xref: /openbsd-src/gnu/llvm/clang/docs/UsersManual.rst (revision 1a8dbaac879b9f3335ad7fb25429ce63ac1d6bac)
1============================
2Clang Compiler User's Manual
3============================
4
5.. include:: <isonum.txt>
6
7.. contents::
8   :local:
9
10Introduction
11============
12
13The Clang Compiler is an open-source compiler for the C family of
14programming languages, aiming to be the best in class implementation of
15these languages. Clang builds on the LLVM optimizer and code generator,
16allowing it to provide high-quality optimization and code generation
17support for many targets. For more general information, please see the
18`Clang Web Site <https://clang.llvm.org>`_ or the `LLVM Web
19Site <https://llvm.org>`_.
20
21This document describes important notes about using Clang as a compiler
22for an end-user, documenting the supported features, command line
23options, etc. If you are interested in using Clang to build a tool that
24processes code, please see :doc:`InternalsManual`. If you are interested in the
25`Clang Static Analyzer <https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org>`_, please see its web
26page.
27
28Clang is one component in a complete toolchain for C family languages.
29A separate document describes the other pieces necessary to
30:doc:`assemble a complete toolchain <Toolchain>`.
31
32Clang is designed to support the C family of programming languages,
33which includes :ref:`C <c>`, :ref:`Objective-C <objc>`, :ref:`C++ <cxx>`, and
34:ref:`Objective-C++ <objcxx>` as well as many dialects of those. For
35language-specific information, please see the corresponding language
36specific section:
37
38-  :ref:`C Language <c>`: K&R C, ANSI C89, ISO C90, ISO C94 (C89+AMD1), ISO
39   C99 (+TC1, TC2, TC3).
40-  :ref:`Objective-C Language <objc>`: ObjC 1, ObjC 2, ObjC 2.1, plus
41   variants depending on base language.
42-  :ref:`C++ Language <cxx>`
43-  :ref:`Objective C++ Language <objcxx>`
44-  :ref:`OpenCL C Language <opencl>`: v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v2.0.
45
46In addition to these base languages and their dialects, Clang supports a
47broad variety of language extensions, which are documented in the
48corresponding language section. These extensions are provided to be
49compatible with the GCC, Microsoft, and other popular compilers as well
50as to improve functionality through Clang-specific features. The Clang
51driver and language features are intentionally designed to be as
52compatible with the GNU GCC compiler as reasonably possible, easing
53migration from GCC to Clang. In most cases, code "just works".
54Clang also provides an alternative driver, :ref:`clang-cl`, that is designed
55to be compatible with the Visual C++ compiler, cl.exe.
56
57In addition to language specific features, Clang has a variety of
58features that depend on what CPU architecture or operating system is
59being compiled for. Please see the :ref:`Target-Specific Features and
60Limitations <target_features>` section for more details.
61
62The rest of the introduction introduces some basic :ref:`compiler
63terminology <terminology>` that is used throughout this manual and
64contains a basic :ref:`introduction to using Clang <basicusage>` as a
65command line compiler.
66
67.. _terminology:
68
69Terminology
70-----------
71
72Front end, parser, backend, preprocessor, undefined behavior,
73diagnostic, optimizer
74
75.. _basicusage:
76
77Basic Usage
78-----------
79
80Intro to how to use a C compiler for newbies.
81
82compile + link compile then link debug info enabling optimizations
83picking a language to use, defaults to C11 by default. Autosenses based
84on extension. using a makefile
85
86Command Line Options
87====================
88
89This section is generally an index into other sections. It does not go
90into depth on the ones that are covered by other sections. However, the
91first part introduces the language selection and other high level
92options like :option:`-c`, :option:`-g`, etc.
93
94Options to Control Error and Warning Messages
95---------------------------------------------
96
97.. option:: -Werror
98
99  Turn warnings into errors.
100
101.. This is in plain monospaced font because it generates the same label as
102.. -Werror, and Sphinx complains.
