Close https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/126373
Although the root problems should be we shouldn't place the friend
declaration to the incorrect module, let's avoid bleeding the edge by
stoping diagnosing declarations not in file scope.
Class templates might be only instantiated when they are required to be
complete, but checking the template args against the primary template is
immediate.
This result is cached so that later when the class is instantiated,
checking against the primary template is not repeated.
The 'MatchedPackOnParmToNonPackOnArg' flag is also produced upon
checking against the primary template, so it needs to be cached in the
specialziation as well.
This fixes a bug which has not been in any release, so there are no
release notes.
Fixes#125290
This fixes instantiation of definition for friend function templates,
when the declaration found and the one containing the definition have
different template contexts.
In these cases, the the function declaration corresponding to the
definition is not available; it may not even be instantiated at all.
So this patch adds a bit which tracks which function template
declaration was instantiated from the member template. It's used to find
which primary template serves as a context for the purpose of
obtainining the template arguments needed to instantiate the definition.
Fixes#55509
Relanding patch, with no changes, after it was reverted due to revert of
commit this patch depended on.
Note that PointerUnion::dyn_cast has been soft deprecated in
PointerUnion.h:
// FIXME: Replace the uses of is(), get() and dyn_cast() with
// isa<T>, cast<T> and the llvm::dyn_cast<T>
Literal migration would result in dyn_cast_if_present (see the
definition of PointerUnion::dyn_cast), but this patch uses dyn_cast
because we expect FD->TemplateOrSpecialization to be nonnull.
For deduction guides generated from alias template CTAD, store the
deduction guide they were originated from. The source kind is also
maintained for future expansion in CTAD from inherited constructors.
This tracking is required to determine whether an alias template already
has a deduction guide corresponding to some deduction guide on the
original template, in order to support deduction guides for the alias
from deduction guides declared after the initial usage.
A SYCL kernel entry point function is a non-member function or a static
member function declared with the `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute.
Such functions define a pattern for an offload kernel entry point
function to be generated to enable execution of a SYCL kernel on a
device. A SYCL library implementation orchestrates the invocation of
these functions with corresponding SYCL kernel arguments in response to
calls to SYCL kernel invocation functions specified by the SYCL 2020
specification.
The offload kernel entry point function (sometimes referred to as the
SYCL kernel caller function) is generated from the SYCL kernel entry
point function by a transformation of the function parameters followed
by a transformation of the function body to replace references to the
original parameters with references to the transformed ones. Exactly how
parameters are transformed will be explained in a future change that
implements non-trivial transformations. For now, it suffices to state
that a given parameter of the SYCL kernel entry point function may be
transformed to multiple parameters of the offload kernel entry point as
needed to satisfy offload kernel argument passing requirements.
Parameters that are decomposed in this way are reconstituted as local
variables in the body of the generated offload kernel entry point
function.
For example, given the following SYCL kernel entry point function
definition:
```
template<typename KernelNameType, typename KernelType>
[[clang::sycl_kernel_entry_point(KernelNameType)]]
void sycl_kernel_entry_point(KernelType kernel) {
kernel();
}
```
and the following call:
```
struct Kernel {
int dm1;
int dm2;
void operator()() const;
};
Kernel k;
sycl_kernel_entry_point<class kernel_name>(k);
```
the corresponding offload kernel entry point function that is generated
might look as follows (assuming `Kernel` is a type that requires
decomposition):
```
void offload_kernel_entry_point_for_kernel_name(int dm1, int dm2) {
Kernel kernel{dm1, dm2};
kernel();
}
```
Other details of the generated offload kernel entry point function, such
as its name and calling convention, are implementation details that need
not be reflected in the AST and may differ across target devices. For
that reason, only the transformation described above is represented in
the AST; other details will be filled in during code generation.
These transformations are represented using new AST nodes introduced
with this change. `OutlinedFunctionDecl` holds a sequence of
`ImplicitParamDecl` nodes and a sequence of statement nodes that
correspond to the transformed parameters and function body.
