A deep dive into Clang's source file compilation

Clang is a C/C++ compiler that generates LLVM IR and utilitizes LLVM to generate relocatable object files. Using the classic three-stage compiler structure, the stages can be described as follows: 

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C/C++ =(front end)=> LLVM IR =(middle end)=> LLVM IR (optimized) =(back end)=> relocatable object file

If we follow the internal representations of instructions, a more detailed diagram looks like this: 

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C/C++ =(front end)=> LLVM IR =(middle end)=> LLVM IR (optimized) =(instruction selector)=> MachineInstr =(AsmPrinter)=> MCInst =(assembler)=> relocatable object file

LLVM and Clang are designed as a collection of libraries. This post describes how different libraries work together to create the final relocatable object file. I will focus on how a function goes through the multiple compilation stages.

Compiler frontend

The compiler frontend primarily comprises the following libraries:

  • clangDriver
  • clangFrontend
  • clangParse and clangSema
  • clangCodeGen

The clangDriver library is located in clang/lib/Driver/ and clang/include/Driver/, while other libraries have similar structures. In general, when a header file in one library (let's call it library A) is needed by another library, it is exposed to clang/include/$A/. Downstream projects can also include the header file from clang/include/$A/.

Let's use a C++ source file as an example.

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% cat a.cc
template <typename T>
T div(T a, T b) {
  return a / b;
}

__attribute__((noinline))
int foo(int a, float b, int c) {
  int s = a + (b == b);
  return div(s, c);
}

int main() {
  return foo(3, 2, 1);
}
% clang++ -g a.cc

The entry point of the Clang executable is implemented in clang/tools/driver/. clang_main creates a clang::driver::Driver instance, calls BuildCompilation to construct a clang::driver::Compilation instance, and then calls ExecuteCompilation.

clangDriver

clangDriver parses the command line arguments, constructs compilation actions, assigns actions to tools, generates commands for these tools, and executes the commands.

You may read Compiler driver and cross compilation for additional information.

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BuildCompilation
  getToolchain
  HandleImmediateArgs
  BuildInputs
  BuildActions
    handleArguments
  BuildJobs
    BuildJobsForAction
      ToolChain::SelectTool
      Clang::ConstructJob
        Clang::RenderTargetOptions
        renderDebugOptions
ExecuteCompilation
  ExecuteJobs
    ExecuteJob
      CC1Command::Execute
        cc1_main

For clang++ -g a.cc, clangDriver identifies the following phases: preprocessor, compiler (C++ to LLVM IR), backend, assembler, and linker. The first several phases can be performed by one single clang::driver::tools::Clang object (also known as Clang cc1), while the final phase requires an external program (the linker).

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% clang++ -g a.cc '-###'
...
 "/tmp/Rel/bin/clang-18" "-cc1" "-triple" "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu" "-emit-obj" ...
 "/usr/bin/ld" "-pie" ... -o a.out ... /tmp/a-f58f75.o ...

cc1_main in clangDriver calls ExecuteCompilerInvocation defined in clangFrontend.

clangFrontend

clangFrontend defines CompilerInstance, which manages various classes, including CompilerInvocation, DiagnosticsEngine, TargetInfo, FileManager, SourceManager, Preprocessor, ASTContext, ASTConsumer, and Sema.

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ExecuteCompilerInvocation
  CreateFrontendAction
  ExecuteAction
    FrontendAction::BeginSourceFile
      CompilerInstance::createFileManager
      CompilerInstance::createSourceManager
      CompilerInstance::createPreprocessor
      CompilerInstance::createASTContext
      CreateWrappedASTConsumer
        BackendConsumer::BackendConsumer
          CodeGenerator::CodeGenerator
      CompilerInstance::setASTConsumer
        CodeGeneratorImpl::Initialize
          CodeGenModule::CodeGenModule
    FrontendAction::Execute
      FrontendAction::ExecutionAction => CodeGenAction
        ASTFrontendAction::ExecuteAction
          CompilerInstance::createSema
          ParseAST
    FrontendAction::EndSourceFile

In ExecuteCompilerInvocation, a FrontAction is created based on the CompilerInstance argument and then executed. When using the -emit-obj option, the selected FrontAction is an EmitObjAction, which is a derivative of CodeGenAction.

