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@c -*-texinfo-*-
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@c Copyright (C) 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Free Software
3
@c Foundation, Inc.
4
@c This is part of the GCC manual.
5
@c For copying conditions, see the file gcc.texi.
6
 
7
@c ---------------------------------------------------------------------
8
@c Control Flow Graph
9
@c ---------------------------------------------------------------------
10
 
11
@node Control Flow
12
@chapter Control Flow Graph
13
@cindex CFG, Control Flow Graph
14
@findex basic-block.h
15
 
16
A control flow graph (CFG) is a data structure built on top of the
17
intermediate code representation (the RTL or @code{tree} instruction
18
stream) abstracting the control flow behavior of a function that is
19
being compiled.  The CFG is a directed graph where the vertices
20
represent basic blocks and edges represent possible transfer of
21
control flow from one basic block to another.  The data structures
22
used to represent the control flow graph are defined in
23
@file{basic-block.h}.
24
 
25
@menu
26
* Basic Blocks::           The definition and representation of basic blocks.
27
* Edges::                  Types of edges and their representation.
28
* Profile information::    Representation of frequencies and probabilities.
29
* Maintaining the CFG::    Keeping the control flow graph and up to date.
30
* Liveness information::   Using and maintaining liveness information.
31
@end menu
32
 
33
 
34
@node Basic Blocks
35
@section Basic Blocks
36
 
37
@cindex basic block
38
@findex basic_block
39
A basic block is a straight-line sequence of code with only one entry
40
point and only one exit.  In GCC, basic blocks are represented using
41
the @code{basic_block} data type.
42
 
43
@findex next_bb, prev_bb, FOR_EACH_BB
44
Two pointer members of the @code{basic_block} structure are the
45
pointers @code{next_bb} and @code{prev_bb}.  These are used to keep
46
doubly linked chain of basic blocks in the same order as the
47
underlying instruction stream.  The chain of basic blocks is updated
48
transparently by the provided API for manipulating the CFG@.  The macro
49
@code{FOR_EACH_BB} can be used to visit all the basic blocks in
50
lexicographical order.  Dominator traversals are also possible using
51
@code{walk_dominator_tree}.  Given two basic blocks A and B, block A
52
dominates block B if A is @emph{always} executed before B@.
53
 
54
@findex BASIC_BLOCK
55
The @code{BASIC_BLOCK} array contains all basic blocks in an
56
unspecified order.  Each @code{basic_block} structure has a field
57
that holds a unique integer identifier @code{index} that is the
58
index of the block in the @code{BASIC_BLOCK} array.
59
The total number of basic blocks in the function is
60
@code{n_basic_blocks}.  Both the basic block indices and
61
the total number of basic blocks may vary during the compilation
62
process, as passes reorder, create, duplicate, and destroy basic
63
blocks.  The index for any block should never be greater than
64
@code{last_basic_block}.
65
 
66
@findex ENTRY_BLOCK_PTR, EXIT_BLOCK_PTR
67
Special basic blocks represent possible entry and exit points of a
68
function.  These blocks are called @code{ENTRY_BLOCK_PTR} and
69
@code{EXIT_BLOCK_PTR}.  These blocks do not contain any code, and are
70
not elements of the @code{BASIC_BLOCK} array.  Therefore they have
71
been assigned unique, negative index numbers.
72
 
73
Each @code{basic_block} also contains pointers to the first
74
instruction (the @dfn{head}) and the last instruction (the @dfn{tail})
75
or @dfn{end} of the instruction stream contained in a basic block.  In
76
fact, since the @code{basic_block} data type is used to represent
77
blocks in both major intermediate representations of GCC (@code{tree}
78
and RTL), there are pointers to the head and end of a basic block for
79
both representations.
80
 