`SYCLKernelCallStmt` wraps the original function body and associates it
with an `OutlinedFunctionDecl` instance. For the example above, the AST
generated for the `sycl_kernel_entry_point<kernel_name>` specialization
would look as follows:
```
FunctionDecl 'sycl_kernel_entry_point<kernel_name>(Kernel)'
TemplateArgument type 'kernel_name'
TemplateArgument type 'Kernel'
ParmVarDecl kernel 'Kernel'
SYCLKernelCallStmt
CompoundStmt
<original statements>
OutlinedFunctionDecl
ImplicitParamDecl 'dm1' 'int'
ImplicitParamDecl 'dm2' 'int'
CompoundStmt
VarDecl 'kernel' 'Kernel'
<initialization of 'kernel' with 'dm1' and 'dm2'>
<transformed statements with redirected references of 'kernel'>
```
Any ODR-use of the SYCL kernel entry point function will (with future
changes) suffice for the offload kernel entry point to be emitted. An
actual call to the SYCL kernel entry point function will result in a
call to the function. However, evaluation of a `SYCLKernelCallStmt`
statement is a no-op, so such calls will have no effect other than to
trigger emission of the offload kernel entry point.
Additionally, as a related change inspired by code review feedback,
these changes disallow use of the `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute
with functions defined with a _function-try-block_. The SYCL 2020
specification prohibits the use of C++ exceptions in device functions.
Even if exceptions were not prohibited, it is unclear what the semantics
would be for an exception that escapes the SYCL kernel entry point
function; the boundary between host and device code could be an implicit
noexcept boundary that results in program termination if violated, or
the exception could perhaps be propagated to host code via the SYCL
library. Pending support for C++ exceptions in device code and clear
semantics for handling them at the host-device boundary, this change
makes use of the `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute with a function
defined with a _function-try-block_ an error.
This reverts commit c3ba6f378ef80d750e2278560c6f95a300114412.
We are seeing performance regressions of up to 40% on some compilations
with this patch, we will investigate and reland after fixing performance
issues.
…ecord level.
This fixes the incorrect diagnostic emitted when compiling the following
snippet
```
// string_view.h
template<class _CharT>
class basic_string_view;
typedef basic_string_view<char> string_view;
template<class _CharT>
class
__attribute__((__preferred_name__(string_view)))
basic_string_view {
public:
basic_string_view()
{
}
};
inline basic_string_view<char> foo()
{
return basic_string_view<char>();
}
// A.cppm
module;
#include "string_view.h"
export module A;
// Use.cppm
module;
#include "string_view.h"
export module Use;
import A;
```
The diagnostic is
```
string_view.h:11:5: error: 'basic_string_view<char>::basic_string_view' from module 'A.<global>' is not present in definition of 'string_view' provided earlier
```
The underlying issue is that deserialization of the `preferred_name`
attribute triggers deserialization of `basic_string_view<char>`, which
triggers the deserialization of the `preferred_name` attribute again
(since it's attached to the `basic_string_view` template).
The deserialization logic is implemented in a way that prevents it from
going on a loop in a literal sense (it detects early on that it has
already seen the `string_view` typedef when trying to start its
deserialization for the second time), but leaves the typedef
deserialization in an unfinished state. Subsequently, the `string_view`
typedef from the deserialized module cannot be merged with the same
typedef from `string_view.h`, resulting in the above diagnostic.
This PR resolves the problem by delaying the deserialization of the
`preferred_name` attribute until the deserialization of the
`basic_string_view` template is completed. As a result of deferring, the
deserialization of the `preferred_name` attribute doesn't need to go on
a loop since the type of the `string_view` typedef is already known when
it's deserialized.
Close https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/90154
This patch is also an optimization to the lookup process to utilize the
information provided by `export` keyword.
Previously, in the lookup process, the `export` keyword only takes part
in the check part, it doesn't get involved in the lookup process. That
said, previously, in a name lookup for 'name', we would load all of
declarations with the name 'name' and check if these declarations are
valid or not. It works well. But it is inefficient since it may load
declarations that may not be wanted.
Note that this patch actually did a trick in the lookup process instead
of bring module information to DeclarationName or considering module
information when deciding if two declarations are the same. So it may
not be a surprise to me if there are missing cases. But it is not a
regression. It should be already the case. Issue reports are welcomed.
