llvm-project/mlir/docs/ConversionToLLVMDialect.md

Conversion to the LLVM Dialect

Conversion from several dialects that rely on built-in types to the LLVM Dialect is expected to be performed through the Dialect Conversion infrastructure.

The conversion of types and that of the overall module structure is described in this document. Individual conversion passes provide a set of conversion patterns for ops in different dialects, such as -convert-std-to-llvm for ops in the Standard dialect and -convert-vector-to-llvm in the Vector dialect. Note that some conversions subsume the others.

We use the terminology defined by the LLVM Dialect description throughout this document.

[TOC]

Type Conversion

Scalar Types

Scalar types are converted to their LLVM counterparts if they exist. The following conversions are currently implemented:

• i* converts to !llvm.i*
• bf16 converts to bf16
• f16 converts to f16
• f32 converts to f32
• f64 converts to f64

Index Type

Index type is converted to an LLVM dialect integer type with bitwidth equal to the bitwidth of the pointer size as specified by the data layout of the closest module. For example, on x86-64 CPUs it converts to i64. This behavior can be overridden by the type converter configuration, which is often exposed as a pass option by conversion passes.

Vector Types

LLVM IR only supports one-dimensional vectors, unlike MLIR where vectors can be multi-dimensional. Vector types cannot be nested in either IR. In the one-dimensional case, MLIR vectors are converted to LLVM IR vectors of the same size with element type converted using these conversion rules. In the n-dimensional case, MLIR vectors are converted to (n-1)-dimensional array types of one-dimensional vectors.

For example, vector<4 x f32> converts to !llvm.vec<4 x f32> and vector<4 x 8 x 16 x f32> converts to !llvm.array<4 x array<8 x vec<16 x f32>>>.

Ranked Memref Types

Memref types in MLIR have both static and dynamic information associated with them. In the general case, the dynamic information describes dynamic sizes in the logical indexing space and any symbols bound to the memref. This dynamic information must be present at runtime in the LLVM dialect equivalent type.

In practice, the conversion supports two conventions:

• the default convention for memrefs in the strided form;
• a "bare pointer" conversion for statically-shaped memrefs with default layout.

The choice between conventions is specified at type converter construction time and is often exposed as an option by conversion passes.

Memrefs with arbitrary layouts are not supported. Instead, these layouts can be factored out of the type and used as part of index computation for operations that read and write into a memref with the default layout.

Default Convention

The dynamic information comprises the buffer pointer as well as sizes and strides of any dynamically-sized dimensions. Memref types are normalized and converted to a descriptor that is only dependent on the rank of the memref. The descriptor contains the following fields in order:

1. The pointer to the data buffer as allocated, referred to as "allocated pointer". This is only useful for deallocating the memref.
2. The pointer to the properly aligned data pointer that the memref indexes, referred to as "aligned pointer".
3. A lowered converted index-type integer containing the distance in number of elements between the beginning of the (aligned) buffer and the first element to be accessed through the memref, referred to as "offset".
4. An array containing as many converted index-type integers as the rank of the memref: the array represents the size, in number of elements, of the memref along the given dimension. For constant memref dimensions, the corresponding size entry is a constant whose runtime value must match the static value.
5. A second array containing as many converted index-type integers as the rank of memref: the second array represents the "stride" (in tensor abstraction sense), i.e. the number of consecutive elements of the underlying buffer one needs to jump over to get to the next logically indexed element.

For constant memref dimensions, the corresponding size entry is a constant whose runtime value matches the static value. This normalization serves as an ABI for the memref type to interoperate with externally linked functions. In the particular case of rank 0 memrefs, the size and stride arrays are omitted, resulting in a struct containing two pointers + offset.

Examples:

memref<f32> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<f32> , ptr<f32>, i64)>
memref<1 x f32> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64,
                                 array<1 x 64>, array<1 x i64>)>
memref<? x f32> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64
                                 array<1 x 64>, array<1 x i64>)>
memref<10x42x42x43x123 x f32> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64
                                               array<5 x 64>, array<5 x i64>)>
memref<10x?x42x?x123 x f32> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64
                                             array<5 x 64>, array<5 x i64>)>

// Memref types can have vectors as element types
memref<1x? x vector<4xf32>> -> !llvm.struct<(ptr<vec<4 x f32>>,
                                             ptr<vec<4 x float>>, i64,
                                             array<1 x i64>, array<1 x i64>)>

Bare Pointer Convention

Ranked memrefs with static shape and default layout can be converted into an LLVM dialect pointer to their element type. Only the default alignment is supported in such cases, e.g. the alloc operation cannot have an alignment attribute.

