[LLVMdev] Instrumenting C/C++ programs

eyasu getahun eya.get at gmail.com
Wed Nov 16 21:09:49 PST 2011


Hello guys,

I am trying to know how clang generates AST from source code. But it is not
clear for me how clang generates it. Can you tell me which class or
function of clang is building/generating AST? I want to see the specific
function or algorithm of clang which generates AST. Thanks in advance for
your idea.

On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Jim Grosbach <grosbach at apple.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> What you're describing is basically the parsing and codegen portions of
> clang. I'd suggest reading through the code there and posting to clang-dev
> if you have any specific questions. The clang devs are more likely to see
> your questions there as not all of them also hang out here.
>
> Regards,
>   Jim
>
>
> On Sep 28, 2011, at 8:28 PM, eyasu getahun <eya.get at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey guys,
>
> I have seen your interesting conversion. I am new for LLVM as well as
> clang compiler. I am going to use it now. it is quite difficult when
> someone starts it from scratch. But it is enjoyable and it is possible to
> familiarize with the environment by short time. Am gonna to use clang +
> llvm to generate AST from source code by using clang and to do high level
> transformation. Then I want to generate LLVM IR. Do you have any idea how
> to achieve this? i want some examples how clang converts source codes to
> AST and generating LLVM IR. Thanks in advance.
>
> On Thu, Sep 29, 2011 at 9:04 AM, xiaoming gu < <xiaoming.gu at gmail.com>
> xiaoming.gu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The patch file is a diff file generated by "svn diff". It is about other
>> modifications such as adding some lines to make files to make the added .c
>> and .cpp files compiled. You may apply the patch file to LLVM source code
>> by using a "patch" command or make the changes manually by reading the
>> patch file.
>>
>> Xiaoming
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 6:05 AM, Himanshu Shekhar <<imhimanshu91 at gmail.com>
>> imhimanshu91 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey Xiaoming, Thanks for those source codes. Can you please explain what
>>> this llvm-memory-profiling.patch does ?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Himanshu
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 6:49 AM, xiaoming gu < <xiaoming.gu at gmail.com>
>>> xiaoming.gu at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi, Himanshu. I once wrote an LLVM IR-based memory profiling
>>>> pass. Basically, I followed the code for EdgeProfiling. The source code is
>>>> enclosed here, which worked with LLVM 2.8. Hope it is helpful.
>>>>
>>>>     MemoryProfiling.cpp---the instrumentation pass, which inserts
>>>> profiling function calls into the original program
>>>>     MemoryProfiling.c---the profiling library containing the profiling
>>>> calls
>>>>     llvm-memory-profiling.patch---the other modifications
>>>>     notes.txt---some information collected when I was working on this
>>>> profiling pass
>>>>
>>>> Xiaoming
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 7:13 PM, Himanshu Shekhar <<imhimanshu91 at gmail.com>
>>>> imhimanshu91 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hey John,
>>>>> Thank you for the detailed reply.
>>>>> I tried to figure out myself which IR should I use for my purpose (
>>>>> Clang's Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) or LLVM's SSA Intermediate
>>>>> Representation (IR). ), but couldn't really figure out which one to use.
>>>>> Here is what I m trying to do.
>>>>> Given any C/C++ program (like the one given below), I am trying to
>>>>> insert calls to some function, before and after *every instruction
>>>>> that reads/writes to/from memory*. For example consider the below
>>>>> C++  program ( Account.cpp)
>>>>> /***********************************************************/
>>>>>
>>>>> #include <stdio.h>
>>>>>
>>>>> class Account {
>>>>>   int balance;
>>>>>
>>>>> public:
>>>>>   Account(int b)
>>>>>  {
>>>>>     balance = b;
>>>>>   }
>>>>>   ~Account(){ }
>>>>>
>>>>>   int read() {
>>>>>     int r;
>>>>>     r = balance;
>>>>>     return r;
>>>>>   }
>>>>>
>>>>>   void deposit(int n) {
>>>>>       balance = balance + n;
>>>>>   }
>>>>>
>>>>>   void withdraw(int n) {
>>>>>       int r = read();
>>>>>       balance = r - n;
>>>>>   }
>>>>> };
>>>>>
>>>>> int main (){
>>>>>   Account* a = new Account(10);
>>>>>   a->deposit(1);