81
@findex NOTE_INSN_BASIC_BLOCK, CODE_LABEL, notes
82
For RTL, these pointers are @code{rtx head, end}.  In the RTL function
83
representation, the head pointer always points either to a
84
@code{NOTE_INSN_BASIC_BLOCK} or to a @code{CODE_LABEL}, if present.
85
In the RTL representation of a function, the instruction stream
86
contains not only the ``real'' instructions, but also @dfn{notes}.
87
Any function that moves or duplicates the basic blocks needs
88
to take care of updating of these notes.  Many of these notes expect
89
that the instruction stream consists of linear regions, making such
90
updates difficult.   The @code{NOTE_INSN_BASIC_BLOCK} note is the only
91
kind of note that may appear in the instruction stream contained in a
92
basic block.  The instruction stream of a basic block always follows a
93
@code{NOTE_INSN_BASIC_BLOCK},  but zero or more @code{CODE_LABEL}
94
nodes can precede the block note.   A basic block ends by control flow
95
instruction or last instruction before following @code{CODE_LABEL} or
96
@code{NOTE_INSN_BASIC_BLOCK}.  A @code{CODE_LABEL} cannot appear in
97
the instruction stream of a basic block.
98
 
99
@findex can_fallthru
100
@cindex table jump
101
In addition to notes, the jump table vectors are also represented as
102
``pseudo-instructions'' inside the insn stream.  These vectors never
103
appear in the basic block and should always be placed just after the
104
table jump instructions referencing them.  After removing the
105
table-jump it is often difficult to eliminate the code computing the
106
address and referencing the vector, so cleaning up these vectors is
107
postponed until after liveness analysis.   Thus the jump table vectors
108
may appear in the insn stream unreferenced and without any purpose.
109
Before any edge is made @dfn{fall-thru}, the existence of such
110
construct in the way needs to be checked by calling
111
@code{can_fallthru} function.
112
 
113
@cindex block statement iterators
114
For the @code{tree} representation, the head and end of the basic block
115
are being pointed to by the @code{stmt_list} field, but this special
116
@code{tree} should never be referenced directly.  Instead, at the tree
117
level abstract containers and iterators are used to access statements
118
and expressions in basic blocks.  These iterators are called
119
@dfn{block statement iterators} (BSIs).  Grep for @code{^bsi}
120
in the various @file{tree-*} files.
121
The following snippet will pretty-print all the statements of the
122
program in the GIMPLE representation.
123
 
124
@smallexample
125
FOR_EACH_BB (bb)
126
  @{
127
     block_stmt_iterator si;
128
 
129
     for (si = bsi_start (bb); !bsi_end_p (si); bsi_next (&si))
130
       @{
131
          tree stmt = bsi_stmt (si);
132
          print_generic_stmt (stderr, stmt, 0);
133
       @}
134
  @}
135
@end smallexample
136
 
137
 
138
@node Edges
139
@section Edges
140
 
141
@cindex edge in the flow graph
142
@findex edge
143
Edges represent possible control flow transfers from the end of some
144
basic block A to the head of another basic block B@.  We say that A is
145
a predecessor of B, and B is a successor of A@.  Edges are represented
146
in GCC with the @code{edge} data type.  Each @code{edge} acts as a
147
link between two basic blocks: the @code{src} member of an edge
148
points to the predecessor basic block of the @code{dest} basic block.
149
The members @code{preds} and @code{succs} of the @code{basic_block} data
150
type point to type-safe vectors of edges to the predecessors and
151
successors of the block.
152
 
153
@cindex edge iterators
154
When walking the edges in an edge vector, @dfn{edge iterators} should
155
be used.  Edge iterators are constructed using the
156
@code{edge_iterator} data structure and several methods are available
157
to operate on them:
158
 
159
@ftable @code
160
@item ei_start
161
This function initializes an @code{edge_iterator} that points to the
162
first edge in a vector of edges.
163
 
164
@item ei_last
165
This function initializes an @code{edge_iterator} that points to the
166
last edge in a vector of edges.
167
 
168
@item ei_end_p
169
This predicate is @code{true} if an @code{edge_iterator} represents
170
the last edge in an edge vector.
171
 
172
@item ei_one_before_end_p
173
This predicate is @code{true} if an @code{edge_iterator} represents
174
the second last edge in an edge vector.
175
 
176
@item ei_next
177
This function takes a pointer to an @code{edge_iterator} and makes it
178
point to the next edge in the sequence.
179
 
180
@item ei_prev
181
This function takes a pointer to an @code{edge_iterator} and makes it
182
point to the previous edge in the sequence.
183
 
184
@item ei_edge
185
This function returns the @code{edge} currently pointed to by an
186
@code{edge_iterator}.
187
 