Examples:

memref<f32> -> !llvm.ptr<f32>
memref<10x42 x f32> -> !llvm.ptr<f32>

// Memrefs with vector types are also supported.
memref<10x42 x vector<4xf32>> -> !llvm.ptr<vec<4 x f32>>

Unranked Memref types

Unranked memrefs are converted to an unranked descriptor that contains:

1. a converted index-typed integer representing the dynamic rank of the memref;
2. a type-erased pointer (!llvm.ptr<i8>) to a ranked memref descriptor with the contents listed above.

This descriptor is primarily intended for interfacing with rank-polymorphic library functions. The pointer to the ranked memref descriptor points to memory allocated on stack of the function in which it is used.

Note that stack allocations may be emitted at a location where the unranked memref first appears, e.g., a cast operation, and remain live throughout the lifetime of the function; this may lead to stack exhaustion if used in a loop.

Examples:

// Unranked descriptor.
memref<*xf32> -> !llvm.struct<(i64, ptr<i8>)>

Bare pointer convention does not support unranked memrefs.

Function Types

Function types get converted to LLVM dialect function types. The arguments are converted individually according to these rules, except for memref types in function arguments and high-order functions, which are described below. The result types need to accommodate the fact that LLVM functions always have a return type, which may be an !llvm.void type. The converted function always has a single result type. If the original function type had no results, the converted function will have one result of the !llvm.void type. If the original function type had one result, the converted function will also have one result converted using these rules. Otherwise, the result type will be an LLVM dialect structure type where each element of the structure corresponds to one of the results of the original function, converted using these rules.

Examples:

// Zero-ary function type with no results:
() -> ()
// is converted to a zero-ary function with `void` result.
!llvm.func<void ()>

// Unary function with one result:
(i32) -> (i64)
// has its argument and result type converted, before creating the LLVM dialect
// function type.
!llvm.func<i64 (i32)>

// Binary function with one result:
(i32, f32) -> (i64)
// has its arguments handled separately
!llvm.func<i64 (i32, f32)>

// Binary function with two results:
(i32, f32) -> (i64, f64)
// has its result aggregated into a structure type.
!llvm.func<struct<(i64, f64)> (i32, f32)>

Functions as Function Arguments or Results

High-order function types, i.e. types of functions that have other functions as arguments or results, are converted differently to accommodate the fact that LLVM IR does not allow for function-typed values. Instead, functions are expected to be passed into and return from other functions by pointer. Therefore, function-typed function arguments are results are converted to pointer-to-the-function type. The pointee type is converted using these rules.

Examples:

// Function-typed arguments or results in higher-order functions:
(() -> ()) -> (() -> ())
// are converted into pointers to functions.
!llvm.func<ptr<func<void ()>> (ptr<func<void ()>>)>

// These rules apply recursively: a function type taking a function that takes
// another function
( ( (i32) -> (i64) ) -> () ) -> ()
// is converted into a function type taking a pointer-to-function that takes
// another point-to-function.
!llvm.func<void (ptr<func<void (ptr<func<i64 (i32)>>)>>)>

Memrefs as Function Arguments

When used as function arguments, both ranked and unranked memrefs are converted into a list of arguments that represents each scalar component of their descriptor. This is intended for some compatibility with C ABI, in which structure types would need to be passed by-pointer leading to the need for allocations and related issues, as well as for aliasing annotations, which are currently attached to pointer in function arguments. Having scalar components means that each size and stride is passed as an individual value.

When used as function results, memrefs are converted as usual, i.e. each memref is converted to a descriptor struct (default convention) or to a pointer (bare pointer convention).

Examples:

// A memref descriptor appearing as function argument:
(memref<f32>) -> ()
// gets converted into a list of individual scalar components of a descriptor.
!llvm.func<void (ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64)>

// The list of arguments is linearized and one can freely mix memref and other
// types in this list:
(memref<f32>, f32) -> ()
// which gets converted into a flat list.
!llvm.func<void (ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64, f32)>

// For nD ranked memref descriptors:
(memref<?x?xf32>) -> ()
// the converted signature will contain 2n+1 `index`-typed integer arguments,
// offset, n sizes and n strides, per memref argument type.
!llvm.func<void (ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64, i64, i64, i64, i64)>

// Same rules apply to unranked descriptors:
(memref<*xf32>) -> ()
// which get converted into their components.
!llvm.func<void (i64, ptr<i8>)>

// However, returning a memref from a function is not affected:
() -> (memref<?xf32>)
// gets converted to a function returning a descriptor structure.
!llvm.func<struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64, array<1xi64>, array<1xi64>)> ()>

// If multiple memref-typed results are returned:
() -> (memref<f32>, memref<f64>)
// their descriptor structures are additionally packed into another structure,
// potentially with other non-memref typed results.
!llvm.func<struct<(struct<(ptr<f32>, ptr<f32>, i64)>,
                   struct<(ptr<double>, ptr<double>, i64)>)> ()>