[LLVMdev] Call to address 0 gets removed

[Dale Johannesen]

On Jun 9, 2009, at 10:02 AMPDT, Paul Schlie wrote:

>> Dale Johannesen wrote:
>>> Marius Wachtler wrote:
>>> ...
>>> The call to address 0 gets removed.
>>>
>>> define i32 @t(i32 %a) noreturn nounwind readnone {
>>> entry:
>>>    unreachable
>>> }
>>>
>>> How can I prevent that the call is removed, without making the
>>> function addr volatile?
>>> Does anyone know which optimization removes it?
>>
>> Calling 0 is undefined behavior; the optimizer is within its rights  
>> to
>> remove this.  Why do you want to call 0?
>
> Although a C translation unit may arguably not assign a  
> correspondingly
> defined function as having a pointer value (address) comparing equal  
> to
> ((void *) 0);

Nothing arguable about it, see C99 6.3.2.3

> it's not clear that the standard forbids the invocation of  such a  
> function

No such function can exist.  I don't think the standard forbids you to  
call 0, but it makes calling 0 undefined behavior ("behavior, upon use  
of a nonportable or erroneous program construct or of erroneous  
data"), since there can't possibly be a valid function there.

> nor does it seem like a good idea to silently strip any
> such invocations especially if allowed to be specified; as to do so  
> would
> seemingly only mask potentially legitimate problems, and/or prevent  
> that
> intended from being performed although potentially relying on an  
> undefined
> behavior.
>
> (As for example, it's not hard to imagine that it may be desirable  
> to allow
> a machine which may trap such calls to do, and/or to allow the  
> invocation of
> some otherwise specified behavior although considered undefined by  
> standard
> itself.)

In general, a C compiler is not the right tool to use for  
functionality outside the C language, so I'm not inclined to be  
sympathetic to this line of reasoning.