188
@item ei_safe_safe
189
This function returns the @code{edge} currently pointed to by an
190
@code{edge_iterator}, but returns @code{NULL} if the iterator is
191
pointing at the end of the sequence.  This function has been provided
192
for existing code makes the assumption that a @code{NULL} edge
193
indicates the end of the sequence.
194
 
195
@end ftable
196
 
197
The convenience macro @code{FOR_EACH_EDGE} can be used to visit all of
198
the edges in a sequence of predecessor or successor edges.  It must
199
not be used when an element might be removed during the traversal,
200
otherwise elements will be missed.  Here is an example of how to use
201
the macro:
202
 
203
@smallexample
204
edge e;
205
edge_iterator ei;
206
 
207
FOR_EACH_EDGE (e, ei, bb->succs)
208
  @{
209
     if (e->flags & EDGE_FALLTHRU)
210
       break;
211
  @}
212
@end smallexample
213
 
214
@findex fall-thru
215
There are various reasons why control flow may transfer from one block
216
to another.  One possibility is that some instruction, for example a
217
@code{CODE_LABEL}, in a linearized instruction stream just always
218
starts a new basic block.  In this case a @dfn{fall-thru} edge links
219
the basic block to the first following basic block.  But there are
220
several other reasons why edges may be created.  The @code{flags}
221
field of the @code{edge} data type is used to store information
222
about the type of edge we are dealing with.  Each edge is of one of
223
the following types:
224
 
225
@table @emph
226
@item jump
227
No type flags are set for edges corresponding to jump instructions.
228
These edges are used for unconditional or conditional jumps and in
229
RTL also for table jumps.  They are the easiest to manipulate as they
230
may be freely redirected when the flow graph is not in SSA form.
231
 
232
@item fall-thru
233
@findex EDGE_FALLTHRU, force_nonfallthru
234
Fall-thru edges are present in case where the basic block may continue
235
execution to the following one without branching.  These edges have
236
the @code{EDGE_FALLTHRU} flag set.  Unlike other types of edges, these
237
edges must come into the basic block immediately following in the
238
instruction stream.  The function @code{force_nonfallthru} is
239
available to insert an unconditional jump in the case that redirection
240
is needed.  Note that this may require creation of a new basic block.
241
 
242
@item exception handling
243
@cindex exception handling
244
@findex EDGE_ABNORMAL, EDGE_EH
245
Exception handling edges represent possible control transfers from a
246
trapping instruction to an exception handler.  The definition of
247
``trapping'' varies.  In C++, only function calls can throw, but for
248
Java, exceptions like division by zero or segmentation fault are
249
defined and thus each instruction possibly throwing this kind of
250
exception needs to be handled as control flow instruction.  Exception
251
edges have the @code{EDGE_ABNORMAL} and @code{EDGE_EH} flags set.
252
 
253
@findex purge_dead_edges
254
When updating the instruction stream it is easy to change possibly
255
trapping instruction to non-trapping, by simply removing the exception
256
edge.  The opposite conversion is difficult, but should not happen
257
anyway.  The edges can be eliminated via @code{purge_dead_edges} call.
258
 
259
@findex REG_EH_REGION, EDGE_ABNORMAL_CALL
260
In the RTL representation, the destination of an exception edge is
261
specified by @code{REG_EH_REGION} note attached to the insn.
262
In case of a trapping call the @code{EDGE_ABNORMAL_CALL} flag is set
263
too.  In the @code{tree} representation, this extra flag is not set.
264
 
265
@findex may_trap_p, tree_could_trap_p
266
In the RTL representation, the predicate @code{may_trap_p} may be used
267
to check whether instruction still may trap or not.  For the tree
268
representation, the @code{tree_could_trap_p} predicate is available,
269
but this predicate only checks for possible memory traps, as in
270
dereferencing an invalid pointer location.
271
 
272
 
273
@item sibling calls
274
@cindex sibling call
275
@findex EDGE_ABNORMAL, EDGE_SIBCALL
276
Sibling calls or tail calls terminate the function in a non-standard
277
way and thus an edge to the exit must be present.
278
@code{EDGE_SIBCALL} and @code{EDGE_ABNORMAL} are set in such case.
279
These edges only exist in the RTL representation.
280
 
