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[GlobalISel] Expand IRTranslator docs. NFC #89186

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35 changes: 32 additions & 3 deletions llvm/docs/GlobalISel/IRTranslator.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ IRTranslator
.. contents::
:local:

This pass translates the input LLVM-IR ``Function`` to a GMIR
This pass translates the input LLVM-IR ``Function`` to a :doc:`GMIR`
``MachineFunction``. This is typically a direct translation but does
occasionally get a bit more involved. For example:

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -51,8 +51,37 @@ Translating Function Calls

The ``IRTranslator`` also implements the ABI's calling convention by lowering
calls, returns, and arguments to the appropriate physical register usage and
instruction sequences. This is achieved using the ``CallLowering``
implementation,
instruction sequences. This is achieved using the ``CallLowering`` interface,
which provides several hooks that targets should implement:
``lowerFormalArguments``, ``lowerReturn``, ``lowerCall`` etc.

In essence, all of these hooks need to find a way to move the argument/return
values between the virtual registers used in the rest of the function and either
physical registers or the stack, as dictated by the ABI. This may involve
splitting large types into smaller ones, introducing sign/zero extensions etc.
In order to share as much of this code as possible between the different
backends, ``CallLowering`` makes available a few helpers and interfaces:

* ``ArgInfo`` - used for formal arguments, but also return values, actual
arguments and call results; contains info such as the IR type, the virtual
registers etc; large values will likely have to be split into several
``ArgInfo`` objects (``CallLowering::splitToValueTypes`` can help with that);

* ``ValueAssigner`` - uses a ``CCAssignFn``, usually generated by TableGen (see
:ref:`backend-calling-convs`), to decide where to put each
``ArgInfo`` (physical register or stack); backends can use the provided
``IncomingValueAssigner`` (for formal arguments and call results) and
``OutgoingValueAssigner`` (for actual arguments and function returns), but
it's also possible to subclass them;

* ``ValueHandler`` - inserts the necessary instructions for putting each value
where it belongs; it has pure virtual methods for assigning values to
registers or to addresses, and a host of other helpers;

* ``determineAndHandleAssignments`` (or for more fine grained control,
``determineAssignments`` and ``handleAssignments``) - contains some boilerplate
for invoking a given ``ValueAssigner`` and ``ValueHandler`` on a series of
``ArgInfo`` objects.

.. _irtranslator-aggregates:

Expand Down
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions llvm/docs/WritingAnLLVMBackend.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -1503,6 +1503,8 @@ non-v9 SPARC implementations.
if (TM.getSubtarget<SparcSubtarget>().isV9())
setOperationAction(ISD::CTPOP, MVT::i32, Legal);

.. _backend-calling-convs:

Calling Conventions
-------------------

Expand Down