1===============
2LLVM Extensions
3===============
4
5.. contents::
6   :local:
7
8.. toctree::
9   :hidden:
10
11Introduction
12============
13
14This document describes extensions to tools and formats LLVM seeks compatibility
15with.
16
17General Assembly Syntax
18===========================
19
20C99-style Hexadecimal Floating-point Constants
21----------------------------------------------
22
23LLVM's assemblers allow floating-point constants to be written in C99's
24hexadecimal format instead of decimal if desired.
25
26.. code-block:: gas
27
28  .section .data
29  .float 0x1c2.2ap3
30
31Machine-specific Assembly Syntax
32================================
33
34X86/COFF-Dependent
35------------------
36
37Relocations
38^^^^^^^^^^^
39
40The following additional relocation types are supported:
41
42**@IMGREL** (AT&T syntax only) generates an image-relative relocation that
43corresponds to the COFF relocation types ``IMAGE_REL_I386_DIR32NB`` (32-bit) or
44``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_ADDR32NB`` (64-bit).
45
46.. code-block:: text
47
48  .text
49  fun:
50    mov foo@IMGREL(%ebx, %ecx, 4), %eax
51
52  .section .pdata
53    .long fun@IMGREL
54    .long (fun@imgrel + 0x3F)
55    .long $unwind$fun@imgrel
56
57**.secrel32** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
58types ``IMAGE_REL_I386_SECREL`` (32-bit) or ``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_SECREL`` (64-bit).
59
60**.secidx** relocation generates an index of the section that contains
61the target.  It corresponds to the COFF relocation types
62``IMAGE_REL_I386_SECTION`` (32-bit) or ``IMAGE_REL_AMD64_SECTION`` (64-bit).
63
64.. code-block:: none
65
66  .section .debug$S,"rn"
67    .long 4
68    .long 242
69    .long 40
70    .secrel32 _function_name + 0
71    .secidx   _function_name
72    ...
73
74``.linkonce`` Directive
75^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
76
77Syntax:
78
79   ``.linkonce [ comdat type ]``
80
81Supported COMDAT types:
82
83``discard``
84   Discards duplicate sections with the same COMDAT symbol. This is the default
85   if no type is specified.
86
87``one_only``
88   If the symbol is defined multiple times, the linker issues an error.
89
90``same_size``
91   Duplicates are discarded, but the linker issues an error if any have
92   different sizes.
93
94``same_contents``
95   Duplicates are discarded, but the linker issues an error if any duplicates
96   do not have exactly the same content.
97
98``largest``
99   Links the largest section from among the duplicates.
100
101``newest``
102   Links the newest section from among the duplicates.
103
104
105.. code-block:: gas
106
107  .section .text$foo
108  .linkonce
109    ...
110
111``.section`` Directive
112^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
113
114MC supports passing the information in ``.linkonce`` at the end of
115``.section``. For example,  these two codes are equivalent
116
117.. code-block:: gas
118
119  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol1"
120  .globl Symbol1
121  Symbol1:
122  .long 1
123
124.. code-block:: gas
125
126  .section secName, "dr"
127  .linkonce discard
128  .globl Symbol1
129  Symbol1:
130  .long 1
131
132Note that in the combined form the COMDAT symbol is explicit. This
133extension exists to support multiple sections with the same name in
134different COMDATs:
135
136
137.. code-block:: gas
138
139  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol1"
140  .globl Symbol1
141  Symbol1:
142  .long 1
143
144  .section secName, "dr", discard, "Symbol2"
145  .globl Symbol2
146  Symbol2:
147  .long 1
148
149In addition to the types allowed with ``.linkonce``, ``.section`` also accepts
150``associative``. The meaning is that the section is linked  if a certain other
151COMDAT section is linked. This other section is indicated by the comdat symbol
152in this directive. It can be any symbol defined in the associated section, but
153is usually the associated section's comdat.
154
155   The following restrictions apply to the associated section:
156
157   1. It must be a COMDAT section.
158   2. It cannot be another associative COMDAT section.
159
160In the following example the symbol ``sym`` is the comdat symbol of ``.foo``
161and ``.bar`` is associated to ``.foo``.
