llvm-project/llvm/docs
Ben Dunbobbin 1d16515fb4 [ELF] Implement Dependent Libraries Feature
This patch implements a limited form of autolinking primarily designed to allow
either the --dependent-library compiler option, or "comment lib" pragmas (
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/preprocessor/comment-c-cpp?view=vs-2017) in
C/C++ e.g. #pragma comment(lib, "foo"), to cause an ELF linker to automatically
add the specified library to the link when processing the input file generated
by the compiler.

Currently this extension is unique to LLVM and LLD. However, care has been taken
to design this feature so that it could be supported by other ELF linkers.

The design goals were to provide:

- A simple linking model for developers to reason about.
- The ability to to override autolinking from the linker command line.
- Source code compatibility, where possible, with "comment lib" pragmas in other
  environments (MSVC in particular).

Dependent library support is implemented differently for ELF platforms than on
the other platforms. Primarily this difference is that on ELF we pass the
dependent library specifiers directly to the linker without manipulating them.
This is in contrast to other platforms where they are mapped to a specific
linker option by the compiler. This difference is a result of the greater
variety of ELF linkers and the fact that ELF linkers tend to handle libraries in
a more complicated fashion than on other platforms. This forces us to defer
handling the specifiers to the linker.

In order to achieve a level of source code compatibility with other platforms
we have restricted this feature to work with libraries that meet the following
"reasonable" requirements:

1. There are no competing defined symbols in a given set of libraries, or
   if they exist, the program owner doesn't care which is linked to their
   program.
2. There may be circular dependencies between libraries.

The binary representation is a mergeable string section (SHF_MERGE,
SHF_STRINGS), called .deplibs, with custom type SHT_LLVM_DEPENDENT_LIBRARIES
(0x6fff4c04). The compiler forms this section by concatenating the arguments of
the "comment lib" pragmas and --dependent-library options in the order they are
encountered. Partial (-r, -Ur) links are handled by concatenating .deplibs
sections with the normal mergeable string section rules. As an example, #pragma
comment(lib, "foo") would result in:

.section ".deplibs","MS",@llvm_dependent_libraries,1
         .asciz "foo"

For LTO, equivalent information to the contents of a the .deplibs section can be
retrieved by the LLD for bitcode input files.

LLD processes the dependent library specifiers in the following way:

1. Dependent libraries which are found from the specifiers in .deplibs sections
   of relocatable object files are added when the linker decides to include that
   file (which could itself be in a library) in the link. Dependent libraries
   behave as if they were appended to the command line after all other options. As
   a consequence the set of dependent libraries are searched last to resolve
   symbols.
2. It is an error if a file cannot be found for a given specifier.
3. Any command line options in effect at the end of the command line parsing apply
   to the dependent libraries, e.g. --whole-archive.
4. The linker tries to add a library or relocatable object file from each of the
   strings in a .deplibs section by; first, handling the string as if it was
   specified on the command line; second, by looking for the string in each of the
   library search paths in turn; third, by looking for a lib<string>.a or
   lib<string>.so (depending on the current mode of the linker) in each of the
   library search paths.
5. A new command line option --no-dependent-libraries tells LLD to ignore the
   dependent libraries.

Rationale for the above points:

1. Adding the dependent libraries last makes the process simple to understand
   from a developers perspective. All linkers are able to implement this scheme.
2. Error-ing for libraries that are not found seems like better behavior than
   failing the link during symbol resolution.
3. It seems useful for the user to be able to apply command line options which
   will affect all of the dependent libraries. There is a potential problem of
   surprise for developers, who might not realize that these options would apply
   to these "invisible" input files; however, despite the potential for surprise,
   this is easy for developers to reason about and gives developers the control
   that they may require.
4. This algorithm takes into account all of the different ways that ELF linkers
   find input files. The different search methods are tried by the linker in most
   obvious to least obvious order.
5. I considered adding finer grained control over which dependent libraries were
   ignored (e.g. MSVC has /nodefaultlib:<library>); however, I concluded that this
   is not necessary: if finer control is required developers can fall back to using
   the command line directly.