During FrontendAction::BeginSourceFile, several classes mentioned earlier are created, and a BackendConsumer is also established. The BackendConsumer serves as a wrapper around CodeGenerator, which is another derivative of ASTConsumer. Finally, in FrontendAction::BeginSourceFile, CompilerInstance::setASTConsumer is called to create a CodeGenModule object, responsible for managing an LLVM IR module.

In FrontendAction::Execute, CodeGenAction::ExecuteAction is invoked, primarily handling the compilation of LLVM IR files. This function, in turn, calls the base function ASTFrontendAction::ExecuteAction, which, in essence, triggers the entry point of clangParse: ParseAST.

clangParse and clangSema

clangParse consumes tokens from clangLex and invokes parser actions, many of which are named Act*, defined in clangSema. clangSema performs semantic analysis and generates AST nodes.

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ParseAST
  ParseFirstTopLevelDecl
    Sema::ActOnStartOfTranslationUnit
  ParseTopLevelDecl
    ParseDeclarationOrFunctionDefinition
      ParseDeclOrFunctionDefInternal
        ParseDeclGroup
          ParseFunctionDefinition
            ParseFunctionStatementBody
              ParseCompoundStatementBody
                ParseStatementOrDeclaration
                  ParseStatementOrDeclarationAfterAttributes
                    Sema::ActOnDeclStmt
                Sema::ActOnCompoundStmt
              Sema::ActOnFinishFunctionBody
          Sema::ConvertDeclToDeclGroup
    ActOnEndOfTranslationUnit
      ActOnEndOfTranslationUnitFragment
        PerformPendingInstantiations
          InstantiateFunctionDefinition
  BackendConsumer::HandleTopLevelDecl
  BackendConsumer::HandleTranslationUnit

When ParseTopLevelDecl consumes a tok::eof token, implicit instantiations are performed.

In the end, we get a full AST (actually a misnomer as the representation is not abstract, not only about syntax, and is not a tree). ParseAST calls virtual functions HandleTopLevelDecl and HandleTranslationUnit.

clangCodeGen

BackendConsumer defined in clangCodeGen overrides HandleTopLevelDecl and HandleTranslationUnit to generate unoptimized LLVM IR and hand over the IR to LLVM for machine code generation.

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BackendConsumer::HandleTopLevelDecl
  CodeGenModule::EmitTopLevelDecl
    CodeGenModule::EmitGlobal
      CodeGenModule::EmitGlobalDefinition
        CodeGenModule::EmitGlobalFunctionDefinition
          CodeGenFunction::CodeGenFunction
          CodeGenFunction::GenerateCode
            CodeGenFunction::StartFunction
            CodeGenFunction::EmitFunctionBody
BackendConsumer::HandleTranslationUnit
  setupLLVMOptimizationRemarks
  EmitBackendOutput
    EmitAssemblyHelper::EmitAssembly
      EmitAssemblyHelper::RunOptimizationPipeline
        PassBuilder::buildPerModuleDefaultPipeline // There are other build*Pipeline alternatives
        MPM.run(*TheModule, MAM);
      EmitAssemblyHelper::RunCodegenPipeline
        EmitAssemblyHelper::AddEmitPasses
          LLVMTargetMachine::addPassesToEmitFile
        CodeGenPasses.run(*TheModule);

BackendConsumer::HandleTopLevelDecl generates LLVM IR for each top-level declaration. This means that Clang generates a function at a time.

BackendConsumer::HandleTranslationUnit invokes EmitBackendOutput to create an LLVM IR file, an assembly file, or a relocatable object file. EmitBackendOutput establishes an optimization pipeline and a machine code generation pipeline.