281
@item computed jumps
282
@cindex computed jump
283
@findex EDGE_ABNORMAL
284
Computed jumps contain edges to all labels in the function referenced
285
from the code.  All those edges have @code{EDGE_ABNORMAL} flag set.
286
The edges used to represent computed jumps often cause compile time
287
performance problems, since functions consisting of many taken labels
288
and many computed jumps may have @emph{very} dense flow graphs, so
289
these edges need to be handled with special care.  During the earlier
290
stages of the compilation process, GCC tries to avoid such dense flow
291
graphs by factoring computed jumps.  For example, given the following
292
series of jumps,
293
 
294
@smallexample
295
  goto *x;
296
  [ @dots{} ]
297
 
298
  goto *x;
299
  [ @dots{} ]
300
 
301
  goto *x;
302
  [ @dots{} ]
303
@end smallexample
304
 
305
@noindent
306
factoring the computed jumps results in the following code sequence
307
which has a much simpler flow graph:
308
 
309
@smallexample
310
  goto y;
311
  [ @dots{} ]
312
 
313
  goto y;
314
  [ @dots{} ]
315
 
316
  goto y;
317
  [ @dots{} ]
318
 
319
y:
320
  goto *x;
321
@end smallexample
322
 
323
However, the classic problem with this transformation is that it has a
324
runtime cost in there resulting code: An extra jump.  Therefore, the
325
computed jumps are un-factored in the later passes of the compiler.
326
Be aware of that when you work on passes in that area.  There have
327
been numerous examples already where the compile time for code with
328
unfactored computed jumps caused some serious headaches.
329
 
330
@item nonlocal goto handlers
331
@cindex nonlocal goto handler
332
@findex EDGE_ABNORMAL, EDGE_ABNORMAL_CALL
333
GCC allows nested functions to return into caller using a @code{goto}
334
to a label passed to as an argument to the callee.  The labels passed
335
to nested functions contain special code to cleanup after function
336
call.  Such sections of code are referred to as ``nonlocal goto
337
receivers''.  If a function contains such nonlocal goto receivers, an
338
edge from the call to the label is created with the
339
@code{EDGE_ABNORMAL} and @code{EDGE_ABNORMAL_CALL} flags set.
340
 
341
@item function entry points
342
@cindex function entry point, alternate function entry point
343
@findex LABEL_ALTERNATE_NAME
344
By definition, execution of function starts at basic block 0, so there
345
is always an edge from the @code{ENTRY_BLOCK_PTR} to basic block 0.
346
There is no @code{tree} representation for alternate entry points at
347
this moment.  In RTL, alternate entry points are specified by
348
@code{CODE_LABEL} with @code{LABEL_ALTERNATE_NAME} defined.  This
349
feature is currently used for multiple entry point prologues and is
350
limited to post-reload passes only.  This can be used by back-ends to
351
emit alternate prologues for functions called from different contexts.
352
In future full support for multiple entry functions defined by Fortran
353
90 needs to be implemented.
354
 
355
@item function exits
356
In the pre-reload representation a function terminates after the last
357
instruction in the insn chain and no explicit return instructions are
358
used.  This corresponds to the fall-thru edge into exit block.  After
359
reload, optimal RTL epilogues are used that use explicit (conditional)
360
return instructions that are represented by edges with no flags set.
361
 
362
@end table
363
 
364
 
365
@node Profile information
366
@section Profile information
367
 
368
@cindex profile representation
369
In many cases a compiler must make a choice whether to trade speed in
370
one part of code for speed in another, or to trade code size for code
371
speed.  In such cases it is useful to know information about how often
372
some given block will be executed.  That is the purpose for
373
maintaining profile within the flow graph.
374
GCC can handle profile information obtained through @dfn{profile
375
feedback}, but it can also  estimate branch probabilities based on
376
statics and heuristics.
377
 
378
@cindex profile feedback
379
The feedback based profile is produced by compiling the program with
380
instrumentation, executing it on a train run and reading the numbers
381
of executions of basic blocks and edges back to the compiler while
382
re-compiling the program to produce the final executable.  This method
383
provides very accurate information about where a program spends most
384
of its time on the train run.  Whether it matches the average run of
385
course depends on the choice of train data set, but several studies
386
have shown that the behavior of a program usually changes just
387
marginally over different data sets.
388
 
