Slightly improve the getenv("bar") linking problem

There's been a variation of the following in the code since 2005:

    if (unoptimizable_true)
      return;
    use_this_symbol_to_force_linking(); // unreachable but never removed

Way back in 00d5508496c it was the win32 call `GetCurrentProcess`
but switched to `getenv("bar")` fairly soon after in 63e504ff43. While
that pulled in fewer dependencies and made the code portable, it's a
bit of a weird construct. The environment variable used for the `getenv`
call is "bar", which is particularly weird to see fly past when you run
`ltrace` on a binary linked against LLVM.

In this patch I don't try to replace this construct wholesale - it's
still required for architectural reasons I'm not able to tackle right
now, but I did try and make it slightly less weird and opaque:

- It gives the construct a name
- The environment variable hints where this comes from and that its
  value is ignored

Combined, this should be a bit of improvement for the next person who
wonders what LLVM is up to when they trace their process or see
smatterings of `getenv("bar")` dotted around the source.
This commit is contained in:
Luke Drummond 2022-10-13 16:57:43 +01:00
parent 283fd3f09a
commit f992ae4fd1
8 changed files with 58 additions and 42 deletions

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@ -15,19 +15,17 @@
#define LLVM_CODEGEN_LINKALLASMWRITERCOMPONENTS_H
#include "llvm/IR/BuiltinGCs.h"
#include <cstdlib>
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
namespace {
struct ForceAsmWriterLinking {
ForceAsmWriterLinking() {
// We must reference the plug-ins in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
// This is so that globals in the translation units where these functions
// are defined are forced to be initialized, populating various
// registries.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char*) -1)
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. This is so that globals in the translation
// units where these functions are defined are forced to be initialized,
// populating various registries.
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
llvm::linkOcamlGCPrinter();

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@ -16,20 +16,18 @@
#include "llvm/CodeGen/Passes.h"
#include "llvm/CodeGen/SchedulerRegistry.h"
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
#include "llvm/Target/TargetMachine.h"
#include <cstdlib>
namespace {
struct ForceCodegenLinking {
ForceCodegenLinking() {
// We must reference the passes in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
// This is so that globals in the translation units where these functions
// are defined are forced to be initialized, populating various
// registries.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char*) -1)
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. This is so that globals in the translation
// units where these functions are defined are forced to be initialized,
// populating various registries.
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
(void) llvm::createFastRegisterAllocator();

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@ -15,8 +15,8 @@
#define LLVM_EXECUTIONENGINE_MCJIT_H
#include "llvm/ExecutionEngine/ExecutionEngine.h"
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
#include "llvm/Support/Compiler.h"
#include <cstdlib>
extern "C" LLVM_ABI void LLVMLinkInMCJIT();
@ -24,13 +24,11 @@ namespace {
struct ForceMCJITLinking {
ForceMCJITLinking() {
// We must reference MCJIT in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
// This is so that globals in the translation units where these functions
// are defined are forced to be initialized, populating various
// registries.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char*) -1)
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization, yet
// is effectively a NO-OP. This is so that globals in the translation
// units where these functions are defined are forced to be initialized,
// populating various registries.
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
LLVMLinkInMCJIT();

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@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
#include "llvm/IR/LLVMContext.h"
#include "llvm/IR/Module.h"
#include "llvm/IR/Verifier.h"
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
#include "llvm/Support/DynamicLibrary.h"
#include "llvm/Support/MathExtras.h"
#include "llvm/Support/Memory.h"
@ -29,19 +30,16 @@
#include "llvm/Support/Process.h"
#include "llvm/Support/Program.h"
#include "llvm/Support/Signals.h"
#include <cstdlib>
namespace {
struct ForceVMCoreLinking {
ForceVMCoreLinking() {
// We must reference VMCore in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization.
// This is so that globals in the translation units where these functions
// are defined are forced to be initialized, populating various
// registries.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char*) -1)
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
llvm::LLVMContext Context;
(void)new llvm::Module("", Context);

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@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
#include "llvm/CodeGen/Passes.h"
#include "llvm/IR/Function.h"
#include "llvm/IR/IRPrintingPasses.h"
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
#include "llvm/Support/Valgrind.h"
#include "llvm/Transforms/IPO.h"
#include "llvm/Transforms/IPO/AlwaysInliner.h"
@ -54,14 +55,12 @@ class Triple;
namespace {
struct ForcePassLinking {
ForcePassLinking() {
// We must reference the passes in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
// This is so that globals in the translation units where these functions
// are defined are forced to be initialized, populating various
// registries.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char *)-1)
// We must reference the passes in such a way that compilers will not delete
// it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization, yet is
// effectively a NO-OP. This is so that globals in the translation units
// where these functions are defined are forced to be initialized,
// populating various registries.
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
(void)llvm::createAtomicExpandLegacyPass();

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@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
//===--- AlwaysTrue.h - Helper for oqaque truthy values --*- C++ -*-===//
//
// Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
// See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
//
//===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
#ifndef LLVM_SUPPORT_ALWAYS_TRUE_H
#define LLVM_SUPPORT_ALWAYS_TRUE_H
#include <cstdlib>
namespace llvm {
inline bool getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue() {
// Some parts of the codebase require a "constant true value" used as a
// predicate. These cases require that even with LTO and static linking,
// it's not possible for the compiler to fold the value. As compilers
// aren't smart enough to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do
// the job.
return std::getenv("LLVM_IGNORED_ENV_VAR") != (char *)-1;
}
} // end namespace llvm
#endif // LLVM_SUPPORT_ALWAYS_TRUE_H

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@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
#include "llvm/LinkAllIR.h"
#include "llvm/LinkAllPasses.h"
#include "llvm/Passes/PassPlugin.h"
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
#include "llvm/Support/CommandLine.h"
#include "llvm/Support/InitLLVM.h"
#include "llvm/Support/PluginLoader.h"
@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
initializeInstCombine(Registry);
initializeTarget(Registry);
if (std::getenv("bar") == (char*) -1) {
if (!llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue()) {
InitializeAllTargets();
InitializeAllTargetMCs();
InitializeAllAsmPrinters();

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@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
#include "polly/Support/DumpFunctionPass.h"
#include "polly/Support/DumpModulePass.h"
#include "llvm/ADT/StringRef.h"
#include <cstdlib>
#include "llvm/Support/AlwaysTrue.h"
namespace llvm {
class Pass;
@ -72,11 +72,10 @@ extern char &CodePreparationID;
namespace {
struct PollyForcePassLinking {
PollyForcePassLinking() {
// We must reference the passes in such a way that compilers will not
// delete it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization,
// yet is effectively a NO-OP. As the compiler isn't smart enough
// to know that getenv() never returns -1, this will do the job.
if (std::getenv("bar") != (char *)-1)
// We must reference the passes in such a way that compilers will not delete
// it all as dead code, even with whole program optimization, yet is
// effectively a NO-OP.
if (llvm::getNonFoldableAlwaysTrue())
return;
polly::createCodePreparationPass();