Now let's explore CodeGenFunction::EmitFunctionBody. Generating IR for a variable declaration and a return statement involve the following functions, among others: 

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EmitFunctionBody
  EmitCompoundStmtWithoutScope
    EmitStmt
      EmitSimpleStmt
        EmitDeclStmt
          EmitDecl
            EmitVarDecl
      EmitStopPoint
      EmitReturnStmt
        EmitScalarExpr
          ScalarExprEmitter::EmitBinOps

After generating the LLVM IR, clangCodeGen proceeds to execute EmitAssemblyHelper::RunOptimizationPipeline to perform middle-end optimizations and subsequently EmitAssemblyHelper::RunCodegenPipeline to generate machine code.

For our integer division example, the function foo in the unoptimized LLVM IR looks like this (attributes are omitted): 

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; Function Attrs: mustprogress noinline uwtable
define dso_local noundef i32 @_Z3fooifi(i32 noundef %a, float noundef %b, i32 noundef %c) #0 {
entry:
  %a.addr = alloca i32, align 4
  %b.addr = alloca float, align 4
  %c.addr = alloca i32, align 4
  %s = alloca i32, align 4
  store i32 %a, ptr %a.addr, align 4, !tbaa !5
  store float %b, ptr %b.addr, align 4, !tbaa !9
  store i32 %c, ptr %c.addr, align 4, !tbaa !5
  call void @llvm.lifetime.start.p0(i64 4, ptr %s) #4
  %0 = load i32, ptr %a.addr, align 4, !tbaa !5
  %1 = load float, ptr %b.addr, align 4, !tbaa !9
  %2 = load float, ptr %b.addr, align 4, !tbaa !9
  %cmp = fcmp oeq float %1, %2
  %conv = zext i1 %cmp to i32
  %add = add nsw i32 %0, %conv
  store i32 %add, ptr %s, align 4, !tbaa !5
  %3 = load i32, ptr %s, align 4, !tbaa !5
  %4 = load i32, ptr %c.addr, align 4, !tbaa !5
  %call = call noundef i32 @_Z3divIiET_S0_S0_(i32 noundef %3, i32 noundef %4)
  call void @llvm.lifetime.end.p0(i64 4, ptr %s) #4
  ret i32 %call
}

Compiler middle end

EmitAssemblyHelper::RunOptimizationPipeline creates a pass manager to schedule the middle-end optimization pipeline. This pass manager executes numerous optimization passes and analyses.

The option -mllvm -print-pipeline-passes provides insight into these passes: 

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% clang -c -O1 -mllvm -print-pipeline-passes a.c
annotation2metadata,forceattrs,declare-to-assign,inferattrs,coro-early,...

For our integer division example, the optimized LLVM IR looks like this: 

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; Function Attrs: mustprogress nofree noinline norecurse nosync nounwind willreturn memory(none) uwtable
define dso_local noundef i32 @_Z3fooifi(i32 noundef %a, float noundef %b, i32 noundef %c) local_unnamed_addr #0 {
entry:
  %cmp = fcmp ord float %b, 0.000000e+00
  %conv = zext i1 %cmp to i32
  %add = add nsw i32 %conv, %a
  %div.i = sdiv i32 %add, %c
  ret i32 %div.i
}

; Function Attrs: mustprogress nofree norecurse nosync nounwind willreturn memory(none) uwtable
define dso_local noundef i32 @main() local_unnamed_addr #1 {
entry:
  %call = tail call noundef i32 @_Z3fooifi(i32 noundef 3, float noundef 2.000000e+00, i32 noundef 1)
  ret i32 %call
}

The most notaceable differences are the following

  • SROAPass runs mem2reg and optimizes out many AllocaInsts.
  • InstCombinePass (InstCombinerImpl::visitFCmpInst) replaces fcmp oeq float %1, %1 with fcmp ord float %1, 0.000000e+00, canonicalize NaN testing to FCmpInst::FCMP_ORD.
  • InlinerPass inlines the instantiated div function into its caller foo

Compiler back end

The demarcation between the middle end and the back end may not be entirely distinct. Within LLVMTargetMachine::addPassesToEmitFile, several IR passes are scheduled. It's reasonable to consider these IR passes (everything before addCoreISelPasses) as part of the middle end, while the phase beginning with instruction selection can be regarded as the actual back end.

