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6 <title>Getting Started with LLVM System</title>
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11 <div class="doc_title">
12 Getting Started with the LLVM System
13 </div>
15 <ul>
16 <li><a href="#overview">Overview</a>
17 <li><a href="#quickstart">Getting Started Quickly (A Summary)</a>
18 <li><a href="#requirements">Requirements</a>
19 <ol>
20 <li><a href="#hardware">Hardware</a>
21 <li><a href="#software">Software</a>
22 <li><a href="#brokengcc">Broken versions of GCC</a>
23 </ol></li>
25 <li><a href="#starting">Getting Started with LLVM</a>
26 <ol>
27 <li><a href="#terminology">Terminology and Notation</a>
28 <li><a href="#environment">Setting Up Your Environment</a>
29 <li><a href="#unpack">Unpacking the LLVM Archives</a>
30 <li><a href="#checkout">Checkout LLVM from CVS</a>
31 <li><a href="#installcf">Install the GCC Front End</a>
32 <li><a href="#config">Local LLVM Configuration</a>
33 <li><a href="#compile">Compiling the LLVM Suite Source Code</a>
34 <li><a href="#cross-compile">Cross-Compiling LLVM</a>
35 <li><a href="#objfiles">The Location of LLVM Object Files</a>
36 <li><a href="#optionalconfig">Optional Configuration Items</a>
37 </ol></li>
39 <li><a href="#layout">Program layout</a>
40 <ol>
41 <li><a href="#cvsdir"><tt>CVS</tt> directories</a>
42 <li><a href="#examples"><tt>llvm/examples</tt></a>
43 <li><a href="#include"><tt>llvm/include</tt></a>
44 <li><a href="#lib"><tt>llvm/lib</tt></a>
45 <li><a href="#projects"><tt>llvm/projects</tt></a>
46 <li><a href="#runtime"><tt>llvm/runtime</tt></a>
47 <li><a href="#test"><tt>llvm/test</tt></a>
48 <li><a href="#llvmtest"><tt>llvm-test</tt></a>
49 <li><a href="#tools"><tt>llvm/tools</tt></a>
50 <li><a href="#utils"><tt>llvm/utils</tt></a>
51 <li><a href="#win32"><tt>llvm/win32</tt></a>
52 </ol></li>
54 <li><a href="#tutorial">An Example Using the LLVM Tool Chain</a>
55 <ol>
56 <li><a href="#tutorial4">Example with llvm-gcc4</a></li>
57 </ol>
58 <li><a href="#problems">Common Problems</a>
59 <li><a href="#links">Links</a>
60 </ul>
62 <div class="doc_author">
63 <p>Written by:
64 <a href="mailto:criswell@uiuc.edu">John Criswell</a>,
65 <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a>,
66 <a href="http://misha.brukman.net">Misha Brukman</a>,
67 <a href="http://www.cs.uiuc.edu/~vadve">Vikram Adve</a>, and
68 <a href="mailto:gshi1@uiuc.edu">Guochun Shi</a>.
69 </p>
70 </div>
73 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
74 <div class="doc_section">
75 <a name="overview"><b>Overview</b></a>
76 </div>
77 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
79 <div class="doc_text">
81 <p>Welcome to LLVM! In order to get started, you first need to know some
82 basic information.</p>
84 <p>First, LLVM comes in two pieces. The first piece is the LLVM suite. This
85 contains all of the tools, libraries, and header files needed to use the low
86 level virtual machine. It contains an assembler, disassembler, bytecode
87 analyzer and bytecode optimizer. It also contains a test suite that can be
88 used to test the LLVM tools and the GCC front end.</p>
90 <p>The second piece is the GCC front end. This component provides a version of
91 GCC that compiles C and C++ code into LLVM bytecode. Currently, the GCC front
92 end uses the GCC parser to convert code to LLVM. Once
93 compiled into LLVM bytecode, a program can be manipulated with the LLVM tools
94 from the LLVM suite.</p>
96 <p>
97 There is a third, optional piece called llvm-test. It is a suite of programs
98 with a testing harness that can be used to further test LLVM's functionality
99 and performance.
100 </p>
102 </div>
104 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
105 <div class="doc_section">
106 <a name="quickstart"><b>Getting Started Quickly (A Summary)</b></a>
107 </div>
108 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
110 <div class="doc_text">
112 <p>Here's the short story for getting up and running quickly with LLVM:</p>
114 <ol>
115 <li>Read the documentation.</li>
116 <li>Read the documentation.</li>
117 <li>Remember that you were warned twice about reading the documentation.</li>
118 <li>Install the GCC front end if you intend to compile C or C++:
119 <ol>
120 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-the-C-front-end-to-live</i></tt></li>
121 <li><tt>gunzip --stdout llvm-gcc.<i>platform</i>.tar.gz | tar -xvf -</tt>
122 </li>
123 <li><tt>cd llvm-gcc3.4/<i>platform</i> (llvm-gcc3.4 only)<br>
124 ./fixheaders</tt></li>
125 <li>Add llvm-gcc's "bin" directory to your PATH variable.</li>
126 </ol></li>
128 <li>Get the LLVM Source Code
129 <ul>
130 <li>With the distributed files (or use <a href="#checkout">CVS</a>):
131 <ol>
132 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-llvm-to-live</i></tt>
133 <li><tt>gunzip --stdout llvm-<i>version</i>.tar.gz | tar -xvf -</tt>
134 </ol></li>
136 </ul></li>
138 <li><b>[Optional]</b> Get the Test Suite Source Code
139 <ul>
140 <li>With the distributed files (or use <a href="#checkout">CVS</a>):
141 <ol>
142 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-llvm-to-live</i></tt>
143 <li><tt>cd llvm/projects</tt>
144 <li><tt>gunzip --stdout llvm-test-<i>version</i>.tar.gz | tar -xvf -</tt>
145 </ol></li>
147 </ul></li>
150 <li>Configure the LLVM Build Environment
151 <ol>
152 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-to-build-llvm</i></tt></li>
153 <li><tt><i>/path/to/llvm/</i>configure [options]</tt><br>
154 Some common options:
156 <ul>
157 <li><tt>--prefix=<i>directory</i></tt>
158 <p>Specify for <i>directory</i> the full pathname of where you
159 want the LLVM tools and libraries to be installed (default
160 <tt>/usr/local</tt>).</p></li>
161 <li><tt>--with-llvmgccdir=<i>directory</i></tt>
162 <p>Optionally, specify for <i>directory</i> the full pathname of the
163 C/C++ front end installation to use with this LLVM configuration. If
164 not specified, the PATH will be searched.</p></li>
165 <li><tt>--enable-spec2000=<i>directory</i></tt>
166 <p>Enable the SPEC2000 benchmarks for testing. The SPEC2000
167 benchmarks should be available in
168 <tt><i>directory</i></tt>.</p></li>
169 </ul>
170 </ol></li>
172 <li>Build the LLVM Suite:
173 <ol>
174 <li><tt>gmake -k |&amp; tee gnumake.out
175 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;# this is csh or tcsh syntax</tt></li>
176 <li>If you get an "internal compiler error (ICE)" or test failures, see
177 <a href="#brokengcc">below</a>.</li>
178 </ol>
180 </ol>
182 <p>Consult the <a href="#starting">Getting Started with LLVM</a> section for
183 detailed information on configuring and compiling LLVM. See <a
184 href="#environment">Setting Up Your Environment</a> for tips that simplify
185 working with the GCC front end and LLVM tools. Go to <a href="#layout">Program
186 Layout</a> to learn about the layout of the source code tree.</p>
188 </div>
190 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
191 <div class="doc_section">
192 <a name="requirements"><b>Requirements</b></a>
193 </div>
194 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
196 <div class="doc_text">
198 <p>Before you begin to use the LLVM system, review the requirements given below.
