6 If you are using a released version of LLVM, see `the download page
7 <http://llvm.org/releases/>`_ to find your documentation.
9 The LLVM compiler infrastructure supports a wide range of projects, from
10 industrial strength compilers to specialized JIT applications to small
13 Similarly, documentation is broken down into several high-level groupings
14 targeted at different audiences:
16 LLVM Design & Overview
17 ======================
19 Several introductory papers and presentations.
27 Defines the LLVM intermediate representation.
29 `Introduction to the LLVM Compiler`__
30 Presentation providing a users introduction to LLVM.
32 .. __: http://llvm.org/pubs/2008-10-04-ACAT-LLVM-Intro.html
35 Book chapter providing a compiler hacker's introduction to LLVM.
37 .. __: http://www.aosabook.org/en/llvm.html
40 `LLVM: A Compilation Framework for Lifelong Program Analysis & Transformation`__
43 .. __: http://llvm.org/pubs/2004-01-30-CGO-LLVM.html
45 `LLVM: An Infrastructure for Multi-Stage Optimization`__
46 More details (quite old now).
48 .. __: http://llvm.org/pubs/2002-12-LattnerMSThesis.html
50 `Publications mentioning LLVM <http://llvm.org/pubs>`_
56 For those new to the LLVM system.
58 NOTE: If you are a user who is only interested in using LLVM-based
59 compilers, you should look into `Clang <http://clang.llvm.org>`_ or
60 `DragonEgg <http://dragonegg.llvm.org>`_ instead. The documentation here is
61 intended for users who have a need to work with the intermediate LLVM
80 SphinxQuickstartTemplate
88 Frontend/PerformanceTips
89 MCJITDesignAndImplementation
97 Discusses how to get up and running quickly with the LLVM infrastructure.
98 Everything from unpacking and compilation of the distribution to execution
102 An addendum to the main Getting Started guide for those using the `CMake
103 build system <http://www.cmake.org>`_.
105 :doc:`HowToBuildOnARM`
106 Notes on building and testing LLVM/Clang on ARM.
108 :doc:`HowToCrossCompileLLVM`
109 Notes on cross-building and testing LLVM/Clang.
111 :doc:`GettingStartedVS`
112 An addendum to the main Getting Started guide for those using Visual Studio
115 :doc:`tutorial/index`
116 Tutorials about using LLVM. Includes a tutorial about making a custom
119 :doc:`LLVM Command Guide <CommandGuide/index>`
120 A reference manual for the LLVM command line utilities ("man" pages for LLVM
124 A list of optimizations and analyses implemented in LLVM.
127 A list of common questions and problems and their solutions.
129 :doc:`Release notes for the current release <ReleaseNotes>`
130 This describes new features, known bugs, and other limitations.
132 :doc:`HowToSubmitABug`
133 Instructions for properly submitting information about any bugs you run into
136 :doc:`SphinxQuickstartTemplate`
137 A template + tutorial for writing new Sphinx documentation. It is meant
138 to be read in source form.
140 :doc:`LLVM Testing Infrastructure Guide <TestingGuide>`
141 A reference manual for using the LLVM testing infrastructure.
143 `How to build the C, C++, ObjC, and ObjC++ front end`__
144 Instructions for building the clang front-end from source.
146 .. __: http://clang.llvm.org/get_started.html
149 Definition of acronyms, terms and concepts used in LLVM.
151 :doc:`HowToAddABuilder`
152 Instructions for adding new builder to LLVM buildbot master.
155 A reference guide for using LLVM's YAML I/O library.
158 Answers to some very frequent questions about LLVM's most frequently
159 misunderstood instruction.
161 :doc:`Frontend/PerformanceTips`
162 A collection of tips for frontend authors on how to generate IR
163 which LLVM is able to effectively optimize.
166 A reference for using Dockerfiles provided with LLVM.
169 Programming Documentation
170 =========================
172 For developers of applications which use LLVM as a library.
182 HowToSetUpLLVMStyleRTTI
186 ScudoHardenedAllocator
189 :doc:`LLVM Language Reference Manual <LangRef>`
190 Defines the LLVM intermediate representation and the assembly form of the
194 Information about LLVM's concurrency model.
196 :doc:`ProgrammersManual`
197 Introduction to the general layout of the LLVM sourcebase, important classes
198 and APIs, and some tips & tricks.