Here is an overview of LLVMTargetMachine::addPassesToEmitFile:

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LLVMTargetMachine::addPassesToEmitFile
  addPassesToGenerateCode
    TargetPassConfig::addISelPasses
      TargetPassConfig::addIRPasses => X86PassConfig::addIRPasses
      TargetPassConfig::addCodeGenPrepare  # -O1 or above
      TargetPassConfig::addPassesToHandleExceptions
      TargetPassConfig::addISelPrepare
        TargetPassConfig::addPreISel => X86PassConfig::addPreISel
        addPass(createCallBrPass());
        addPass(createPrintFunctionPass(...));  # if -print-isel-input
        addPass(createVerifierPass());
      TargetPassConfig::addCoreISelPasses    # SelectionDAG or GlobalISel
    TargetPassConfig::addMachinePasses
  LLVMTargetMachine::addAsmPrinter  
  PM.add(createPrintMIRPass(Out)); // if -stop-before or -stop-after
  PM.add(createFreeMachineFunctionPass());

These IR and machine passes are scheduled by the legacy pass manager. The option -mllvm -debug-pass=Structure provides insight into these passes: 

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clang -c -O1 a.c -mllvm -debug-pass=Structure

Instruction selector

There are three instruction selectors: SelectionDAG, FastISel, and GlobalISel. FastISel is integrated within the SelectionDAG framework.

For most targets, FastISel is the default for clang -O0 while SelectionDAG is the default for optimized builds. However, for most AArch64 -O0 configurations, GlobalISel is the default.

To force using GlobalISel, we can specify -mllvm -global-isel.

SelectionDAG

See https://llvm.org/docs/WritingAnLLVMBackend.html#instruction-selector. 

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SectionDAG: normal code path
LLVM IR =(visit)=> SDNode =(DAGCombiner,LegalizeTypes,DAGCombiner,Legalize,DAGCombiner,Select,Schedule)=> MachineInstr

SectionDAG: FastISel (fast but not optimal)
LLVM IR =(FastISel)=> MachineInstr

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TargetPassConfig::addCoreISelPasses
  addInstSelector(); // add an instance of a target-specific derived class of SelectionDAGISel
  addPass(&FinalizeISelID);

SelectionDAGISel::runOnMachineFunction
  TargetMachine::resetTargetOptions
  SelectionDAGISel::SelectAllBasicBlocks
    SelectionDAGISel::SelectBasicBlock
      SelectionDAGBuilder::visit
      SelectionDAGISel::CodeGenAndEmitDAG
        CurDAG->Combine(BeforeLegalizeTypes, AA, OptLevel);
        Changed = CurDAG->LegalizeTypes(); // legalize-types
        if (Changed)
          CurDAG->Combine(AfterLegalizeTypes, AA, OptLevel);
        Changed = CurDAG->LegalizeVectors(); // legalizevectorops
        if (Changed) {
          CurDAG->LegalizeTypes();
          CurDAG->Combine(AfterLegalizeVectorOps, AA, OptLevel);
        }
        CurDAG->Legalize(); // legalizedag
          SelectionDAGLegalize::LegalizeOp
        DoInstructionSelection
          Select
            SelectCode
          PreprocessISelDAG()
        Scheduler->Run(CurDAG, FuncInfo->MBB); // pre-RA-sched
        Scheduler->EmitSchedule(FuncInfo->InsertPt); // instr-emitter
          EmitNode
            CreateMachineInstr

Each backend implements a derived class of SelectionDAGISel. For example, the X86 backend implements X86DAGToDAGISel and overrides runOnMachineFunction to set up variables like X86Subtarget and then invokes the base function SelectionDAGISel::runOnMachineFunction.