199 This may save you some trouble by knowing ahead of time what hardware and
200 software you will need.</p>
202 </div>
204 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
205 <div class="doc_subsection">
206 <a name="hardware"><b>Hardware</b></a>
207 </div>
209 <div class="doc_text">
211 <p>LLVM is known to work on the following platforms:</p>
213 <table cellpadding="3" summary="Known LLVM platforms">
214 <tr>
215 <th>OS</th>
216 <th>Arch</th>
217 <th>Compilers</th>
218 </tr>
219 <tr>
220 <td>Linux</td>
221 <td>x86<sup><a href="#pf_1">1</a></sup></td>
222 <td>GCC</td>
223 </tr>
224 <tr>
225 <td>Solaris</td>
226 <td>V9 (Ultrasparc)</td>
227 <td>GCC</td>
228 </tr>
229 <tr>
230 <td>FreeBSD</td>
231 <td>x86<sup><a href="#pf_1">1</a></sup></td>
232 <td>GCC</td>
233 </tr>
234 <tr>
235 <td>MacOS X<sup><a href="#pf_2">2</a></sup></td>
236 <td>PowerPC</td>
237 <td>GCC</td>
238 </tr>
239 <tr>
240 <td>MacOS X<sup><a href="#pf_2">2</a></sup></td>
241 <td>x86</td>
242 <td>GCC</td>
244 </tr>
245 <tr>
246 <td>Cygwin/Win32</td>
247 <td>x86<sup><a href="#pf_1">1</a>,<a href="#pf_8">8</a></sup></td>
248 <td>GCC 3.4.X, binutils 2.15</td>
249 </tr>
250 <tr>
251 <td>MinGW/Win32</td>
252 <td>x86<sup><a href="#pf_1">1</a>,<a href="#pf_6">6</a>,<a href="#pf_8">8</a></sup></td>
253 <td>GCC 3.4.X, binutils 2.15</td>
254 </tr>
255 <tr>
256 <td>Linux</td>
257 <td>amd64<sup><a href="#pf_3">3</a></sup></td>
258 <td>GCC</td>
259 </tr>
260 </table>
262 <p>LLVM has partial support for the following platforms:</p>
264 <table summary="LLVM partial platform support">
265 <tr>
266 <th>OS</th>
267 <th>Arch</th>
268 <th>Compilers</th>
269 </tr>
270 <tr>
271 <td>Windows</td>
272 <td>x86<sup><a href="#pf_1">1</a></sup></td>
273 <td>Visual Studio .NET<sup><a href="#pf_4">4</a>,<a href="#pf_5">5</a></sup></td>
274 <tr>
275 <td>AIX<sup><a href="#pf_3">3</a>,<a href="#pf_4">4</a></sup></td>
276 <td>PowerPC</td>
277 <td>GCC</td>
278 </tr>
279 <tr>
280 <td>Linux<sup><a href="#pf_3">3</a>,<a href="#pf_5">5</a></sup></td>
281 <td>PowerPC</td>
282 <td>GCC</td>
283 </tr>
285 <tr>
286 <td>Linux<sup><a href="#pf_7">7</a></sup></td>
287 <td>Alpha</td>
288 <td>GCC</td>
289 </tr>
290 <tr>
291 <td>Linux<sup><a href="#pf_7">7</a></sup></td>
292 <td>Itanium (IA-64)</td>
293 <td>GCC</td>
294 </tr>
295 <tr>
296 <td>HP-UX<sup><a href="#pf_7">7</a></sup></td>
297 <td>Itanium (IA-64)</td>
298 <td>HP aCC</td>
299 </tr>
300 </table>
302 <p><b>Notes:</b></p>
304 <div class="doc_notes">
305 <ol>
306 <li><a name="pf_1">Code generation supported for Pentium processors and
307 up</a></li>
308 <li><a name="pf_2">Code generation supported for 32-bit ABI only</a></li>
309 <li><a name="pf_3">No native code generation</a></li>
310 <li><a name="pf_4">Build is not complete: one or more tools don't link</a></li>
311 <li><a name="pf_5">The GCC-based C/C++ frontend does not build</a></li>
312 <li><a name="pf_6">The port is done using the MSYS shell.</a>
313 <a href="http://www.mingw.org/MinGWiki/">Download</a> and install
314 bison (excl. M4.exe) and flex in that order. Build binutils-2.15 from source,
315 if necessary. Bison &amp; flex can be also grabbed from GNUWin32 sf.net
316 project.</li>
317 <li><a name="pf_7">Native code generation exists but is not complete.</a></li>
318 <li><a name="pf_8">Binutils</a> up to post-2.17 has bug in bfd/cofflink.c
319 preventing LLVM from building correctly. Several workarounds have been
320 introduced into LLVM build system, but the bug can occur anytime in the
321 future. We highly recommend that you rebuild your current binutils with the
322 patch from <a href="http://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2659">
323 Binutils bugzilla</a>, if it wasn't already applied.</li>
324 </ol>
325 </div>
327 <p>Note that you will need about 1-3 GB of space for a full LLVM build in Debug
328 mode, depending on the system (it is so large because of all the debugging
329 information and the fact that the libraries are statically linked into multiple
330 tools). If you do not need many of the tools and you are space-conscious,
331 you can disable them individually in <tt>llvm/tools/Makefile</tt>. The Release
332 build requires considerably less space.</p>
334 <p>The LLVM suite <i>may</i> compile on other platforms, but it is not
335 guaranteed to do so. If compilation is successful, the LLVM utilities should be
336 able to assemble, disassemble, analyze, and optimize LLVM bytecode. Code
337 generation should work as well, although the generated native code may not work
338 on your platform.</p>
340 <p>The GCC front end is not very portable at the moment. If you want to get it
341 to work on another platform, you can download a copy of the source and <a
342 href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">try to compile it</a> on your platform.</p>
344 </div>
346 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
347 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="software"><b>Software</b></a></div>
348 <div class="doc_text">
349 <p>Compiling LLVM requires that you have several software packages
350 installed. The table below lists those required packages. The Package column
351 is the usual name for the software package that LLVM depends on. The Version
352 column provides "known to work" versions of the package. The Notes column
353 describes how LLVM uses the package and provides other details.</p>
354 <table summary="Packages required to compile LLVM">
355 <tr><th>Package</th><th>Version</th><th>Notes</th></tr>
357 <tr>
358 <td><a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/make">GNU Make</a></td>
359 <td>3.79, 3.79.1</td>
360 <td>Makefile/build processor</td>
361 </tr>
363 <tr>
364 <td><a href="http://gcc.gnu.org">GCC</a></td>
365 <td>3.4.2</td>
366 <td>C/C++ compiler<sup><a href="#sf1">1</a></sup></td>
367 </tr>
369 <tr>
370 <td><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo">TeXinfo</a></td>
371 <td>4.5</td>
372 <td>For building the CFE</td>
373 </tr>
375 <tr>
376 <td><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/flex">Flex</a></td>
377 <td>2.5.4</td>
378 <td>LEX compiler</td>
379 </tr>
381 <tr>
382 <td><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/bison.html">Bison</a></td>
383 <td>1.28, 1.35, 1.75, 1.875d, 2.0, or 2.1<br>(not 1.85 or 1.875)</td>
384 <td>YACC compiler</td>
385 </tr>
387 <tr>
388 <td><a href="https://www.cvshome.org/downloads.html">CVS</a></td>
389 <td>&ge;1.11</td>
390 <td>CVS access to LLVM<sup><a href="#sf2">2</a></sup></td>
391 </tr>
393 <tr>
394 <td><a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/dejagnu">DejaGnu</a></td>
395 <td>1.4.2</td>
396 <td>Automated test suite<sup><a href="#sf3">3</a></sup></td>
397 </tr>
399 <tr>
400 <td><a href="http://www.tcl.tk/software/tcltk/">tcl</a></td>
401 <td>8.3, 8.4</td>
402 <td>Automated test suite<sup><a href="#sf3">3</a></sup></td>
403 </tr>
405 <tr>
406 <td><a href="http://expect.nist.gov/">expect</a></td>
407 <td>5.38.0</td>
408 <td>Automated test suite<sup><a href="#sf3">3</a></sup></td>
409 </tr>
411 <tr>
412 <td><a href="http://www.perl.com/download.csp">perl</a></td>
413 <td>&ge;5.6.0</td>
414 <td>Nightly tester, utilities</td>
415 </tr>
417 <tr>
418 <td><a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/m4">GNU M4</a>
419 <td>1.4</td>
420 <td>Macro processor for configuration<sup><a href="#sf4">4</a></sup></td>
421 </tr>
423 <tr>
424 <td><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf">GNU Autoconf</a></td>
425 <td>2.59</td>
426 <td>Configuration script builder<sup><a href="#sf4">4</a></sup></td>
427 </tr>
429 <tr>
430 <td><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/automake">GNU Automake</a></td>
431 <td>1.9.2</td>
432 <td>aclocal macro generator<sup><a href="#sf4">4</a></sup></td>
433 </tr>
435 <tr>
436 <td><a href="http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/libtool">libtool</a></td>
437 <td>1.5.10</td>
438 <td>Shared library manager<sup><a href="#sf4">4</a></sup></td>
439 </tr>
441 </table>
443 <p><b>Notes:</b></p>