201 LLVM-specific extensions to tools and formats LLVM seeks compatibility with.
204 Provides information on using the command line parsing library.
206 :doc:`CodingStandards`
207 Details the LLVM coding standards and provides useful information on writing
210 :doc:`HowToSetUpLLVMStyleRTTI`
211 How to make ``isa<>``, ``dyn_cast<>``, etc. available for clients of your
215 Look here to see how to add instructions and intrinsics to LLVM.
217 `Doxygen generated documentation <http://llvm.org/doxygen/>`_
218 (`classes <http://llvm.org/doxygen/inherits.html>`_)
219 (`tarball <http://llvm.org/doxygen/doxygen.tar.gz>`_)
221 `Documentation for Go bindings <http://godoc.org/llvm.org/llvm/bindings/go/llvm>`_
223 `ViewVC Repository Browser <http://llvm.org/viewvc/>`_
226 :doc:`CompilerWriterInfo`
227 A list of helpful links for compiler writers.
230 A library for writing in-process guided fuzzers.
232 :doc:`ScudoHardenedAllocator`
233 A library that implements a security-hardened `malloc()`.
236 A command line option for debugging optimization-induced failures.
238 Subsystem Documentation
239 =======================
241 For API clients and LLVM developers.
249 BlockFrequencyTerminology
273 CoverageMappingFormat
286 :doc:`WritingAnLLVMPass`
287 Information on how to write LLVM transformations and analyses.
289 :doc:`WritingAnLLVMBackend`
290 Information on how to write LLVM backends for machine targets.
293 The design and implementation of the LLVM code generator. Useful if you are
294 working on retargetting LLVM to a new architecture, designing a new codegen
295 pass, or enhancing existing components.
297 :doc:`Machine IR (MIR) Format Reference Manual <MIRLangRef>`
298 A reference manual for the MIR serialization format, which is used to test
299 LLVM's code generation passes.
301 :doc:`TableGen <TableGen/index>`
302 Describes the TableGen tool, which is used heavily by the LLVM code
306 Information on how to write a new alias analysis implementation or how to
307 use existing analyses.
310 Information about the MemorySSA utility in LLVM, as well as how to use it.
312 :doc:`GarbageCollection`
313 The interfaces source-language compilers should use for compiling GC'd
316 :doc:`Source Level Debugging with LLVM <SourceLevelDebugging>`
317 This document describes the design and philosophy behind the LLVM
318 source-level debugger.
321 This document describes the current status of vectorization in LLVM.
323 :doc:`ExceptionHandling`
324 This document describes the design and implementation of exception handling
328 Automatic bug finder and test-case reducer description and usage
332 This describes the file format and encoding used for LLVM "bc" files.
334 :doc:`System Library <SystemLibrary>`
335 This document describes the LLVM System Library (``lib/System``) and
336 how to keep LLVM source code portable
338 :doc:`LinkTimeOptimization`
339 This document describes the interface between LLVM intermodular optimizer
340 and the linker and its design
343 How to build your programs with link-time optimization on Linux.
345 :doc:`DebuggingJITedCode`
346 How to debug JITed code with GDB.
348 :doc:`MCJITDesignAndImplementation`
349 Describes the inner workings of MCJIT execution engine.
351 :doc:`BranchWeightMetadata`
352 Provides information about Branch Prediction Information.
354 :doc:`BlockFrequencyTerminology`
355 Provides information about terminology used in the ``BlockFrequencyInfo``
358 :doc:`SegmentedStacks`
359 This document describes segmented stacks and how they are used in LLVM.
361 :doc:`MarkedUpDisassembly`
362 This document describes the optional rich disassembly output syntax.
364 :doc:`HowToUseAttributes`
365 Answers some questions about the new Attributes infrastructure.
368 This document describes using the NVPTX backend to compile GPU kernels.
371 This document describes using the AMDGPU backend to compile GPU kernels.
374 LLVM support for mapping instruction addresses to the location of
375 values and allowing code to be patched.
378 LLVM's support for generating NEON instructions on big endian ARM targets is
379 somewhat nonintuitive. This document explains the implementation and rationale.