SelectionDAGISel creates a SelectionDAGBuilder. For each basic block, SelectionDAGISel::SelectBasicBlock iterates over all IR instructions and calls SelectionDAGBuilder::visit on them, creating a new SDNode for each Value that becomes part of the DAG.

The initial DAG may contain types and operations that are not natively supported by the target. SelectionDAGISel::CodeGenAndEmitDAG invokes LegalizeTypes and Legalize to convert unsupported types and operations to supported ones.

ScheduleDAGSDNodes::EmitSchedule emits the machine code (MachineInstrs) in the scheduled order.

FinalizeISel expands instructions marked with MCID::UsesCustomInserter.

Let's take a closer look at our foo function.

For the IR instruction %cmp = fcmp ord float %b, 0.000000e+00, SelectionDAGBuilder::visit creates a new SDNode with the opcode ISD::SETCC (t9: i1 = setcc t4, ConstantFP:f32<0.000000e+00>, seto:ch). 

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SelectionDAGBuilder::visit
  SelectionDAGBuilder::visitFcmp

A new SDNode with the opcode ISD::ZERO_EXTEND is created for %conv = zext i1 %cmp to i32.

For the IR instruction %add = add nsw i32 %conv, %a, SelectionDAGBuilder::visit creates a new SDNode with the opcode ISD::ADD. 

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SelectionDAGBuilder::visit
  SelectionDAGBuilder::visitAdd
    SelectionDAGBuilder::visitBinary    # binary operators are handled similarly

Similarly, SelectionDAGBuilder::visit creates a new SDNode with the opcode ISD::SDIV for %div.i = sdiv i32 %add, %c, SelectionDAGBuilder::visit. For the ret i32 %div.i instruction, the created SDNode has a target-specific opcode X86ISD::RET_GLUE (target-specific opcodes are legal for almost all targets).

After all instructions are visited, we get an initial DAG that looks like: 

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Initial selection DAG: %bb.0 '_Z3fooifi:entry'
SelectionDAG has 17 nodes:
  t0: ch,glue = EntryToken
            t4: f32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:f32 %1
          t9: i1 = setcc t4, ConstantFP:f32<0.000000e+00>, seto:ch
        t10: i32 = zero_extend t9
        t2: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %0
      t11: i32 = add nsw t10, t2
      t6: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %2
    t12: i32 = sdiv t11, t6
  t15: ch,glue = CopyToReg t0, Register:i32 $eax, t12
  t16: ch = X86ISD::RET_GLUE t15, TargetConstant:i32<0>, Register:i32 $eax, t15:1

The DAGCombiner process changes t9: i1 = setcc t4, ConstantFP:f32<0.000000e+00>, seto:ch to t19: i1 = setcc t4, t4, seto:ch. After the initial combining, the output looks like: 

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Optimized lowered selection DAG: %bb.0 '_Z3fooifi:entry'
SelectionDAG has 16 nodes:
  t0: ch,glue = EntryToken
  t4: f32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:f32 %1
          t19: i1 = setcc t4, t4, seto:ch
        t10: i32 = zero_extend t19
        t2: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %0
      t11: i32 = add nsw t10, t2
      t6: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %2
    t12: i32 = sdiv t11, t6
  t15: ch,glue = CopyToReg t0, Register:i32 $eax, t12
  t16: ch = X86ISD::RET_GLUE t15, TargetConstant:i32<0>, Register:i32 $eax, t15:1

The LegalizeTypes process changes t10: i32 = zero_extend t19 to t23: i32 = any_extend t22; t25: i32 = and t23, Constant:i32<1>. The result of LegalizeTypes looks like the following: 

