[llvm-dev] How to lower LLVM vector math intrinsics to symbol calls ?

[Gonzalo BG via llvm-dev]

>From a language frontend that generates LLVM-IR containing vector math
intrinsics, how can I tell LLVM to lower those to specific symbols ?

For example, the intrinsic `llvm.sqrt.f32` gets lowered to `_sqrtf`, but
the intrinsics `llvm.sqrt.v4f32` and `llvm.sqrt.v8f32` get lowered to 4 and
8 calls to `_sqrtf`, respectively.

Instead, I'd like to provide a symbol for `llvm.sqrt.v4f32`, e.g.,
`_sqrtf4` (but it could be a libmvec, SVML, Sleef, or some other symbol),
such that LLVM lowers `llvm.sqrtv4f32` to `_sqrtf4`, and such that
`llvm.sqrt.v8f32` gets lowered to 2x `_sqrtf4` calls, if and only if, my
frontend does not provide a symbol for it.

For context, the Rust frontend exposes portable packed SIMD vectors that
users can manipulate directly, e.g., calling sqrt on a v8f32. We used to
lower these to `llvm.sqrt.v8f32` directly, but performance was horrible
because that lowered to 8 `_sqrtf` calls. We are now working around this by
not lowering them to `llvm.sqrt.x` anymore, calling an unknown function
instead. This performs quiet good, but we lose many LLVM optimizations due
to the unknown function call, e.g., while `llvm.sqrt.v8f32(<8 x float
0.0>)` could be constant-folded to `<8 x float 0.0>`, this is not the case
anymore due to the unknown function call.

I kind of assumed that there must be a way for frontends too hook in
symbols to which to lower the intrinsics, but it appears that all symbol
lowering is hardcoded in LowerIntrinsic. For example, if instead of
emitting `_memcpy` for `llvm.memcpy` I wanted that intrinsic to call a
symbol `_foo` instead, is that possible ?

What would be the simplest way to achieve this ? Could I insert my own
`LowerIntrinsic` pass that runs before the LLVM one, doing the lowering
that I want?
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/attachments/20190714/23879784/attachment.html>