>>>>>   a->withdraw(2);
>>>>>   delete a;
>>>>> }
>>>>>
>>>>> /***********************************************************/
>>>>> So after the instrumentation my program should look like :
>>>>>
>>>>> /***********************************************************/
>>>>>
>>>>> #include <stdio.h>
>>>>>
>>>>> class Account {
>>>>>   int balance;
>>>>>
>>>>> public:
>>>>>   Account(int b)
>>>>>  {
>>>>>     balance = b;
>>>>>   }
>>>>>   ~Account(){ }
>>>>>
>>>>>   int read() {
>>>>>     int r;
>>>>>     foo();
>>>>>     r = balance;
>>>>>     foo();
>>>>>     return r;
>>>>>   }
>>>>>
>>>>>   void deposit(int n) {
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>       balance = balance + n;
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>   }
>>>>>
>>>>>   void withdraw(int n) {
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>       int r = read();
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>       balance = r - n;
>>>>>       foo();
>>>>>   }
>>>>> };
>>>>>
>>>>> int main (){
>>>>>   Account* a = new Account(10);
>>>>>   a->deposit(1);
>>>>>   a->withdraw(2);
>>>>>   delete a;
>>>>> }
>>>>>
>>>>> /***********************************************************/
>>>>> where *foo() *may be any function like get the current system time or
>>>>> increment a counter .. so on. I understand that to insert function like
>>>>> above I will have to first get the IR and then run an instrumentation pass
>>>>> on the IR which will insert such calls into the IR, but I don't really know
>>>>> how to achieve it. Please suggest me with examples how to go about it.
>>>>> Also I understand that once I compile the program into the IR, it
>>>>> would be really difficult to get 1:1 mapping between my original program
>>>>> and the instrumented IR. So, is it possible to reflect the changes made in
>>>>> the IR ( because of instrumentation ) into the original program.
>>>>>
>>>>> In order to get started with LLVM pass and how to make one on my own,
>>>>> I looked at an example of a pass that adds run-time checks to LLVM IR loads
>>>>> and stores, the SAFECode's load/store instrumentation pass (<http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/include/safecode/LoadStoreChecks.h?view=markup>
>>>>> http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/include/safecode/LoadStoreChecks.h?view=markupand
>>>>> <http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/lib/InsertPoolChecks/LoadStoreChecks.cpp?view=markup>
>>>>> http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/lib/InsertPoolChecks/LoadStoreChecks.cpp?view=markup).
>>>>> But I couldn't figure out how to run this pass. Please give me steps how to
>>>>> run this pass on some program say the above Account.cpp.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Himanshu
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Sep 23, 2011 at 11:13 PM, John Criswell <<criswell at illinois.edu>
>>>>> criswell at illinois.edu> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>  On 9/23/11 12:24 PM, Himanshu Shekhar wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I just  read that LLVM project could be used to do static analysis on
>>>>>> C/C++ codes using the analyzer Clang which the front end of LLVM. I wanted
>>>>>> to know if it is possible to extract all the accesses to memory(variables,
>>>>>> local as well as global) in the source code using LLVM.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When doing analysis with Clang and LLVM, you first must make a choice
>>>>>> about which IR to use: Clang's Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) or LLVM's SSA
>>>>>> Intermediate Representation (IR).  Clang takes source code and converts it
>>>>>> into an AST; it later takes the AST and converts it to LLVM IR.  LLVM then
>>>>>> performs mid-level compiler analysis and optimization on code in LLVM IR
>>>>>> form and then translates from LLVM IR to native code.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Clang ASTs will give you much higher level information than LLVM IR.
>>>>>> On the other hand, LLVM IR is probably easier to work with and is
>>>>>> programming language agnostic.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You might want to read about the LLVM Language Reference Manual (<http://llvm.org/docs/LangRef.html>
>>>>>> http://llvm.org/docs/LangRef.html) to get a feel of whether it is
>>>>>> suitable for your analysis.  There may be a similar document for Clang, but
>>>>>> I'm not familiar with it since I haven't worked with Clang ASTs myself.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is there any inbuilt library present in LLVM which I could use to
