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4 =================================
5 LLVM Code Coverage Mapping Format
6 =================================
14 LLVM's code coverage mapping format is used to provide code coverage
15 analysis using LLVM's and Clang's instrumentation based profiling
16 (Clang's ``-fprofile-instr-generate`` option).
18 This document is aimed at those who would like to know how LLVM's code coverage
19 mapping works under the hood. A prior knowledge of how Clang's profile guided
20 optimization works is useful, but not required. For those interested in using
21 LLVM to provide code coverage analysis for their own programs, see the `Clang
22 documentation <https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SourceBasedCodeCoverage.html>`.
24 We start by briefly describing LLVM's code coverage mapping format and the
25 way that Clang and LLVM's code coverage tool work with this format. After
26 the basics are down, more advanced features of the coverage mapping format
27 are discussed - such as the data structures, LLVM IR representation and
33 LLVM's code coverage mapping format is designed to be a self contained
34 data format that can be embedded into the LLVM IR and into object files.
35 It's described in this document as a **mapping** format because its goal is
36 to store the data that is required for a code coverage tool to map between
37 the specific source ranges in a file and the execution counts obtained
38 after running the instrumented version of the program.
40 The mapping data is used in two places in the code coverage process:
42 1. When clang compiles a source file with ``-fcoverage-mapping``, it
43 generates the mapping information that describes the mapping between the
44 source ranges and the profiling instrumentation counters.
45 This information gets embedded into the LLVM IR and conveniently
46 ends up in the final executable file when the program is linked.
48 2. It is also used by *llvm-cov* - the mapping information is extracted from an
49 object file and is used to associate the execution counts (the values of the
50 profile instrumentation counters), and the source ranges in a file.
51 After that, the tool is able to generate various code coverage reports
54 The coverage mapping format aims to be a "universal format" that would be
55 suitable for usage by any frontend, and not just by Clang. It also aims to
56 provide the frontend the possibility of generating the minimal coverage mapping
57 data in order to reduce the size of the IR and object files - for example,
58 instead of emitting mapping information for each statement in a function, the
59 frontend is allowed to group the statements with the same execution count into
60 regions of code, and emit the mapping information only for those regions.
65 The remainder of this guide is meant to give you insight into the way the
66 coverage mapping format works.
68 The coverage mapping format operates on a per-function level as the
69 profile instrumentation counters are associated with a specific function.
70 For each function that requires code coverage, the frontend has to create
71 coverage mapping data that can map between the source code ranges and
72 the profile instrumentation counters for that function.
77 The function's coverage mapping data contains an array of mapping regions.
78 A mapping region stores the `source code range`_ that is covered by this region,
79 the `file id <coverage file id_>`_, the `coverage mapping counter`_ and
81 There are several kinds of mapping regions:
83 * Code regions associate portions of source code and `coverage mapping
84 counters`_. They make up the majority of the mapping regions. They are used
85 by the code coverage tool to compute the execution counts for lines,
86 highlight the regions of code that were never executed, and to obtain
87 the various code coverage statistics for a function.
90 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Code Region from 1:40 to 9:2</span>
91 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span>
92 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> if (argc > 1) </span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Code Region from 3:17 to 5:4</span>
93 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> printf("%s\n", argv[1]); </span>
94 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> }</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> else </span><span style='background-color:#F6D55D'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Code Region from 5:10 to 7:4</span>
95 <span style='background-color:#F6D55D'> printf("\n"); </span>
96 <span style='background-color:#F6D55D'> }</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span>
97 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> return 0; </span>
98 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
100 * Skipped regions are used to represent source ranges that were skipped
101 by Clang's preprocessor. They don't associate with
102 `coverage mapping counters`_, as the frontend knows that they are never
103 executed. They are used by the code coverage tool to mark the skipped lines
104 inside a function as non-code lines that don't have execution counts.