103
104``-Werror=foo``
105
106  Turn warning "foo" into an error.
107
108.. option:: -Wno-error=foo
109
110  Turn warning "foo" into a warning even if :option:`-Werror` is specified.
111
112.. option:: -Wfoo
113
114  Enable warning "foo".
115  See the :doc:`diagnostics reference <DiagnosticsReference>` for a complete
116  list of the warning flags that can be specified in this way.
117
118.. option:: -Wno-foo
119
120  Disable warning "foo".
121
122.. option:: -w
123
124  Disable all diagnostics.
125
126.. option:: -Weverything
127
128  :ref:`Enable all diagnostics. <diagnostics_enable_everything>`
129
130.. option:: -pedantic
131
132  Warn on language extensions.
133
134.. option:: -pedantic-errors
135
136  Error on language extensions.
137
138.. option:: -Wsystem-headers
139
140  Enable warnings from system headers.
141
142.. option:: -ferror-limit=123
143
144  Stop emitting diagnostics after 123 errors have been produced. The default is
145  20, and the error limit can be disabled with `-ferror-limit=0`.
146
147.. option:: -ftemplate-backtrace-limit=123
148
149  Only emit up to 123 template instantiation notes within the template
150  instantiation backtrace for a single warning or error. The default is 10, and
151  the limit can be disabled with `-ftemplate-backtrace-limit=0`.
152
153.. _cl_diag_formatting:
154
155Formatting of Diagnostics
156^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
157
158Clang aims to produce beautiful diagnostics by default, particularly for
159new users that first come to Clang. However, different people have
160different preferences, and sometimes Clang is driven not by a human,
161but by a program that wants consistent and easily parsable output. For
162these cases, Clang provides a wide range of options to control the exact
163output format of the diagnostics that it generates.
164
165.. _opt_fshow-column:
166
167**-f[no-]show-column**
168   Print column number in diagnostic.
169
170   This option, which defaults to on, controls whether or not Clang
171   prints the column number of a diagnostic. For example, when this is
172   enabled, Clang will print something like:
173
174   ::
175
176         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
177         #endif bad
178                ^
179                //
180
181   When this is disabled, Clang will print "test.c:28: warning..." with
182   no column number.
183
184   The printed column numbers count bytes from the beginning of the
185   line; take care if your source contains multibyte characters.
186
187.. _opt_fshow-source-location:
188
189**-f[no-]show-source-location**
190   Print source file/line/column information in diagnostic.
191
192   This option, which defaults to on, controls whether or not Clang
193   prints the filename, line number and column number of a diagnostic.
194   For example, when this is enabled, Clang will print something like:
195
196   ::
197
198         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
199         #endif bad
200                ^
201                //
202
203   When this is disabled, Clang will not print the "test.c:28:8: "
204   part.
205
206.. _opt_fcaret-diagnostics:
207
208**-f[no-]caret-diagnostics**
209   Print source line and ranges from source code in diagnostic.
210   This option, which defaults to on, controls whether or not Clang
211   prints the source line, source ranges, and caret when emitting a
212   diagnostic. For example, when this is enabled, Clang will print
213   something like:
214
215   ::
216
217         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
218         #endif bad
219                ^
220                //
221
222**-f[no-]color-diagnostics**
223   This option, which defaults to on when a color-capable terminal is
224   detected, controls whether or not Clang prints diagnostics in color.
225
226   When this option is enabled, Clang will use colors to highlight
227   specific parts of the diagnostic, e.g.,
228
229   .. nasty hack to not lose our dignity
230
231   .. raw:: html
232
233       <pre>
234         <b><span style="color:black">test.c:28:8: <span style="color:magenta">warning</span>: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]</span></b>
235         #endif bad
236                <span style="color:green">^</span>
237                <span style="color:green">//</span>
238       </pre>
239
240   When this is disabled, Clang will just print:
241
242   ::
243
244         test.c:2:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
245         #endif bad
246                ^
247                //
248
249**-fansi-escape-codes**
250   Controls whether ANSI escape codes are used instead of the Windows Console
251   API to output colored diagnostics. This option is only used on Windows and
252   defaults to off.