RFC thread: http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-dev/2019-March/131004.html.

Differential Revision: https://reviews.llvm.org/D60274

llvm-svn: 360984
2019-05-17 03:44:15 +00:00
..
AMDGPU [AMDGPU][MC][DOC] Updated AMD GPU assembler description. 2018-12-28 11:48:23 +00:00
CommandGuide [FileCheck] Fix sphinx error: Make input be gas block 2019-05-15 15:20:45 +00:00
Frontend
HistoricalNotes
PDB Try to unbreak sphinx bot after r359714 2019-05-01 20:00:45 +00:00
Proposals [Documentation] Proposal to change variable names 2019-03-28 14:42:21 +00:00
TableGen [TableGen] Introduce !listsplat 'binary' operator 2019-04-10 18:26:36 +00:00
_ocamldoc
_static
_templates
_themes/llvm-theme
tutorial Fix missing arguments in tutorial 2019-04-12 08:23:28 +00:00
AMDGPUInstructionNotation.rst [AMDGPU][MC][DOC] Updated AMD GPU assembler description. 2018-12-28 11:48:23 +00:00
AMDGPUInstructionSyntax.rst [AMDGPU][MC][DOC] A fix for build failure in r349370 2018-12-17 18:53:10 +00:00
AMDGPUModifierSyntax.rst [AMDGPU][MC][DOC] Updated AMD GPU assembler description. 2018-12-28 11:48:23 +00:00
AMDGPUOperandSyntax.rst [AMDGPU][MC][GFX8+][DISASSEMBLER] Corrected 1/2pi value for 64-bit operands 2019-01-18 15:17:17 +00:00
AMDGPUUsage.rst Try to fix Sphinx bot. 2019-04-05 18:06:42 +00:00
ARM-BE-bitcastfail.png
ARM-BE-bitcastsuccess.png
ARM-BE-ld1.png
ARM-BE-ldr.png
AddingConstrainedIntrinsics.rst Fix sphinx documentation warning. 2019-04-11 17:30:03 +00:00
AdvancedBuilds.rst Use backquotes to avoid a sphinx unexpected error: 2018-12-16 14:19:39 +00:00
AliasAnalysis.rst [doc] Removed obsolete -count-aa from AliasAnalysis documentation 2018-04-23 13:45:28 +00:00
Atomics.rst [docs][AtomicExpandPass] Document the alternate lowering strategy for part-word atomicrmw/cmpxchg 2018-11-30 09:23:24 +00:00
Benchmarking.rst
BigEndianNEON.rst
BitCodeFormat.rst Add the ShadowCallStack attribute 2018-04-03 20:10:40 +00:00
BlockFrequencyTerminology.rst
BranchWeightMetadata.rst [TI removal] Remove discussion of `TerminatorInst` from the LLVM 2018-10-18 07:40:24 +00:00
BugLifeCycle.rst Introduce bug life cycle documentation. 2018-11-07 08:49:36 +00:00
Bugpoint.rst Rename DEBUG macro to LLVM_DEBUG. 2018-05-14 12:53:11 +00:00
CFIVerify.rst [cfi-verify] Abort on unsupported targets 2018-07-16 15:26:44 +00:00
CMake.rst build: add option to disable unwind tables 2019-05-02 19:37:26 +00:00
CMakeLists.txt [dsymutil][doc] Improve wording in manpage and rename file. 2017-11-02 18:44:54 +00:00
CMakePrimer.rst
CodeGenerator.rst [Docs][CodeGenerator][eBPF] Correct the values for BPF_X and BPF_K 2019-05-03 16:40:16 +00:00
CodeOfConduct.rst
CodingStandards.rst Update the coding standards with the new file header. 2019-01-19 11:53:58 +00:00
CommandLine.rst [docs] Put DefaultOption bullet in alphabetical order. 2019-04-26 15:22:21 +00:00
CompileCudaWithLLVM.rst Adjust documentation for git migration. 2019-01-29 16:37:27 +00:00
CompilerWriterInfo.rst [docs] Fix formatting. 2019-01-17 00:31:35 +00:00
Contributing.rst [Docs] Add LLVM for Grad Students to Contributing page. 2018-03-02 14:35:02 +00:00
Coroutines.rst [coroutines] Add support for llvm.coro.noop intrinsics 2018-04-02 16:55:12 +00:00
CoverageMappingFormat.rst