107 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int main() </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Code Region from 1:12 to 6:2</span>
108 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>#ifdef DEBUG </span> <span class='c1'>// Skipped Region from 2:1 to 4:2</span>
109 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> printf("Hello world"); </span>
110 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>#</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>endif </span>
111 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> return 0; </span>
112 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
114 * Expansion regions are used to represent Clang's macro expansions. They
115 have an additional property - *expanded file id*. This property can be
116 used by the code coverage tool to find the mapping regions that are created
117 as a result of this macro expansion, by checking if their file id matches the
118 expanded file id. They don't associate with `coverage mapping counters`_,
119 as the code coverage tool can determine the execution count for this region
120 by looking up the execution count of the first region with a corresponding
124 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int func(int x) </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span>
125 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> #define MAX(x,y) </span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>((x) > (y)? </span><span style='background-color:#F6D55D'>(x)</span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> : </span><span style='background-color:#F4BA70'>(y)</span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>)</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span>
126 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> return </span><span style='background-color:#7FCA9F'>MAX</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>(x, 42); </span> <span class='c1'>// Expansion Region from 3:10 to 3:13</span>
127 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
129 * Branch regions associate instrumentable branch conditions in the source code
130 with a `coverage mapping counter`_ to track how many times an individual
131 condition evaluated to 'true' and another `coverage mapping counter`_ to
132 track how many times that condition evaluated to false. Instrumentable
133 branch conditions may comprise larger boolean expressions using boolean
134 logical operators. The 'true' and 'false' cases reflect unique branch paths
135 that can be traced back to the source code.
138 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int func(int x, int y) {
139 <span> if (<span style='background-color:#4A789C'>(x > 1)</span> || <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>(y > 3)</span>) {</span> <span class='c1'>// Branch Region from 3:6 to 3:12</span>
140 <span> </span><span class='c1'>// Branch Region from 3:17 to 3:23</span>
141 <span> printf("%d\n", x); </span>
142 <span> } else { </span>
143 <span> printf("\n"); </span>
145 <span> return 0; </span>
149 .. _source code range:
154 The source range record contains the starting and ending location of a certain
155 mapping region. Both locations include the line and the column numbers.
157 .. _coverage file id:
162 The file id an integer value that tells us
163 in which source file or macro expansion is this region located.
164 It enables Clang to produce mapping information for the code
165 defined inside macros, like this example demonstrates:
167 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>void func(const char *str) </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Code Region from 1:28 to 6:2 with file id 0</span>
168 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> #define PUT </span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>printf("%s\n", str)</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span> <span class='c1'>// 2 Code Regions from 2:15 to 2:34 with file ids 1 and 2</span>
169 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> if(*str) </span>
170 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span><span style='background-color:#F6D55D'>PUT</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>; </span> <span class='c1'>// Expansion Region from 4:5 to 4:8 with file id 0 that expands a macro with file id 1</span>
171 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span><span style='background-color:#F6D55D'>PUT</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>; </span> <span class='c1'>// Expansion Region from 5:3 to 5:6 with file id 0 that expands a macro with file id 2</span>
172 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
175 .. _coverage mapping counter:
176 .. _coverage mapping counters:
181 A coverage mapping counter can represents a reference to the profile
182 instrumentation counter. The execution count for a region with such counter
183 is determined by looking up the value of the corresponding profile
184 instrumentation counter.
186 It can also represent a binary arithmetical expression that operates on
187 coverage mapping counters or other expressions.
188 The execution count for a region with an expression counter is determined by
189 evaluating the expression's arguments and then adding them together or
190 subtracting them from one another.
191 In the example below, a subtraction expression is used to compute the execution
192 count for the compound statement that follows the *else* keyword:
194 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int main(int argc, const char *argv[]) </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Region's counter is a reference to the profile counter #0</span>
195 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span>
196 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> if (argc > 1) </span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Region's counter is a reference to the profile counter #1</span>
197 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> printf("%s\n", argv[1]); </span><span> </span>
198 <span style='background-color:#85C1F5'> }</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> else </span><span style='background-color:#F6D55D'>{ </span> <span class='c1'>// Region's counter is an expression (reference to the profile counter #0 - reference to the profile counter #1)</span>
199 <span style='background-color:#F6D55D'> printf("\n"); </span>
200 <span style='background-color:#F6D55D'> }</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span>
201 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> return 0; </span>
202 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
205 Finally, a coverage mapping counter can also represent an execution count of
206 of zero. The zero counter is used to provide coverage mapping for
207 unreachable statements and expressions, like in the example below:
209 :raw-html:`<pre class='highlight' style='line-height:initial;'><span>int main() </span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>{ </span>
210 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> return 0; </span>
211 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'> </span><span style='background-color:#85C1F5'>printf("Hello world!\n")</span><span style='background-color:#4A789C'>; </span> <span class='c1'>// Unreachable region's counter is zero</span>
212 <span style='background-color:#4A789C'>}</span>
215 The zero counters allow the code coverage tool to display proper line execution
216 counts for the unreachable lines and highlight the unreachable code.
