[llvm-dev] [MSP430] Plans for MSP430 improvements

[Jozef Lawrynowicz via llvm-dev]

Hi,

I thought I would notify the LLVM community about some improvements to
MSP430 support in LLVM/Clang that I'm planning to make.

MCU support
=============
  - Update MCU data to the latest version
    + Currently only 161 MCUs are supported, but the latest version of
      TI device data describes 609 MCUs.
  - Store the CPU version of each MCU
    + Currently only the hardware multiply version of each MCU is
      stored; knowledge of the CPU supported by each MCU is required for
      future updates.

Support MSP430X code generation (small memory model only)
===========================================================
  - Support the -mcpu=msp430x option in Clang
    + This option is accepted by Clang, but doesn't do anything.
      Plumbing is required so it enables the MSP430X feature in LLVM,
      and passes the correct multilibs to the linker.
  - Implement extended shift instructions
    + MSP430X shift instructions such as RRAM and RRAX can shift by
      more than one bit position in a single instruction.
    + Currently, multiple shift instructions need to be emitted, each
      shifting by one bit position.
  - Implement extended PUSH/POP instructions
    + PUSHM/POPM can push and pop multiple registers with a single
      instruction.
    + Currently, multiple PUSH/POP instructions need to be emitted, each
      pushing or popping one register.
  - Implement the RPT flag in the extension word
    + The RPT flag describes how many times an instruction should be
      repeated. Up to 16 repeats are supported, and the repeat count can
      be hard-coded into the extension word, or stored in a register
      described by the extension word.
    + This is mainly used for encoding shifts by amounts not supported
      by the more compact R**M instructions.

Check correctness of code generation using the GCC testsuite
==============================================================
  - I've used the Embecosm "gcc-for-llvm-testing"[1] repository to run a
    subset of GCC's execution tests on MSP430, using the Binutils/GDB
    simulator. So far it doesn't seem like anything is critically
    broken, but I need to do a full run of the suite and analyze the
    results.

In addition to above, I've also implemented ELF object attributes,
currently awaiting review here: <https://reviews.llvm.org/D107969>

Thanks,
Jozef

[1] <https://github.com/embecosm/gcc-for-llvm-testing>