DebuggingJITedCode.rst
DeveloperPolicy.rst DeveloperPolicy: update toolchain with sample RFC / patch 2019-01-31 23:18:11 +00:00
Docker.rst [build] Rename clang-headers to clang-resource-headers 2019-03-04 21:19:53 +00:00
ExceptionHandling.rst [NFC] fix trivial typos in documents and comments 2018-04-12 05:53:20 +00:00
ExtendedIntegerResults.txt
ExtendingLLVM.rst Note ImmArg in documentation for adding intrinsics 2019-03-14 13:46:17 +00:00
Extensions.rst [ELF] Implement Dependent Libraries Feature 2019-05-17 03:44:15 +00:00
FAQ.rst
FaultMaps.rst
FuzzingLLVM.rst [docs] Try to clarify the FuzzingLLVM docs 2018-08-16 21:55:09 +00:00
GarbageCollection.rst [GC docs] Update the gcroot documentation to reflect recent simplifcations to GCStrategy configurability 2018-11-12 20:30:50 +00:00
GetElementPtr.rst [docs] Update code block for compatibility with Sphinx 1.5.1 2017-11-06 11:47:24 +00:00
GettingStarted.rst Stop enabling clang-tools-extra automatically when clang is in LLVM_ENABLE_PROJECTS 2019-02-14 20:26:35 +00:00
GettingStartedVS.rst [MC] Fix regression tests on Windows when git “core.autocrlf” is set to true. 2017-11-17 21:59:43 +00:00
GlobalISel.rst [globalisel] Update the legalizer documentation 2019-05-01 16:52:29 +00:00
GoldPlugin.rst [docs][gold] Fix a typo 2018-08-21 21:00:54 +00:00
HowToAddABuilder.rst
HowToBuildOnARM.rst
HowToBuildWithPGO.rst HowToBuildWithPGO.rst: Fix a few details in the manual steps 2018-12-05 08:35:30 +00:00
HowToCrossCompileBuiltinsOnArm.rst [docs] Improve HowToCrossCompilerBuiltinsOnArm 2018-12-18 12:40:19 +00:00
HowToCrossCompileLLVM.rst
HowToReleaseLLVM.rst
HowToSetUpLLVMStyleRTTI.rst
HowToSubmitABug.rst [docs] Prevent O0 optnone for opt input 2019-01-29 22:17:51 +00:00
HowToUseAttributes.rst
HowToUseInstrMappings.rst
InAlloca.rst
LLVMBuild.rst
LLVMBuild.txt Update the file headers across all of the LLVM projects in the monorepo 2019-01-19 08:50:56 +00:00
LangRef.rst [ELF] Implement Dependent Libraries Feature 2019-05-17 03:44:15 +00:00
Lexicon.rst Update the coding standards and developer policy documentation surrounding whitespace. 2018-08-10 17:26:07 +00:00
LibFuzzer.rst [libFuzzer] document -len_control 2019-03-18 22:20:47 +00:00
LinkTimeOptimization.rst
MCJIT-creation.png
MCJIT-dyld-load.png
MCJIT-engine-builder.png
MCJIT-load-object.png
MCJIT-load.png
MCJIT-resolve-relocations.png
MCJITDesignAndImplementation.rst
MIRLangRef.rst MIR: Add method to stop after specific runs of passes 2018-12-04 17:45:12 +00:00
Makefile.sphinx
MarkdownQuickstartTemplate.md [docs] Reinstate r337730 - Add support for Markdown documentation in 2018-08-06 00:38:31 +00:00
MarkedUpDisassembly.rst
MeetupGuidelines.rst Add guidelines/recommendations for organizers of LLVM Socials 2019-05-14 07:20:58 +00:00
MemorySSA.rst [NFC] fix trivial typos in comments and documents 2018-01-26 08:15:29 +00:00
MergeFunctions.rst Updating MergeFunctions.rst 2018-08-18 20:17:19 +00:00
NVPTXUsage.rst [CodeGen] Unify MBB reference format in both MIR and debug output 2017-12-04 17:18:51 +00:00
OptBisect.rst [Docs] Remove hard tab character from code block in optbisect documentation 2018-07-27 06:54:13 +00:00
Packaging.rst
