forked from OSchip/llvm-project
Minor edits to Description section.
Add Design Philosophy as a separate subsection. Clarify its last sentence. Give Automatic Mode Selection a uniquely-named anchor. Always call the program the "test program", instead of the "initial program", the "LLVM program", the "test case", the "resultant module", etc. Try to explain the assumptions a little more, instead of just describing the process. llvm-svn: 9255
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<img src="../Debugging.gif" width=444 height=314 align=right>
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<h3>DESCRIPTION</h3>
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The <tt>bugpoint</tt> tool is a generally useful tool for narrowing down
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The <tt>bugpoint</tt> tool narrows down the source of
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problems in LLVM tools and passes. It can be used to debug three types of
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failures: optimizer crashes, miscompilations by optimizers, or invalid native
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code generation. It aims to reduce test cases to something useful. For example,
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code generation. It aims to reduce large test cases to small, useful ones.
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For example,
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if <tt><a href="gccas.html">gccas</a></tt> crashes while optimizing a file, it
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will identify the optimization (or combination of optimizations) that causes the
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crash, and reduce the file down to a small example which triggers the crash.<p>
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<a name="designphilosophy">
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<h4>Design Philosophy</h4>
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> has been designed to be a useful tool without requiring any
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hooks into the LLVM infrastructure at all. It works with any and all LLVM
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passes and code generators, and does not need to "know" how they work. Because
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of this, it may appear to do a lot of stupid things or miss obvious
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simplifications. Remember, however, that computer time is much cheaper than
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programmer time, so if it takes a long time to reduce a test case it is still
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worth it. :)<p>
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simplifications. <tt>bugpoint</tt> is also designed to trade off programmer
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time for computer time in the compiler-debugging process; consequently, it may
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take a long period of (unattended) time to reduce a test case, but we feel it
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is still worth it. :-) <p>
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<a name="crashdebug">
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<a name="automaticmodeselection">
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<h4>Automatic Mode Selection</h4>
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> reads the specified list of <tt>.bc</tt> or <tt>.ll</tt> files
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specified on the command-line and links them together. If any LLVM passes are
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specified on the command line, it runs these passes on the resultant module. If
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> reads each <tt>.bc</tt> or <tt>.ll</tt> file
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specified on the command line and links them together into a single module,
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called the test program. If any LLVM passes are
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specified on the command line, it runs these passes on the test program. If
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any of the passes crash, or if they produce a malformed LLVM module,
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> enters <a href="#crashdebug">crash debugging mode</a>.<p>
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Otherwise, if the <a href="#opt_output"><tt>-output</tt></a> option was not
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specified, <tt>bugpoint</tt> runs the initial program with the C backend (which
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specified, <tt>bugpoint</tt> runs the test program with the C backend (which
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is assumed to generate good code) to generate a reference output. Once
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> has a reference output to match, it tries executing the
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original program with the <a href="#opt_run-">selected</a> code generator. If
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the resultant output is different than the reference output, it enters <a
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href="#codegendebug">code generator debugging mode</a>.<p>
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> has a reference output for the test program, it tries
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executing it
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with the <a href="#opt_run-">selected</a> code generator. If
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the resulting output differs from the reference output, it assumes the
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difference resulted from a code generator failure, and enters
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<a href="#codegendebug">code generator debugging mode</a>.<p>
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Otherwise, <tt>bugpoint</tt> runs the LLVM program after all of the LLVM passes
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have been applied to it. If the executed program matches the reference output,
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there is no problem <tt>bugpoint</tt> can debug. Otherwise, it enters <a
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href="#miscompilationdebug">miscompilation debugging mode</a>.<p>
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Otherwise, <tt>bugpoint</tt> runs the test program after all of the LLVM passes
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have been applied to it. If its output differs from the reference output,
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it assumes the difference resulted from a failure in one of the LLVM passes,
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and enters
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<a href="#miscompilationdebug">miscompilation debugging mode</a>. Otherwise,
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there is no problem <tt>bugpoint</tt> can debug.<p>
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<a name="crashdebug">
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<h4>Crash debugging mode</h4>
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If an optimizer crashes, <tt>bugpoint</tt> will try a variety of techniques to
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narrow down the list of passes and the code to a more manageable amount. First,
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> figures out which combination of passes trigger the bug. This
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is useful when debugging a problem exposed by <tt>gccas</tt> for example,
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If an optimizer crashes, <tt>bugpoint</tt> will try as hard as it can to
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reduce the list of passes and the size of the test program. First,
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> figures out which combination of passes triggers the bug. This
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is useful when debugging a problem exposed by <tt>gccas</tt>, for example,
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because it runs over 30 optimizations.<p>
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Next, <tt>bugpoint</tt> tries removing functions from the module, to reduce the
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size of the test case to a reasonable amount. Usually it is able to get it down
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to a single function for intraprocedural optimizations. Once the number of
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size of the test program. Usually it is able to reduce a test program
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to a single function, when debugging intraprocedural optimizations. Once the
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number of
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functions has been reduced, it attempts to delete various edges in the control
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flow graph, to reduce the size of the function as much as possible. Finally,
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<tt>bugpoint</tt> deletes any individual LLVM instructions whose absence does
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