[llvm] c5e8eb9 - Documentation for the process of adding new targets

[Renato Golin via llvm-commits]

Author: Renato Golin
Date: 2021-12-28T21:00:26Z
New Revision: c5e8eb9783a680ba5f552d84c17d1b9122f5fe36

URL: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/commit/c5e8eb9783a680ba5f552d84c17d1b9122f5fe36
DIFF: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/commit/c5e8eb9783a680ba5f552d84c17d1b9122f5fe36.diff

LOG: Documentation for the process of adding new targets

Plenty of new targets nowadays and I found myself repeating the same
thing over and over, so this is more or less what we said over the last
few years, but condensed in an ordered fashion and easy to digest.

This does not change any of the recommendations, only documents what we
have been saying for years.

Added: 
    

Modified: 
    llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst

Removed: 
    


################################################################################
diff  --git a/llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst b/llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst
index b88e45b1ac310..e57f1044118c3 100644
--- a/llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst
+++ b/llvm/docs/DeveloperPolicy.rst
@@ -793,10 +793,40 @@ To **continue** as a supported and official target:
   nuisance to other targets and be considered a candidate for deprecation and
   ultimately removed.
 
-In essences, these rules are necessary for targets to gain and retain their
+In essence, these rules are necessary for targets to gain and retain their
 status, but also markers to define bit-rot, and will be used to clean up the
 tree from unmaintained targets.
 
+Those wishing to add a new target to LLVM must follow the procedure below:
+
+1. Read this section and make sure your target follows all requirements. For
+   minor issues, your community will be responsible for making all necessary
+   adjustments soon after the initial merge.
+2. Send a request for comment (RFC) to the llvm-dev@ mailing list, describing
+   your target and how it follows all the requirements and what work has been
+   done and will need to be done to accommodate the official target requirements.
+   Make sure to expose any and all controversial issues, changes needed in the
+   base code, table gen, etc.
+3. Once the response is positive, the LLVM community can start reviewing the
+   actual patches (but they can be prepared before, to support the RFC). Create
+   a sequence of N patches, numbered '1/N' to 'N/N' (make sure N is an actual
+   number, not the letter 'N'), that completes the basic structure of the target.
+4. The initial patch should add documentation, code owners and triple support in
+   clang and LLVM. The following patches add TableGen infrastructure to describe
+   the target and lower instructions to assembly. The final patch must show that
+   the target can lower correctly with extensive LIT tests (IR to MIR, MIR to
+   ASM, etc).
+5. Some patches may be approved before others, but only after *all* patches are
+   approved that the whole set can be merged in one go. This is to guarantee
+   that all changes are good as a single block.
+6. After the initial merge, the target community can stop numbering patches and
+   start working asynchronously on the target to complete support. They should
+   still seek review from those who helped them in the initial phase, to make
+   sure the progress is still consistent.
+7. Once all official requirements have been fulfilled (as above), the code owner
+   should request the target to be enabled by default by sending another RFC to
+   the llvm-dev@ mailing list.
+
 Adding an Established Project To the LLVM Monorepo
 --------------------------------------------------