444 <div class="doc_notes">
445 <ol>
446 <li><a name="sf1">Only the C and C++ languages are needed so there's no
447 need to build the other languages for LLVM's purposes.</a> See
448 <a href="#brokengcc">below</a> for specific version info.</li>
449 <li><a name="sf2">You only need CVS if you intend to build from the
450 latest LLVM sources. If you're working from a release distribution, you
451 don't need CVS.</a></li>
452 <li><a name="sf3">Only needed if you want to run the automated test
453 suite in the <tt>llvm/test</tt> directory.</a></li>
454 <li><a name="sf4">If you want to make changes to the configure scripts,
455 you will need GNU autoconf (2.59), and consequently, GNU M4 (version 1.4
456 or higher). You will also need automake (1.9.2). We only use aclocal
457 from that package.</a></li>
458 </ol>
459 </div>
461 <p>Additionally, your compilation host is expected to have the usual
462 plethora of Unix utilities. Specifically:</p>
463 <ul>
464 <li><b>ar</b> - archive library builder</li>
465 <li><b>bzip2*</b> - bzip2 command for distribution generation</li>
466 <li><b>bunzip2*</b> - bunzip2 command for distribution checking</li>
467 <li><b>chmod</b> - change permissions on a file</li>
468 <li><b>cat</b> - output concatenation utility</li>
469 <li><b>cp</b> - copy files</li>
470 <li><b>date</b> - print the current date/time </li>
471 <li><b>echo</b> - print to standard output</li>
472 <li><b>egrep</b> - extended regular expression search utility</li>
473 <li><b>etags</b> - C/C++ tag file creator for vim/emacs</li>
474 <li><b>find</b> - find files/dirs in a file system</li>
475 <li><b>grep</b> - regular expression search utility</li>
476 <li><b>gzip*</b> - gzip command for distribution generation</li>
477 <li><b>gunzip*</b> - gunzip command for distribution checking</li>
478 <li><b>install</b> - install directories/files </li>
479 <li><b>mkdir</b> - create a directory</li>
480 <li><b>mv</b> - move (rename) files</li>
481 <li><b>ranlib</b> - symbol table builder for archive libraries</li>
482 <li><b>rm</b> - remove (delete) files and directories</li>
483 <li><b>sed</b> - stream editor for transforming output</li>
484 <li><b>sh</b> - Bourne shell for make build scripts</li>
485 <li><b>tar</b> - tape archive for distribution generation</li>
486 <li><b>test</b> - test things in file system</li>
487 <li><b>unzip*</b> - unzip command for distribution checking</li>
488 <li><b>zip*</b> - zip command for distribution generation</li>
489 </ul>
490 </div>
492 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
493 <div class="doc_subsection">
494 <a name="brokengcc">Broken versions of GCC</a>
495 </div>
497 <div class="doc_text">
499 <p>LLVM is very demanding of the host C++ compiler, and as such tends to expose
500 bugs in the compiler. In particular, several versions of GCC crash when trying
501 to compile LLVM. We routinely use GCC 3.3.3, 3.4.0, and Apple 4.0.1
502 successfully with them (however, see important notes below). Other versions
503 of GCC will probably work as well. GCC versions listed
504 here are known to not work. If you are using one of these versions, please try
505 to upgrade your GCC to something more recent. If you run into a problem with a
506 version of GCC not listed here, please <a href="mailto:llvmdev@cs.uiuc.edu">let
507 us know</a>. Please use the "<tt>gcc -v</tt>" command to find out which version
508 of GCC you are using.
509 </p>
511 <p><b>GCC versions prior to 3.0</b>: GCC 2.96.x and before had several
512 problems in the STL that effectively prevent it from compiling LLVM.
513 </p>
515 <p><b>GCC 3.2.2</b>: This version of GCC fails to compile LLVM.</p>
517 <p><b>GCC 3.3.2</b>: This version of GCC suffered from a <a
518 href="http://gcc.gnu.org/PR13392">serious bug</a> which causes it to crash in
519 the "<tt>convert_from_eh_region_ranges_1</tt>" GCC function.</p>
521 <p><b>Cygwin GCC 3.3.3</b>: The version of GCC 3.3.3 commonly shipped with
522 Cygwin does not work. Please <a href="CFEBuildInstrs.html#cygwin">upgrade
523 to a newer version</a> if possible.</p>
524 <p><b>SuSE GCC 3.3.3</b>: The version of GCC 3.3.3 shipped with SuSE 9.1 (and
525 possibly others) does not compile LLVM correctly (it appears that exception
526 handling is broken in some cases). Please download the FSF 3.3.3 or upgrade
527 to a newer version of GCC.</p>
528 <p><b>GCC 3.4.0</b> on linux/x86 (32-bit)</b>: GCC miscompiles portions of the
529 code generator, causing an infinite loop in the llvm-gcc build when built
530 with optimizations enabled (i.e. a release build).</p>
531 <p><b>GCC 3.4.2</b> on linux/x86 (32-bit)</b>: GCC miscompiles portions of the
532 code generator at -O3, as with 3.4.0. However gcc 3.4.2 (unlike 3.4.0)
533 correctly compiles LLVM at -O2. A work around is to build release LLVM
534 builds with "make ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 OPTIMIZE_OPTION=-O2 ..."</p>
535 <p><b>GCC 3.4.x</b> on X86-64/amd64</b>: GCC <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1056">
536 miscompiles portions of LLVM</a>.</p>
537 <p><b>IA-64 GCC 4.0.0</b>: The IA-64 version of GCC 4.0.0 is known to
538 miscompile LLVM.</p>
539 <p><b>Apple Xcode 2.3</b>: GCC crashes when compiling LLVM at -O3 (which is the
540 default with ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1. To work around this, build with
541 "ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 OPTIMIZE_OPTION=-O2".</p>
542 <p><b>GCC 4.1.1</b>: GCC fails to build LLVM with template concept check errors
543 compiling some files. At the time of this writing, GCC mainline (4.2)
544 did not share the problem.</p>
545 <p><b>GCC 4.1.1 on X86-64/amd64</b>: GCC <a href="http://llvm.org/PR1063">
546 miscompiles portions of LLVM</a> when compiling llvm itself into 64-bit
547 code. LLVM will appear to mostly work but will be buggy, e.g. failing
548 portions of its testsuite.</p>
549 <p><b>GCC 4.1.2 on OpenSUSE</b>: Seg faults during libstdc++ build and on x86_64
550 platforms compiling md5.c gets a mangled constant.</p>
551 <p><b>GNU ld 2.16.X</b>. Some 2.16.X versions of the ld linker will produce very
552 long warning messages complaining that some ".gnu.linkonce.t.*" symbol was
553 defined in a discarded section. You can safely ignore these messages as they are
554 erroneous and the linkage is correct. These messages disappear using ld
555 2.17.</p>
556 </div>
560 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
561 <div class="doc_section">
562 <a name="starting"><b>Getting Started with LLVM</b></a>
563 </div>
564 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
566 <div class="doc_text">
568 <p>The remainder of this guide is meant to get you up and running with
569 LLVM and to give you some basic information about the LLVM environment.</p>
571 <p>The later sections of this guide describe the <a
572 href="#layout">general layout</a> of the the LLVM source tree, a <a
573 href="#tutorial">simple example</a> using the LLVM tool chain, and <a
574 href="#links">links</a> to find more information about LLVM or to get
575 help via e-mail.</p>
576 </div>
578 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
579 <div class="doc_subsection">
580 <a name="terminology">Terminology and Notation</a>
581 </div>
583 <div class="doc_text">
585 <p>Throughout this manual, the following names are used to denote paths
586 specific to the local system and working environment. <i>These are not
587 environment variables you need to set but just strings used in the rest
588 of this document below</i>. In any of the examples below, simply replace
589 each of these names with the appropriate pathname on your local system.
590 All these paths are absolute:</p>
592 <dl>
593 <dt>SRC_ROOT
594 <dd>
595 This is the top level directory of the LLVM source tree.
596 <br><br>
598 <dt>OBJ_ROOT
599 <dd>
600 This is the top level directory of the LLVM object tree (i.e. the
601 tree where object files and compiled programs will be placed. It
602 can be the same as SRC_ROOT).