162
163.. code-block:: gas
164
165	.section	.foo,"bw",discard, "sym"
166	.section	.bar,"rd",associative, "sym"
167
168MC supports these flags in the COFF ``.section`` directive:
169
170  - ``b``: BSS section (``IMAGE_SCN_CNT_INITIALIZED_DATA``)
171  - ``d``: Data section (``IMAGE_SCN_CNT_UNINITIALIZED_DATA``)
172  - ``n``: Section is not loaded (``IMAGE_SCN_LNK_REMOVE``)
173  - ``r``: Read-only
174  - ``s``: Shared section
175  - ``w``: Writable
176  - ``x``: Executable section
177  - ``y``: Not readable
178  - ``D``: Discardable (``IMAGE_SCN_MEM_DISCARDABLE``)
179
180These flags are all compatible with gas, with the exception of the ``D`` flag,
181which gnu as does not support. For gas compatibility, sections with a name
182starting with ".debug" are implicitly discardable.
183
184
185ARM64/COFF-Dependent
186--------------------
187
188Relocations
189^^^^^^^^^^^
190
191The following additional symbol variants are supported:
192
193**:secrel_lo12:** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
194types ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_LOW12A`` or ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_LOW12L``.
195
196**:secrel_hi12:** generates a relocation that corresponds to the COFF relocation
197type ``IMAGE_REL_ARM64_SECREL_HIGH12A``.
198
199.. code-block:: gas
200
201    add x0, x0, :secrel_hi12:symbol
202    ldr x0, [x0, :secrel_lo12:symbol]
203
204    add x1, x1, :secrel_hi12:symbol
205    add x1, x1, :secrel_lo12:symbol
206    ...
207
208
209ELF-Dependent
210-------------
211
212``.section`` Directive
213^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
214
215In order to support creating multiple sections with the same name and comdat,
216it is possible to add an unique number at the end of the ``.section`` directive.
217For example, the following code creates two sections named ``.text``.
218
219.. code-block:: gas
220
221	.section	.text,"ax",@progbits,unique,1
222        nop
223
224	.section	.text,"ax",@progbits,unique,2
225        nop
226
227
228The unique number is not present in the resulting object at all. It is just used
229in the assembler to differentiate the sections.
230
231The 'o' flag is mapped to SHF_LINK_ORDER. If it is present, a symbol
232must be given that identifies the section to be placed is the
233.sh_link.
234
235.. code-block:: gas
236
237        .section .foo,"a",@progbits
238        .Ltmp:
239        .section .bar,"ao",@progbits,.Ltmp
240
241which is equivalent to just
242
243.. code-block:: gas
244
245        .section .foo,"a",@progbits
246        .section .bar,"ao",@progbits,.foo
247
248``.linker-options`` Section (linker options)
249^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
250
251In order to support passing linker options from the frontend to the linker, a
252special section of type ``SHT_LLVM_LINKER_OPTIONS`` (usually named
253``.linker-options`` though the name is not significant as it is identified by
254the type).  The contents of this section is a simple pair-wise encoding of
255directives for consideration by the linker.  The strings are encoded as standard
256null-terminated UTF-8 strings.  They are emitted inline to avoid having the
257linker traverse the object file for retrieving the value.  The linker is
258permitted to not honour the option and instead provide a warning/error to the
259user that the requested option was not honoured.
260
261The section has type ``SHT_LLVM_LINKER_OPTIONS`` and has the ``SHF_EXCLUDE``
262flag to ensure that the section is treated as opaque by linkers which do not
263support the feature and will not be emitted into the final linked binary.
264
265This would be equivalent to the follow raw assembly:
266
267.. code-block:: gas
268
269  .section ".linker-options","e",@llvm_linker_options
270  .asciz "option 1"
271  .asciz "value 1"
272  .asciz "option 2"
273  .asciz "value 2"
274
275The following directives are specified:
276
277  - lib
278
279    The parameter identifies a library to be linked against.  The library will
280    be looked up in the default and any specified library search paths
281    (specified to this point).
282
283  - libpath
284
285    The parameter identifies an additional library search path to be considered
286    when looking up libraries after the inclusion of this option.
287
288``SHT_LLVM_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES`` Section (Dependent Libraries)
289^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
290
291This section contains strings specifying libraries to be added to the link by
292the linker.
293
294The section should be consumed by the linker and not written to the output.
295
296The strings are encoded as standard null-terminated UTF-8 strings.
