[PATCH] D22051: MergeSimilarFunctions: a code size pass to merge functions with small differences

[Tobias Edler von Koch via llvm-commits]

tobiasvk added a comment.

In http://reviews.llvm.org/D22051#476003, @jfb wrote:

> Could you detail how this is different from MergeFunc, and what it would take to add the new capabilities to MergeFunc instead of duplicating?


The main difference is that the in-tree MergeFunctions can only merge identical functions (modulo pointer types) whereas MergeSimilarFunctions is also capable of merging sets of functions that are merely similar, i.e. have some differences in their instructions. This expands the scope of the optimization significantly.

As to whether this could be integrated into the in-tree MergeFunctions... Well, this started off as a patch to MergeFunctions back in 2013. However, the in-tree MergeFunctions has undergone significant architectural changes since then; it now uses a total ordering of functions to speed up merging. This is great if you only want to merge identical functions, but it doesn't work for merging of similar functions.

So it really depends on what your optimization goal is. If you want to eliminate duplicates quickly, the in-tree MergeFunctions is great. In our experience, however, the main benefit comes from being able to deal with those small differences here and there that arise e.g. from template instantiations or 'copy-paste-and-hack'.


http://reviews.llvm.org/D22051