253
254.. option:: -fdiagnostics-format=clang/msvc/vi
255
256   Changes diagnostic output format to better match IDEs and command line tools.
257
258   This option controls the output format of the filename, line number,
259   and column printed in diagnostic messages. The options, and their
260   affect on formatting a simple conversion diagnostic, follow:
261
262   **clang** (default)
263       ::
264
265           t.c:3:11: warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int'
266
267   **msvc**
268       ::
269
270           t.c(3,11) : warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int'
271
272   **vi**
273       ::
274
275           t.c +3:11: warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int'
276
277.. _opt_fdiagnostics-show-option:
278
279**-f[no-]diagnostics-show-option**
280   Enable ``[-Woption]`` information in diagnostic line.
281
282   This option, which defaults to on, controls whether or not Clang
283   prints the associated :ref:`warning group <cl_diag_warning_groups>`
284   option name when outputting a warning diagnostic. For example, in
285   this output:
286
287   ::
288
289         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
290         #endif bad
291                ^
292                //
293
294   Passing **-fno-diagnostics-show-option** will prevent Clang from
295   printing the [:ref:`-Wextra-tokens <opt_Wextra-tokens>`] information in
296   the diagnostic. This information tells you the flag needed to enable
297   or disable the diagnostic, either from the command line or through
298   :ref:`#pragma GCC diagnostic <pragma_GCC_diagnostic>`.
299
300.. _opt_fdiagnostics-show-category:
301
302.. option:: -fdiagnostics-show-category=none/id/name
303
304   Enable printing category information in diagnostic line.
305
306   This option, which defaults to "none", controls whether or not Clang
307   prints the category associated with a diagnostic when emitting it.
308   Each diagnostic may or many not have an associated category, if it
309   has one, it is listed in the diagnostic categorization field of the
310   diagnostic line (in the []'s).
311
312   For example, a format string warning will produce these three
313   renditions based on the setting of this option:
314
315   ::
316
317         t.c:3:11: warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int' [-Wformat]
318         t.c:3:11: warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int' [-Wformat,1]
319         t.c:3:11: warning: conversion specifies type 'char *' but the argument has type 'int' [-Wformat,Format String]
320
321   This category can be used by clients that want to group diagnostics
322   by category, so it should be a high level category. We want dozens
323   of these, not hundreds or thousands of them.
324
325.. _opt_fsave-optimization-record:
326
327.. option:: -f[no-]save-optimization-record[=<format>]
328
329   Enable optimization remarks during compilation and write them to a separate
330   file.
331
332   This option, which defaults to off, controls whether Clang writes
333   optimization reports to a separate file. By recording diagnostics in a file,
334   users can parse or sort the remarks in a convenient way.
335
336   By default, the serialization format is YAML.
337
338   The supported serialization formats are:
339
340   -  .. _opt_fsave_optimization_record_yaml:
341
342      ``-fsave-optimization-record=yaml``: A structured YAML format.
343
344   -  .. _opt_fsave_optimization_record_bitstream:
345
346      ``-fsave-optimization-record=bitstream``: A binary format based on LLVM
347      Bitstream.
348
349   The output file is controlled by :ref:`-foptimization-record-file <opt_foptimization-record-file>`.
350
351   In the absence of an explicit output file, the file is chosen using the
352   following scheme:
353
354   ``<base>.opt.<format>``
355
356   where ``<base>`` is based on the output file of the compilation (whether
357   it's explicitly specified through `-o` or not) when used with `-c` or `-S`.
358   For example:
359
360   * ``clang -fsave-optimization-record -c in.c -o out.o`` will generate
361     ``out.opt.yaml``
362
363   * ``clang -fsave-optimization-record -c in.c `` will generate
364     ``in.opt.yaml``
365
366   When targeting (Thin)LTO, the base is derived from the output filename, and
367   the extension is not dropped.
368
369   When targeting ThinLTO, the following scheme is used:
370
371   ``<base>.opt.<format>.thin.<num>.<format>``
372
373   Darwin-only: when used for generating a linked binary from a source file
374   (through an intermediate object file), the driver will invoke `cc1` to
375   generate a temporary object file. The temporary remark file will be emitted
376   next to the object file, which will then be picked up by `dsymutil` and
377   emitted in the .dSYM bundle. This is available for all formats except YAML.