603 <br><br>
605 <dt>LLVMGCCDIR
606 <dd>
607 This is where the LLVM GCC Front End is installed.
609 For the pre-built GCC front end binaries, the LLVMGCCDIR is
610 <tt>llvm-gcc/<i>platform</i>/llvm-gcc</tt>.
611 </dl>
613 </div>
615 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
616 <div class="doc_subsection">
617 <a name="environment">Setting Up Your Environment</a>
618 </div>
620 <div class="doc_text">
623 In order to compile and use LLVM, you may need to set some environment
624 variables.
626 <dl>
627 <dt><tt>LLVM_LIB_SEARCH_PATH</tt>=<tt>/path/to/your/bytecode/libs</tt></dt>
628 <dd>[Optional] This environment variable helps LLVM linking tools find the
629 locations of your bytecode libraries. It is provided only as a
630 convenience since you can specify the paths using the -L options of the
631 tools and the C/C++ front-end will automatically use the bytecode files
632 installed in its
633 <tt>lib</tt> directory.</dd>
634 </dl>
636 </div>
638 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
639 <div class="doc_subsection">
640 <a name="unpack">Unpacking the LLVM Archives</a>
641 </div>
643 <div class="doc_text">
646 If you have the LLVM distribution, you will need to unpack it before you
647 can begin to compile it. LLVM is distributed as a set of two files: the LLVM
648 suite and the LLVM GCC front end compiled for your platform. There is an
649 additional test suite that is optional. Each file is a TAR archive that is
650 compressed with the gzip program.
651 </p>
653 <p>The files are as follows, with <em>x.y</em> marking the version number:
654 <dl>
655 <dt><tt>llvm-x.y.tar.gz</tt></dt>
656 <dd>Source release for the LLVM libraries and tools.<br/></dd>
658 <dt><tt>llvm-test-x.y.tar.gz</tt></dt>
659 <dd>Source release for the LLVM test suite.</dd>
661 <dt><tt>llvm-gcc4-x.y.source.tar.gz</tt></dt>
662 <dd>Source release of the llvm-gcc4 front end. See README.LLVM in the root
663 directory for build instructions.<br/></dd>
665 <dt><tt>llvm-gcc4-x.y-platform.tar.gz</tt></dt>
666 <dd>Binary release of the llvm-gcc4 front end for a specific platform.<br/></dd>
668 </dl>
670 <p>It is also possible to download the sources of the llvm-gcc4 front end from a
671 read-only subversion mirror at
672 svn://anonsvn.opensource.apple.com/svn/llvm/trunk. </p>
674 </div>
676 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
677 <div class="doc_subsection">
678 <a name="checkout">Checkout LLVM from CVS</a>
679 </div>
681 <div class="doc_text">
683 <p>If you have access to our CVS repository, you can get a fresh copy of
684 the entire source code. All you need to do is check it out from CVS as
685 follows:</p>
687 <ul>
688 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-llvm-to-live</i></tt>
689 <li><tt>cvs -d :pserver:anon@llvm.org:/var/cvs/llvm login</tt>
690 <li>Hit the return key when prompted for the password.
691 <li><tt>cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anon@llvm.org:/var/cvs/llvm co
692 llvm</tt>
693 </ul>
695 <p>This will create an '<tt>llvm</tt>' directory in the current
696 directory and fully populate it with the LLVM source code, Makefiles,
697 test directories, and local copies of documentation files.</p>
699 <p>If you want to get a specific release (as opposed to the most recent
700 revision), you can specify a label. The following releases have the following
701 labels:</p>
703 <ul>
704 <li>Release 2.0: <b>RELEASE_20</b></li>
705 <li>Release 1.9: <b>RELEASE_19</b></li>
706 <li>Release 1.8: <b>RELEASE_18</b></li>
707 <li>Release 1.7: <b>RELEASE_17</b></li>
708 <li>Release 1.6: <b>RELEASE_16</b></li>
709 <li>Release 1.5: <b>RELEASE_15</b></li>
710 <li>Release 1.4: <b>RELEASE_14</b></li>
711 <li>Release 1.3: <b>RELEASE_13</b></li>
712 <li>Release 1.2: <b>RELEASE_12</b></li>
713 <li>Release 1.1: <b>RELEASE_11</b></li>
714 <li>Release 1.0: <b>RELEASE_1</b></li>
715 </ul>
717 <p>If you would like to get the LLVM test suite (a separate package as of 1.4),
718 you get it from the CVS repository:</p>
719 <pre>
720 cd llvm/projects
721 cvs -z3 -d :pserver:anon@llvm.org:/var/cvs/llvm co llvm-test
722 </pre>
723 <p>By placing it in the <tt>llvm/projects</tt>, it will be automatically
724 configured by the LLVM configure script as well as automatically updated when
725 you run <tt>cvs update</tt>.</p>
727 <p>If you would like to get the GCC front end source code, you can also get it
728 and build it yourself. Please follow <a href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">these
729 instructions</a> to successfully get and build the LLVM GCC front-end.</p>
731 </div>
733 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
734 <div class="doc_subsection">
735 <a name="installcf">Install the GCC Front End</a>
736 </div>
738 <div class="doc_text">
740 <p>Before configuring and compiling the LLVM suite, you can optionally extract the
741 LLVM GCC front end from the binary distribution. It is used for running the
742 llvm-test testsuite and for compiling C/C++ programs. Note that you can optionally
743 <a href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">build llvm-gcc yourself</a> after building the
744 main LLVM repository.</p>
746 <p>To install the GCC front end, do the following:</p>
748 <ol>
749 <li><tt>cd <i>where-you-want-the-front-end-to-live</i></tt></li>
750 <li><tt>gunzip --stdout llvmgcc-<i>version</i>.<i>platform</i>.tar.gz | tar -xvf
751 -</tt></li>
752 </ol>
754 <p>Once the binary is uncompressed, you should add a symlink for llvm-gcc and
755 llvm-g++ to some directory in your path. When you configure LLVM, it will
756 automatically detect llvm-gcc's presence (if it is in your path) enabling its
757 use in llvm-test. Note that you can always build or install llvm-gcc at any
758 pointer after building the main LLVM repository: just reconfigure llvm and
759 llvm-test will pick it up.
760 </p>
762 <p>The binary versions of the GCC front end may not suit all of your needs. For
763 example, the binary distribution may include an old version of a system header
764 file, not "fix" a header file that needs to be fixed for GCC, or it may be
765 linked with libraries not available on your system.</p>
767 <p>In cases like these, you may want to try <a
768 href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">building the GCC front end from source.</a> This is
769 much easier now than it was in the past.</p>
771 </div>
773 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
774 <div class="doc_subsection">
775 <a name="config">Local LLVM Configuration</a>
776 </div>
778 <div class="doc_text">
780 <p>Once checked out from the CVS repository, the LLVM suite source code must be
781 configured via the <tt>configure</tt> script. This script sets variables in the
782 various <tt>*.in</tt> files, most notably <tt>llvm/Makefile.config</tt> and
783 <tt>llvm/include/Config/config.h</tt>. It also populates <i>OBJ_ROOT</i> with
784 the Makefiles needed to begin building LLVM.</p>
786 <p>The following environment variables are used by the <tt>configure</tt>
787 script to configure the build system:</p>
789 <table summary="LLVM configure script environment variables">
790 <tr><th>Variable</th><th>Purpose</th></tr>
791 <tr>
792 <td>CC</td>
793 <td>Tells <tt>configure</tt> which C compiler to use. By default,
794 <tt>configure</tt> will look for the first GCC C compiler in
795 <tt>PATH</tt>. Use this variable to override
796 <tt>configure</tt>'s default behavior.</td>
797 </tr>
798 <tr>
799 <td>CXX</td>
800 <td>Tells <tt>configure</tt> which C++ compiler to use. By default,
801 <tt>configure</tt> will look for the first GCC C++ compiler in
802 <tt>PATH</tt>. Use this variable to override
803 <tt>configure</tt>'s default behavior.</td>
804 </tr>
805 </table>
807 <p>The following options can be used to set or enable LLVM specific options:</p>
809 <dl>
810 <dt><i>--with-llvmgccdir</i></dt>
811 <dd>Path to the LLVM C/C++ FrontEnd to be used with this LLVM configuration.
