[LLVMdev] question about enabling cfl-aa and collecting a57 numbers

Daniel Berlin dberlin at dberlin.org
Thu Jan 22 17:27:57 PST 2015


We should use graph edges, so we can do something better at set build time
:)


On Thu Jan 22 2015 at 5:20:46 PM George Burgess IV <
george.burgess.iv at gmail.com> wrote:

> > Should we be added an edge from the inttoptr to all other pointer
> values? Is there a better way?
>
> We can add a special "Unknown" StratifiedAttr and query it before anything
> else, i.e:
>
> // in CFLAliasAnalysis::query, as the first potential return
> if (AttrsA[AttrUnknown] || AttrsB[AttrUnknown])
>   return MayAlias;
>
> The only *potential* issue with this approach would be that in the
> following code segment:
>
> void fn() {
>   int *foo = (int*)rand();
>   int *bar = new int;
>   int **baz = rand() ? &foo : &bar;
>   int value = **baz;
> }
>
> The stratified sets would look like:
>     {value} is below {foo, bar} is below {baz}.
>
> Potential issue: The sets {foo, bar} and {value} would be marked with the
> "Unknown" attribute, while {baz} would have no attributes. I can't
> immediately think of a case where {baz} lacking "Unknown" would be harmful,
> but if such a case exists, then we may need a different approach.
>
> George
>
> On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 8:03 PM, Hal Finkel <hfinkel at anl.gov> wrote:
>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> From: "Daniel Berlin" <dberlin at dberlin.org>
>>  To: "Hal Finkel" <hfinkel at anl.gov>
>>  Cc: "Jiangning Liu" <Jiangning.Liu at arm.com>, "George Burgess IV" <
>> george.burgess.iv at gmail.com>, "LLVM Developers
>>  Mailing List" <llvmdev at cs.uiuc.edu>, "Nick Lewycky" <nlewycky at google.com
>> >
>>  Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 3:48:25 PM
>>  Subject: Re: [LLVMdev] question about enabling cfl-aa and collecting a57
>> numbers
>>
>>  On Wed Jan 21 2015 at 12:30:50 PM Hal Finkel < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  wrote:
>>
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  > From: "Daniel Berlin" < dberlin at dberlin.org >
>>  > To: "Hal Finkel" < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  > Cc: "Jiangning Liu" < Jiangning.Liu at arm.com >, "George Burgess IV"
>>  > < george.burgess.iv at gmail.com >, "LLVM Developers
>>  > Mailing List" < llvmdev at cs.uiuc.edu >, "Nick Lewycky" <
>>  > nlewycky at google.com >
>>  > Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 1:10:07 PM
>>  > Subject: Re: [LLVMdev] question about enabling cfl-aa and
>>  > collecting a57 numbers
>>  >
>>  > Updated testcases to have MayAlias/note issues as FIXME.
>>  >
>>
>>  Okay, thanks! This LGTM, but we should probably split the delegation
>>  fixes from the others and commit as two separate patches (especially
>>  because Ana noted some potential miscompiles caused by the other
>>  improvements).
>>
>>
>>
>>  I think she mentioned the miscompiles due to us returning
>>  partialalias. But in any case, i 'm happy to, but just to note they
>>  are all required to get the LICM issue fixed :)
>>
>>
>> Okay, please do that and commit them.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Regarding this:
>>
>>  @@ -768,7 +774,10 @@ static Optional<StratifiedAttr>
>>  valueToAttrIndex(Value *Val) {
>>  return AttrGlobalIndex;
>>
>>  if (auto *Arg = dyn_cast<Argument>(Val))
>>  - if (!Arg->hasNoAliasAttr())
>>  + // Only pointer arguments should have the argument attribute,
>>  + // because things can't escape through scalars without us seeing a
>>  + // cast, and thus, interaction with them doesn't matter.
>>  + if (!Arg->hasNoAliasAttr() && Arg->getType()->isPointerTy())
>>  return argNumberToAttrIndex(Arg-> getArgNo());
>>  return NoneType();
>>  }
>>
>>  when we do see the inttoptr case, we add an edge from the source to
>>  the destination.
>>
>>
>>  Correct.
>>
>>
>>  If we've not noted potential aliasing of the non-pointer-typed
>>  argument, then does this end up looking like a unique global?
>>
>>
>>
>>  No. It will end up looking like something that points to nothing.
>>  Even without this change, it will end up looking like something that
>>  points to nothing, it will just have an attribute that says
>>  "argument". :)
>>
>>
>> Okay, fair enough.