378
379   For example:
380
381   ``clang -fsave-optimization-record=bitstream in.c -o out`` will generate
382
383   * ``/var/folders/43/9y164hh52tv_2nrdxrj31nyw0000gn/T/a-9be59b.o``
384
385   * ``/var/folders/43/9y164hh52tv_2nrdxrj31nyw0000gn/T/a-9be59b.opt.bitstream``
386
387   * ``out``
388
389   * ``out.dSYM/Contents/Resources/Remarks/out``
390
391   Darwin-only: compiling for multiple architectures will use the following
392   scheme:
393
394   ``<base>-<arch>.opt.<format>``
395
396   Note that this is incompatible with passing the
397   :ref:`-foptimization-record-file <opt_foptimization-record-file>` option.
398
399.. _opt_foptimization-record-file:
400
401**-foptimization-record-file**
402   Control the file to which optimization reports are written. This implies
403   :ref:`-fsave-optimization-record <opt_fsave-optimization-record>`.
404
405    On Darwin platforms, this is incompatible with passing multiple
406    ``-arch <arch>`` options.
407
408.. _opt_foptimization-record-passes:
409
410**-foptimization-record-passes**
411   Only include passes which match a specified regular expression.
412
413   When optimization reports are being output (see
414   :ref:`-fsave-optimization-record <opt_fsave-optimization-record>`), this
415   option controls the passes that will be included in the final report.
416
417   If this option is not used, all the passes are included in the optimization
418   record.
419
420.. _opt_fdiagnostics-show-hotness:
421
422**-f[no-]diagnostics-show-hotness**
423   Enable profile hotness information in diagnostic line.
424
425   This option controls whether Clang prints the profile hotness associated
426   with diagnostics in the presence of profile-guided optimization information.
427   This is currently supported with optimization remarks (see
428   :ref:`Options to Emit Optimization Reports <rpass>`). The hotness information
429   allows users to focus on the hot optimization remarks that are likely to be
430   more relevant for run-time performance.
431
432   For example, in this output, the block containing the callsite of `foo` was
433   executed 3000 times according to the profile data:
434
435   ::
436
437         s.c:7:10: remark: foo inlined into bar (hotness: 3000) [-Rpass-analysis=inline]
438           sum += foo(x, x - 2);
439                  ^
440
441   This option is implied when
442   :ref:`-fsave-optimization-record <opt_fsave-optimization-record>` is used.
443   Otherwise, it defaults to off.
444
445.. _opt_fdiagnostics-hotness-threshold:
446
447**-fdiagnostics-hotness-threshold**
448   Prevent optimization remarks from being output if they do not have at least
449   this hotness value.
450
451   This option, which defaults to zero, controls the minimum hotness an
452   optimization remark would need in order to be output by Clang. This is
453   currently supported with optimization remarks (see :ref:`Options to Emit
454   Optimization Reports <rpass>`) when profile hotness information in
455   diagnostics is enabled (see
456   :ref:`-fdiagnostics-show-hotness <opt_fdiagnostics-show-hotness>`).
457
458.. _opt_fdiagnostics-fixit-info:
459
460**-f[no-]diagnostics-fixit-info**
461   Enable "FixIt" information in the diagnostics output.
462
463   This option, which defaults to on, controls whether or not Clang
464   prints the information on how to fix a specific diagnostic
465   underneath it when it knows. For example, in this output:
466
467   ::
468
469         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
470         #endif bad
471                ^
472                //
473
474   Passing **-fno-diagnostics-fixit-info** will prevent Clang from
475   printing the "//" line at the end of the message. This information
476   is useful for users who may not understand what is wrong, but can be
477   confusing for machine parsing.
