[llvm-dev] Layering Requirements in the LLVM Coding Style Guide

[Philip Reames via llvm-dev]

On 01/16/2018 09:21 AM, David Blaikie via llvm-dev wrote:
> Context: I've been looking at experimenting with using Modular Code 
> Generation (My talk at last year's LLVM dev meeting 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYYxDXgbUZ0 is about the best 
> reference at the moment) when building the LLVM project, as a good 
> experiment for the feature. This can/does enforce a stronger layering 
> invariant than LLVM has historically been enforced. So I'm curious to 
> get buy-in and maybe document this if it's something people like the 
> idea of.
>
> I'm starting this discussion here rather than in an actual code review 
> on llvm-commits since it seems like it could do with a bit of a wider 
> discussion, but once/if the general direction is agreed on, I'll send 
> a patch for review of specific wording for the LLVM Coding Standards.
>
>
> Currently the LLVM Coding Standards 
> <https://llvm.org/docs/CodingStandards.html> doesn't say much/anything 
> about layering. 'A Public Header File *is* a Module' 
> <https://llvm.org/docs/CodingStandards.html#a-public-header-file-is-a-module> section 
> talks about modules of functionality, mostly trying to describe why a 
> header file should be self contained - but uses anachronistic language 
> about modules that doesn't line up with the implicit or explicit 
> modules concepts in use today, I think.
>
> I propose making this wording a bit more explicit, including:
>
> 1) Headers should be standalone (include all their dependencies - this 
> is mentioned in the "is a Module" piece, by way of a technique to help 
> ensure this, but not explicit as a goal itself).
>
> 2) Files intended to be included in a particular context (that aren't 
> safe/benign to include multiple times, in multiple .cpp files, etc) 
> should use a '.inc' or '.def' (.def specifically for those "define a 
> macro, include the header which will reference that macro" style 
> setups we have in a few places).
Everything up to here seems non-controversial.  We should document this 
and ideally identify tooling suitable to enforce it.
>
> And the actual layering issue:
> 3) Each library should only include headers or otherwise reference 
> entities from libraries it depends on. Including in headers and inline 
> functions. A simple/explicit way to put this: every inline function 
> should be able to be moved into a .cpp file and the build (with a unix 
> linker - one that cannot handle circular library dependencies) should 
> still succeed.
>
>
> This last point is the most interesting - and I hope one that people 
> generally find desirable, so it might not be immediately obvious why 
> it may be contentious or difficult:
>
> LLVM violates this constraint by using inline functions in headers to 
> avoid certain layering constraints that might otherwise cause the 
> build to fail. A couple of major examples I've hit are:
>
> TargetSelect.h 
> <http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/2017-December/119494.html>and 
> similar: This one's especially tricky - the header is part of 
> libSupport, but each function in here depends on a different subset of 
> targets (creating a circular dependency) - to call the given function 
> the programmer needs to choose the right dependencies to link to or 
> the program will not link.
> Clang Diagnostics <https://reviews.llvm.org/D41357> (work in 
> progress): The diagnostics for each component are in their own 
> component directories, but are then all included from libClangBasic, a 
> library none of those components depends on. (so this isn't so much an 
> inlining case as #include based circular dependency)
>
>
> Generally I'd like to get buy-in that stricter layering is desirable, 
> and that these few cases are at least sub-optimal, if accepted for now.
I have no strong opinion on this topic.  My experience has been that 
it's often far harder to unwind these types of inline dependencies than 
it first seems and that the value in doing so is often unclear.  I'm not 
opposed, but I'm also not signing up to help.  :)
>
> Happy to go into more details about any of this, examples, etc, but I 
> realize this is already a bit long.
> - Dave
>
>
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