[cfe-dev] different IR from Clang

["C. Bergström"]

On 09/20/12 07:41 AM, Sean Silva wrote:
> It is going to be a LOT easier to convert from LLVM IR to Open64's IR.
Total BS
---------------------------
"Open64's IR" is primarily WHIRL so that we're talking about the same 
thing.  VH WHIRL contains a crapload more source information than the 
thing people primarily call "LLVM IR".  (LLVM has 2 levels of IR 
depending how you look at things - Yes even LLVM IR "lowers" down to a 
point where it's target specific).  To complicate this more - during 
phases of the compiler it goes in/out of other IR as well.  eg SSAPRE 
and towards the end of the compilation process from VL WHIRL to CGIR.

To put this in a perspective which most "Open64" people can understand - 
It's like going from CGIR back up to VH WHIRL.
---------------------------
If your intention is "production" software you might want to consider 
some other factors for why this wouldn't be a good idea
     * Less SLOC is almost always easier to maintain (Introducing 
partial or whole LLVM in the middle would be *huge*)
     * Compilation times of user code
     * Loss of source information and how that may translate to less 
effective optimizations
---------------------------
I've looked at this in depth and hooking into clang *before* LLVM IR is 
the way to go.  From experience you could probably "hack" together 
something quick to get C code to work, but compiling serious codes or 
full C++ is many many "man years" of work.