compiler: create temporary allocas with appropriate lifetimes

Make sure all allocas are created in the entry block and are given the
right lifetimes. This is good for code quality:

  * Moving allocas to the entry block makes sure they are always
    allocated statically (avoiding the need for a frame pointer) and do
    not grow the stack on each new alloca instruction. This is
    especially useful in loops where it could otherwise lead to a stack
    overflow even though there is no recursion.
  * Adding lifetime markers allows LLVM to reuse stack areas for
    different allocas as long as their lifetimes do not overlap.

All in all, this reduces code size in all tested cases for the BBC
micro:bit, and reduces code size for most cases for WebAssembly.

compiler/channel.go

@@ -23,47 +23,41 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMakeChan(expr *ssa.MakeChan) (llvm.Value, error) {
 // emitChanSend emits a pseudo chan send operation. It is lowered to the actual
 // channel send operation during goroutine lowering.
 func (c *Compiler) emitChanSend(frame *Frame, instr *ssa.Send) {
-	valueType := c.getLLVMType(instr.X.Type())
 	ch := c.getValue(frame, instr.Chan)
 	chanValue := c.getValue(frame, instr.X)
-	valueSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(chanValue.Type()), false)
-	coroutine := c.createRuntimeCall("getCoroutine", nil, "")
 
 	// store value-to-send
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(coroutine.InstructionParent().Parent().EntryBasicBlock().FirstInstruction())
+	valueType := c.getLLVMType(instr.X.Type())
-	valueAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(valueType, "chan.value")
+	valueAlloca, valueAllocaCast, valueAllocaSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(valueType, "chan.value")
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(coroutine)
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(coroutine.InstructionParent())
 	c.builder.CreateStore(chanValue, valueAlloca)
-	valueAllocaCast := c.builder.CreateBitCast(valueAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "chan.value.i8ptr")
 
 	// Do the send.
+	coroutine := c.createRuntimeCall("getCoroutine", nil, "")
+	valueSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(chanValue.Type()), false)
 	c.createRuntimeCall("chanSend", []llvm.Value{coroutine, ch, valueAllocaCast, valueSize}, "")
 
-	// Make sure CoroSplit includes the alloca in the coroutine frame.
+	// End the lifetime of the alloca.
-	// This is a bit dirty, but it works (at least in LLVM 8).
+	// This also works around a bug in CoroSplit, at least in LLVM 8:
-	valueSizeI64 := llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(chanValue.Type()), false)
+	// https://bugs.llvm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=41742
-	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{valueSizeI64, valueAllocaCast}, "")
+	c.emitLifetimeEnd(valueAllocaCast, valueAllocaSize)
 }
 
 // emitChanRecv emits a pseudo chan receive operation. It is lowered to the
 // actual channel receive operation during goroutine lowering.
 func (c *Compiler) emitChanRecv(frame *Frame, unop *ssa.UnOp) llvm.Value {
 	valueType := c.getLLVMType(unop.X.Type().(*types.Chan).Elem())
-	valueSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(valueType), false)
 	ch := c.getValue(frame, unop.X)
-	coroutine := c.createRuntimeCall("getCoroutine", nil, "")
 
 	// Allocate memory to receive into.
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(coroutine.InstructionParent().Parent().EntryBasicBlock().FirstInstruction())
+	valueAlloca, valueAllocaCast, valueAllocaSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(valueType, "chan.value")
-	valueAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(valueType, "chan.value")
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(coroutine)
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(coroutine.InstructionParent())
-	valueAllocaCast := c.builder.CreateBitCast(valueAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "chan.value.i8ptr")
 
 	// Do the receive.
+	coroutine := c.createRuntimeCall("getCoroutine", nil, "")
+	valueSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(valueType), false)
 	c.createRuntimeCall("chanRecv", []llvm.Value{coroutine, ch, valueAllocaCast, valueSize}, "")
 	received := c.builder.CreateLoad(valueAlloca, "chan.received")
+	c.emitLifetimeEnd(valueAllocaCast, valueAllocaSize)
+
 	if unop.CommaOk {
 		commaOk := c.createRuntimeCall("getTaskPromiseData", []llvm.Value{coroutine}, "chan.commaOk.wide")
 		commaOk = c.builder.CreateTrunc(commaOk, c.ctx.Int1Type(), "chan.commaOk")