389
@cindex Static profile estimation
390
@cindex branch prediction
391
@findex predict.def
392
When profile feedback is not available, the compiler may be asked to
393
attempt to predict the behavior of each branch in the program using a
394
set of heuristics (see @file{predict.def} for details) and compute
395
estimated frequencies of each basic block by propagating the
396
probabilities over the graph.
397
 
398
@findex frequency, count, BB_FREQ_BASE
399
Each @code{basic_block} contains two integer fields to represent
400
profile information: @code{frequency} and @code{count}.  The
401
@code{frequency} is an estimation how often is basic block executed
402
within a function.  It is represented as an integer scaled in the
403
range from 0 to @code{BB_FREQ_BASE}.  The most frequently executed
404
basic block in function is initially set to @code{BB_FREQ_BASE} and
405
the rest of frequencies are scaled accordingly.  During optimization,
406
the frequency of the most frequent basic block can both decrease (for
407
instance by loop unrolling) or grow (for instance by cross-jumping
408
optimization), so scaling sometimes has to be performed multiple
409
times.
410
 
411
@findex gcov_type
412
The @code{count} contains hard-counted numbers of execution measured
413
during training runs and is nonzero only when profile feedback is
414
available.  This value is represented as the host's widest integer
415
(typically a 64 bit integer) of the special type @code{gcov_type}.
416
 
417
Most optimization passes can use only the frequency information of a
418
basic block, but a few passes may want to know hard execution counts.
419
The frequencies should always match the counts after scaling, however
420
during updating of the profile information numerical error may
421
accumulate into quite large errors.
422
 
423
@findex REG_BR_PROB_BASE, EDGE_FREQUENCY
424
Each edge also contains a branch probability field: an integer in the
425
range from 0 to @code{REG_BR_PROB_BASE}.  It represents probability of
426
passing control from the end of the @code{src} basic block to the
427
@code{dest} basic block, i.e.@: the probability that control will flow
428
along this edge.   The @code{EDGE_FREQUENCY} macro is available to
429
compute how frequently a given edge is taken.  There is a @code{count}
430
field for each edge as well, representing same information as for a
431
basic block.
432
 
433
The basic block frequencies are not represented in the instruction
434
stream, but in the RTL representation the edge frequencies are
435
represented for conditional jumps (via the @code{REG_BR_PROB}
436
macro) since they are used when instructions are output to the
437
assembly file and the flow graph is no longer maintained.
438
 
439
@cindex reverse probability
440
The probability that control flow arrives via a given edge to its
441
destination basic block is called @dfn{reverse probability} and is not
442
directly represented, but it may be easily computed from frequencies
443
of basic blocks.
444
 
445
@findex redirect_edge_and_branch
446
Updating profile information is a delicate task that can unfortunately
447
not be easily integrated with the CFG manipulation API@.  Many of the
448
functions and hooks to modify the CFG, such as
449
@code{redirect_edge_and_branch}, do not have enough information to
450
easily update the profile, so updating it is in the majority of cases
451
left up to the caller.  It is difficult to uncover bugs in the profile
452
updating code, because they manifest themselves only by producing
453
worse code, and checking profile consistency is not possible because
454
of numeric error accumulation.  Hence special attention needs to be
455
given to this issue in each pass that modifies the CFG@.
456
 
457
@findex REG_BR_PROB_BASE, BB_FREQ_BASE, count
458
It is important to point out that @code{REG_BR_PROB_BASE} and
459
@code{BB_FREQ_BASE} are both set low enough to be possible to compute
460
second power of any frequency or probability in the flow graph, it is
461
not possible to even square the @code{count} field, as modern CPUs are
462
fast enough to execute $2^32$ operations quickly.
463
 
464
 
465
@node Maintaining the CFG
466
@section Maintaining the CFG
467
@findex cfghooks.h
468
 
469
An important task of each compiler pass is to keep both the control
470
flow graph and all profile information up-to-date.  Reconstruction of
471
the control flow graph after each pass is not an option, since it may be
472
very expensive and lost profile information cannot be reconstructed at
473
all.
474
 