478
479.. _opt_fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info:
480
481**-fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info**
482   Print machine parsable information about source ranges.
483   This option makes Clang print information about source ranges in a machine
484   parsable format after the file/line/column number information. The
485   information is a simple sequence of brace enclosed ranges, where each range
486   lists the start and end line/column locations. For example, in this output:
487
488   ::
489
490       exprs.c:47:15:{47:8-47:14}{47:17-47:24}: error: invalid operands to binary expression ('int *' and '_Complex float')
491          P = (P-42) + Gamma*4;
492              ~~~~~~ ^ ~~~~~~~
493
494   The {}'s are generated by -fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info.
495
496   The printed column numbers count bytes from the beginning of the
497   line; take care if your source contains multibyte characters.
498
499.. option:: -fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits
500
501   Print Fix-Its in a machine parseable form.
502
503   This option makes Clang print available Fix-Its in a machine
504   parseable format at the end of diagnostics. The following example
505   illustrates the format:
506
507   ::
508
509        fix-it:"t.cpp":{7:25-7:29}:"Gamma"
510
511   The range printed is a half-open range, so in this example the
512   characters at column 25 up to but not including column 29 on line 7
513   in t.cpp should be replaced with the string "Gamma". Either the
514   range or the replacement string may be empty (representing strict
515   insertions and strict erasures, respectively). Both the file name
516   and the insertion string escape backslash (as "\\\\"), tabs (as
517   "\\t"), newlines (as "\\n"), double quotes(as "\\"") and
518   non-printable characters (as octal "\\xxx").
519
520   The printed column numbers count bytes from the beginning of the
521   line; take care if your source contains multibyte characters.
522
523.. option:: -fno-elide-type
524
525   Turns off elision in template type printing.
526
527   The default for template type printing is to elide as many template
528   arguments as possible, removing those which are the same in both
529   template types, leaving only the differences. Adding this flag will
530   print all the template arguments. If supported by the terminal,
531   highlighting will still appear on differing arguments.
532
533   Default:
534
535   ::
536
537       t.cc:4:5: note: candidate function not viable: no known conversion from 'vector<map<[...], map<float, [...]>>>' to 'vector<map<[...], map<double, [...]>>>' for 1st argument;
538
539   -fno-elide-type:
540
541   ::
542
543       t.cc:4:5: note: candidate function not viable: no known conversion from 'vector<map<int, map<float, int>>>' to 'vector<map<int, map<double, int>>>' for 1st argument;
544
545.. option:: -fdiagnostics-show-template-tree
546
547   Template type diffing prints a text tree.
548
549   For diffing large templated types, this option will cause Clang to
550   display the templates as an indented text tree, one argument per
551   line, with differences marked inline. This is compatible with
552   -fno-elide-type.
553
554   Default:
555
556   ::
557
558       t.cc:4:5: note: candidate function not viable: no known conversion from 'vector<map<[...], map<float, [...]>>>' to 'vector<map<[...], map<double, [...]>>>' for 1st argument;
559
560   With :option:`-fdiagnostics-show-template-tree`:
561
562   ::
563
564       t.cc:4:5: note: candidate function not viable: no known conversion for 1st argument;
565         vector<
566           map<
567             [...],
568             map<
569               [float != double],
570               [...]>>>
571
572.. _cl_diag_warning_groups:
573
574Individual Warning Groups
575^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
576
577TODO: Generate this from tblgen. Define one anchor per warning group.
578
579.. _opt_wextra-tokens:
580
581.. option:: -Wextra-tokens
582
583   Warn about excess tokens at the end of a preprocessor directive.
584
585   This option, which defaults to on, enables warnings about extra
586   tokens at the end of preprocessor directives. For example:
587
588   ::
589
590         test.c:28:8: warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive [-Wextra-tokens]
591         #endif bad
592                ^
593
594   These extra tokens are not strictly conforming, and are usually best
595   handled by commenting them out.
596
597.. option:: -Wambiguous-member-template
598
599   Warn about unqualified uses of a member template whose name resolves to
600   another template at the location of the use.
601
602   This option, which defaults to on, enables a warning in the
603   following code:
604
605   ::
606
607       template<typename T> struct set{};
608       template<typename T> struct trait { typedef const T& type; };
609       struct Value {
610         template<typename T> void set(typename trait<T>::type value) {}
611       };
612       void foo() {
613         Value v;
614         v.set<double>(3.2);
615       }
616
617   C++ [basic.lookup.classref] requires this to be an error, but,
618   because it's hard to work around, Clang downgrades it to a warning
619   as an extension.