compiler/compiler.go

@@ -1369,7 +1369,6 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 	switch expr := expr.(type) {
 	case *ssa.Alloc:
 		typ := c.getLLVMType(expr.Type().Underlying().(*types.Pointer).Elem())
-		var buf llvm.Value
 		if expr.Heap {
 			size := c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(typ)
 			// Calculate ^uintptr(0)
@@ -1380,15 +1379,16 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 			}
 			// TODO: escape analysis
 			sizeValue := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, size, false)
-			buf = c.createRuntimeCall("alloc", []llvm.Value{sizeValue}, expr.Comment)
+			buf := c.createRuntimeCall("alloc", []llvm.Value{sizeValue}, expr.Comment)
 			buf = c.builder.CreateBitCast(buf, llvm.PointerType(typ, 0), "")
+			return buf, nil
 		} else {
-			buf = c.builder.CreateAlloca(typ, expr.Comment)
+			buf := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(typ, expr.Comment)
 			if c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(typ) != 0 {
 				c.builder.CreateStore(c.getZeroValue(typ), buf) // zero-initialize var
 			}
+			return buf, nil
 		}
-		return buf, nil
 	case *ssa.BinOp:
 		x := c.getValue(frame, expr.X)
 		y := c.getValue(frame, expr.Y)
@@ -1451,10 +1451,12 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 			// This could be done directly, but as this is a very infrequent
 			// operation it's much easier to bitcast it through an alloca.
 			resultType := c.getLLVMType(expr.Type())
-			alloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(value.Type(), "")
+			alloca, allocaPtr, allocaSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(value.Type(), "union.alloca")
 			c.builder.CreateStore(value, alloca)
-			bitcast := c.builder.CreateBitCast(alloca, llvm.PointerType(resultType, 0), "")
+			bitcast := c.builder.CreateBitCast(alloca, llvm.PointerType(resultType, 0), "union.bitcast")
-			return c.builder.CreateLoad(bitcast, ""), nil
+			result := c.builder.CreateLoad(bitcast, "union.result")
+			c.emitLifetimeEnd(allocaPtr, allocaSize)
+			return result, nil
 		}
 		result := c.builder.CreateExtractValue(value, expr.Field, "")
 		return result, nil
@@ -1494,11 +1496,13 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 
 		// Can't load directly from array (as index is non-constant), so have to
 		// do it using an alloca+gep+load.
-		alloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(array.Type(), "index.alloca")
+		alloca, allocaPtr, allocaSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(array.Type(), "index.alloca")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(array, alloca)
 		zero := llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int32Type(), 0, false)
 		ptr := c.builder.CreateInBoundsGEP(alloca, []llvm.Value{zero, index}, "index.gep")
-		return c.builder.CreateLoad(ptr, "index.load"), nil
+		result := c.builder.CreateLoad(ptr, "index.load")
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(allocaPtr, allocaSize)
+		return result, nil
 	case *ssa.IndexAddr:
 		val := c.getValue(frame, expr.X)
 		index := c.getValue(frame, expr.Index)
@@ -1658,16 +1662,16 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 			llvmKeyType := c.getLLVMType(rangeVal.Type().Underlying().(*types.Map).Key())
 			llvmValueType := c.getLLVMType(rangeVal.Type().Underlying().(*types.Map).Elem())
 
-			mapKeyAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(llvmKeyType, "range.key")
+			mapKeyAlloca, mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(llvmKeyType, "range.key")
-			mapKeyPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(mapKeyAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "range.keyptr")
+			mapValueAlloca, mapValuePtr, mapValueSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(llvmValueType, "range.value")
-			mapValueAlloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(llvmValueType, "range.value")
-			mapValuePtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(mapValueAlloca, c.i8ptrType, "range.valueptr")
 			ok := c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapNext", []llvm.Value{llvmRangeVal, it, mapKeyPtr, mapValuePtr}, "range.next")
 
 			tuple := llvm.Undef(c.ctx.StructType([]llvm.Type{c.ctx.Int1Type(), llvmKeyType, llvmValueType}, false))
 			tuple = c.builder.CreateInsertValue(tuple, ok, 0, "")
 			tuple = c.builder.CreateInsertValue(tuple, c.builder.CreateLoad(mapKeyAlloca, ""), 1, "")
 			tuple = c.builder.CreateInsertValue(tuple, c.builder.CreateLoad(mapValueAlloca, ""), 2, "")
+			c.emitLifetimeEnd(mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize)
+			c.emitLifetimeEnd(mapValuePtr, mapValueSize)
 			return tuple, nil
 		}
 	case *ssa.Phi:
@@ -1684,7 +1688,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) parseExpr(frame *Frame, expr ssa.Value) (llvm.Value, error) {
 		default:
 			panic("unknown type in range: " + typ.String())
 		}
-		it := c.builder.CreateAlloca(iteratorType, "range.it")
+		it, _, _ := c.createTemporaryAlloca(iteratorType, "range.it")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(c.getZeroValue(iteratorType), it)
 		return it, nil
 	case *ssa.Select:

