[LLVMdev] GSoC09 - Port Valgrind to use LLVM

[Andrew Haley]

Filipe Cabecinhas wrote:

> Just a thought... How are you going to port llvm so it doesn't use libc? 
> Valgrind uses the same resources as the running program, so it can't use 
> the system libc's malloc nor any other functions so it doesn't get 
> "confused".

I think you could to put LLVM into a different process.

>> I think I'm the one who put that suggestion up, so I suppose I should  
>> speak to it. :-)
>>
>> The concept would be to implement a conversion from Valgrind's  
>> internal IR to LLVM IR, and then employing the LLVM JIT system to  
>> execute the instrumented program.  In theory, at least, this shouldn't  
>> be too tough, as Valgrind already uses an SSA-based IR.  While there's  
>> almost certainly more overhead involved in doing this, it may be  
>> worthwhile if the instrumented program is long-running.
>>
>> I'm not an expert on Valgrind, but I've been working on LLVM for while  
>> now, and could mentor at least the LLVM part of this.

Have the Valgrind people been approached with this idea?

Andrew.