[LLVMdev] Inserting nodes into SelectionDAG (X86)

[Dan Gohman]

On Jun 25, 2009, at 2:05 PM, Artjom K. wrote:


>
> Greetings,
>
> I am rather new to LLVM, so please excuse my limited knowledge about  
> it.
>
> Currently I am trying to modify the X86TargetLowering::LowerCALL  
> method by
> inserting additional instructions before the call.
> As far as I understand, nodes are created by calling the getNode  
> method on
> the DAG. If, for example, I insert the following code
>
>  Ops.push_back(Chain);
>  Chain = DAG.getNode(ISD::TRAP, DAG.getVTList(MVT::Other), &Ops[0],
> Ops.size());
>
> then an X86 instruction (namely ud2) appears in the output files  
> compiled by
> llc.
> So, is my understanding correct that
> 1) the Chain determines the ordering of the nodes?

Yes.

> 2) the second parameter is a set of return types, i. e. in my example,
> MVT::Other says that a Chain object will be returned?'

Yes.

>
> Now, as soon as I try to generate more complex instructions, I get  
> lost.
> Say, I want to insert the following instruction
>
>  mov   eax, 42
>
> then the best I can come up with is
>
>  Ops.push_back(Chain);
>  Ops.push_back(DAG.getRegister(X86::EAX, MVT::i32));
>  Ops.push_back(DAG.getConstant(42, MVT::i32));
>  Chain = DAG.getNode(X86::MOV32ri, DAG.getVTList(MVT::Other), &Ops[0],
> Ops.size());
>
> But there are a few problems:
> 3) It seems I am not allowed to use concrete X86 instructions here  
> (at least
> that's what I think llc's error message "cannot yet select" could  
> mean). Is
> there an appropriate instruction in ISD? I can't find it...

Yes. It seems the opcode you want here is ISD::CopyToReg.

> 4) Do I get the parameter passing right? Fooling around with other
> expressions suggests that I get it wrong.

It looks like you have the right idea. For CopyToReg nodes,
there's a special getCopyToReg accessor for convenience.

> 5) What exactly is the meaning of further result types? If I get the  
> new
> Chain object back, are the other results inside?

SDNodes may have multiple results. For example, a LOAD node
has two results: the Chain that indicates ordering with
respect to other operations which may modify memory, and
the actual loaded value. Individual results of an SDNode
are identified with SDValue objects.

Dan