compiler/llvm.go

@@ -24,23 +24,41 @@ func getUses(value llvm.Value) []llvm.Value {
 
 // createEntryBlockAlloca creates a new alloca in the entry block, even though
 // the IR builder is located elsewhere. It assumes that the insert point is
-// after the last instruction in the current block. Also, it adds lifetime
+// at the end of the current block.
-// information to the IR signalling that the alloca won't be used before this
+func (c *Compiler) createEntryBlockAlloca(t llvm.Type, name string) llvm.Value {
-// point.
+	currentBlock := c.builder.GetInsertBlock()
+	entryBlock := currentBlock.Parent().EntryBasicBlock()
+	if entryBlock.FirstInstruction().IsNil() {
+		c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(entryBlock)
+	} else {
+		c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(entryBlock.FirstInstruction())
+	}
+	alloca := c.builder.CreateAlloca(t, name)
+	c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(currentBlock)
+	return alloca
+}
+
+// createTemporaryAlloca creates a new alloca in the entry block and adds
+// lifetime start infromation in the IR signalling that the alloca won't be used
+// before this point.
 //
 // This is useful for creating temporary allocas for intrinsics. Don't forget to
-// end the lifetime after you're done with it.
+// end the lifetime using emitLifetimeEnd after you're done with it.
-func (c *Compiler) createEntryBlockAlloca(t llvm.Type, name string) (alloca, bitcast, size llvm.Value) {
+func (c *Compiler) createTemporaryAlloca(t llvm.Type, name string) (alloca, bitcast, size llvm.Value) {
-	currentBlock := c.builder.GetInsertBlock()
+	alloca = c.createEntryBlockAlloca(t, name)
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointBefore(currentBlock.Parent().EntryBasicBlock().FirstInstruction())
-	alloca = c.builder.CreateAlloca(t, name)
-	c.builder.SetInsertPointAtEnd(currentBlock)
 	bitcast = c.builder.CreateBitCast(alloca, c.i8ptrType, name+".bitcast")
 	size = llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(t), false)
 	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeStartFunc(), []llvm.Value{size, bitcast}, "")
 	return
 }
 
+// emitLifetimeEnd signals the end of an (alloca) lifetime by calling the
+// llvm.lifetime.end intrinsic. It is commonly used together with
+// createTemporaryAlloca.
+func (c *Compiler) emitLifetimeEnd(ptr, size llvm.Value) {
+	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{size, ptr}, "")
+}
+
 // getLifetimeStartFunc returns the llvm.lifetime.start intrinsic and creates it
 // first if it doesn't exist yet.
 func (c *Compiler) getLifetimeStartFunc() llvm.Value {

compiler/map.go

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 	// Allocate the memory for the resulting type. Do not zero this memory: it
 	// will be zeroed by the hashmap get implementation if the key is not
 	// present in the map.
-	mapValueAlloca, mapValuePtr, mapValueSize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(llvmValueType, "hashmap.value")
+	mapValueAlloca, mapValuePtr, mapValueSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(llvmValueType, "hashmap.value")
 
 	// Do the lookup. How it is done depends on the key type.
 	var commaOkValue llvm.Value
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 		// key can be compared with runtime.memequal
 		// Store the key in an alloca, in the entry block to avoid dynamic stack
 		// growth.
-		mapKeyAlloca, mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		mapKeyAlloca, mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(key, mapKeyAlloca)
 		// Fetch the value from the hashmap.
 		params := []llvm.Value{m, mapKeyPtr, mapValuePtr}
 		commaOkValue = c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinaryGet", params, "")
-		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{mapKeySize, mapKeyPtr}, "")
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(mapKeyPtr, mapKeySize)
 	} else {
 		// Not trivially comparable using memcmp.
 		return llvm.Value{}, c.makeError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 	// Load the resulting value from the hashmap. The value is set to the zero
 	// value if the key doesn't exist in the hashmap.
 	mapValue := c.builder.CreateLoad(mapValueAlloca, "")
-	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{mapValueSize, mapValuePtr}, "")
+	c.emitLifetimeEnd(mapValuePtr, mapValueSize)
 
 	if commaOk {
 		tuple := llvm.Undef(c.ctx.StructType([]llvm.Type{llvmValueType, c.ctx.Int1Type()}, false))
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapLookup(keyType, valueType types.Type, m, key llvm.Valu
 }
 
 func (c *Compiler) emitMapUpdate(keyType types.Type, m, key, value llvm.Value, pos token.Pos) {
-	valueAlloca, valuePtr, valueSize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(value.Type(), "hashmap.value")
+	valueAlloca, valuePtr, valueSize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(value.Type(), "hashmap.value")
 	c.builder.CreateStore(value, valueAlloca)
 	keyType = keyType.Underlying()
 	if t, ok := keyType.(*types.Basic); ok && t.Info()&types.IsString != 0 {
@@ -63,15 +63,15 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapUpdate(keyType types.Type, m, key, value llvm.Value, p
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapStringSet", params, "")
 	} else if hashmapIsBinaryKey(keyType) {
 		// key can be compared with runtime.memequal
-		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(key, keyAlloca)
 		params := []llvm.Value{m, keyPtr, valuePtr}
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinarySet", params, "")
-		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{keySize, keyPtr}, "")
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(keyPtr, keySize)
 	} else {
 		c.addError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())
 	}
-	c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{valueSize, valuePtr}, "")
+	c.emitLifetimeEnd(valuePtr, valueSize)
 }
 
