[llvm-dev] Google’s TensorFlow team would like to contribute MLIR to the LLVM Foundation

[Renato Golin via llvm-dev]

Overall, I think it will be a good move.

Maintenance wise, I'm expecting the existing community to move into
LLVM (if not all in already), so I don't foresee any additional costs.

Though, Hal's points are spot on...

On Mon, 9 Sep 2019 at 18:47, Finkel, Hal J. via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>  3. As a specific example of the above, the current development of the new Flang compiler depends on MLIR.

Who knows, one day, Clang can, too! :)

>  5. As a community, we have been moving toward increasing support for heterogeneous computing and accelerators (and given industry trends, I expect this to continue), and MLIR can facilitate that support in many cases (although I expect we'll see further enhancements in the core LLVM libraries as well).

Yes, and yes! MLIR can become a simpler entry point into LLVM, from
other languages, frameworks and optimisation plugins. A more abstract
representation and a more stable IR generation from it, could make
maintenance of external projects much easier than direct connections
of today. This could benefit research as much as enterprise, and by
consequence, the LLVM project.

> That all having been said, I think that it's going to be very important to develop some documentation on how a frontend author looking to use LLVM backend technology, and a developer looking to implement different kinds of functionality, might reasonably choose whether to target or enhance MLIR components, LLVM components, or both. I expect that this kind of advice will evolve over time, but I'm sure we'll need it sooner rather than later.

Right, I'm also worried that it's too broad in respect to what it can
do on paper, versus what LLVM can handle on code.

With MLIR as a separate project, that point is interesting, at most.
When it becomes part of the LLVM umbrella, then we need to make sure
that MLIR and LLVM IR interact within known boundaries and expected
behaviour.

I'm not saying MLIR can't be used for anything else after the move,
just saying that, by being inside the repo, and maintained by our
community, LLVM IR would end up as the *primary* target, and there
will be a minimum stability/functionality requirements.

But perhaps more importantly, as Hal states clearly, is the need for
an official specification, similar to the one for LLVM IR, as well as
a formal document with the expected semantics into LLVM IR. Sooner,
indeed.

cheers,
--renato