Passes.rst [Unroll/UnrollAndJam/Vectorizer/Distribute] Add followup loop attributes. 2018-12-12 17:32:52 +00:00
Phabricator.rst Update GettingStarted guide to recommend that people use the new 2019-01-14 22:27:32 +00:00
ProgrammersManual.rst [llvm] Add isa_and_nonnull 2019-04-05 13:59:24 +00:00
Projects.rst
README.txt
ReleaseNotes.rst [IR] Disallow llvm.global_ctors and llvm.global_dtors of the 2-field form in textual format 2019-05-15 02:35:32 +00:00
ReleaseProcess.rst [docs] Make ReleaseProcess.rst 80 column. NFCI 2018-01-18 14:57:55 +00:00
ReportingGuide.rst
ScudoHardenedAllocator.rst [docs] Scudo: document error messages & their potential cause 2019-01-22 16:43:45 +00:00
SegmentedStacks.rst
SourceLevelDebugging.rst [llvm-readobj] Change -long-option to --long-option in tests. NFC 2019-05-01 05:27:20 +00:00
SpeculativeLoadHardening.md [docs] Fix a couple spelling errors. 2019-01-28 23:03:41 +00:00
SphinxQuickstartTemplate.rst
StackMaps.rst [docs] Clarify ELF section naming for StackMaps and fix a typo 2018-11-08 17:20:35 +00:00
StackSafetyAnalysis.rst Remove trailing empty line 2018-11-26 23:17:52 +00:00
Statepoints.rst [docs][statepoints] Reformulate open issues list 2018-11-09 17:09:16 +00:00
SupportLibrary.rst [Docs] [Support] Correct a missed reference and use up to date .inc examples. 2018-09-21 01:53:51 +00:00
SystemLibrary.rst [Docs] [Support] System Library to Support Library transition along with minor corrections to reflect it. 2018-09-18 18:05:38 +00:00
TableGenFundamentals.rst
TestSuiteGuide.md Adjust documentation for git migration. 2019-01-29 16:37:27 +00:00
TestSuiteMakefileGuide.rst Adjust documentation for git migration. 2019-01-29 16:37:27 +00:00
TestingGuide.rst [docs] Recommend assertions when testing. 2019-02-03 20:37:13 +00:00
TransformMetadata.rst [Unroll/UnrollAndJam/Vectorizer/Distribute] Add followup loop attributes. 2018-12-12 17:32:52 +00:00
TypeMetadata.rst Update GettingStarted guide to recommend that people use the new 2019-01-14 22:27:32 +00:00
Vectorizers.rst Update GettingStarted guide to recommend that people use the new 2019-01-14 22:27:32 +00:00
WritingAnLLVMBackend.rst [Docs] Fix typo in scheduler model documentation. enumemation->enumeration 2017-12-10 09:14:35 +00:00
WritingAnLLVMPass.rst cmake: Remove add_llvm_loadable_module() 2018-12-20 22:04:08 +00:00
XRay.rst [Docs] Update of Xray page 2018-07-26 04:44:31 +00:00
XRayExample.rst [XRay][docs] Fix option name 2019-03-12 13:44:42 +00:00
XRayFDRFormat.rst Tidy some language in the xray documentation. 2018-05-27 09:19:03 +00:00
YamlIO.rst [Docs] Fix LLVM_YAML_IS_DOCUMENT_LIST_VECTOR 2018-07-23 14:17:43 +00:00
conf.py [docs] Add support for Markdown documentation when creating man pages 2019-05-03 05:11:48 +00:00
doxygen-mainpage.dox
doxygen.cfg.in [NFC] fix trivial typos in comments and documents 2018-01-26 08:15:29 +00:00
gcc-loops.png
index.rst Add guidelines/recommendations for organizers of LLVM Socials 2019-05-14 07:20:58 +00:00
linpack-pc.png
llvm-objdump.1 Update the file headers across all of the LLVM projects in the monorepo 2019-01-19 08:50:56 +00:00
make.bat
re_format.7
speculative_load_hardening_microbenchmarks.png [x86/SLH] Add the design document for Speculative Load Hardening, 2018-07-18 14:05:14 +00:00
yaml2obj.rst