In this patch, I tried to split the big lookup table into a lookup table
as before and a module local lookup table, which takes a combination of
the ID of the DeclContext and hash value of the primary module name as
the key. And refactored `DeclContext::lookup()` method to take the
module information. So that a lookup in a DeclContext won't load
declarations that are local to **other** modules.
And also I think it is already beneficial to split the big lookup table
since it may reduce the conflicts during lookups in the hash table.
BTW, this patch introduced a **regression** for a reachability rule in
C++20 but it was false-negative. See
'clang/test/CXX/module/module.interface/p7.cpp' for details.
This patch is not expected to introduce any other
regressions for non-c++20-modules users since the module local lookup
table should be empty for them.
Close https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/90154
This patch is also an optimization to the lookup process to utilize the
information provided by `export` keyword.
Previously, in the lookup process, the `export` keyword only takes part
in the check part, it doesn't get involved in the lookup process. That
said, previously, in a name lookup for 'name', we would load all of
declarations with the name 'name' and check if these declarations are
valid or not. It works well. But it is inefficient since it may load
declarations that may not be wanted.
Note that this patch actually did a trick in the lookup process instead
of bring module information to DeclarationName or considering module
information when deciding if two declarations are the same. So it may
not be a surprise to me if there are missing cases. But it is not a
regression. It should be already the case. Issue reports are welcomed.
In this patch, I tried to split the big lookup table into a lookup table
as before and a module local lookup table, which takes a combination of
the ID of the DeclContext and hash value of the primary module name as
the key. And refactored `DeclContext::lookup()` method to take the
module information. So that a lookup in a DeclContext won't load
declarations that are local to **other** modules.
And also I think it is already beneficial to split the big lookup table
since it may reduce the conflicts during lookups in the hash table.
BTW, this patch introduced a **regression** for a reachability rule in
C++20 but it was false-negative. See
'clang/test/CXX/module/module.interface/p7.cpp' for details.
This patch is not expected to introduce any other
regressions for non-c++20-modules users since the module local lookup
table should be empty for them.
---
On the API side, this patch unfortunately add a maybe-confusing argument
`Module *NamedModule` to
`ExternalASTSource::FindExternalVisibleDeclsByName()`. People may think
we can get the information from the first argument `const DeclContext
*DC`. But sadly there are declarations (e.g., namespace) can appear in
multiple different modules as a single declaration. So we have to add
additional information to indicate this.
This is a new Clang-specific attribute to ensure that field
initializations are performed explicitly.
For example, if we have
```
struct B {
[[clang::explicit]] int f1;
};
```
then the diagnostic would trigger if we do `B b{};`:
```
field 'f1' is left uninitialized, but was marked as requiring initialization
```
This prevents callers from accidentally forgetting to initialize fields,
particularly when new fields are added to the class.
The `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute is used to declare a function that
defines a pattern for an offload kernel entry point. The attribute requires
a single type argument that specifies a class type that meets the requirements
for a SYCL kernel name as described in section 5.2, "Naming of kernels", of
the SYCL 2020 specification. A unique kernel name type is required for each
function declared with the attribute. The attribute may not first appear on a
declaration that follows a definition of the function. The function is
required to have a non-deduced `void` return type. The function must not be
a non-static member function, be deleted or defaulted, be declared with the
`constexpr` or `consteval` specifiers, be declared with the `[[noreturn]]`
attribute, be a coroutine, or accept variadic arguments.
Diagnostics are not yet provided for the following:
- Use of a type as a kernel name that does not satisfy the forward
declarability requirements specified in section 5.2, "Naming of kernels",
of the SYCL 2020 specification.
- Use of a type as a parameter of the attributed function that does not
satisfy the kernel parameter requirements specified in section 4.12.4,
"Rules for parameter passing to kernels", of the SYCL 2020 specification
(each such function parameter constitutes a kernel parameter).
- Use of language features that are not permitted in device functions as
specified in section 5.4, "Language restrictions for device functions",
of the SYCL 2020 specification.
There are several issues noted by various FIXME comments.
- The diagnostic generated for kernel name conflicts needs additional work
to better detail the relevant source locations; such as the location of
each declaration as well as the original source of each kernel name.
- A number of the tests illustrate spurious errors being produced due to
attributes that appertain to function templates being instantiated too
early (during overload resolution as opposed to after an overload is
selected).