620
621.. option:: -Wbind-to-temporary-copy
622
623   Warn about an unusable copy constructor when binding a reference to a
624   temporary.
625
626   This option enables warnings about binding a
627   reference to a temporary when the temporary doesn't have a usable
628   copy constructor. For example:
629
630   ::
631
632         struct NonCopyable {
633           NonCopyable();
634         private:
635           NonCopyable(const NonCopyable&);
636         };
637         void foo(const NonCopyable&);
638         void bar() {
639           foo(NonCopyable());  // Disallowed in C++98; allowed in C++11.
640         }
641
642   ::
643
644         struct NonCopyable2 {
645           NonCopyable2();
646           NonCopyable2(NonCopyable2&);
647         };
648         void foo(const NonCopyable2&);
649         void bar() {
650           foo(NonCopyable2());  // Disallowed in C++98; allowed in C++11.
651         }
652
653   Note that if ``NonCopyable2::NonCopyable2()`` has a default argument
654   whose instantiation produces a compile error, that error will still
655   be a hard error in C++98 mode even if this warning is turned off.
656
657Options to Control Clang Crash Diagnostics
658------------------------------------------
659
660As unbelievable as it may sound, Clang does crash from time to time.
661Generally, this only occurs to those living on the `bleeding
662edge <https://llvm.org/releases/download.html#svn>`_. Clang goes to great
663lengths to assist you in filing a bug report. Specifically, Clang
664generates preprocessed source file(s) and associated run script(s) upon
665a crash. These files should be attached to a bug report to ease
666reproducibility of the failure. Below are the command line options to
667control the crash diagnostics.
668
669.. option:: -fno-crash-diagnostics
670
671  Disable auto-generation of preprocessed source files during a clang crash.
672
673The -fno-crash-diagnostics flag can be helpful for speeding the process
674of generating a delta reduced test case.
675
676Clang is also capable of generating preprocessed source file(s) and associated
677run script(s) even without a crash. This is specially useful when trying to
678generate a reproducer for warnings or errors while using modules.
679
680.. option:: -gen-reproducer
681
682  Generates preprocessed source files, a reproducer script and if relevant, a
683  cache containing: built module pcm's and all headers needed to rebuilt the
684  same modules.
685
686.. _rpass:
687
688Options to Emit Optimization Reports
689------------------------------------
690
691Optimization reports trace, at a high-level, all the major decisions
692done by compiler transformations. For instance, when the inliner
693decides to inline function ``foo()`` into ``bar()``, or the loop unroller
694decides to unroll a loop N times, or the vectorizer decides to
695vectorize a loop body.
696
697Clang offers a family of flags which the optimizers can use to emit
698a diagnostic in three cases:
699
7001. When the pass makes a transformation (`-Rpass`).
701
7022. When the pass fails to make a transformation (`-Rpass-missed`).
703
7043. When the pass determines whether or not to make a transformation
705   (`-Rpass-analysis`).
706
707NOTE: Although the discussion below focuses on `-Rpass`, the exact
708same options apply to `-Rpass-missed` and `-Rpass-analysis`.
709
710Since there are dozens of passes inside the compiler, each of these flags
711take a regular expression that identifies the name of the pass which should
712emit the associated diagnostic. For example, to get a report from the inliner,
713compile the code with:
714
715.. code-block:: console
716
717   $ clang -O2 -Rpass=inline code.cc -o code
718   code.cc:4:25: remark: foo inlined into bar [-Rpass=inline]
719   int bar(int j) { return foo(j, j - 2); }
720                           ^
721
722Note that remarks from the inliner are identified with `[-Rpass=inline]`.
723To request a report from every optimization pass, you should use
724`-Rpass=.*` (in fact, you can use any valid POSIX regular
725expression). However, do not expect a report from every transformation
726made by the compiler. Optimization remarks do not really make sense
727outside of the major transformations (e.g., inlining, vectorization,
728loop optimizations) and not every optimization pass supports this
729feature.
