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authorMiguel de Icaza <miguel@gnome.org>2005-01-05 23:19:41 +0300
committerMiguel de Icaza <miguel@gnome.org>2005-01-05 23:19:41 +0300
commitb64ef88ca2b9554c2bb86a84fc1267d15b461e09 (patch)
treea234fdad9e0d74c617c901d013f4fbc56232b83b /docs
parent8df406079b66064a9efb34b3e7b20e578da3dc2b (diff)
Update AOT docs
svn path=/trunk/mono/; revision=38386
Diffstat (limited to 'docs')
-rw-r--r--docs/aot-compiler.txt157
1 files changed, 128 insertions, 29 deletions
diff --git a/docs/aot-compiler.txt b/docs/aot-compiler.txt
index ab1af90d965..596143421dc 100644
--- a/docs/aot-compiler.txt
+++ b/docs/aot-compiler.txt
@@ -1,44 +1,143 @@
Mono Ahead Of Time Compiler
===========================
-The new mono JIT has sophisticated optimization features. It uses SSA and has a
-pluggable architecture for further optimizations. This makes it possible and
-efficient to use the JIT also for AOT compilation.
+ The Ahead of Time compilation feature in Mono allows Mono to
+ precompile assemblies to minimize JIT time, reduce memory
+ usage at runtime and increase the code sharing across multiple
+ running Mono application.
+ To precompile an assembly use the following command:
+
+ mono --aot -O=all assembly.exe
-* file format: We use the native object format of the platform. That way it is
- possible to reuse existing tools like objdump and the dynamic loader. All we
- need is a working assembler, i.e. we write out a text file which is then
- passed to gas (the gnu assembler) to generate the object file.
+ The `--aot' flag instructs Mono to ahead-of-time compile your
+ assembly, while the -O=all flag instructs Mono to use all the
+ available optimizations.
-* file names: we simply add ".so" to the generated file. For example:
- basic.exe -> basic.exe.so
- corlib.dll -> corlib.dll.so
+* Position Independent Code
+---------------------------
-* staring the AOT compiler: mini --aot assembly_name
+ On x86 and x86-64 the code generated by Ahead-of-Time compiled
+ images is position-independent code. This allows the same
+ precompiled image to be reused across multiple applications
+ without having different copies: this is the same way in which
+ ELF shared libraries work: the code produced can be relocated
+ to any address.
-The following things are saved in the object file:
+ The implementation of Position Independent Code had a
+ performance impact on Ahead-of-Time compiled images but
+ compiler bootstraps are still faster than JIT-compiled images,
+ specially with all the new optimizations provided by the Mono
+ engine.
-* version infos:
+* How to support Position Independent Code in new Mono Ports
+------------------------------------------------------------
-* native code: this is labeled with method_XXXXXXXX: where XXXXXXXX is the
- hexadecimal token number of the method.
+ Generated native code needs to reference various runtime
+ structures/functions whose address is only known at run
+ time. JITted code can simple embed the address into the native
+ code, but AOT code needs to do an indirection. This
+ indirection is done through a table called the Global Offset
+ Table (GOT), which is similar to the GOT table in the Elf
+ spec. When the runtime saves the AOT image, it saves some
+ information for each method describing the GOT table entries
+ used by that method. When loading a method from an AOT image,
+ the runtime will fill out the GOT entries needed by the
+ method.
-* additional informations needed by the runtime: For example we need to store
- the code length and the exception tables. We also need a way to patch
- constants only available at runtime (for example vtable and class
- addresses). This is stored i a binary blob labeled method_info_XXXXXXXX:
+ * Computing the address of the GOT
-PROBLEMS:
+ Methods which need to access the GOT first need to compute its
+ address. On the x86 it is done by code like this:
-- all precompiled methods must be domain independent, or we add patch infos to
- patch the target doamin.
+ call <IP + 5>
+ pop ebx
+ add <OFFSET TO GOT>, ebx
+ <save got addr to a register>
-- the main problem is how to patch runtime related addresses, for example:
+ The variable representing the got is stored in
+ cfg->got_var. It is allways allocated to a global register to
+ prevent some problems with branches + basic blocks.
- - current application domain
- - string objects loaded with LDSTR
- - address of MonoClass data
- - static field offsets
- - method addreses
- - virtual function and interface slots
+ * Referencing GOT entries
+
+ Any time the native code needs to access some other runtime
+ structure/function (i.e. any time the backend calls
+ mono_add_patch_info ()), the code pointed by the patch needs
+ to load the value from the got. For example, instead of:
+
+ call <ABSOLUTE ADDR>
+ it needs to do:
+ call *<OFFSET>(<GOT REG>)
+
+ Here, the <OFFSET> can be 0, it will be fixed up by the AOT compiler.
+
+ For more examples on the changes required, see
+
+ svn diff -r 37739:38213 mini-x86.c
+
+* The Precompiled File Format
+-----------------------------
+
+ We use the native object format of the platform. That way it
+ is possible to reuse existing tools like objdump and the
+ dynamic loader. All we need is a working assembler, i.e. we
+ write out a text file which is then passed to gas (the gnu
+ assembler) to generate the object file.
+
+ The precompiled image is stored in a file next to the original
+ assembly that is precompiled with the native extension for a shared
+ library (on Linux its ".so" to the generated file).
+
+ For example: basic.exe -> basic.exe.so; corlib.dll -> corlib.dll.so
+
+ The following things are saved in the object file and can be
+ looked up using the equivalent to dlsym:
+
+ mono_assembly_guid
+
+ A copy of the assembly GUID.
+
+ mono_aot_version
+
+ The format of the AOT file format.
+
+ mono_aot_opt_flags
+
+ The optimizations flags used to build this
+ precompiled image.
+
+ method_infos
+
+
+ mono_icall_table
+
+ A table that lists all the internal calls
+ references by the precompiled image.
+
+ mono_image_table
+
+ A list of assemblies referenced by this AOT
+ module.
+
+ method_offsets
+
+ The equivalent to a procedure linkage table.
+
+ method_info_offsets
+
+* Considerations
+
+ [ This section is outdated ]
+
+[OUTDATED] All precompiled methods must be domain independent, or we add patch infos to
+[OUTDATED] patch the target doamin.
+[OUTDATED]
+[OUTDATED] The main problem is how to patch runtime related addresses, for example:
+[OUTDATED]
+[OUTDATED] - current application domain
+[OUTDATED] - string objects loaded with LDSTR
+[OUTDATED] - address of MonoClass data
+[OUTDATED] - static field offsets
+[OUTDATED] - method addreses
+[OUTDATED] - virtual function and interface slots