812 The value of this option should specify the full pathname of the C/C++ Front
813 End to be used. If this option is not provided, the PATH will be searched for
814 a program named <i>llvm-gcc</i> and the C/C++ FrontEnd install directory will
815 be inferred from the path found. If the option is not given, and no llvm-gcc
816 can be found in the path then a warning will be produced by
817 <tt>configure</tt> indicating this situation. LLVM may still be built with
818 the <tt>tools-only</tt> target but attempting to build the runtime libraries
819 will fail as these libraries require llvm-gcc and llvm-g++. See
820 <a href="#installcf">Install the GCC Front End</a> for details on installing
821 the C/C++ Front End. See
822 <a href="CFEBuildInstrs.html">Bootstrapping the LLVM C/C++ Front-End</a>
823 for details on building the C/C++ Front End.</dd>
824 <dt><i>--with-tclinclude</i></dt>
825 <dd>Path to the tcl include directory under which <tt>tclsh</tt> can be
826 found. Use this if you have multiple tcl installations on your machine and you
827 want to use a specific one (8.x) for LLVM. LLVM only uses tcl for running the
828 dejagnu based test suite in <tt>llvm/test</tt>. If you don't specify this
829 option, the LLVM configure script will search for the tcl 8.4 and 8.3
830 releases.
831 <br><br>
832 </dd>
833 <dt><i>--enable-optimized</i></dt>
834 <dd>
835 Enables optimized compilation by default (debugging symbols are removed
836 and GCC optimization flags are enabled). The default is to use an
837 unoptimized build (also known as a debug build).
838 <br><br>
839 </dd>
840 <dt><i>--enable-debug-runtime</i></dt>
841 <dd>
842 Enables debug symbols in the runtime libraries. The default is to strip
843 debug symbols from the runtime libraries.
844 </dd>
845 <dt><i>--enable-jit</i></dt>
846 <dd>
847 Compile the Just In Time (JIT) compiler functionality. This is not
848 available
849 on all platforms. The default is dependent on platform, so it is best
850 to explicitly enable it if you want it.
851 <br><br>
852 </dd>
853 <dt><i>--enable-targets=</i><tt>target-option</tt></dt>
854 <dd>Controls which targets will be built and linked into llc. The default
855 value for <tt>target_options</tt> is "all" which builds and links all
856 available targets. The value "host-only" can be specified to build only a
857 native compiler (no cross-compiler targets available). The "native" target is
858 selected as the target of the build host. You can also specify a comma
859 separated list of target names that you want available in llc. The target
860 names use all lower case. The current set of targets is: <br/>
861 <tt>alpha, ia64, powerpc, skeleton, sparc, x86</tt>.
862 <br><br></dd>
863 <dt><i>--enable-doxygen</i></dt>
864 <dd>Look for the doxygen program and enable construction of doxygen based
865 documentation from the source code. This is disabled by default because
866 generating the documentation can take a long time and producess 100s of
867 megabytes of output.</dd>
868 <dt><i>--with-udis86</i></dt>
869 <dd>LLVM can use external disassembler library for various purposes (now it's
870 used only for examining code produced by JIT). This option will enable usage
871 of <a href="http://udis86.sourceforge.net/">udis86</a> x86 (both 32 and 64
872 bits) disassembler library.</dd>
873 </dl>
875 <p>To configure LLVM, follow these steps:</p>
877 <ol>
878 <li>Change directory into the object root directory:
879 <br>
880 <tt>cd <i>OBJ_ROOT</i></tt>
881 <br><br>
883 <li>Run the <tt>configure</tt> script located in the LLVM source tree:
884 <br>
885 <tt><i>SRC_ROOT</i>/configure --prefix=/install/path [other options]</tt>
886 <br><br>
887 </ol>
889 </div>
891 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
892 <div class="doc_subsection">
893 <a name="compile">Compiling the LLVM Suite Source Code</a>
894 </div>
896 <div class="doc_text">
898 <p>Once you have configured LLVM, you can build it. There are three types of
899 builds:</p>
901 <dl>
902 <dt>Debug Builds
903 <dd>
904 These builds are the default when one types <tt>gmake</tt> (unless the
905 <tt>--enable-optimized</tt> option was used during configuration). The
906 build system will compile the tools and libraries with debugging
907 information.
908 <br><br>
910 <dt>Release (Optimized) Builds
911 <dd>
912 These builds are enabled with the <tt>--enable-optimized</tt> option to
913 <tt>configure</tt> or by specifying <tt>ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1</tt> on the
914 <tt>gmake</tt> command line. For these builds, the build system will
915 compile the tools and libraries with GCC optimizations enabled and strip
916 debugging information from the libraries and executables it generates.
917 <br><br>
919 <dt>Profile Builds
920 <dd>
921 These builds are for use with profiling. They compile profiling
922 information into the code for use with programs like <tt>gprof</tt>.
923 Profile builds must be started by specifying <tt>ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt>
924 on the <tt>gmake</tt> command line.
925 </dl>
927 <p>Once you have LLVM configured, you can build it by entering the
928 <i>OBJ_ROOT</i> directory and issuing the following command:</p>
930 <p><tt>gmake</tt></p>
932 <p>If the build fails, please <a href="#brokengcc">check here</a> to see if you
933 are using a version of GCC that is known not to compile LLVM.</p>
936 If you have multiple processors in your machine, you may wish to use some of
937 the parallel build options provided by GNU Make. For example, you could use the
938 command:</p>
940 <p><tt>gmake -j2</tt></p>
942 <p>There are several special targets which are useful when working with the LLVM
943 source code:</p>
945 <dl>
946 <dt><tt>gmake clean</tt>
947 <dd>
948 Removes all files generated by the build. This includes object files,
949 generated C/C++ files, libraries, and executables.
950 <br><br>
952 <dt><tt>gmake dist-clean</tt>
953 <dd>
954 Removes everything that <tt>gmake clean</tt> does, but also removes files
955 generated by <tt>configure</tt>. It attempts to return the source tree to the
956 original state in which it was shipped.
957 <br><br>
959 <dt><tt>gmake install</tt>
960 <dd>
961 Installs LLVM header files, libraries, tools, and documentation in a
962 hierarchy
963 under $PREFIX, specified with <tt>./configure --prefix=[dir]</tt>, which
964 defaults to <tt>/usr/local</tt>.
965 <br><br>
967 <dt><tt>gmake -C runtime install-bytecode</tt>
968 <dd>
969 Assuming you built LLVM into $OBJDIR, when this command is run, it will
970 install bytecode libraries into the GCC front end's bytecode library
971 directory. If you need to update your bytecode libraries,
972 this is the target to use once you've built them.
973 <br><br>
974 </dl>
976 <p>Please see the <a href="MakefileGuide.html">Makefile Guide</a> for further
977 details on these <tt>make</tt> targets and descriptions of other targets
978 available.</p>
980 <p>It is also possible to override default values from <tt>configure</tt> by
981 declaring variables on the command line. The following are some examples:</p>
983 <dl>
984 <dt><tt>gmake ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1</tt>
985 <dd>
986 Perform a Release (Optimized) build.
987 <br><br>
989 <dt><tt>gmake ENABLE_OPTIMIZED=1 DISABLE_ASSERTIONS=1</tt>
990 <dd>
991 Perform a Release (Optimized) build without assertions enabled.
992 <br><br>
994 <dt><tt>gmake ENABLE_PROFILING=1</tt>
995 <dd>
996 Perform a Profiling build.
997 <br><br>
999 <dt><tt>gmake VERBOSE=1</tt>
1000 <dd>
1001 Print what <tt>gmake</tt> is doing on standard output.
1002 <br><br>
1004 <dt><tt>gmake TOOL_VERBOSE=1</tt></dt>
1005 <dd>Ask each tool invoked by the makefiles to print out what it is doing on
1006 the standard output. This also implies <tt>VERBOSE=1</tt>.
1007 <br><br></dd>
1008 </dl>
1010 <p>Every directory in the LLVM object tree includes a <tt>Makefile</tt> to build
1011 it and any subdirectories that it contains. Entering any directory inside the
1012 LLVM object tree and typing <tt>gmake</tt> should rebuild anything in or below
1013 that directory that is out of date.</p>
1015 </div>
1017 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1018 <div class="doc_subsection">
1019 <a name="cross-compile">Cross-Compiling LLVM</a>
1020 </div>
1022 <div class="doc_text">
1023 <p>It is possible to cross-compile LLVM. That is, you can create LLVM
1024 executables and libraries for a platform different than the one one which you
1025 are compiling. To do this, a few additional steps are
1026 required. <sup><a href="#ccn_1">1</a></sup> To cross-compile LLVM, use
1027 these instructions:</p>
1028 <ol>
1029 <li>Configure and build LLVM as a native compiler. You will need
1030 just <tt>TableGen</tt> from that build.