730
731Note that when using profile-guided optimization information, profile hotness
732information can be included in the remarks (see
733:ref:`-fdiagnostics-show-hotness <opt_fdiagnostics-show-hotness>`).
734
735Current limitations
736^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
737
7381. Optimization remarks that refer to function names will display the
739   mangled name of the function. Since these remarks are emitted by the
740   back end of the compiler, it does not know anything about the input
741   language, nor its mangling rules.
742
7432. Some source locations are not displayed correctly. The front end has
744   a more detailed source location tracking than the locations included
745   in the debug info (e.g., the front end can locate code inside macro
746   expansions). However, the locations used by `-Rpass` are
747   translated from debug annotations. That translation can be lossy,
748   which results in some remarks having no location information.
749
750Other Options
751-------------
752Clang options that don't fit neatly into other categories.
753
754.. option:: -fgnuc-version=
755
756  This flag controls the value of ``__GNUC__`` and related macros. This flag
757  does not enable or disable any GCC extensions implemented in Clang. Setting
758  the version to zero causes Clang to leave ``__GNUC__`` and other
759  GNU-namespaced macros, such as ``__GXX_WEAK__``, undefined.
760
761.. option:: -MV
762
763  When emitting a dependency file, use formatting conventions appropriate
764  for NMake or Jom. Ignored unless another option causes Clang to emit a
765  dependency file.
766
767When Clang emits a dependency file (e.g., you supplied the -M option)
768most filenames can be written to the file without any special formatting.
769Different Make tools will treat different sets of characters as "special"
770and use different conventions for telling the Make tool that the character
771is actually part of the filename. Normally Clang uses backslash to "escape"
772a special character, which is the convention used by GNU Make. The -MV
773option tells Clang to put double-quotes around the entire filename, which
774is the convention used by NMake and Jom.
775
776Configuration files
777-------------------
778
779Configuration files group command-line options and allow all of them to be
780specified just by referencing the configuration file. They may be used, for
781example, to collect options required to tune compilation for particular
782target, such as -L, -I, -l, --sysroot, codegen options, etc.
783
784The command line option `--config` can be used to specify configuration
785file in a Clang invocation. For example:
786
787::
788
789    clang --config /home/user/cfgs/testing.txt
790    clang --config debug.cfg
791
792If the provided argument contains a directory separator, it is considered as
793a file path, and options are read from that file. Otherwise the argument is
794treated as a file name and is searched for sequentially in the directories:
795
796    - user directory,
797    - system directory,
798    - the directory where Clang executable resides.
799
800Both user and system directories for configuration files are specified during
801clang build using CMake parameters, CLANG_CONFIG_FILE_USER_DIR and
802CLANG_CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_DIR respectively. The first file found is used. It is
803an error if the required file cannot be found.
804
805Another way to specify a configuration file is to encode it in executable name.
806For example, if the Clang executable is named `armv7l-clang` (it may be a
807symbolic link to `clang`), then Clang will search for file `armv7l.cfg` in the
808directory where Clang resides.
809
810If a driver mode is specified in invocation, Clang tries to find a file specific
811for the specified mode. For example, if the executable file is named
812`x86_64-clang-cl`, Clang first looks for `x86_64-cl.cfg` and if it is not found,
813looks for `x86_64.cfg`.
814
815If the command line contains options that effectively change target architecture
816(these are -m32, -EL, and some others) and the configuration file starts with an
817architecture name, Clang tries to load the configuration file for the effective
818architecture. For example, invocation:
819
820::
821
822    x86_64-clang -m32 abc.c
823
824causes Clang search for a file `i368.cfg` first, and if no such file is found,
825Clang looks for the file `x86_64.cfg`.
826
827The configuration file consists of command-line options specified on one or
828more lines. Lines composed of whitespace characters only are ignored as well as
829lines in which the first non-blank character is `#`. Long options may be split
830between several lines by a trailing backslash. Here is example of a
831configuration file:
832
833::
834
835    # Several options on line
836    -c --target=x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
837
838    # Long option split between lines
839    -I/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/5.4.0/../../../../\
840    include/c++/5.4.0
841
842    # other config files may be included
843    @linux.options
844
845Files included by `@file` directives in configuration files are resolved
846relative to the including file. For example, if a configuration file
847`~/.llvm/target.cfg` contains the directive `@os/linux.opts`, the file
848`linux.opts` is searched for in the directory `~/.llvm/os`.
