[LLVMdev] Hidden-visibility aliases to default-visibility globals

[Peter Collingbourne]

Hi,

I am trying to compile a dynamic loader using LLVM.  Part of the IR
for this loader looks like this:

@_rtld_local = hidden alias %struct.rtld_global* @_rtld_global
@_rtld_global = unnamed_addr global %struct.rtld_global { ... }

The purpose of _rtld_local is to allow _rtld_global to be referenced
without using the GOT, as this global is accessed before the dynamic
loader initialises the GOT.  However, LLVM sees through the alias
and resolves references to _rtld_local to _rtld_global, resulting in
segfaults when the dynamic loader is used.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix this.  The
GlobalValue::mayBeOverridden() function controls whether LLVM resolves
aliases, and hacking this function to return true if a global is hidden
gets around this particular problem, but converts the function into a
misnomer (a hidden alias may _not_ be overridden, e.g. by LD_PRELOAD,
although I'm pretty sure mayBeOverridden is not intended to care about
LD_PRELOAD) and results in a lot of deoptimisation.  I'm thinking
of introducing a new function GlobalAlias::mayBeResolved() which
returns true if mayBeOverridden() returns false and the visibility
of the alias is the same as that of the aliasee, and converting over
the relevant clients of mayBeOverridden to use this new function.

Thanks,
-- 
Peter