>>
>>
>>
>>  You can come up with cases where even with this attribute set, it
>>  will get the wrong answer. It just happens to have code that,
>>  through luck, gets the right answer in a lot of cases:
>>
>>  (That is this code:
>>
>>
>>  if (AttrsA.any() && AttrsB.any())
>>  return AliasAnalysis::MayAlias;
>>  )
>>
>>
>>  So there is a bug here, but it's not caused by this code.
>>
>>
>>  The bug here is that we can't ever know what happens as the result of
>>  inttoptr. We never do math, and the tracking we do is never going to
>>  be sufficient to determine the range of possible pointers for an
>>  inttoptr in all cases (in theory, it could point to anything
>>  anywhere in the program. If we knew the sizes of *all* objects, and
>>  any binary operator performed on it was evaluable, we could do a
>>  little better. If we knew the value came from a ptrtoint, we could
>>  do better, etc).
>>  Same with ptrtoint.
>>
>>
>>  The result of both of these instructions should start to be "we have
>>  no idea what the pointer that comes from inttoptr or goes to
>>  ptrtoint points to", and we should return mayalias for anything that
>>  interacts with them.
>>  We don't do that right now.
>>  We are just hiding it mildly well.
>>
>>
>> Should we be added an edge from the inttoptr to all other pointer values?
>> Is there a better way?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Speaking of which, the code has checks for global variables in
>>  several places. Do these need to be for globals that are not aliases
>>  and don't have weak linkage?
>>
>>
>>
>>  It's more a question of whether they are in SSA form than if they are
>>  globals.
>>
>>
>>  It's effectively using Globals/Arguments as a way to say "don't know"
>>  in some cases, where it should really just say "don't know".
>>
>>
>>  There is a bunch of code i now have marked for cleanup and bugfixes
>>  around these issues (constant vs global handling, handling of
>>  non-pointer values, etc).
>>
>>
>> Okay, thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>>  As mentioned, the above is necessary to fix the LICM issue (and is
>>  correct, even if somewhere else is wrong. For reference, GCC does
>>  the identical thing to what i'm saying :P), but i'm happy to move it
>>  to a separate fix (that includes fixes for the other
>>  argument/unknown related issues) if you like.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Generically speaking, I'd prefer the fixes to be broken up as much as
>> practical. Please go ahead and commit them.
>>
>>  -Hal
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  Thanks again,
>>  Hal
>>
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > On Tue Jan 20 2015 at 3:54:10 PM Hal Finkel < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  > wrote:
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > ----- Original Message -----
>>  > > From: "Daniel Berlin" < dberlin at dberlin.org >
>>  > > To: "Hal Finkel" < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  > > Cc: "Jiangning Liu" < Jiangning.Liu at arm.com >, "George Burgess
>>  > > IV"
>>  > > < george.burgess.iv at gmail.com >, "LLVM Developers
>>  > > Mailing List" < llvmdev at cs.uiuc.edu >, "Nick Lewycky" <
>>  > > nlewycky at google.com >
>>  > > Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2015 1:48:44 PM
>>  > > Subject: Re: [LLVMdev] question about enabling cfl-aa and
>>  > > collecting a57 numbers
>>  > >
>>  > > So, I can make all these testcases work, but it's a little tricky
>>  > > (it
>>  > > involves tracking some things, like GEP byte range, and then
>>  > > checking bases and using getObjectSize, much like BasicAA does).
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > Because i really don't want to put that much "not well tested"
>>  > > code
>>  > > in a bugfix, and honestly, i'm not sure we will catch any cases
>>  > > here
>>  > > that BasicAA does not, i've attached a change to XFAIL these
>>  > > testcases, and updated the code to return MayAlias.
>>  >
>>  > Okay. I think you might as well just update the test cases to want
>>  > MayAlias, and put a FIXME comment explaining that they could be
>>  > PartialAlias. As far as I know, there is no code in LLVM that
>>  > really
>>  > handles a PartialAlias differently than a MayAlias or MustAlias,
>>  > and
>>  > so while there may be some benefit here, I'm not sure it will be
>>  > worth the effort.
>>  >
>>  > >
>>  > > I will build and test a patch to get these back to PartialAlias,
>>  > > but
>>  > > this patch will at least get us to not be "giving wrong answers".
>>  > > I
>>  > > will also see if we catch anything with it that BasicAA does not,
>>  > > because if we don't, it doesn't seem worth it to me.
>>  >
>>  > My guess is that BasicAA will get almost all of the interesting
>>  > PartialAlias cases, and as I said, we essentially ignore them
>>  > anyway.