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Optimized legalized selection DAG: %bb.0 '_Z3fooifi:entry'
SelectionDAG has 17 nodes:
  t0: ch,glue = EntryToken
  t4: f32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:f32 %1
            t30: i32 = X86ISD::FCMP t4, t4
          t32: i8 = X86ISD::SETCC TargetConstant:i8<11>, t30
        t26: i32 = zero_extend t32
        t2: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %0
      t11: i32 = add nsw t26, t2
      t6: i32,ch = CopyFromReg t0, Register:i32 %2
    t29: i32,i32 = sdivrem t11, t6
  t15: ch,glue = CopyToReg t0, Register:i32 $eax, t29
  t16: ch = X86ISD::RET_GLUE t15, TargetConstant:i32<0>, Register:i32 $eax, t15:1

x86 division instructions computes both the quotient and the reminder. To leverage this property, X86ISelLowering.cpp sets ISD::SDIV to Expand. The Legalize process will expand the ISD::SDIV node. In SelectionDAGLegalize::ExpandNode, the node is replaced with a new node with the opcode ISD::SDIVREM. X86ISelLowering.cpp sets ISD::SETCC for the type to Custom. X86TargetLowering::LowerOperation provides custom lowering hooks and replaces the ISD::SETCC node with t32: i8 = X86ISD::SETCC TargetConstant:i8<11>, t30 that uses another node t30: i32 = X86ISD::FCMP t4, t4.

The SelectionDAGISel::Select process creates MachineSDNode (derivied class of SDNode with negative NodeType) objects, which will be converted to MachineInstr. SelectionDAGISel::Select is derived by targets to perform custom handling for certain instructions and handle over the rest to SelectCode. SelectCode is the entry point of TableGen-generated pattern matching code for instruction selection. While some SDNodes become MachineSDNodes, some SDNodes (e.g. CopyFromReg) remain SDNode.

In our example,

  • X86::RET is selected for the X86ISD::RET_GLUE node.
  • Some nodes, such as ISD::Register and ISD::CopyFromReg, remain the same.
  • X86::IDIV32r is selected for the ISD::SDIVREM node.
  • X86::ADD32rr is selected for the ISD::ADD node.
  • X86::MOVZX32rr8 is selected for the ISD::ZERO_EXTEND node.

In the EmitSchedule process, MachineInstr objects are created from these MachineSDNode and regular SDNode objects.

FastISel, typically used for clang -O0, represents a fast path of SelectionDAG that generates less optimized machine code.

When FastISel is enabled, SelectAllBasicBlocks tries to skip SelectBasicBlock and select instructions with FastISel. However, FastISel only handles a subset of IR instructions. For unhandled instructions, SelectAllBasicBlocks falls back to SelectBasicBlock to handle the remaining instructions in the basic block.

GlobalISel

GlobalISel is a new instruction selection framework that operates on the entire function, in contrast to the basic block view of SelectionDAG. GlobalISel offers improved performance and modularity (multiple passes instead of one monolithic pass).

The design of the generic MachineInstr replaces an intermediate representation, SDNode, which was used in the SelectionDAG framework.

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LLVM IR =(IRTranslator)=> generic MachineInstr =(Legalizer)=> regular and generic MachineInstr =(RegBankSelect,GlobalInstructionSelect)=> regular MachineInstr
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TargetPassConfig::addCoreISelPasses
  addIRTranslator(); // irtranslator
  addPreLegalizeMachineIR();
  addPreRegBankSelect();
  addRegBankSelect(); // regbankselect
  addPreGlobalInstructionSelect();
  addGlobalInstructionSelect(); // instruction-select
  Pass to reset the MachineFunction if the ISel failed.
  addInstSelector();
  addPass(&FinalizeISelID);

Similar to FastISel, GlobalISel does not handle all instructions. If GlobalISel fails to handle a function, SelectionDAG will be used as the fallback.

Machine passes

After instruction selector, there are machine SSA optimizations, register allocation, machine late optimizations, and pre-emit passes.

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TargetPassConfig::addMachinePasses
  TargetPassConfig::addSSAOptimization
  TargetPassConfig::addPreRegAlloc
  TargetPassConfig::addOptimizedRegAlloc
  TargetPassConfig::addPostRegAlloc
  addPass(createPrologEpilogInserterPass());
  TargetPassConfig::addMachineLateOptimization
  addPass(&ExpandPostRAPseudosID)
  TargetPassConfig::addPreSched2
  TargetPassConfig::addPreEmitPass
  // basic block section related passes
  TargetPassConfig::addPreEmitPass2

PHIElimination and TwoAddressInstructionPass precede the register allocation pass. After PHIElimination, the machine function is no longer in a SSA form.