1031 <ul>
1032 <li>If you have <tt>$LLVM_OBJ_ROOT=$LLVM_SRC_ROOT</tt> just execute
1033 <tt>make -C utils/TableGen</tt> after configuring.</li>
1034 <li>Otherwise you will need to monitor building process and terminate
1035 it just after <tt>TableGen</tt> was built.</li>
1036 </ul>
1037 </li>
1038 <li>Copy the TableGen binary to somewhere safe (out of your build tree).
1039 </li>
1040 <li>Configure LLVM to build with a cross-compiler. To do this, supply the
1041 configure script with <tt>--build</tt> and <tt>--host</tt> options that
1042 are different. The values of these options must be legal target triples
1043 that your GCC compiler supports.</li>
1044 <li>Put the saved <tt>TableGen</tt> executable into the
1045 into <tt>$LLVM_OBJ_ROOT/{BUILD_TYPE}/bin</tt> directory (e.g. into
1046 <tt>.../Release/bin</tt> for a Release build).</li>
1047 <li>Build LLVM as usual.</li>
1048 </ol>
1049 <p>The result of such a build will produce executables that are not executable
1050 on your build host (--build option) but can be executed on your compile host
1051 (--host option).</p>
1052 <p><b>Notes:</b></p>
1053 <div class="doc_notes">
1054 <ol>
1055 <li><a name="ccn_1">Cross-compiling</a> was tested only with Linux as
1056 build platform and Windows as host using mingw32 cross-compiler. Other
1057 combinations have not been tested.</li>
1058 </ol>
1059 </div>
1060 </div>
1062 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1063 <div class="doc_subsection">
1064 <a name="objfiles">The Location of LLVM Object Files</a>
1065 </div>
1067 <div class="doc_text">
1069 <p>The LLVM build system is capable of sharing a single LLVM source tree among
1070 several LLVM builds. Hence, it is possible to build LLVM for several different
1071 platforms or configurations using the same source tree.</p>
1073 <p>This is accomplished in the typical autoconf manner:</p>
1075 <ul>
1076 <li><p>Change directory to where the LLVM object files should live:</p>
1078 <p><tt>cd <i>OBJ_ROOT</i></tt></p></li>
1080 <li><p>Run the <tt>configure</tt> script found in the LLVM source
1081 directory:</p>
1083 <p><tt><i>SRC_ROOT</i>/configure</tt></p></li>
1084 </ul>
1086 <p>The LLVM build will place files underneath <i>OBJ_ROOT</i> in directories
1087 named after the build type:</p>
1089 <dl>
1090 <dt>Debug Builds
1091 <dd>
1092 <dl>
1093 <dt>Tools
1094 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Debug/bin</tt>
1095 <dt>Libraries
1096 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Debug/lib</tt>
1097 </dl>
1098 <br><br>
1100 <dt>Release Builds
1101 <dd>
1102 <dl>
1103 <dt>Tools
1104 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Release/bin</tt>
1105 <dt>Libraries
1106 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Release/lib</tt>
1107 </dl>
1108 <br><br>
1110 <dt>Profile Builds
1111 <dd>
1112 <dl>
1113 <dt>Tools
1114 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Profile/bin</tt>
1115 <dt>Libraries
1116 <dd><tt><i>OBJ_ROOT</i>/Profile/lib</tt>
1117 </dl>
1118 </dl>
1120 </div>
1122 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1123 <div class="doc_subsection">
1124 <a name="optionalconfig">Optional Configuration Items</a>
1125 </div>
1127 <div class="doc_text">
1130 If you're running on a Linux system that supports the "<a
1131 href="http://www.tat.physik.uni-tuebingen.de/~rguenth/linux/binfmt_misc.html">
1132 binfmt_misc</a>"
1133 module, and you have root access on the system, you can set your system up to
1134 execute LLVM bytecode files directly. To do this, use commands like this (the
1135 first command may not be required if you are already using the module):</p>
1137 <div class="doc_code">
1138 <pre>
1139 $ mount -t binfmt_misc none /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
1140 $ echo ':llvm:M::llvm::/path/to/lli:' &gt; /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc/register
1141 $ chmod u+x hello.bc (if needed)
1142 $ ./hello.bc
1143 </pre>
1144 </div>
1147 This allows you to execute LLVM bytecode files directly. Thanks to Jack
1148 Cummings for pointing this out!
1149 </p>
1151 </div>
1154 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1155 <div class="doc_section">
1156 <a name="layout"><b>Program Layout</b></a>
1157 </div>
1158 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1160 <div class="doc_text">
1162 <p>One useful source of information about the LLVM source base is the LLVM <a
1163 href="http://www.doxygen.org">doxygen</a> documentation available at <tt><a
1164 href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/">http://llvm.org/doxygen/</a></tt>.
1165 The following is a brief introduction to code layout:</p>
1167 </div>
1169 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1170 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="cvsdir"><tt>CVS</tt> directories</a></div>
1171 <div class="doc_text">
1172 <p>Every directory checked out of CVS will contain a <tt>CVS</tt> directory; for
1173 the most part these can just be ignored.</p>
1174 </div>
1176 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1177 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="examples"><tt>llvm/examples</tt></a></div>
1178 <div class="doc_text">
1179 <p>This directory contains some simple examples of how to use the LLVM IR and
1180 JIT.</p>
1181 </div>
1183 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1184 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="include"><tt>llvm/include</tt></a></div>
1185 <div class="doc_text">
1187 <p>This directory contains public header files exported from the LLVM
1188 library. The three main subdirectories of this directory are:</p>
1190 <dl>
1191 <dt><tt><b>llvm/include/llvm</b></tt></dt>
1192 <dd>This directory contains all of the LLVM specific header files. This
1193 directory also has subdirectories for different portions of LLVM:
1194 <tt>Analysis</tt>, <tt>CodeGen</tt>, <tt>Target</tt>, <tt>Transforms</tt>,
1195 etc...</dd>
1197 <dt><tt><b>llvm/include/llvm/Support</b></tt></dt>
1198 <dd>This directory contains generic support libraries that are provided with
1199 LLVM but not necessarily specific to LLVM. For example, some C++ STL utilities
1200 and a Command Line option processing library store their header files here.
