixed in this space.
> - These are different from builtin header files which can use the
> preprocessor to internally differentiate their contents based on the target
> platform.
>
> My proposed solution:
>
> - Base the path on the shared "resource directory" concept which already
> exists in Clang.
>   - Builtin header files are at <ResourceDir>/include already.
> - Append a "base" triple directory name.
> - Append a "lib" directory name for runtime libraries
> - Place the runtime libraries as "libcompiler_rt_<sublib>.a" for each
> sub-library component "<sublib>".
>
> Example for "x/bin/clang" installation:
>   x/bin/../lib/clang/3.1/x86_64-linux-gnu/lib/libcompiler_rt_asan.a
>
> What is a "base" triple? It is the simplest form we can reduce a triple to
> while guaranteeing compatibility. The concept is best explained by an
> example. All of the following triples reduce to the base triple of
> "x86_64-linux-gnu":
>   x86_64-linux-gnu
>   x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
>   x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
>   x86_64-redhat-linux
>   x86_64-redhat-linux6E
>   ...
>
> A different ABI could be expressed much like ARM's is with the last
> element: "*-gnueabi". This would *not* reduce to the triple ending in
> '-gnu'. Due to the adhoc and poorly spec'ed nature of existing triples,
> this will largely be a fixed mapping much like already exists in the Clang
> driver, but consolidated into LLVM's core triple logic.
>

This does kind of push the GNU triple language on LLVM/Clang internally,
although the jury was still out on the true specification for
cross-compiling platform names. Although internal, it really will keep
spreading like a "disease" to more exposed parts of Clang.


>
> Open Questions:
>
> How do we handle 'i686' vs 'i386'? Is it useful to have separate installed
> libraries for i386 and i686 in order to get better performance for the
> latter *and* maintain compatibility for the former? We could collapse to
> either i386 or i686, and define either to mean whatever we want (for
> example, Debian uses i386-linux-gnu for its "base" triple in multiarch, and
> does *not* support i386 processors).
>

This difference is so 1990's; Debian is stubborn and they even use
completely different triple names by default, just to be different. It's
not an example to follow by far...

>
> This scheme closely mirrors GCC's existing scheme with one exception: GCC
> puts the triple first, and the version number second. I don't think this
> matters greatly either way, but currently Clang puts its version number
> first. I think this reflects the inherent design of Clang to be
> cross-compiling by default, but it would be good to consider (even if we
> reject) matching GCC's behavior here.
>

I don't see what influence this has on anything but internal design:
LLVM/Clang should really decide for itself. Version/Target sounds like the
"right" choice for the reason you say.


> Should runtime libraries be installed as archives? .o files? .so files?
> (gasp) bitcode? Some mixture of these? What mixture, and how do we decide?
> I lean  toward .o files as bitcode where the linker supports it, normal .o
> files where it supports those, and .a files only as a fallback. Not very
> confident of these preferences though.
>

libraries -> .a/so files... They're target specific anyways, why even
consider bitcode?

Ruben


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