[cfe-dev] [RFC] New attribute `annotate_type`

[Aaron Ballman via cfe-dev]

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 10:28 AM Martin Brænne via cfe-dev
<cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>
> I would like to propose a new attribute `annotate_type` that would be analogous to the existing `annotate` attribute but for use on types. As for `annotate`, the typical use case would be to add annotations to be used by static analysis tools.
>
> I have a draft patch implementing this attribute (https://reviews.llvm.org/D111548), but before it's reviewed I wanted to solicit some feedback more broadly on whether people feel this makes sense.

Thanks for the proposal! One question I have is whether we need an
additional attribute for this instead of reworking [[clang::annotate]]
so that it applies to either a type or a declaration. Is a separate
attribute necessary because there may be unfortunate problems with
using __attribute__((annotate)) as the spelling?

What kind of type semantic impacts does this attribute have on the
type identity for things like overloading, name mangling, type
conversion, etc?

Also, one problem here is -- [[clang::annotate]] isn't just used for
the static analyzer, it's also something that can be used by backend
tools (for example, when using attribute plugins). Do we need to
consider what information should be lowered to LLVM IR when this new
attribute appears on a type?

Thanks!

~Aaron

>
> Thanks,
>
> Martin
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> Martin Brænne
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