>>  >
>>  > As a side note, there is this one place in lib/Analysis/
>>  > MemoryDependenceAnalysis.cpp that could use some attention:
>>  >
>>  > #if 0 // FIXME: Temporarily disabled. GVN is cleverly rewriting
>>  > loads
>>  > // in terms of clobbering loads, but since it does this by looking
>>  > // at the clobbering load directly, it doesn't know about any
>>  > // phi translation that may have happened along the way.
>>  >
>>  > // If we have a partial alias, then return this as a clobber for
>>  > the
>>  > // client to handle.
>>  > if (R == AliasAnalysis::PartialAlias)
>>  > return MemDepResult::getClobber(Inst) ;
>>  > #endif
>>  >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > Conservative new patch attached.
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > (Note that i still updated the testcases, because we will *never*
>>  > > be
>>  > > able to legally return PartialAlias as they were written)
>>  > >
>>  >
>>  > Yes, sounds good.
>>  >
>>  > -Hal
>>  >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > On Sun Jan 18 2015 at 2:12:47 PM Daniel Berlin <
>>  > > dberlin at dberlin.org
>>  > > > wrote:
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > On Sat Jan 17 2015 at 3:15:27 PM Hal Finkel < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  > > wrote:
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > ----- Original Message -----
>>  > > > From: "Daniel Berlin" < dberlin at dberlin.org >
>>  > > > To: "Hal Finkel" < hfinkel at anl.gov >
>>  > > > Cc: "Jiangning Liu" < Jiangning.Liu at arm.com >, "George Burgess
>>  > > > IV"
>>  > > > < george.burgess.iv at gmail.com >, "LLVM Developers
>>  > > > Mailing List" < llvmdev at cs.uiuc.edu >, "Nick Lewycky" <
>>  > > > nlewycky at google.com >
>>  > > > Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 1:08:10 PM
>>  > > > Subject: Re: [LLVMdev] question about enabling cfl-aa and
>>  > > > collecting a57 numbers
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > > On Sat Jan 17 2015 at 12:03:33 AM Hal Finkel < hfinkel at anl.gov
>>  > > > >
>>  > > > wrote:
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > > Hi Danny,
>>  > > >
>>  > > > // Add TypeBasedAliasAnalysis before BasicAliasAnalysis so that
>>  > > > // BasicAliasAnalysis wins if they disagree. This is intended
>>  > > > to
>>  > > > help
>>  > > > // support "obvious" type-punning idioms.
>>  > > > - if (UseCFLAA)
>>  > > > - addPass( createCFLAliasAnalysisPass());
>>  > > > addPass( createTypeBasedAliasAnalysisPa ss());
>>  > > > addPass( createScopedNoAliasAAPass());
>>  > > > + if (UseCFLAA)
>>  > > > + addPass( createCFLAliasAnalysisPass());
>>  > > > addPass( createBasicAliasAnalysisPass() );
>>  > > >
>>  > > > Do we really want to change the order here? I had originally
>>  > > > placed
>>  > > > it after the metadata-based passes thinking that the
>>  > > > compile-time
>>  > > > would be better (guessing that the metadata queries would be
>>  > > > faster
>>  > > > than the CFL queries, so if the metadata could quickly return a
>>  > > > NoAlias, then we'd cut out unecessary CFL queries). Perhaps
>>  > > > this
>>  > > > is
>>  > > > an irrelevant effect, but we should have some documented
>>  > > > rationale.
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > > Yeah, this was a mistake (Chandler had suggested it was right
>>  > > > earlier, but we were both wrong :P)
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > > ; CHECK: PartialAlias: i16* %bigbase0, i8* %phi
>>  > > > -define i8 @test0(i8* %base, i1 %x) {
>>  > > > +define i8 @test0(i1 %x) {
>>  > > > entry:
>>  > > > + %base = alloca i8, align 4
>>  > > > %baseplusone = getelementptr i8* %base, i64 1
>>  > > > br i1 %x, label %red, label %green
>>  > > > red:
>>  > > > @@ -25,8 +26,9 @@ green:
>>  > > > }
>>  > > >
>>  > > > why should this return PartialAlias? %ohi does partially
>>  > > > overlap,
>>  > > > so
>>  > > > this correct, but what happens when the overlap is partial or
>>  > > > control dependent?
>>  > > > So, after talking with some people offline, they convinced me
>>  > > > in
>>  > > > SSA
>>  > > > form, the name would change in these situations, and the only
>>  > > > situations you can get into trouble is with things "based on
>>  > > > pointer
>>  > > > arguments" (because you have no idea what their initial state
>>  > > > is),
>>  > > > or "globals" (because they are not in SSA form)
>>  > > > I could not come up with a case otherwise
>>  > >
>>  > > Okay; that part of the code could really use some more
>>  > > commentary.
