[llvm-dev] pointer provenance introduction to load/store instructions

[Aaron Ballman via llvm-dev]

On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 6:57 PM Jeroen Dobbelaere via llvm-dev
<llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> as some of you already know, the full restrict patches[0] introduce an optional 'ptr_provenance' operand
> to LoadInst/StoreInst. In the context of full restrict support, this operand is used to separate the
> computation of the pointer operand from the possible restrict provenance of that operand. This was necessary
> so that we could keep all the optimizations working on those pointers, without being blocked by the noalias intrinsics.
> At the same time we avoided the risk to lose the noalias provenance of the instruction.
>
> As that separation can also be useful in other situations, there was a request in the past LLVM Alias Analysis Tech calls[1],
> to split out the pointer provenance changes and propose them as a next step for inclusion.
>
> Fast forward to today. A lot more discussions about pointer provenance and related problems are ongoing.
>
> Maybe the provided set of patches[2] and the experience with tracking the provenance in the full restrict patches can
> be a first step to help solving some of those problems ?
>
> Any feedback is welcome, also during tomorrows AA TechCall[1]

I may not be able to make the call (the call starts as WG14 meetings
are ending), but I wanted to ask whether discussions of pointer
provenance are tracking the draft TS from WG14 on the subject
(http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n2676.pdf)? This is a
work item from the C committee's Memory Object Model study group, and
any feedback we can provide to the SG on the TS would be greatly
appreciated as the committee's expectation is to someday roll this TS
into the C standard (with adjustments from whatever implementation
feedback is generated).

Thanks!

~Aaron

>
> Greetings,
>
> Jeroen Dobbelaere
>
> [0] https://reviews.llvm.org/D68484 [PATCH 01/27] [noalias] LangRef: noalias intrinsics and ptr_provenance documentation.
> [1] https://docs.google.com/document/d/17U-WvX8qyKc3S36YUKr3xfF-GHunWyYowXbxEdpHscw/edit?usp=sharing  LLVM AA TechCall
> [2] https://reviews.llvm.org/D104268 [ptr_provenance] Introduce optional ptr_provenance operand to load/store
>
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