1201 </dd>
1203 <dt><tt><b>llvm/include/llvm/Config</b></tt></dt>
1204 <dd>This directory contains header files configured by the <tt>configure</tt>
1205 script. They wrap "standard" UNIX and C header files. Source code can
1206 include these header files which automatically take care of the conditional
1207 #includes that the <tt>configure</tt> script generates.</dd>
1208 </dl>
1209 </div>
1211 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1212 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="lib"><tt>llvm/lib</tt></a></div>
1213 <div class="doc_text">
1215 <p>This directory contains most of the source files of the LLVM system. In LLVM,
1216 almost all code exists in libraries, making it very easy to share code among the
1217 different <a href="#tools">tools</a>.</p>
1219 <dl>
1220 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/VMCore/</b></tt></dt>
1221 <dd> This directory holds the core LLVM source files that implement core
1222 classes like Instruction and BasicBlock.</dd>
1224 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/AsmParser/</b></tt></dt>
1225 <dd>This directory holds the source code for the LLVM assembly language parser
1226 library.</dd>
1228 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/ByteCode/</b></tt></dt>
1229 <dd>This directory holds code for reading and write LLVM bytecode.</dd>
1231 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/Analysis/</b></tt><dd>This directory contains a variety of
1232 different program analyses, such as Dominator Information, Call Graphs,
1233 Induction Variables, Interval Identification, Natural Loop Identification,
1234 etc.</dd>
1236 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/Transforms/</b></tt></dt>
1237 <dd> This directory contains the source code for the LLVM to LLVM program
1238 transformations, such as Aggressive Dead Code Elimination, Sparse Conditional
1239 Constant Propagation, Inlining, Loop Invariant Code Motion, Dead Global
1240 Elimination, and many others.</dd>
1242 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/Target/</b></tt></dt>
1243 <dd> This directory contains files that describe various target architectures
1244 for code generation. For example, the <tt>llvm/lib/Target/X86</tt>
1245 directory holds the X86 machine description while
1246 <tt>llvm/lib/Target/CBackend</tt> implements the LLVM-to-C converter.</dd>
1248 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/CodeGen/</b></tt></dt>
1249 <dd> This directory contains the major parts of the code generator: Instruction
1250 Selector, Instruction Scheduling, and Register Allocation.</dd>
1252 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/Debugger/</b></tt></dt>
1253 <dd> This directory contains the source level debugger library that makes
1254 it possible to instrument LLVM programs so that a debugger could identify
1255 source code locations at which the program is executing.</dd>
1257 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/ExecutionEngine/</b></tt></dt>
1258 <dd> This directory contains libraries for executing LLVM bytecode directly
1259 at runtime in both interpreted and JIT compiled fashions.</dd>
1261 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/Support/</b></tt></dt>
1262 <dd> This directory contains the source code that corresponds to the header
1263 files located in <tt>llvm/include/Support/</tt>.</dd>
1265 <dt><tt><b>llvm/lib/System/</b></tt></dt>
1266 <dd>This directory contains the operating system abstraction layer that
1267 shields LLVM from platform-specific coding.</dd>
1268 </dl>
1270 </div>
1272 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1273 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="projects"><tt>llvm/projects</tt></a></div>
1274 <div class="doc_text">
1275 <p>This directory contains projects that are not strictly part of LLVM but are
1276 shipped with LLVM. This is also the directory where you should create your own
1277 LLVM-based projects. See <tt>llvm/projects/sample</tt> for an example of how
1278 to set up your own project. See <tt>llvm/projects/Stacker</tt> for a fully
1279 functional example of a compiler front end.</p>
1280 </div>
1282 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1283 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="runtime"><tt>llvm/runtime</tt></a></div>
1284 <div class="doc_text">
1286 <p>This directory contains libraries which are compiled into LLVM bytecode and
1287 used when linking programs with the GCC front end. Most of these libraries are
1288 skeleton versions of real libraries; for example, libc is a stripped down
1289 version of glibc.</p>
1291 <p>Unlike the rest of the LLVM suite, this directory needs the LLVM GCC front
1292 end to compile.</p>
1294 </div>
1296 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1297 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="test"><tt>llvm/test</tt></a></div>
1298 <div class="doc_text">
1299 <p>This directory contains feature and regression tests and other basic sanity
1300 checks on the LLVM infrastructure. These are intended to run quickly and cover
1301 a lot of territory without being exhaustive.</p>
1302 </div>
1304 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1305 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="llvmtest"><tt>llvm-test</tt></a></div>
1306 <div class="doc_text">
1307 <p>This is not a directory in the normal llvm module; it is a separate CVS
1308 module that must be checked out (usually to <tt>projects/llvm-test</tt>). This
1309 module contains a comprehensive correctness, performance, and benchmarking
1310 test
1311 suite for LLVM. It is a separate CVS module because not every LLVM user is
1312 interested in downloading or building such a comprehensive test suite. For
1313 further details on this test suite, please see the
1314 <a href="TestingGuide.html">Testing Guide</a> document.</p>
1315 </div>
1317 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1318 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="tools"><tt>llvm/tools</tt></a></div>
1319 <div class="doc_text">
1321 <p>The <b>tools</b> directory contains the executables built out of the
1322 libraries above, which form the main part of the user interface. You can
1323 always get help for a tool by typing <tt>tool_name --help</tt>. The
1324 following is a brief introduction to the most important tools. More detailed
1325 information is in the <a href="CommandGuide/index.html">Command Guide</a>.</p>
1327 <dl>
1329 <dt><tt><b>bugpoint</b></tt></dt>
1330 <dd><tt>bugpoint</tt> is used to debug
1331 optimization passes or code generation backends by narrowing down the
1332 given test case to the minimum number of passes and/or instructions that
1333 still cause a problem, whether it is a crash or miscompilation. See <a
1334 href="HowToSubmitABug.html">HowToSubmitABug.html</a> for more information
1335 on using <tt>bugpoint</tt>.</dd>
1337 <dt><tt><b>llvmc</b></tt></dt>
1338 <dd>The LLVM Compiler Driver. This program can
1339 be configured to utilize both LLVM and non-LLVM compilation tools to enable
1340 pre-processing, translation, optimization, assembly, and linking of programs
1341 all from one command line. <tt>llvmc</tt> also takes care of processing the
1342 dependent libraries found in bytecode. This reduces the need to get the
1343 traditional <tt>-l&lt;name&gt;</tt> options right on the command line. Please
1344 note that this tool, while functional, is still experimental and not feature
1345 complete.</dd>
1347 <dt><tt><b>llvm-ar</b></tt></dt>
1348 <dd>The archiver produces an archive containing
1349 the given LLVM bytecode files, optionally with an index for faster
1350 lookup.</dd>
1352 <dt><tt><b>llvm-as</b></tt></dt>
1353 <dd>The assembler transforms the human readable LLVM assembly to LLVM
1354 bytecode.</dd>
1356 <dt><tt><b>llvm-dis</b></tt></dt>
1357 <dd>The disassembler transforms the LLVM bytecode to human readable
1358 LLVM assembly.</dd>
1360 <dt><tt><b>llvm-ld</b></tt></dt>
1361 <dd><tt>llvm-ld</tt> is a general purpose and extensible linker for LLVM.
1362 This is the linker invoked by <tt>llvmc</tt>. It performsn standard link time
1363 optimizations and allows optimization modules to be loaded and run so that
1364 language specific optimizations can be applied at link time.</dd>
1366 <dt><tt><b>llvm-link</b></tt></dt>
1367 <dd><tt>llvm-link</tt>, not surprisingly, links multiple LLVM modules into
1368 a single program.</dd>
1370 <dt><tt><b>lli</b></tt></dt>
1371 <dd><tt>lli</tt> is the LLVM interpreter, which
1372 can directly execute LLVM bytecode (although very slowly...). In addition
1373 to a simple interpreter, <tt>lli</tt> also has a tracing mode (entered by
1374 specifying <tt>-trace</tt> on the command line). Finally, for
1375 architectures that support it (currently x86, Sparc, and PowerPC), by default,
1376 <tt>lli</tt> will function as a Just-In-Time compiler (if the
1377 functionality was compiled in), and will execute the code <i>much</i>
1378 faster than the interpreter.</dd>
1380 <dt><tt><b>llc</b></tt></dt>
1381 <dd> <tt>llc</tt> is the LLVM backend compiler, which
1382 translates LLVM bytecode to a native code assembly file or to C code (with
1383 the -march=c option).</dd>
1385 <dt><tt><b>llvm-gcc</b></tt></dt>
1386 <dd><tt>llvm-gcc</tt> is a GCC-based C frontend that has been retargeted to
1387 use LLVM as its backend instead of GCC's RTL backend. It can also emit LLVM
1388 byte code or assembly (with the <tt>-emit-llvm</tt> option) instead of the
1389 usual machine code output. It works just like any other GCC compiler,
1390 taking the typical <tt>-c, -S, -E, -o</tt> options that are typically used.