Included changes allow the `SYCLKernelEntryPointAttr` attribute to be
marked as invalid if a `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute is used incorrectly.
This is intended to prevent trying to emit an offload kernel entry point
without having to mark the associated function as invalid since doing so
would affect overload resolution; which this attribute should not do.
Unfortunately, Clang eagerly instantiates attributes that appertain to
functions with the result that errors might be issued for function
declarations that are never selected by overload resolution. Tests have
been added to demonstrate this. Further work will be needed to address
these issues (for this and other attributes).
After 0dedd6fe1 and 03229e7c0, invalid concept declarations might lack
expressions for evaluation and normalization. This could make it crash
in certain scenarios, apart from the one of evaluation concepts showed
in 03229e7c0, there's also an issue when checking specializations where
the normalization also relies on a non-null expression.
This patch prevents that by avoiding building up a type constraint in
such situations, thereafter the template parameter wouldn't have a
concept specialization of a null expression.
With this patch, the assumption in ASTWriterDecl is no longer valid.
Namely, HasConstraint and TypeConstraintInitialized must now represent
different meanings for both source fidelity and semantic requirements.
Fixes https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/115004
Fixes https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/121980
Reland https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/83237
---
(Original comments)
Currently all the specializations of a template (including
instantiation, specialization and partial specializations) will be
loaded at once if we want to instantiate another instance for the
template, or find instantiation for the template, or just want to
complete the redecl chain.
This means basically we need to load every specializations for the
template once the template declaration got loaded. This is bad since
when we load a specialization, we need to load all of its template
arguments. Then we have to deserialize a lot of unnecessary
declarations.
For example,
```
// M.cppm
export module M;
export template <class T>
class A {};
export class ShouldNotBeLoaded {};
export class Temp {
A<ShouldNotBeLoaded> AS;
};
// use.cpp
import M;
A<int> a;
```
We have a specialization ` A<ShouldNotBeLoaded>` in `M.cppm` and we
instantiate the template `A` in `use.cpp`. Then we will deserialize
`ShouldNotBeLoaded` surprisingly when compiling `use.cpp`. And this
patch tries to avoid that.
Given that the templates are heavily used in C++, this is a pain point
for the performance.
This patch adds MultiOnDiskHashTable for specializations in the
ASTReader. Then we will only deserialize the specializations with the
same template arguments. We made that by using ODRHash for the template
arguments as the key of the hash table.
To review this patch, I think `ASTReaderDecl::AddLazySpecializations`
may be a good entry point.
Note that PointerUnion::{is,get} have been soft deprecated in
PointerUnion.h:
// FIXME: Replace the uses of is(), get() and dyn_cast() with
// isa<T>, cast<T> and the llvm::dyn_cast<T>
I'm not touching PointerUnion::dyn_cast for now because it's a bit
complicated; we could blindly migrate it to dyn_cast_if_present, but
we should probably use dyn_cast when the operand is known to be
non-null.
Currently all the specializations of a template (including
instantiation, specialization and partial specializations) will be
loaded at once if we want to instantiate another instance for the
template, or find instantiation for the template, or just want to
complete the redecl chain.
This means basically we need to load every specializations for the
template once the template declaration got loaded. This is bad since
when we load a specialization, we need to load all of its template
arguments. Then we have to deserialize a lot of unnecessary
declarations.
For example,
```
// M.cppm
export module M;
export template <class T>
class A {};
export class ShouldNotBeLoaded {};
export class Temp {
A<ShouldNotBeLoaded> AS;
};
// use.cpp
import M;
A<int> a;
```
We should a specialization ` A<ShouldNotBeLoaded>` in `M.cppm` and we
instantiate the template `A` in `use.cpp`. Then we will deserialize
`ShouldNotBeLoaded` surprisingly when compiling `use.cpp`. And this
patch tries to avoid that.
Given that the templates are heavily used in C++, this is a pain point
for the performance.
This patch adds MultiOnDiskHashTable for specializations in the
ASTReader. Then we will only deserialize the specializations with the
same template arguments. We made that by using ODRHash for the template
arguments as the key of the hash table.
To review this patch, I think `ASTReaderDecl::AddLazySpecializations`
may be a good entry point.
