[llvm-dev] Propagation of debug information for variable into basic blocks.

[Adrian Prantl via llvm-dev]

> On Sep 21, 2016, at 10:29 AM, Keith Walker <Keith.Walker at arm.com> wrote:
> 
> Adrian,
>  
> I am currently investigating issues where variables that one would expect to be available in a debugger are not in code that is compiled at optimisations other than –O0
>  
> The main problem appears to be with the LiveDebugValues::join() method because it does not allow variables to be propagated into blocks unless all predecessor blocks have an Outgoing Location for that variable.
>  
> As a simple example in the C code:
>  
> int func2( int);
> void func(int a) {
>         int b = func2(10);
>         for(int i = 1; i < a; i++) {
>                 func2(i+b);
>         }
> }
>  
> One would reasonable expect when stopped within the body of the for loop that you could access the variable b in a debugger (especially as it is actually referenced in the loop).

Side note:
In optimized code I would expect the loop to be rewritten into something like
  int func2( int);
  void func(int a) {
        int b = func2(10);
        for(int i = b+1; i < a; i++)
                func2(i);
  }
so I would expect the primary reason for b being unavailable in the loop body to be that b is effectively dead and there is no reason to keep it in a register. But that's not what happens in your example.

>  
> Unfortunately this is often not the case.   I believe that this is due to the requirement stated in the descriptive comment of LiveDebugValues::join() which states:
>   “if the same source variable in all the predecessors of @MBB reside in the same location.”
>  
> In our simple example we end up with a series of blocks like
>  
>   BB#0   Initial-block         Predecessor:                                     Successor: BB#2
>  
>   BB#1  for-body                Predecessor: BB#2                          Successor: BB#2
>  
>   BB#2  for-condition       Predecessor: BB#0 BB#1               Successor: BB#1 BB#3
>  
>   BB#3  after-for                Predecessor: BB#2                          Successor :
>  
> Now b is initially defined to be an “Outgoing Location” to BB#0,  but it isn’t imported into BB#2 because it is not defined as an “Outgoing Location” for both predecessor blocks BB#0 and BB#1.
>  
> So the outcome is that the variable b is not available in the debugging information while in BB#2 (or BB#1).
>  
> Now changing the algorithm in LiveDebugValues::join() to include all Outgoing Locations from predecessor blocks appears to significantly improve the visibility of variables in such cases.    However I am worried that doing this possibly propagates the variables more than intended ... or maybe it is the right thing to do.
>  
> So if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to consider then please let me know.

Conceptually, the LiveDebugValues data flow analysis should be using three-valued logic arranged in a lattice

    ⊥ (uninitialized / don't know)
   / \
true false (is (not) available)

where join(x, ⊥) = x, otherwise it behaves like boolean &.

All debug variable values are initialized to the bottom element first. After processing BB#0 we have var[b, reg23] = true. When we join this with the unknown ⊥ from BB#1, we propagate var[b, reg23] into BB#1. Next time we join at BB#2 we will have consistent information in both predecessors and the algorithm converges. If, for example, BB#1 had conflicing information for b the next join at BB#2 would delete the information for b and the result would still be correct.
This is guaranteed to terminate because the information at the nodes can only move in one direction in the lattice and can change at most once.

I haven't thought this through entirely, but it looks like we could implement this by keeping track of which basic blocks we never visited before and special-casing previously unvisited basic blocks in join().

-- adrian

>  
> Keith