217 Without them, the tool would think that those lines and regions were still
218 executed, as it doesn't possess the frontend's knowledge.
220 Note that branch regions are created to track branch conditions in the source
221 code and refer to two coverage mapping counters, one to track the number of
222 times the branch condition evaluated to "true", and one to track the number of
223 times the branch condition evaluated to "false".
225 LLVM IR Representation
226 ======================
228 The coverage mapping data is stored in the LLVM IR using a global constant
229 structure variable called *__llvm_coverage_mapping* with the *IPSK_covmap*
230 section specifier (i.e. ".lcovmap$M" on Windows and "__llvm_covmap" elsewhere).
232 For example, let’s consider a C file and how it gets compiled to LLVM:
234 .. _coverage mapping sample:
245 The coverage mapping variable generated by Clang has 2 fields:
247 * Coverage mapping header.
249 * An optionally compressed list of filenames present in the translation unit.
251 The variable has 8-byte alignment because ld64 cannot always pack symbols from
252 different object files tightly (the word-level alignment assumption is baked in
257 @__llvm_coverage_mapping = internal constant { { i32, i32, i32, i32 }, [32 x i8] }
259 { i32, i32, i32, i32 } ; Coverage map header
261 i32 0, ; Always 0. In prior versions, the number of affixed function records
262 i32 32, ; The length of the string that contains the encoded translation unit filenames
263 i32 0, ; Always 0. In prior versions, the length of the affixed string that contains the encoded coverage mapping data
264 i32 3, ; Coverage mapping format version
266 [32 x i8] c"..." ; Encoded data (dissected later)
267 }, section "__llvm_covmap", align 8
269 The current version of the format is version 6.
271 There is one difference between versions 6 and 5:
273 * The first entry in the filename list is the compilation directory. When the
274 filename is relative, the compilation directory is combined with the relative
275 path to get an absolute path. This can reduce size by omitting the duplicate
278 There is one difference between versions 5 and 4:
280 * The notion of branch region has been introduced along with a corresponding
281 region kind. Branch regions encode two counters, one to track how many
282 times a "true" branch condition is taken, and one to track how many times a
283 "false" branch condition is taken.
285 There are two differences between versions 4 and 3:
287 * Function records are now named symbols, and are marked *linkonce_odr*. This
288 allows linkers to merge duplicate function records. Merging of duplicate
289 *dummy* records (emitted for functions included-but-not-used in a translation
290 unit) reduces size bloat in the coverage mapping data. As part of this
291 change, region mapping information for a function is now included within the
292 function record, instead of being affixed to the coverage header.
294 * The filename list for a translation unit may optionally be zlib-compressed.
296 The only difference between versions 3 and 2 is that a special encoding for
297 column end locations was introduced to indicate gap regions.
299 In version 1, the function record for *foo* was defined as follows:
303 { i8*, i32, i32, i64 } { i8* getelementptr inbounds ([3 x i8]* @__profn_foo, i32 0, i32 0), ; Function's name
304 i32 3, ; Function's name length
305 i32 9, ; Function's encoded coverage mapping data string length
306 i64 0 ; Function's structural hash
309 In version 2, the function record for *foo* was defined as follows:
314 i64 0x5cf8c24cdb18bdac, ; Function's name MD5
315 i32 9, ; Function's encoded coverage mapping data string length
316 i64 0 ; Function's structural hash
318 Coverage Mapping Header:
319 ------------------------
321 As shown above, the coverage mapping header has the following fields:
323 * The number of function records affixed to the coverage header. Always 0, but present for backwards compatibility.
325 * The length of the string in the third field of *__llvm_coverage_mapping* that contains the encoded translation unit filenames.
327 * The length of the string in the third field of *__llvm_coverage_mapping* that contains any encoded coverage mapping data affixed to the coverage header. Always 0, but present for backwards compatibility.
329 * The format version. The current version is 6 (encoded as a 5).
331 .. _function records:
336 A function record is a structure of the following type:
340 { i64, i32, i64, i64, [? x i8] }
342 It contains the function name's MD5, the length of the encoded mapping data for
343 that function, the function's structural hash value, the hash of the filenames
344 in the function's translation unit, and the encoded mapping data.