The patch was reviewed in
https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/83237 but that PR is a stacked
PR. But I feel the intention of the stacked PRs get lost during the
review process. So I feel it is better to merge the commits into a
single commit instead of merging them in the PR page. It is better for
us to cherry-pick and revert.
Structural equivalence check uses a cache to store already found
non-equivalent values. This cache can be reused for calls (ASTImporter
does this). Value of "IgnoreTemplateParmDepth" can have an effect on the
structural equivalence therefore it is wrong to reuse the same cache for
checks with different values of 'IgnoreTemplateParmDepth'. The current
change adds the 'IgnoreTemplateParmDepth' to the cache key to fix the
problem.
We made the incorrect assumption that names of fields are unique when
creating their default initializers.
We fix that by keeping track of the instantiaation pattern for field
decls that are placeholder vars,
like we already do for unamed fields.
Fixes#114069
The `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute is used to declare a function that
defines a pattern for an offload kernel to be emitted. The attribute requires
a single type argument that specifies the type used as a SYCL kernel name as
described in section 5.2, "Naming of kernels", of the SYCL 2020 specification.
Properties of the offload kernel are collected when a function declared with
the `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute is parsed or instantiated. These
properties, such as the kernel name type, are stored in the AST context where
they are (or will be) used for diagnostic purposes and to facilitate reflection
to a SYCL run-time library. These properties are not serialized with the AST
but are recreated upon deserialization.
The `sycl_kernel_entry_point` attribute is intended to replace the existing
`sycl_kernel` attribute which is intended to be deprecated in a future change
and removed following an appropriate deprecation period. The new attribute
differs in that it is enabled for both SYCL host and device compilation, may
be used with non-template functions, explicitly indicates the type used as
the kernel name type, and will impact AST generation.
This change adds the basic infrastructure for the new attribute. Future
changes will add diagnostics and new AST support that will be used to drive
generation of the corresponding offload kernel.
This patch reapplies #111173, fixing a bug when instantiating dependent
expressions that name a member template that is later explicitly
specialized for a class specialization that is implicitly instantiated.
The bug is addressed by adding the `hasMemberSpecialization` function,
which return `true` if _any_ redeclaration is a member specialization.
This is then used when determining the instantiation pattern for a
specialization of a template, and when collecting template arguments for
a specialization of a template.
This fixes instantiation of definition for friend function templates,
when the declaration found and the one containing the definition
have different template contexts.
In these cases, the the function declaration corresponding to the
definition is not available; it may not even be instantiated at all.
So this patch adds a bit which tracks which function template
declaration was instantiated from the member template.
It's used to find which primary template serves as a context
for the purpose of obtaining the template arguments needed
to instantiate the definition.
Fixes#55509
Reapplies #106585, fixing an issue where non-dependent names of member
templates appearing prior to that member template being explicitly
specialized for an implicitly instantiated class template specialization
would incorrectly use the definition of the explicitly specialized
member template.
Summary:
Because AST loading code is lazy and happens in unpredictable order, it
is possible that a function and lambda inside the function can be loaded
from different modules. As a result, the captured DeclRefExpr won’t
match the corresponding VarDecl inside the function. This situation is
reflected in the AST as follows:
```
FunctionDecl 0x555564f4aff0 <Conv.h:33:1, line:41:1> line:33:35 imported in ./thrift_cpp2_base.h hidden tryTo 'Expected<Tgt, const char *> ()' inline
|-also in ./folly-conv.h
`-CompoundStmt 0x555564f7cfc8 <col:43, line:41:1>
|-DeclStmt 0x555564f7ced8 <line:34:3, col:17>
| `-VarDecl 0x555564f7cef8 <col:3, col:16> col:7 imported in ./thrift_cpp2_base.h hidden referenced result 'Tgt' cinit
| `-IntegerLiteral 0x555564f7d080 <col:16> 'int' 0
|-CallExpr 0x555564f7cea8 <line:39:3, col:76> '<dependent type>'