README.txt

LLVM Documentation
==================

LLVM's documentation is written in reStructuredText, a lightweight
plaintext markup language (file extension `.rst`). While the
reStructuredText documentation should be quite readable in source form, it
is mostly meant to be processed by the Sphinx documentation generation
system to create HTML pages which are hosted on <http://llvm.org/docs/> and
updated after every commit. Manpage output is also supported, see below.

If you instead would like to generate and view the HTML locally, install
Sphinx <http://sphinx-doc.org/> and then do:

    cd <build-dir>
    cmake -DLLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX=true -DSPHINX_OUTPUT_HTML=true <src-dir>
    make -j3 docs-llvm-html
    $BROWSER <build-dir>/docs//html/index.html

The mapping between reStructuredText files and generated documentation is
`docs/Foo.rst` <-> `<build-dir>/docs//html/Foo.html` <-> `http://llvm.org/docs/Foo.html`.

If you are interested in writing new documentation, you will want to read
`SphinxQuickstartTemplate.rst` which will get you writing documentation
very fast and includes examples of the most important reStructuredText
markup syntax.

Manpage Output
===============

Building the manpages is similar to building the HTML documentation. The
primary difference is to use the `man` makefile target, instead of the
default (which is `html`). Sphinx then produces the man pages in the
directory `<build-dir>/docs/man/`.

    cd <build-dir>
    cmake -DLLVM_ENABLE_SPHINX=true -DSPHINX_OUTPUT_MAN=true <src-dir>
    make -j3 docs-llvm-man
    man -l >build-dir>/docs/man/FileCheck.1

The correspondence between .rst files and man pages is
`docs/CommandGuide/Foo.rst` <-> `<build-dir>/docs//man/Foo.1`.
These .rst files are also included during HTML generation so they are also
viewable online (as noted above) at e.g.
`http://llvm.org/docs/CommandGuide/Foo.html`.

Checking links
==============

The reachability of external links in the documentation can be checked by
running:

    cd docs/
    make -f Makefile.sphinx linkcheck

Doxygen page Output
==============

Install doxygen <http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/download.html> and dot2tex <https://dot2tex.readthedocs.io/en/latest>.

    cd <build-dir>
    cmake -DLLVM_ENABLE_DOXYGEN=On <llvm-top-src-dir>
    make doxygen-llvm # for LLVM docs
    make doxygen-clang # for clang docs

It will generate html in
    
    <build-dir>/docs/doxygen/html # for LLVM docs
    <build-dir>/tools/clang/docs/doxygen/html # for clang docs