[llvm-dev] Do LLVM passes have different behavior depending on the target triple and/or the optimization level selected?

[Ricardo Nobre via llvm-dev]

Hi again,


Thanks for answering my previous question :)

There is something else I do not understand about the passes in LLVM.

Does the behavior of some LLVM passes change depending on the 'target 
triple' passed (either inside the LLVM IR or passed as command line 
parameter) to the LLVM Optimizer (LLVM 'opt' tool)?
Is the behavior of the passes when called by LLVM 'opt' target specific 
(architecture/subarchitecture, vendor, operating system, etc...)?


If that is the case, then when I'm cross-compiling for a given target 
(e.g., target SPARC-ELF on a X86-LINUX machine) I must always pass the 
target triple.
If that is not the case, they I only need to pass the target triple to 
the 'llc' static compiler when gerating the assembly code for the target 
platform.


Additionally, someone pointed me to this commit, suggesting that the 
behavior of some passes depends on the selected optimization level.
Is this correct?

If so, is it possible to execute only some of the passes in -O2 (or in a 
different order), but have them individually behaving as if -O2 was 
being used?

Is there any direct mechanism to control compiler passes individually?


Regards,
Ricardo