[llvm-dev] help please: how to sort the contents of a "SymbolTableListTraits<GlobalVariable>"?

[Abe Skolnik via llvm-dev]

Dear all,

In the process of trying to add optimization for better layout of global variables, I have run 
up against a roadblock: I don`t seem to be able to sort the contents of a 
"SymbolTableListTraits<GlobalVariable>" -- or even swap two elements in that list -- without 
causing LLVM to crash.

I have tried writing a comparator class and then using "llvm::iplist< NodeTy, Traits 
 >::sort(Compare comp)" 
[<http://llvm.org/docs/doxygen/html/classllvm_1_1iplist.html#a81afd2c47bb276cd50c78c74b3f92ec3>], 
since "llvm::Module::GlobalListType" 
[<http://llvm.org/docs/doxygen/html/classllvm_1_1Module.html#accd281de11bad056a32f319d7facafe3>] 
is an alias for "SymbolTableList<GlobalVariable>" and according to the Web-based documentation 
every instantiation of SymbolTableList 
[<http://llvm.org/docs/doxygen/html/classllvm_1_1SymbolTableList.html>] is-an instantiation of 
"iplist" [<http://llvm.org/docs/doxygen/html/classllvm_1_1iplist.html>].  This call to "sort" 
crashed badly.  I`ll paste in the code for this attempt below [simplified for clarity], but not 
the code for the others since they are longer and more "desperate".

All my attempts to write anything that might be the innermost operation in a "sort" I would 
write myself either would not compile or would compile and crash at run-time.  The ones that 
wouldn`t compile wouldn`t compile because GlobalVariable has an explicitly-deleted copy 
constructor and no move constructor [so "std::move(...)" was not usable to solve the problem].

BTW: I am [and was] doing this in the context of "OptimizeGlobalVars" which is in 
"llvm/lib/Transforms/IPO/GlobalOpt.cpp".

If anybody reading this can provide some assistance, I`d be much obliged.

Regards,

Abe








   struct GV_alignment_comparator {
     bool operator()(const GlobalVariable& L, const GlobalVariable& R) {
       return L.getAlignment() < R.getAlignment();
     }
   };

   // 'M' is a "Module &"

/* this crashes BADLY...  :-(
   M.getGlobalList().sort( GV_alignment_comparator() );
   Changed = true;
*/