346 Dissecting the sample:
347 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
349 Here's an overview of the encoded data that was stored in the
350 IR for the `coverage mapping sample`_ that was shown earlier:
352 * The IR contains the following string constant that represents the encoded
353 coverage mapping data for the sample translation unit:
357 c"\01\15\1Dx\DA\13\D1\0F-N-*\D6/+\CE\D6/\C9-\D0O\CB\CF\D7K\06\00N+\07]"
359 * The string contains values that are encoded in the LEB128 format, which is
360 used throughout for storing integers. It also contains a compressed payload.
362 * The first three LEB128-encoded numbers in the sample specify the number of
363 filenames, the length of the uncompressed filenames, and the length of the
364 compressed payload (or 0 if compression is disabled). In this sample, there
365 is 1 filename that is 21 bytes in length (uncompressed), and stored in 29
368 * The coverage mapping from the first function record is encoded in this string:
372 c"\01\00\00\01\01\01\0C\02\02"
374 This string consists of the following bytes:
376 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
377 | ``0x01`` | The number of file ids used by this function. There is only one file id used by the mapping data in this function. |
378 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
379 | ``0x00`` | An index into the filenames array which corresponds to the file "/Users/alex/test.c". |
380 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
381 | ``0x00`` | The number of counter expressions used by this function. This function doesn't use any expressions. |
382 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
383 | ``0x01`` | The number of mapping regions that are stored in an array for the function's file id #0. |
384 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
385 | ``0x01`` | The coverage mapping counter for the first region in this function. The value of 1 tells us that it's a coverage |
386 | | mapping counter that is a reference to the profile instrumentation counter with an index of 0. |
387 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
388 | ``0x01`` | The starting line of the first mapping region in this function. |
389 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
390 | ``0x0C`` | The starting column of the first mapping region in this function. |
391 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
392 | ``0x02`` | The ending line of the first mapping region in this function. |
393 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
394 | ``0x02`` | The ending column of the first mapping region in this function. |
395 +----------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
397 * The length of the substring that contains the encoded coverage mapping data
398 for the second function record is also 9. It's structured like the mapping data
399 for the first function record.
401 * The two trailing bytes are zeroes and are used to pad the coverage mapping
402 data to give it the 8 byte alignment.
407 The per-function coverage mapping data is encoded as a stream of bytes,
408 with a simple structure. The structure consists of the encoding
409 `types <cvmtypes_>`_ like variable-length unsigned integers, that
410 are used to encode `File ID Mapping`_, `Counter Expressions`_ and
411 the `Mapping Regions`_.
413 The format of the structure follows:
415 ``[file id mapping, counter expressions, mapping regions]``
417 The translation unit filenames are encoded using the same encoding
418 `types <cvmtypes_>`_ as the per-function coverage mapping data, with the
421 ``[numFilenames : LEB128, filename0 : string, filename1 : string, ...]``
428 This section describes the basic types that are used by the encoding format
429 and can appear after ``:`` in the ``[foo : type]`` description.
436 LEB128 is an unsigned integer value that is encoded using DWARF's LEB128
437 encoding, optimizing for the case where values are small
438 (1 byte for values less than 128).
445 ``[length : LEB128, characters...]``
447 String values are encoded with a `LEB value <LEB128_>`_ for the length
448 of the string and a sequence of bytes for its characters.
455 ``[numIndices : LEB128, filenameIndex0 : LEB128, filenameIndex1 : LEB128, ...]``
457 File id mapping in a function's coverage mapping stream
458 contains the indices into the translation unit's filenames array.
465 A `coverage mapping counter`_ is stored in a single `LEB value <LEB128_>`_.
466 It is composed of two things --- the `tag <counter-tag_>`_
467 which is stored in the lowest 2 bits, and the `counter data`_ which is stored
468 in the remaining bits.
475 The counter's tag encodes the counter's kind
476 and, if the counter is an expression, the expression's kind.
477 The possible tag values are:
479 * 0 - The counter is zero.
481 * 1 - The counter is a reference to the profile instrumentation counter.
483 * 2 - The counter is a subtraction expression.
485 * 3 - The counter is an addition expression.
492 The counter's data is interpreted in the following manner:
494 * When the counter is a reference to the profile instrumentation counter,
495 then the counter's data is the id of the profile counter.
496 * When the counter is an expression, then the counter's data
497 is the index into the array of counter expressions.
499 .. _Counter Expressions:
504 ``[numExpressions : LEB128, expr0LHS : LEB128, expr0RHS : LEB128, expr1LHS : LEB128, expr1RHS : LEB128, ...]``
506 Counter expressions consist of two counters as they
507 represent binary arithmetic operations.