 func (c *Compiler) emitMapDelete(keyType types.Type, m, key llvm.Value, pos token.Pos) error {
@@ -82,11 +82,11 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitMapDelete(keyType types.Type, m, key llvm.Value, pos toke
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapStringDelete", params, "")
 		return nil
 	} else if hashmapIsBinaryKey(keyType) {
-		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createEntryBlockAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
+		keyAlloca, keyPtr, keySize := c.createTemporaryAlloca(key.Type(), "hashmap.key")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(key, keyAlloca)
 		params := []llvm.Value{m, keyPtr}
 		c.createRuntimeCall("hashmapBinaryDelete", params, "")
-		c.builder.CreateCall(c.getLifetimeEndFunc(), []llvm.Value{keySize, keyPtr}, "")
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(keyPtr, keySize)
 		return nil
 	} else {
 		return c.makeError(pos, "only strings, bools, ints or structs of bools/ints are supported as map keys, but got: "+keyType.String())

compiler/wordpack.go

@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitPointerPack(values []llvm.Value) llvm.Value {
 		}
 		// Because packedType is a struct and we have to cast it to a *i8, store
 		// it in an alloca first for bitcasting (store+bitcast+load).
-		packedAlloc = c.builder.CreateAlloca(packedType, "")
+		packedAlloc, _, _ = c.createTemporaryAlloca(packedType, "")
 	} else {
 		// Packed data is bigger than a pointer, so allocate it on the heap.
 		sizeValue := llvm.ConstInt(c.uintptrType, size, false)
@@ -54,7 +54,11 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitPointerPack(values []llvm.Value) llvm.Value {
 	if packedHeapAlloc.IsNil() {
 		// Load value (as *i8) from the alloca.
 		packedAlloc = c.builder.CreateBitCast(packedAlloc, llvm.PointerType(c.i8ptrType, 0), "")
-		return c.builder.CreateLoad(packedAlloc, "")
+		result := c.builder.CreateLoad(packedAlloc, "")
+		packedPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(packedAlloc, c.i8ptrType, "")
+		packedSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(packedAlloc.Type()), false)
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(packedPtr, packedSize)
+		return result
 	} else {
 		// Get the original heap allocation pointer, which already is an *i8.
 		return packedHeapAlloc
@@ -66,7 +70,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitPointerUnpack(ptr llvm.Value, valueTypes []llvm.Type) []l
 	packedType := c.ctx.StructType(valueTypes, false)
 
 	// Get a correctly-typed pointer to the packed data.
-	var packedAlloc llvm.Value
+	var packedAlloc, packedRawAlloc llvm.Value
 	size := c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(packedType)
 	if size == 0 {
 		// No data to unpack.
@@ -80,7 +84,7 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitPointerUnpack(ptr llvm.Value, valueTypes []llvm.Type) []l
 			return []llvm.Value{c.builder.CreatePtrToInt(ptr, valueTypes[0], "unpack.int")}
 		}
 		// Fallback: load it using an alloca.
-		packedRawAlloc := c.builder.CreateAlloca(llvm.PointerType(c.i8ptrType, 0), "unpack.raw.alloc")
+		packedRawAlloc, _, _ = c.createTemporaryAlloca(llvm.PointerType(c.i8ptrType, 0), "unpack.raw.alloc")
 		packedRawValue := c.builder.CreateBitCast(ptr, llvm.PointerType(c.i8ptrType, 0), "unpack.raw.value")
 		c.builder.CreateStore(packedRawValue, packedRawAlloc)
 		packedAlloc = c.builder.CreateBitCast(packedRawAlloc, llvm.PointerType(packedType, 0), "unpack.alloc")
@@ -104,5 +108,10 @@ func (c *Compiler) emitPointerUnpack(ptr llvm.Value, valueTypes []llvm.Type) []l
 		gep := c.builder.CreateInBoundsGEP(packedAlloc, indices, "")
 		values[i] = c.builder.CreateLoad(gep, "")
 	}
+	if !packedRawAlloc.IsNil() {
+		allocPtr := c.builder.CreateBitCast(packedRawAlloc, c.i8ptrType, "")
+		allocSize := llvm.ConstInt(c.ctx.Int64Type(), c.targetData.TypeAllocSize(c.uintptrType), false)
+		c.emitLifetimeEnd(allocPtr, allocSize)
+	}
 	return values
 }