>>>>>> extract this information. If not please suggest me how to write functions
>>>>>> to do the same.(existing source code, reference, tutorial, example...)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It is easy to write an LLVM pass that plugs into the opt tool that
>>>>>> searches for explicit accesses to memory.  The LLVM load and store
>>>>>> instructions access memory (similar to how loads and stores are used to
>>>>>> access memory in a RISC instruction set).  That said, it is not clear
>>>>>> whether this is what you want to do.  Some source-level variables are
>>>>>> translated into one or more SSA virtual registers, so you'll never see a
>>>>>> load or store to them (as they may never exist in memory but only in
>>>>>> registers).  Additionally, some loads and stores to memory are not visible
>>>>>> at the LLVM IR level.  For example, loads and stores to stack spill slots
>>>>>> are not visible at the LLVM IR level because they're only created during
>>>>>> code generation (and technically, they're generated in a third IR called
>>>>>> Machine Instructions that is used specifically for code generation).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Of what i studied is, I need to first convert the source code into
>>>>>> LLVM IR and then make an instrumenting pass which would go over this
>>>>>> bitcode file and insert calls to do the analysis, but don't know exactly
>>>>>> how to do it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The first thing you need to do is figure out which representation of
>>>>>> the program (Clang ASTs, LLVM IR, LLVM's code generation IR) is the best
>>>>>> for solving your particular problem.  If you want, you can provide more
>>>>>> details on what you're trying to do; people on the list can then provide
>>>>>> feedback on which representation is most suitable for what you want to do.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If you decide to work with LLVM IR, I then recommend reading the "How
>>>>>> to Write an LLVM Pass" document (<http://llvm.org/docs/WritingAnLLVMPass.html>
>>>>>> http://llvm.org/docs/WritingAnLLVMPass.html) as well as the
>>>>>> Programmer's Guide ( <http://llvm.org/docs/ProgrammersManual.html>
>>>>>> http://llvm.org/docs/ProgrammersManual.html).  Doxygen is also
>>>>>> valuable ( <http://llvm.org/doxygen/>http://llvm.org/doxygen/).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For an example of a pass that adds run-time checks to LLVM IR loads
>>>>>> and stores, look at SAFECode's load/store instrumentation pass (<http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/include/safecode/LoadStoreChecks.h?view=markup>
>>>>>> http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/include/safecode/LoadStoreChecks.h?view=markupand
>>>>>> <http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/lib/InsertPoolChecks/LoadStoreChecks.cpp?view=markup>
>>>>>> http://llvm.org/viewvc/llvm-project/safecode/trunk/lib/InsertPoolChecks/LoadStoreChecks.cpp?view=markup).
>>>>>> It's about as simple as an instrumentation pass gets.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- John T.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Please suggest me how to go about it .
>>>>>> thanks
>>>>>> himanshu
>>>>>> --
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> LLVM Developers mailing list <LLVMdev at cs.uiuc.edu>LLVMdev at cs.uiuc.edu          <http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu>http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu <http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev>http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> <http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu>http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu
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>>>>> http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> *With Best Regards,
>
> ===========================================
> Eyasu Getyahun*
>
> 1 Fusionopolis way, #08-10 Connexis North Tower
> Singapore 138632, Singapore
> Mobile: +393279239907
> Office: +65 6591 9090
> *==================================
> *
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>


-- 
*With Best Regards,

===========================================
Eyasu Getahun*

1 Fusionopolis way, #08-10 Connexis North Tower
Singapore 138632, Singapore
Mobile: +393279239907
*===========================================
*
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