297
298For example:
299
300.. code-block:: gas
301
302  .section ".deplibs","MS",@llvm_dependent_libraries,1
303  .asciz "library specifier 1"
304  .asciz "library specifier 2"
305
306The interpretation of the library specifiers is defined by the consuming linker.
307
308``SHT_LLVM_CALL_GRAPH_PROFILE`` Section (Call Graph Profile)
309^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
310
311This section is used to pass a call graph profile to the linker which can be
312used to optimize the placement of sections.  It contains a sequence of
313(from symbol, to symbol, weight) tuples.
314
315It shall have a type of ``SHT_LLVM_CALL_GRAPH_PROFILE`` (0x6fff4c02), shall
316have the ``SHF_EXCLUDE`` flag set, the ``sh_link`` member shall hold the section
317header index of the associated symbol table, and shall have a ``sh_entsize`` of
31816.  It should be named ``.llvm.call-graph-profile``.
319
320The contents of the section shall be a sequence of ``Elf_CGProfile`` entries.
321
322.. code-block:: c
323
324  typedef struct {
325    Elf_Word cgp_from;
326    Elf_Word cgp_to;
327    Elf_Xword cgp_weight;
328  } Elf_CGProfile;
329
330cgp_from
331  The symbol index of the source of the edge.
332
333cgp_to
334  The symbol index of the destination of the edge.
335
336cgp_weight
337  The weight of the edge.
338
339This is represented in assembly as:
340
341.. code-block:: gas
342
343  .cg_profile from, to, 42
344
345``.cg_profile`` directives are processed at the end of the file.  It is an error
346if either ``from`` or ``to`` are undefined temporary symbols.  If either symbol
347is a temporary symbol, then the section symbol is used instead.  If either
348symbol is undefined, then that symbol is defined as if ``.weak symbol`` has been
349written at the end of the file.  This forces the symbol to show up in the symbol
350table.
351
352``SHT_LLVM_ADDRSIG`` Section (address-significance table)
353^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
354
355This section is used to mark symbols as address-significant, i.e. the address
356of the symbol is used in a comparison or leaks outside the translation unit. It
357has the same meaning as the absence of the LLVM attributes ``unnamed_addr``
358and ``local_unnamed_addr``.
359
360Any sections referred to by symbols that are not marked as address-significant
361in any object file may be safely merged by a linker without breaking the
362address uniqueness guarantee provided by the C and C++ language standards.
363
364The contents of the section are a sequence of ULEB128-encoded integers
365referring to the symbol table indexes of the address-significant symbols.
366
367There are two associated assembly directives:
368
369.. code-block:: gas
370
371  .addrsig
372
373This instructs the assembler to emit an address-significance table. Without
374this directive, all symbols are considered address-significant.
375
376.. code-block:: gas
377
378  .addrsig_sym sym
379
380This marks ``sym`` as address-significant.
381
382``SHT_LLVM_SYMPART`` Section (symbol partition specification)
383^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
384
385This section is used to mark symbols with the `partition`_ that they
386belong to. An ``.llvm_sympart`` section consists of a null-terminated string
387specifying the name of the partition followed by a relocation referring to
388the symbol that belongs to the partition. It may be constructed as follows:
389
390.. code-block:: gas
391
392  .section ".llvm_sympart","",@llvm_sympart
393  .asciz "libpartition.so"
394  .word symbol_in_partition
395
396.. _partition: https://lld.llvm.org/Partitions.html
397
398CodeView-Dependent
399------------------
400
401``.cv_file`` Directive
402^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
403Syntax:
404  ``.cv_file`` *FileNumber FileName* [ *checksum* ] [ *checksumkind* ]
405
406``.cv_func_id`` Directive
407^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
408Introduces a function ID that can be used with ``.cv_loc``.
409
410Syntax:
411  ``.cv_func_id`` *FunctionId*
412
413``.cv_inline_site_id`` Directive
414^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
415Introduces a function ID that can be used with ``.cv_loc``. Includes
416``inlined at`` source location information for use in the line table of the
417caller, whether the caller is a real function or another inlined call site.
418
419Syntax:
420  ``.cv_inline_site_id`` *FunctionId* ``within`` *Function* ``inlined_at`` *FileNumber Line* [ *Column* ]
421
422``.cv_loc`` Directive
423^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
424The first number is a file number, must have been previously assigned with a
425``.file`` directive, the second number is the line number and optionally the
426third number is a column position (zero if not specified).  The remaining
427optional items are ``.loc`` sub-directives.