| |-UnresolvedLookupExpr 0x555564f7bea0 <col:3, col:19> '<overloaded function type>' lvalue (no ADL) = 'then_' 0x555564f7bef0
| |-CXXTemporaryObjectExpr 0x555564f7bcb0 <col:25, col:45> 'Expected<bool, int>':'folly::Expected<bool, int>' 'void () noexcept' zeroing
| `-LambdaExpr 0x555564f7bc88 <col:48, col:75> '(lambda at Conv.h:39:48)'
| |-CXXRecordDecl 0x555564f76b88 <col:48> col:48 imported in ./folly-conv.h hidden implicit <undeserialized declarations> class definition
| | |-also in ./thrift_cpp2_base.h
| | `-DefinitionData lambda empty standard_layout trivially_copyable literal can_const_default_init
| | |-DefaultConstructor defaulted_is_constexpr
| | |-CopyConstructor simple trivial has_const_param needs_implicit implicit_has_const_param
| | |-MoveConstructor exists simple trivial needs_implicit
| | |-CopyAssignment trivial has_const_param needs_implicit implicit_has_const_param
| | |-MoveAssignment
| | `-Destructor simple irrelevant trivial constexpr needs_implicit
| `-CompoundStmt 0x555564f7d1a8 <col:58, col:75>
| `-ReturnStmt 0x555564f7d198 <col:60, col:67>
| `-DeclRefExpr 0x555564f7d0a0 <col:67> 'Tgt' lvalue Var 0x555564f7d0c8 'result' 'Tgt' refers_to_enclosing_variable_or_capture
`-ReturnStmt 0x555564f7bc78 <line:40:3, col:11>
`-InitListExpr 0x555564f7bc38 <col:10, col:11> 'void'
```
This diff modifies the AST deserialization process to load lambdas
within the canonical function declaration sooner, immediately following
the function, ensuring that they are loaded from the same module.
Re-land https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/104512 Added test case
that caused crash due to multiple enclosed lambdas deserialization.
Test Plan: check-clang
Currently, clang rejects the following explicit specialization of `f`
due to the constraints not being equivalent:
```
template<typename T>
struct A
{
template<bool B>
void f() requires B;
};
template<>
template<bool B>
void A<int>::f() requires B { }
```
This happens because, in most cases, we do not set the flag indicating
whether a `RedeclarableTemplate` is an explicit specialization of a
member of an implicitly instantiated class template specialization until
_after_ we compare constraints for equivalence. This patch addresses the
issue (and a number of other issues) by:
- storing the flag indicating whether a declaration is a member
specialization on a per declaration basis, and
- significantly refactoring `Sema::getTemplateInstantiationArgs` so we
collect the right set of template argument in all cases.
Many of our declaration matching & constraint evaluation woes can be
traced back to bugs in `Sema::getTemplateInstantiationArgs`. This
change/refactor should fix a lot of them. It also paves the way for
fixing #101330 and #105462 per my suggestion in #102267 (which I have
implemented on top of this patch but will merge in a subsequent PR).
Solve https://github.com/clangd/clangd/issues/2094
Due clangd will enable PCH automatically, the previous mechanism to skip
ODR check in GMF may be invalid. This patch fixes this for a case.
It is a long standing issue that the duplicated declarations in multiple
module units would cause the compilation performance to get slowed down.
And there are many questions or issue reports. So I think it is better
to add a warning for it.
And given this is not because the users' code violates the language
specification or any best practices, the warning is disabled by default
even if `-Wall` is specified. The users need to specify the warning
explcitly or use `Weverything`.
The documentation will add separately.
When we merge the definition for CXXRecordDecl, we would use
setCompleteDefinition(false) to mark the merged definition. But this was
not the correct/good interface. We can't know that the merged definition
was a definition then. And actually, we provided an interface for this:
demoteThisDefinitionToDeclaration.
So this patch tries to use the correct API.
This was found in the downstream developing. This is not strictly NFC
but it is intended to be NFC for every end users.
Relax the case for duplicated declaration in multiple module units for
explicit specialization and refactor the implementation of
checkMultipleDefinitionInNamedModules a little bit.
This is intended to not affect any end users since it only relaxes the
condition to emit an error.
Currently we're merging the decls in ASTReaderDecl. But it is not so
convinient if we want to merge things in ASTReader.
This patch extract the funcitonality of merging decls from ASTReaderDecl
to a new class, ASTReaderMerger. Then it will be easier to merge decls
in ASTReader.
This may help the readability slightly too.
