[llvm-commits] Chat with Shih-wei Liao

[Rafael Espindola]

On 21 September 2010 09:44, Rafael Espindola <espindola at google.com> wrote:
> On 21 September 2010 09:06, Shih-wei Liao <sliao at google.com> wrote:
>>
>> These messages were sent while you were offline.
>> 09:06 Shih-wei: What do you think of submitting a proposal to LLVM devmtg on
>> portable bitcode?
>>   Today is LLVM devmtg's deadline
>
> The NaCl guys are likely to give a talk. I don't know exactly about
> what. I assume we can get the interested parties to chat about it
> during a break of after the meeting proper.

OK, I am not currently working on this (doing MC work instead), but I
did put some time on this problem in the past and I think we could use
the meeting (or at least my trip to the area) to discuss it a bit and
hopefully avoid surprises along the way for anyone trying this. In
particular, I think it could be useful to discuss

* Why with a single .bc file you cannot satisfy all the currently
existing ABIs (x86, x86-64, ARM, etc)
* What should be done about the ABI?
  * Should new binary ABIs be defined or should linking of binary
files not be supported?
  * A ABI subset just sufficient for the system libraries maybe?
  * Should an ABI be defined for LLVM IL or should linking of LLVM
bitcodes be done on the dev workstation?
  * Even if an ABI is not defined at the LLVM level, what restrictions
there would be to changing the IL definition
    of some functions?
  * The effect of future LLVM IL changes.

Cheers,
-- 
Rafael Ávila de Espíndola