[cfe-dev] [llvm-dev] Sharing MemoryBuffers between front ends and LLVM

[Mehdi Amini via cfe-dev]

> On Mar 16, 2017, at 10:29 AM, Roger Ferrer Ibanez via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm implementing interleaved source in assembly output. Early reviews raised the concern

Is there a patch up for review?
I’m wondering how is the frontend enabling this interleaved output mode?

— 
Mehdi


> that the current implementation will be opening files (using a llvm::MemoryBuffer) that are likely to be in the memory of the front end (commonly clang but I think we want this to be front end agnostic). 
> 
> I'm now exploring ideas to avoid reopening files and let LLVM reuse the files the FE had to open.
> 
> I am assuming that the front end will use llvm::MemoryBuffer (e.g.: clang does indirectly through clang::SourceManager).
> 
> So for buffers related to named files (including stdin, which does not have name and is handled in a special way) we could have in the LLVM context a MemoryBufferRegistry. The idea is to add new creators of MemoryBuffer (the ones that work on named files and stdin) that can be passed a reference to that llvm::MemoryBufferRegistry. MemoryBuffer objects would register/deregister themselves at creation/destruction. This registry can then be used as a cache of already opened files from which retrieve a reference to the MemoryBuffer itself using the file path. These new interfaces would be opt-in for all users of MemoryBuffer.
> 
> Back to my case,  the new AsmPrinterHandler could now use the MemoryBufferRegistry of the LLVM context. If there is none or the memory buffer associated to a file path has been already deregistered (or was never registered e.g. because we are using a .ll file directly), it would open the file as usual, otherwise it would reuse the registered MemoryBuffer.
> 
> I see a few downsides of this approach, though.
> 
> It overlaps a bit with the existing SourceManager in clang which already does some caching work through the clang::ContentCache class. At first the cache seems hard to abstract away as it uses clang::FileEntry and looks pretty tailored for clang needs.
> 
> Also, assuming that the front end is using a MemoryBuffer may be a too strong requirement, in particular for FE's that are mostly unaware of LLVM except for a final LLVM codegen pass. This would mean that the files would be reopened even if they are already in the memory of the FE.
> 
> Finally the file path may not even be a good identifier to reuse MemoryBuffer objects.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> Thank you,
> Roger
> 
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