[PATCH] D55290: [docs] Update llvm.loop metadata documentation.

[Michael Kruse via Phabricator via llvm-commits]

Meinersbur created this revision.
Meinersbur added a reviewer: hfinkel.
Herald added a subscriber: dmgreen.

Loop metadata nodes do not adhere to the documented property:

(a) LoopIDs are not unique: Any pass that duplicates IR will do it including its metadata (e.g. LoopVersioning) such that multiple loops are linked with the same LoopID. There is even a test case (Transforms/LoopUnroll/unroll-pragmas-disabled.ll) for multiple loops with the same LoopID.

(b) LoopIDs are not persistent: Adding or removing an item from a LoopID can only be done by creating a new MDNode and assigning it to the loop's branch(es). Passes such as LoopUnroll (llvm.loop.unroll.disable) and LoopVectorize (llvm.loop.isvectorized) use this to mark loops to be not transformed multiple times or to avoid that a LoopVersioned original loop is transformed.

Update the documentation according to how llvm.loop is used in practice.


Repository:
  rL LLVM

https://reviews.llvm.org/D55290

Files:
  docs/LangRef.rst


Index: docs/LangRef.rst
===================================================================
--- docs/LangRef.rst
+++ docs/LangRef.rst
@@ -5081,33 +5081,28 @@
 
 It is sometimes useful to attach information to loop constructs. Currently,
 loop metadata is implemented as metadata attached to the branch instruction
-in the loop latch block. This type of metadata refer to a metadata node that is
-guaranteed to be separate for each loop. The loop identifier metadata is
-specified with the name ``llvm.loop``.
-
-The loop identifier metadata is implemented using a metadata that refers to
-itself to avoid merging it with any other identifier metadata, e.g.,
-during module linkage or function inlining. That is, each loop should refer
-to their own identification metadata even if they reside in separate functions.
-The following example contains loop identifier metadata for two separate loop
-constructs:
-
-.. code-block:: llvm
-
-    !0 = !{!0}
-    !1 = !{!1}
-
-The loop identifier metadata can be used to specify additional
-per-loop metadata. Any operands after the first operand can be treated
-as user-defined metadata. For example the ``llvm.loop.unroll.count``
-suggests an unroll factor to the loop unroller:
+in the loop latch block. The loop metadata node is an unordered list of
+other metadata nodes, each representing a property of the loop. Usually,
+the first item of the property node is a string. For example the
+``llvm.loop.unroll.count`` suggests an unroll factor to the loop
+unroller:
 
 .. code-block:: llvm
 
       br i1 %exitcond, label %._crit_edge, label %.lr.ph, !llvm.loop !0
     ...
-    !0 = !{!0, !1}
-    !1 = !{!"llvm.loop.unroll.count", i32 4}
+    !0 = distinct !{!0, !1, !2}
+    !1 = !{!"llvm.loop.unroll.enable"}
+    !2 = !{!"llvm.loop.unroll.count", i32 4}
+
+For legacy reasons, the first item of a loop metadata node must be a
+reference to itself. It was used to avoid collapsing of multiple loop
+metadata nodes into one. The use of 'distinct' metadata nodes is also
+obsolete.
+
+Loop metadata nodes cannot be used as identifiers. It is
+neither persistent for the same loop through pass transformations nor
+unique to just one loop.
 
 '``llvm.loop.vectorize``' and '``llvm.loop.interleave``'
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


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