1391 Additionally, the the source code for <tt>llvm-gcc</tt> is available as a
1392 separate CVS module.</dd>
1394 <dt><tt><b>opt</b></tt></dt>
1395 <dd><tt>opt</tt> reads LLVM bytecode, applies a series of LLVM to LLVM
1396 transformations (which are specified on the command line), and then outputs
1397 the resultant bytecode. The '<tt>opt --help</tt>' command is a good way to
1398 get a list of the program transformations available in LLVM.<br/>
1399 <dd><tt>opt</tt> can also be used to run a specific analysis on an input
1400 LLVM bytecode file and print out the results. It is primarily useful for
1401 debugging analyses, or familiarizing yourself with what an analysis does.</dd>
1402 </dl>
1403 </div>
1405 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1406 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="utils"><tt>llvm/utils</tt></a></div>
1407 <div class="doc_text">
1409 <p>This directory contains utilities for working with LLVM source code, and some
1410 of the utilities are actually required as part of the build process because they
1411 are code generators for parts of LLVM infrastructure.</p>
1413 <dl>
1414 <dt><tt><b>codegen-diff</b></tt> <dd><tt>codegen-diff</tt> is a script
1415 that finds differences between code that LLC generates and code that LLI
1416 generates. This is a useful tool if you are debugging one of them,
1417 assuming that the other generates correct output. For the full user
1418 manual, run <tt>`perldoc codegen-diff'</tt>.<br><br>
1420 <dt><tt><b>cvsupdate</b></tt> <dd><tt>cvsupdate</tt> is a script that will
1421 update your CVS tree, but produce a much cleaner and more organized output
1422 than simply running <tt>`cvs -z3 up -dP'</tt> will. For example, it will group
1423 together all the new and updated files and modified files in separate
1424 sections, so you can see at a glance what has changed. If you are at the
1425 top of your LLVM CVS tree, running <tt>utils/cvsupdate</tt> is the
1426 preferred way of updating the tree.<br><br>
1428 <dt><tt><b>emacs/</b></tt> <dd>The <tt>emacs</tt> directory contains
1429 syntax-highlighting files which will work with Emacs and XEmacs editors,
1430 providing syntax highlighting support for LLVM assembly files and TableGen
1431 description files. For information on how to use the syntax files, consult
1432 the <tt>README</tt> file in that directory.<br><br>
1434 <dt><tt><b>getsrcs.sh</b></tt> <dd>The <tt>getsrcs.sh</tt> script finds
1435 and outputs all non-generated source files, which is useful if one wishes
1436 to do a lot of development across directories and does not want to
1437 individually find each file. One way to use it is to run, for example:
1438 <tt>xemacs `utils/getsources.sh`</tt> from the top of your LLVM source
1439 tree.<br><br>
1441 <dt><tt><b>llvmgrep</b></tt></dt>
1442 <dd>This little tool performs an "egrep -H -n" on each source file in LLVM and
1443 passes to it a regular expression provided on <tt>llvmgrep</tt>'s command
1444 line. This is a very efficient way of searching the source base for a
1445 particular regular expression.</dd>
1447 <dt><tt><b>makellvm</b></tt> <dd>The <tt>makellvm</tt> script compiles all
1448 files in the current directory and then compiles and links the tool that
1449 is the first argument. For example, assuming you are in the directory
1450 <tt>llvm/lib/Target/Sparc</tt>, if <tt>makellvm</tt> is in your path,
1451 simply running <tt>makellvm llc</tt> will make a build of the current
1452 directory, switch to directory <tt>llvm/tools/llc</tt> and build it,
1453 causing a re-linking of LLC.<br><br>
1455 <dt><tt><b>NewNightlyTest.pl</b></tt> and
1456 <tt><b>NightlyTestTemplate.html</b></tt> <dd>These files are used in a
1457 cron script to generate nightly status reports of the functionality of
1458 tools, and the results can be seen by following the appropriate link on
1459 the <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM homepage</a>.<br><br>
1461 <dt><tt><b>TableGen/</b></tt> <dd>The <tt>TableGen</tt> directory contains
1462 the tool used to generate register descriptions, instruction set
1463 descriptions, and even assemblers from common TableGen description
1464 files.<br><br>
1466 <dt><tt><b>vim/</b></tt> <dd>The <tt>vim</tt> directory contains
1467 syntax-highlighting files which will work with the VIM editor, providing
1468 syntax highlighting support for LLVM assembly files and TableGen
1469 description files. For information on how to use the syntax files, consult
1470 the <tt>README</tt> file in that directory.<br><br>
1472 </dl>
1474 </div>
1476 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1477 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="win32"><tt>llvm/win32</tt></a></div>
1478 <div class="doc_text">
1479 <p>This directory contains build scripts and project files for use with
1480 Visual C++. This allows developers on Windows to build LLVM without the need
1481 for Cygwin. The contents of this directory should be considered experimental
1482 at this time.
1483 </p>
1484 </div>
1485 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1486 <div class="doc_section">
1487 <a name="tutorial">An Example Using the LLVM Tool Chain</a>
1488 </div>
1489 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1491 <div class="doc_text">
1492 <p>This section gives an example of using LLVM. llvm-gcc3 is now obsolete,
1493 so we only include instructiosn for llvm-gcc4.
1494 </p>
1496 <p><b>Note:</b> The <i>gcc4</i> frontend's invocation is <b><i>considerably different</i></b>
1497 from the previous <i>gcc3</i> frontend. In particular, the <i>gcc4</i> frontend <b><i>does not</i></b>
1498 create bytecode by default: <i>gcc4</i> produces native code. As the example below illustrates,
1499 the '--emit-llvm' flag is needed to produce LLVM bytecode output. For <i>makefiles</i> and
1500 <i>configure</i> scripts, the CFLAGS variable needs '--emit-llvm' to produce bytecode
1501 output.</p>
1502 </div>
1504 <!-- ======================================================================= -->
1505 <div class="doc_subsection"><a name="tutorial4">Example with llvm-gcc4</a></div>
1507 <div class="doc_text">
1509 <ol>
1510 <li>First, create a simple C file, name it 'hello.c':
1511 <pre>
1512 #include &lt;stdio.h&gt;
1513 int main() {
1514 printf("hello world\n");
1515 return 0;
1517 </pre></li>
1519 <li><p>Next, compile the C file into a native executable:</p>
1521 <p><tt>% llvm-gcc hello.c -o hello</tt></p>
1523 <p>Note that llvm-gcc works just like GCC by default. The standard -S and
1524 -c arguments work as usual (producing a native .s or .o file,
1525 respectively). </p>
1527 <li><p>Next, compile the C file into a LLVM bytecode file:</p>
1528 <p><tt>% llvm-gcc -O3 -emit-llvm hello.c -c -o hello.bc</tt></p>
1530 <p>The -emit-llvm option can be used with the -S or -c options to emit an
1531 LLVM ".ll" or ".bc" file (respectively) for the code. This allows you
1532 to use the <a href="CommandGuide/index.html">standard LLVM tools</a> on
1533 the bytecode file.</p>
1535 <p>Unlike llvm-gcc3, llvm-gcc4 correctly responds to -O[0123] arguments.
1536 </p></li>
1538 <li><p>Run the program in both forms. To run the program, use:</p>
1540 <p><tt>% ./hello</tt></p>
1542 <p>and</p>
1544 <p><tt>% lli hello.bc</tt></p>
1546 <p>The second examples shows how to invoke the LLVM JIT, <a
1547 href="CommandGuide/html/lli.html">lli</a>.</p></li>
1549 <li><p>Use the <tt>llvm-dis</tt> utility to take a look at the LLVM assembly
1550 code:</p>
1552 <p><tt>% llvm-dis &lt; hello.bc | less</tt><br><br></li>
1554 <li><p>Compile the program to native assembly using the LLC code
1555 generator:</p>
1557 <p><tt>% llc hello.bc -o hello.s</tt></p>
1559 <li><p>Assemble the native assembly language file into a program:</p>
1561 <p><b>Solaris:</b><tt>% /opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc -xarch=v9 hello.s -o hello.native</tt></p>
1562 <p><b>Others:</b><tt>% gcc hello.s -o hello.native</tt></p>
1564 <li><p>Execute the native code program:</p>
1566 <p><tt>% ./hello.native</tt></p>
1568 <p>Note that using llvm-gcc to compile directly to native code (i.e. when
1569 the -emit-llvm option is not present) does steps 6/7/8 for you.</p>
1570 </li>
1572 </ol>
1574 </div>
1577 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1578 <div class="doc_section">
1579 <a name="problems">Common Problems</a>
1580 </div>
1581 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1583 <div class="doc_text">
1585 <p>If you are having problems building or using LLVM, or if you have any other
1586 general questions about LLVM, please consult the <a href="FAQ.html">Frequently
1587 Asked Questions</a> page.</p>
1589 </div>
1591 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1592 <div class="doc_section">
1593 <a name="links">Links</a>
1594 </div>
1595 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1597 <div class="doc_text">
1599 <p>This document is just an <b>introduction</b> to how to use LLVM to do
1600 some simple things... there are many more interesting and complicated things
1601 that you can do that aren't documented here (but we'll gladly accept a patch
1602 if you want to write something up!). For more information about LLVM, check
1603 out:</p>
1605 <ul>
1606 <li><a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM homepage</a></li>
1607 <li><a href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/">LLVM doxygen tree</a></li>
1608 <li><a href="http://llvm.org/docs/Projects.html">Starting a Project
1609 that Uses LLVM</a></li>
1610 </ul>
1612 </div>
1614 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
1616 <hr>
1617 <address>
1618 <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img
1619 src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a>
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1621 src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!" /></a>
1623 <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a><br>
1624 <a href="http://llvm.x10sys.com/rspencer/">Reid Spencer</a><br>
1625 <a href="http://llvm.org">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
1626 Last modified: $Date$
1627 </address>
1628 </body>
1629 </html>