475
GCC has two major intermediate representations, and both use the
476
@code{basic_block} and @code{edge} data types to represent control
477
flow.  Both representations share as much of the CFG maintenance code
478
as possible.  For each representation, a set of @dfn{hooks} is defined
479
so that each representation can provide its own implementation of CFG
480
manipulation routines when necessary.  These hooks are defined in
481
@file{cfghooks.h}.  There are hooks for almost all common CFG
482
manipulations, including block splitting and merging, edge redirection
483
and creating and deleting basic blocks.  These hooks should provide
484
everything you need to maintain and manipulate the CFG in both the RTL
485
and @code{tree} representation.
486
 
487
At the moment, the basic block boundaries are maintained transparently
488
when modifying instructions, so there rarely is a need to move them
489
manually (such as in case someone wants to output instruction outside
490
basic block explicitly).
491
Often the CFG may be better viewed as integral part of instruction
492
chain, than structure built on the top of it.  However, in principle
493
the control flow graph for the @code{tree} representation is
494
@emph{not} an integral part of the representation, in that a function
495
tree may be expanded without first building a  flow graph for the
496
@code{tree} representation at all.  This happens when compiling
497
without any @code{tree} optimization enabled.  When the @code{tree}
498
optimizations are enabled and the instruction stream is rewritten in
499
SSA form, the CFG is very tightly coupled with the instruction stream.
500
In particular, statement insertion and removal has to be done with
501
care.  In fact, the whole @code{tree} representation can not be easily
502
used or maintained without proper maintenance of the CFG
503
simultaneously.
504
 
505
@findex BLOCK_FOR_INSN, bb_for_stmt
506
In the RTL representation, each instruction has a
507
@code{BLOCK_FOR_INSN} value that represents pointer to the basic block
508
that contains the instruction.  In the @code{tree} representation, the
509
function @code{bb_for_stmt} returns a pointer to the basic block
510
containing the queried statement.
511
 
512
@cindex block statement iterators
513
When changes need to be applied to a function in its @code{tree}
514
representation, @dfn{block statement iterators} should be used.  These
515
iterators provide an integrated abstraction of the flow graph and the
516
instruction stream.  Block statement iterators are constructed using
517
the @code{block_stmt_iterator} data structure and several modifier are
518
available, including the following:
519
 
520
@ftable @code
521
@item bsi_start
522
This function initializes a @code{block_stmt_iterator} that points to
523
the first non-empty statement in a basic block.
524
 
525
@item bsi_last
526
This function initializes a @code{block_stmt_iterator} that points to
527
the last statement in a basic block.
528
 
529
@item bsi_end_p
530
This predicate is @code{true} if a @code{block_stmt_iterator}
531
represents the end of a basic block.
532
 
533
@item bsi_next
534
This function takes a @code{block_stmt_iterator} and makes it point to
535
its successor.
536
 
537
@item bsi_prev
538
This function takes a @code{block_stmt_iterator} and makes it point to
539
its predecessor.
540
 
541
@item bsi_insert_after
542
This function inserts a statement after the @code{block_stmt_iterator}
543
passed in.  The final parameter determines whether the statement
544
iterator is updated to point to the newly inserted statement, or left
545
pointing to the original statement.
546
 
547
@item bsi_insert_before
548
This function inserts a statement before the @code{block_stmt_iterator}
549
passed in.  The final parameter determines whether the statement
550
iterator is updated to point to the newly inserted statement, or left
551
pointing to the original  statement.
552
 
553
@item bsi_remove
554
This function removes the @code{block_stmt_iterator} passed in and
555
rechains the remaining statements in a basic block, if any.
556
@end ftable
557
 
558
@findex BB_HEAD, BB_END
559
In the RTL representation, the macros @code{BB_HEAD} and @code{BB_END}
560
may be used to get the head and end @code{rtx} of a basic block.  No
561
abstract iterators are defined for traversing the insn chain, but you
562
can just use @code{NEXT_INSN} and @code{PREV_INSN} instead.  @xref{Insns}.
563
 
564
@findex purge_dead_edges
565
Usually a code manipulating pass simplifies the instruction stream and
566
the flow of control, possibly eliminating some edges.  This may for
567
example happen when a conditional jump is replaced with an
568
unconditional jump, but also when simplifying possibly trapping
569
instruction to non-trapping while compiling Java.  Updating of edges
570
is not transparent and each optimization pass is required to do so
571
manually.  However only few cases occur in practice.  The pass may
572
call @code{purge_dead_edges} on a given basic block to remove
573
superfluous edges, if any.
574
 
