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  • Julian Seward's avatar
    [project @ 2000-04-27 16:35:29 by sewardj] · f0901617
    Julian Seward authored
    A total rewrite of the BCO assembler/linker, and rationalisation of
    the code management and code generation phases of Hugs.
    
    Problems with the old linker:
    
    * Didn't have a clean way to insert a pointer to GHC code into a BCO.
      This meant CAF GC didn't work properly in combined mode.
    
    * Leaked memory.  Each BCO, caf and constructor generated by Hugs had
      a corresponding malloc'd record used in its construction.  These
      records existed forever.  Pointers from the Hugs symbol tables into
      the runtime heap always went via these intermediates, for no apparent
      reason.
    
    * A global variable holding a list of top-level stg trees was used
      during code generation.  It was hard to associate trees in this
      list with entries in the name/tycon tables.  Just too many
      mechanisms.
    
    The New World Order is as follows:
    
    * The global code list (stgGlobals) is gone.
    
    * Each name in the name table has a .closure field.  This points
      to the top-level code for that name.  Before bytecode generation
      this points to a STG tree.  During bytecode generation but before
      bytecode linking it is a MPtr pointing to a malloc'd intermediate
      structure (an AsmObject).  After linking, it is a real live pointer
      into the execution heap (CPtr) which is treated as a root during GC.
    
      Because tuples do not have name table entries, tycons which are
      tuples also have a .closure field, which is treated identically
      to those of name table entries.
    
    * Each module has a code list -- a list of names and tuples.  If you
      are a name or tuple and you have something (code, CAF or Con) which
      needs to wind up in the execution heap, you MUST be on your module's
      code list.  Otherwise you won't get code generated.
    
    * Lambda lifting generates new name table entries, which of course
      also wind up on the code list.
    
    * The initial phase of code generation for a module m traverses m's
      code list.  The stg trees referenced in the .closure fields are
      code generated, creating AsmObject (AsmBCO, AsmCAF, AsmCon) in
      mallocville.  The .closure fields then point to these AsmObjects.
      Since AsmObjects can be mutually recursive, they can contain
      references to:
         * Other AsmObjects            Asm_RefObject
         * Existing closures           Asm_RefNoOp
         * name/tycon table entries    Asm_RefHugs
      AsmObjects can also contain BCO insns and non-ptr words.
    
    * A second copy-and-link phase copies the AsmObjects into the
      execution heap, resolves the Asm_Ref* items, and frees up
      the malloc'd entities.
    
    * Minor cleanups in compile-time storage.  There are now 3 kinds of
      address-y things available:
         CPtr/mkCPtr/cptrOf    -- ptrs to Closures, probably in exec heap
                                  ie anything which the exec GC knows about
         MPtr/mkMPtr/mptrOf    -- ptrs to mallocville, which the exec GC
                                  knows nothing about
         Addr/mkAddr/addrOf    -- literal addresses (like literal ints)
    
    * Many hacky cases removed from codegen.c.  Referencing code or
      data during code generation is a lot simpler, since an entity
      is either:
          a CPtr, in which case use it as is
          a MPtr -- stuff it into the AsmObject and the linker will fix it
          a name or tycon
                 -- ditto
    
    * I've checked, using Purify that, at least in standalone mode,
      no longer leaks mallocd memory.  Prior to this it would leak at
      the rate of about 300k per Prelude.
    
    * Added this comment to the top of codegen.c.
    
    Still to do:
    
    * Reinstate peephole optimisation for BCOs.
    
    * Nuke magic number headers in AsmObjects, used for debugging.
    
    * Profile and accelerate.  Code generation is slower because linking
      is slower.  Evaluation GC is slower because markHugsObjects has
      slowed down.
    
    * Make setCurrentModule ignore name table entries created by the
      lambda-lifter.
    
    * Zap various #if 0's in codegen.c/Assembler.c.
    
    * Zap CRUDE_PROFILING.
    f0901617