508 The expression's kind is determined from the `tag <counter-tag_>`_ of the
509 counter that references this expression.
516 ``[numRegionArrays : LEB128, regionsForFile0, regionsForFile1, ...]``
518 The mapping regions are stored in an array of sub-arrays where every
519 region in a particular sub-array has the same file id.
521 The file id for a sub-array of regions is the index of that
522 sub-array in the main array e.g. The first sub-array will have the file id
528 ``[numRegions : LEB128, region0, region1, ...]``
530 The mapping regions for a specific file id are stored in an array that is
531 sorted in an ascending order by the region's starting location.
536 ``[header, source range]``
538 The mapping region record contains two sub-records ---
539 the `header`_, which stores the counter and/or the region's kind,
540 and the `source range`_ that contains the starting and ending
541 location of this region.
554 The header encodes the region's counter and the region's kind. A branch region
555 will encode two counters.
557 The value of the counter's tag distinguishes between the counters and
558 pseudo-counters --- if the tag is zero, than this header contains a
559 pseudo-counter, otherwise this header contains an ordinary counter.
564 A mapping region whose header has a counter with a non-zero tag is
572 A pseudo-counter is stored in a single `LEB value <LEB128_>`_, just like
573 the ordinary counter. It has the following interpretation:
575 * bits 0-1: tag, which is always 0.
577 * bit 2: expansionRegionTag. If this bit is set, then this mapping region
578 is an expansion region.
580 * remaining bits: data. If this region is an expansion region, then the data
581 contains the expanded file id of that region.
583 Otherwise, the data contains the region's kind. The possible region
586 * 0 - This mapping region is a code region with a counter of zero.
587 * 2 - This mapping region is a skipped region.
588 * 4 - This mapping region is a branch region.
595 ``[deltaLineStart : LEB128, columnStart : LEB128, numLines : LEB128, columnEnd : LEB128]``
597 The source range record contains the following fields:
599 * *deltaLineStart*: The difference between the starting line of the
600 current mapping region and the starting line of the previous mapping region.
602 If the current mapping region is the first region in the current
603 sub-array, then it stores the starting line of that region.
605 * *columnStart*: The starting column of the mapping region.
607 * *numLines*: The difference between the ending line and the starting line
608 of the current mapping region.
610 * *columnEnd*: The ending column of the mapping region. If the high bit is set,
611 the current mapping region is a gap area. A count for a gap area is only used
612 as the line execution count if there are no other regions on a line.
618 This section is for the LLVM developers who are working on ``llvm-cov`` only.
620 ``llvm-cov`` uses a special file format (called ``.covmapping`` below) for
621 testing purposes. This format is private and should have no use for general
622 users. As a developer, you can get such files by the ``convert-for-testing``
623 subcommand of ``llvm-cov``.
625 The structure of the ``.covmapping`` files follows:
627 ``[magicNumber : u64, version : u64, profileNames, coverageMapping, coverageRecords]``
629 Magic Number and Version
630 ------------------------
632 The magic is ``0x6d766f636d766c6c``, which is the ASCII string
633 ``llvmcovm`` in little-endian.
635 There are two versions for now:
637 - Version1, encoded as ``0x6174616474736574`` (ASCII string ``testdata``).
638 - Version2, encoded as 1.
640 The only difference between Version1 and Version2 is in the encoding of the
641 ``coverageMapping`` fields, which is explained later.
646 ``profileNames``, ``coverageMapping`` and ``coverageRecords`` are 3 sections
647 extracted from the original binary file.
649 ``profileNames`` encodes the size, address and the raw data of the section:
651 ``[profileNamesSize : LEB128, profileNamesAddr : LEB128, profileNamesData : bytes]``
656 This field is padded with zero bytes to make it 8-byte aligned.
658 ``coverageMapping`` contains the records of the source files. In version 1,
659 only one record is stored:
661 ``[padding : bytes, coverageMappingData : bytes]``
663 Version 2 relaxes this restriction by encoding the size of
664 ``coverageMappingData`` as a LEB128 number before the data:
666 ``[coverageMappingSize : LEB128, padding : bytes, coverageMappingData : bytes]``
668 The current version is 2.
673 This field is padded with zero bytes to make it 8-byte aligned.
675 ``coverageRecords`` is encoded as:
677 ``[padding : bytes, coverageRecordsData : bytes]``
679 The rest data in the file is considered as the ``coverageRecordsData``.