575
@findex redirect_edge_and_branch, redirect_jump
576
Another common scenario is redirection of branch instructions, but
577
this is best modeled as redirection of edges in the control flow graph
578
and thus use of @code{redirect_edge_and_branch} is preferred over more
579
low level functions, such as @code{redirect_jump} that operate on RTL
580
chain only.  The CFG hooks defined in @file{cfghooks.h} should provide
581
the complete API required for manipulating and maintaining the CFG@.
582
 
583
@findex split_block
584
It is also possible that a pass has to insert control flow instruction
585
into the middle of a basic block, thus creating an entry point in the
586
middle of the basic block, which is impossible by definition: The
587
block must be split to make sure it only has one entry point, i.e.@: the
588
head of the basic block.  The CFG hook @code{split_block} may be used
589
when an instruction in the middle of a basic block has to become the
590
target of a jump or branch instruction.
591
 
592
@findex insert_insn_on_edge
593
@findex commit_edge_insertions
594
@findex bsi_insert_on_edge
595
@findex bsi_commit_edge_inserts
596
@cindex edge splitting
597
For a global optimizer, a common operation is to split edges in the
598
flow graph and insert instructions on them.  In the RTL
599
representation, this can be easily done using the
600
@code{insert_insn_on_edge} function that emits an instruction
601
``on the edge'', caching it for a later @code{commit_edge_insertions}
602
call that will take care of moving the inserted instructions off the
603
edge into the instruction stream contained in a basic block.  This
604
includes the creation of new basic blocks where needed.  In the
605
@code{tree} representation, the equivalent functions are
606
@code{bsi_insert_on_edge} which inserts a block statement
607
iterator on an edge, and @code{bsi_commit_edge_inserts} which flushes
608
the instruction to actual instruction stream.
609
 
610
While debugging the optimization pass, a @code{verify_flow_info}
611
function may be useful to find bugs in the control flow graph updating
612
code.
613
 
614
Note that at present, the representation of control flow in the
615
@code{tree} representation is discarded before expanding to RTL@.
616
Long term the CFG should be maintained and ``expanded'' to the
617
RTL representation along with the function @code{tree} itself.
618
 
619
 
620
@node Liveness information
621
@section Liveness information
622
@cindex Liveness representation
623
Liveness information is useful to determine whether some register is
624
``live'' at given point of program, i.e.@: that it contains a value that
625
may be used at a later point in the program.  This information is
626
used, for instance, during register allocation, as the pseudo
627
registers only need to be assigned to a unique hard register or to a
628
stack slot if they are live.  The hard registers and stack slots may
629
be freely reused for other values when a register is dead.
630
 
631
Liveness information is available in the back end starting with
632
@code{pass_df_initialize} and ending with @code{pass_df_finish}.  Three
633
flavors of live analysis are available: With @code{LR}, it is possible
634
to determine at any point @code{P} in the function if the register may be
635
used on some path from @code{P} to the end of the function.  With
636
@code{UR}, it is possible to determine if there is a path from the
637
beginning of the function to @code{P} that defines the variable.
638
@code{LIVE} is the intersection of the @code{LR} and @code{UR} and a
639
variable is live at @code{P} if there is both an assignment that reaches
640
it from the beginning of the function and a use that can be reached on
641
some path from @code{P} to the end of the function.
642
 
643
In general @code{LIVE} is the most useful of the three.  The macros
644
@code{DF_[LR,UR,LIVE]_[IN,OUT]} can be used to access this information.
645
The macros take a basic block number and return a bitmap that is indexed
646
by the register number.  This information is only guaranteed to be up to
647
date after calls are made to @code{df_analyze}.  See the file
648
@code{df-core.c} for details on using the dataflow.
649
 
650
 
651
@findex REG_DEAD, REG_UNUSED
652
The liveness information is stored partly in the RTL instruction stream
653
and partly in the flow graph.  Local information is stored in the
654
instruction stream: Each instruction may contain @code{REG_DEAD} notes
655
representing that the value of a given register is no longer needed, or
656
@code{REG_UNUSED} notes representing that the value computed by the
657
instruction is never used.  The second is useful for instructions
658
computing multiple values at once.
659
 

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