381 :doc:`CoverageMappingFormat`
382 This describes the format and encoding used for LLVM’s code coverage mapping.
385 This describes a set of experimental extensions for garbage
388 :doc:`MergeFunctions`
389 Describes functions merging optimization.
392 Description of the ``inalloca`` argument attribute.
395 LLVM support for folding control flow into faulting machine instructions.
397 :doc:`CompileCudaWithLLVM`
398 LLVM support for CUDA.
401 LLVM support for coroutines.
404 This describes the prototype instruction selection replacement, GlobalISel.
407 High-level documentation of how to use XRay in LLVM.
410 An example of how to debug an application with XRay.
412 :doc:`The Microsoft PDB File Format <PDB/index>`
413 A detailed description of the Microsoft PDB (Program Database) file format.
415 Development Process Documentation
416 =================================
418 Information about LLVM's development process.
431 :doc:`DeveloperPolicy`
432 The LLVM project's policy towards developers and their contributions.
435 How-to guide and templates for new projects that *use* the LLVM
436 infrastructure. The templates (directory organization, Makefiles, and test
437 tree) allow the project code to be located outside (or inside) the ``llvm/``
438 tree, while using LLVM header files and libraries.
441 Describes the LLVMBuild organization and files used by LLVM to specify
442 component descriptions.
444 :doc:`HowToReleaseLLVM`
445 This is a guide to preparing LLVM releases. Most developers can ignore it.
447 :doc:`ReleaseProcess`
448 This is a guide to validate a new release, during the release process. Most developers can ignore it.
451 Advice on packaging LLVM into a distribution.
454 Describes how to use the Phabricator code review tool hosted on
455 http://reviews.llvm.org/ and its command line interface, Arcanist.
460 LLVM has a thriving community of friendly and helpful developers.
461 The two primary communication mechanisms in the LLVM community are mailing
467 If you can't find what you need in these docs, try consulting the mailing
470 `Developer's List (llvm-dev)`__
471 This list is for people who want to be included in technical discussions of
472 LLVM. People post to this list when they have questions about writing code
473 for or using the LLVM tools. It is relatively low volume.
475 .. __: http://lists.llvm.org/mailman/listinfo/llvm-dev
477 `Commits Archive (llvm-commits)`__
478 This list contains all commit messages that are made when LLVM developers
479 commit code changes to the repository. It also serves as a forum for
480 patch review (i.e. send patches here). It is useful for those who want to
481 stay on the bleeding edge of LLVM development. This list is very high
484 .. __: http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-commits/
486 `Bugs & Patches Archive (llvm-bugs)`__
487 This list gets emailed every time a bug is opened and closed. It is
488 higher volume than the LLVM-dev list.
490 .. __: http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-bugs/
492 `Test Results Archive (llvm-testresults)`__
493 A message is automatically sent to this list by every active nightly tester
494 when it completes. As such, this list gets email several times each day,
495 making it a high volume list.
497 .. __: http://lists.llvm.org/pipermail/llvm-testresults/
499 `LLVM Announcements List (llvm-announce)`__
500 This is a low volume list that provides important announcements regarding
501 LLVM. It gets email about once a month.
503 .. __: http://lists.llvm.org/mailman/listinfo/llvm-announce
508 Users and developers of the LLVM project (including subprojects such as Clang)
509 can be found in #llvm on `irc.oftc.net <irc://irc.oftc.net/llvm>`_.
511 This channel has several bots.
515 * llvmbb - Bot for the main LLVM buildbot master.
516 http://lab.llvm.org:8011/console
517 * bb-chapuni - An individually run buildbot master. http://bb.pgr.jp/console
518 * smooshlab - Apple's internal buildbot master.
520 * robot - Bugzilla linker. %bug <number>
522 * clang-bot - A `geordi <http://www.eelis.net/geordi/>`_ instance running
523 near-trunk clang instead of gcc.
525 Community wide proposals
526 ------------------------
528 Proposals for massive changes in how the community behaves and how the work flow
536 Proposals/VectorizationPlan
539 Proposal to adopt a code of conduct on the LLVM social spaces (lists, events,
542 :doc:`Proposals/GitHubMove`
543 Proposal to move from SVN/Git to GitHub.
545 :doc:`Proposals/VectorizationPlan`
546 Proposal to model the process and upgrade the infrastructure of LLVM's Loop Vectorizer.