[llvm-dev] Controlling parameter alignment

[Doerfert, Johannes via llvm-dev]

On 2/26/21 2:50 PM, Reid Kleckner wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 25, 2021 at 5:00 PM Doerfert, Johannes <jdoerfert at anl.gov>
> wrote:
>
>> To double check, the problem is the last argument here
>> https://godbolt.org/z/Gqva4Y does not carry the align(16)
>> information anymore, correct?
>>
> Basically, yes.
>
>
>> If so, I don't see an immediate problem with allowing an "alignment"
>> be applied to non-pointer values. The semantics would probably say
>> that if the value is demoted to memory/stack, the associated alignment
>> has to be guaranteed. As noted before [0], `align` is actually a hint
>> and not a requirement. I'm unsure if we could not make it binding TBH,
>> will think about that, interested in opinions.
>>
>> I take it we can't/don't want to legalize the constraints in the
>> backend, right? I mean, use `%sturct.S* align(16) byval(%sturct.S) %p`
>> in the IR. On that thought, what happens if we have a `struct S *`
>> argument in source which we then promote to pass it by value?
>>
> Yes, we wouldn't want to use byval in the frontend because it is best to
> use IR arguments that are lowered correctly regardless of their position in
> the argument list. Using byval usually forces the argument to be passed in
> memory, and that isn't correct if the six double arguments are removed from
> the original example. This has the surprising consequence that we can't,
> for example, remove arguments from vararg functions:
> https://reviews.llvm.org/rGe6e88f99b35f2fde5008e36f0d93f5231564b7d8
>   And, generally, byval results in worse code at the call site than passing
> SSA values does.
>
> If LLVM is able to do argument promotion, usually that means there is no
> ABI compatibility concern, and the arguments don't have to be aligned or
> arranged in any particular way. I think argument promotion in this case
> would pass each field individually.

Right, the [4xdouble] should not be exposed as first class value by arg 
promotion.


>
> ----
>
> I think what we need here is a new attribute, or a repurposed attribute, to
> control argument alignment. The original patch uses alignstack(n) for this
> purpose, which to date is used to control the stack pointer alignment for
> the whole call frame, and not for arguments. Do people like that, or is it
> confusing? If it's OK to use alignstack(n) on an argument, should we start
> using it on byval arguments in addition to align(), or is that just churn?
> Is it useful to have this kind of strong separation between ABI attributes
> and optimization hint attributes?
>
alignstack seems OK to me. We can't (easily) reuse align because it can 
be dropped elsewhere and we might not want to have special rules.

Using alignstack for byval would also eliminate the special rule (for 
align) there I guess.

~ Johannes