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Re: [PATCH] Two level comdat priorities in gold


On Tue, Jul 21, 2015 at 7:16 AM, Ian Lance Taylor <iant@google.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 at 12:32 PM, Xinliang David Li <davidxl@google.com> wrote:
>>
>> If a user uses __optimize__ attribute on a function to enable an ISA
>> extension, but does not guard the call of the function with ISA
>> feature testing, it is considered a user error. We only need to
>> improve the tool chain here to help users where he does not have any
>> other control -- basically when a common library function defined in
>> the header gets implicitly versioned due to the use of -mxxx option.
>> In other words, currently for C++ programs, using -mxxx on a module is
>> basically broken, and this patch tries to address that.
>
> So the problem is that an object file compiled with -mxxx may include
> definitions of non-inlined functions and instantiated templates with
> vague linkage that are compiled with -mxxx.  At link time, these same
> functions/templates may appear in object files not compiled with
> -mxxx.  When the linker happens to resolve the vague linkage by
> selecting the -mxxx instantiations, the calls from the non-mxxx
> objects are erroneous.
>
> The proposal is to compile the -mxxx versions with a special compiler
> option that causes the definitions with vague linkage in that object
> to only be used if they are the only definition.  The idea is that the
> user will use the special compiler option whenever using -mxxx options
> that are incompatible with the baseline build.


yes, that is the exactly right.

>
> One minor disadvantage is that -mxxx code will not reliably call -mxxx
> template functions, even when such functions would be better
> optimized.

yes, it is a minor disadvantage.  The common library functions that
get 'accidentally' ISA enhanced/versioned are  usually not  what user
intended and not in performance critical path.

>
>
>>> What should happen if people use the -r option to combine several
>>> objects together?
>>
>> Can the linker pick the higher prirority comdat?
>
> Sure, but the proposed representation is to add a special section that
> affects the interpretation of the entire object.  How should that
> special section by handled when using -r with a combination of some
> objects that have the section and some do not?


ok.

>
>
>
> While it is possible to construct test cases for this problem using C
> inline functions, in practice the problem is going to arise in C++.
> In C++ it's similar to the problem solved by using ABI tags.  This
> suggests to me that we should have a compiler option allowing an ABI
> tag to be specified for all weak definitions.  As far as I can see
> that would address the entire problem, with no confusion about -r, and
> permitting optimized functions to call optimized versions of the vague
> linkage definitions.
>

Sounds interesting. I will leave Sri to evaluate this approach :)

thanks,

David



> Ian


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