The optimization level affects the default register allocation strategy:

  • -O0: A simpler allocator called RegAllocFast is used.
  • -O1 and above: A sophisticated allocator called RegAllocGreedy is used. It runs additional passes and utilizes VirtRegRewriter to finalize the allocation by replacing virtual register references with actual physical registers.

X86::RET describes a pseudo instruction. X86ExpandPseudo::ExpandMI expands the X86::RET MachineInstr to an X86::RET64.

AsmPrinter

LLVMTargetMachine::addAsmPrinter incorporates a target-specific AsmPrinter (derived from AsmPrinter) pass into the machine code generation pipeline. These target-specific AsmPrinter passes are responsible for converting MachineInstrs to MCInsts and emitting them to an MCStreamer.

In our x86 case, the target-specific class is named X86AsmPrinter. X86AsmPrinter::runOnMachineFunction invokes AsmPrinter::emitFunctionBody to emit the function body. The base member function handles function header/footer, comments, and instructions. Target-specific classes override emitInstruction to lower MachineInstrs with target-specific opcodes to MCInsts.

An MCInst object can also be created by the LLVM integrated assembler. MCInst is like a simplified version of MachineInstr with less information. When MCInst is emitted to an MCStreamer, it results in either assembly code or bytes for a relocatable object file.

MC

Clang has the capability to output either assembly code or an object file. Generating an object file directly without involving an assembler is referred to as "direct object emission".

To provide a unified interface, MCStreamer is created to handle the emission of both assembly code and object files. The two primary subclasses of MCStreamer are MCAsmStreamer and MCObjectStreamer, responsible for emitting assembly code and machine code respectively.

In the case of an assembly input file, LLVM creates an MCAsmParser object (LLVMMCParser) and a target-specific MCTargetAsmParser object. The MCAsmParser is responsible for tokenizing the input, parsing assembler directives, and invoking the MCTargetAsmParser to parse an instruction. Both the MCAsmParser and MCTargetAsmParser objects can call the MCStreamer API to emit assembly code or machine code.

In our case, LLVMAsmPrinter calls the MCStreamer API to emit assembly code or machine code.

If the streamer is an MCAsmStreamer, the MCInst will be pretty-printed. If the streamer is an MCELFStreamer (other object file formats are similar), MCELFStreamer::emitInstToData will use ${Target}MCCodeEmitter from LLVM${Target}Desc to encode the MCInst, emit its byte sequence, and records needed relocations. An ELFObjectWriter object is used to write the relocatable object file.

In our example, we get a relocatable object file. If we invoke clang -S a.cc to get the assembly, it will look like: 

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...
        .globl  _Z3fooifi                       # -- Begin function _Z3fooifi
        .p2align        4, 0x90
        .type   _Z3fooifi,@function
_Z3fooifi:                              # @_Z3fooifi
        .cfi_startproc
# %bb.0:
        xorl    %eax, %eax
        ucomiss %xmm0, %xmm0
        setnp   %al
        addl    %edi, %eax
        cltd
        idivl   %esi
        retq
.Lfunc_end0:
        .size   _Z3fooifi, .Lfunc_end0-_Z3fooifi
        .cfi_endproc

...
        .globl  main
        .p2align        4, 0x90
        .type   main,@function
main:                                   # @main
        .cfi_startproc
# %bb.0:
        movss   .LCPI1_0(%rip), %xmm0           # xmm0 = mem[0],zero,zero,zero
        movl    $3, %edi
        movl    $1, %esi
        jmp     _Z3fooifi                       # TAILCALL
.Lfunc_end1:
        .size   main, .Lfunc_end1-main
        .cfi_endproc

You may read my post Assemblers for more information about the LLVM integrated assembler.