>>  > > I'd really appreciate it if you should put these thoughts in
>>  > > written
>>  > > form that could be added as comments.
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > Will do
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > > But i'm welcome to hear if you think this is wrong.
>>  > > >
>>  > > > FWIW: I bootstrapped/tested the compiler with an assert that
>>  > > > triggered if CFL-AA was going to return PartialAlias and
>>  > > > BasicAA
>>  > > > would have returned NoAlias, and it did not trigger with this
>>  > > > change.
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > > > (It would have triggered before this set of changes)
>>  > > >
>>  > > > Not proof of course, but it at least tells me it's not
>>  > > > "obviously
>>  > > > wrong" :)
>>  > > >
>>  > > >
>>  > >
>>  > > That's good :) -- but, not exactly what I was concerned about.
>>  > > Our
>>  > > general convention has been that PartialAlias is a "strong"
>>  > > result,
>>  > > like MustAlias, but implies that AA has proved that only a
>>  > > partial
>>  > > overlap will occur.
>>  > >
>>  > > So, in this test case we get the right result:
>>  > >
>>  > > ; CHECK: PartialAlias: i16* %bigbase0, i8* %phi
>>  > > define i8 @test0(i1 %x) {
>>  > > entry:
>>  > > %base = alloca i8, align 4
>>  > > %baseplusone = getelementptr i8* %base, i64 1
>>  > > br i1 %x, label %red, label %green
>>  > > red:
>>  > > br label %green
>>  > > green:
>>  > > %phi = phi i8* [ %baseplusone, %red ], [ %base, %entry ]
>>  > > store i8 0, i8* %phi
>>  > >
>>  > > %bigbase0 = bitcast i8* %base to i16*
>>  > > store i16 -1, i16* %bigbase0
>>  > >
>>  > > %loaded = load i8* %phi
>>  > > ret i8 %loaded
>>  > > }
>>  > >
>>  > > because %phi will have a partial overlap with %bigbase0, the only
>>  > > uncertainty is whether the overlap is with the low byte or the
>>  > > high
>>  > > byte. But if I modify the test to be this:
>>  > >
>>  > > define i8 @test0x(i1 %x) {
>>  > > entry:
>>  > > %base = alloca i8, align 4
>>  > > %baseplustwo = getelementptr i8* %base, i64 2
>>  > > br i1 %x, label %red, label %green
>>  > > red:
>>  > > br label %green
>>  > > green:
>>  > > %phi = phi i8* [ %baseplustwo, %red ], [ %base, %entry ]
>>  > > store i8 0, i8* %phi
>>  > >
>>  > > %bigbase0 = bitcast i8* %base to i16*
>>  > > store i16 -1, i16* %bigbase0
>>  > >
>>  > > %loaded = load i8* %phi
>>  > > ret i8 %loaded
>>  > > }
>>  > >
>>  > > I still get this result:
>>  > > PartialAlias: i16* %bigbase0, i8* %phi
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > but now %phi might not overlap %bigbase0 at all (although, when
>>  > > it
>>  > > does, there is a partial overlap), so we should just return
>>  > > MayAlias
>>  > > (perhaps without delegation because this is a definitive
>>  > > result?).
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > Yeah, i have to do some size checking, let me see if we have the
>>  > > info
>>  > > and i'll update the patch.
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > Otherwise, my view is that we should always delegate MayAlias,
>>  > > because we have no idea what order the passes are in or what pass
>>  > > someone has inserted where :)
>>  > >
>>  > >
>>  > > (WIW: I believe the same about everything except MustAlias and
>>  > > NoAlias, but currently we don't delegate PartialAlias.
>>  > > We claim PartialAlias is a definitive result, but it really
>>  > > isn't.
>>  > > Right now we have TBAA that will give NoAlias results on things
>>  > > other
>>  > > passes claim are PartialAlias, and that result is correct. That's
>>  > > just in our default, we have no idea what other people do. Even
>>  > > if
>>  > > you ignore TBAA, plenty of other compilers have noalias/mustalias
>>  > > metadata that would have the same effect.
>>  >
>>  > --
>>  > Hal Finkel
>>  > Assistant Computational Scientist
>>  > Leadership Computing Facility
>>  > Argonne National Laboratory
>>  >
>>
>>  --
>>  Hal Finkel
>>  Assistant Computational Scientist
>>  Leadership Computing Facility
>>  Argonne National Laboratory
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Hal Finkel
>> Assistant Computational Scientist
>> Leadership Computing Facility
>> Argonne National Laboratory
>>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/attachments/20150123/7d2057d9/attachment.html>


More information about the llvm-dev mailing list