428
429Syntax:
430  ``.cv_loc`` *FunctionId FileNumber* [ *Line* ] [ *Column* ] [ *prologue_end* ] [ ``is_stmt`` *value* ]
431
432``.cv_linetable`` Directive
433^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
434Syntax:
435  ``.cv_linetable`` *FunctionId* ``,`` *FunctionStart* ``,`` *FunctionEnd*
436
437``.cv_inline_linetable`` Directive
438^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
439Syntax:
440  ``.cv_inline_linetable`` *PrimaryFunctionId* ``,`` *FileNumber Line FunctionStart FunctionEnd*
441
442``.cv_def_range`` Directive
443^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
444The *GapStart* and *GapEnd* options may be repeated as needed.
445
446Syntax:
447  ``.cv_def_range`` *RangeStart RangeEnd* [ *GapStart GapEnd* ] ``,`` *bytes*
448
449``.cv_stringtable`` Directive
450^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
451
452``.cv_filechecksums`` Directive
453^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
454
455``.cv_filechecksumoffset`` Directive
456^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
457Syntax:
458  ``.cv_filechecksumoffset`` *FileNumber*
459
460``.cv_fpo_data`` Directive
461^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
462Syntax:
463  ``.cv_fpo_data`` *procsym*
464
465Target Specific Behaviour
466=========================
467
468X86
469---
470
471Relocations
472^^^^^^^^^^^
473
474``@ABS8`` can be applied to symbols which appear as immediate operands to
475instructions that have an 8-bit immediate form for that operand. It causes
476the assembler to use the 8-bit form and an 8-bit relocation (e.g. ``R_386_8``
477or ``R_X86_64_8``) for the symbol.
478
479For example:
480
481.. code-block:: gas
482
483  cmpq $foo@ABS8, %rdi
484
485This causes the assembler to select the form of the 64-bit ``cmpq`` instruction
486that takes an 8-bit immediate operand that is sign extended to 64 bits, as
487opposed to ``cmpq $foo, %rdi`` which takes a 32-bit immediate operand. This
488is also not the same as ``cmpb $foo, %dil``, which is an 8-bit comparison.
489
490Windows on ARM
491--------------
492
493Stack Probe Emission
494^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
495
496The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2012) emits stack probes
497in the following fashion:
498
499.. code-block:: gas
500
501  movw r4, #constant
502  bl __chkstk
503  sub.w sp, sp, r4
504
505However, this has the limitation of 32 MiB (±16MiB).  In order to accommodate
506larger binaries, LLVM supports the use of ``-mcmodel=large`` to allow a 4GiB
507range via a slight deviation.  It will generate an indirect jump as follows:
508
509.. code-block:: gas
510
511  movw r4, #constant
512  movw r12, :lower16:__chkstk
513  movt r12, :upper16:__chkstk
514  blx r12
515  sub.w sp, sp, r4
516
517Variable Length Arrays
518^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
519
520The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2012) does not permit the
521emission of Variable Length Arrays (VLAs).
522
523The Windows ARM Itanium ABI extends the base ABI by adding support for emitting
524a dynamic stack allocation.  When emitting a variable stack allocation, a call
525to ``__chkstk`` is emitted unconditionally to ensure that guard pages are setup
526properly.  The emission of this stack probe emission is handled similar to the
527standard stack probe emission.
528
529The MSVC environment does not emit code for VLAs currently.
530
531Windows on ARM64
532----------------
533
534Stack Probe Emission
535^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
536
537The reference implementation (Microsoft Visual Studio 2017) emits stack probes
538in the following fashion:
539
540.. code-block:: gas
541
542  mov x15, #constant
543  bl __chkstk
544  sub sp, sp, x15, lsl #4
545
546However, this has the limitation of 256 MiB (±128MiB).  In order to accommodate
547larger binaries, LLVM supports the use of ``-mcmodel=large`` to allow a 8GiB
548(±4GiB) range via a slight deviation.  It will generate an indirect jump as
549follows:
550
551.. code-block:: gas
552
553  mov x15, #constant
554  adrp x16, __chkstk
555  add x16, x16, :lo12:__chkstk
556  blr x16
557  sub sp, sp, x15, lsl #4
558
559