849
850Language and Target-Independent Features
851========================================
852
853Controlling Errors and Warnings
854-------------------------------
855
856Clang provides a number of ways to control which code constructs cause
857it to emit errors and warning messages, and how they are displayed to
858the console.
859
860Controlling How Clang Displays Diagnostics
861^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
862
863When Clang emits a diagnostic, it includes rich information in the
864output, and gives you fine-grain control over which information is
865printed. Clang has the ability to print this information, and these are
866the options that control it:
867
868#. A file/line/column indicator that shows exactly where the diagnostic
869   occurs in your code [:ref:`-fshow-column <opt_fshow-column>`,
870   :ref:`-fshow-source-location <opt_fshow-source-location>`].
871#. A categorization of the diagnostic as a note, warning, error, or
872   fatal error.
873#. A text string that describes what the problem is.
874#. An option that indicates how to control the diagnostic (for
875   diagnostics that support it)
876   [:ref:`-fdiagnostics-show-option <opt_fdiagnostics-show-option>`].
877#. A :ref:`high-level category <diagnostics_categories>` for the diagnostic
878   for clients that want to group diagnostics by class (for diagnostics
879   that support it)
880   [:ref:`-fdiagnostics-show-category <opt_fdiagnostics-show-category>`].
881#. The line of source code that the issue occurs on, along with a caret
882   and ranges that indicate the important locations
883   [:ref:`-fcaret-diagnostics <opt_fcaret-diagnostics>`].
884#. "FixIt" information, which is a concise explanation of how to fix the
885   problem (when Clang is certain it knows)
886   [:ref:`-fdiagnostics-fixit-info <opt_fdiagnostics-fixit-info>`].
887#. A machine-parsable representation of the ranges involved (off by
888   default)
889   [:ref:`-fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info <opt_fdiagnostics-print-source-range-info>`].
890
891For more information please see :ref:`Formatting of
892Diagnostics <cl_diag_formatting>`.
893
894Diagnostic Mappings
895^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
896
897All diagnostics are mapped into one of these 6 classes:
898
899-  Ignored
900-  Note
901-  Remark
902-  Warning
903-  Error
904-  Fatal
905
906.. _diagnostics_categories:
907
908Diagnostic Categories
909^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
910
911Though not shown by default, diagnostics may each be associated with a
912high-level category. This category is intended to make it possible to
913triage builds that produce a large number of errors or warnings in a
914grouped way.
915
916Categories are not shown by default, but they can be turned on with the
917:ref:`-fdiagnostics-show-category <opt_fdiagnostics-show-category>` option.
918When set to "``name``", the category is printed textually in the
919diagnostic output. When it is set to "``id``", a category number is
920printed. The mapping of category names to category id's can be obtained
921by running '``clang   --print-diagnostic-categories``'.
922
923Controlling Diagnostics via Command Line Flags
924^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
925
926TODO: -W flags, -pedantic, etc
927
928.. _pragma_gcc_diagnostic:
929
930Controlling Diagnostics via Pragmas
931^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
932
933Clang can also control what diagnostics are enabled through the use of
934pragmas in the source code. This is useful for turning off specific
935warnings in a section of source code. Clang supports GCC's pragma for
936compatibility with existing source code, as well as several extensions.
937
938The pragma may control any warning that can be used from the command
939line. Warnings may be set to ignored, warning, error, or fatal. The
940following example code will tell Clang or GCC to ignore the -Wall
941warnings:
942
943.. code-block:: c
944
945  #pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wall"
946
947In addition to all of the functionality provided by GCC's pragma, Clang
948also allows you to push and pop the current warning state. This is
949particularly useful when writing a header file that will be compiled by
950other people, because you don't know what warning flags they build with.
951
952In the below example :option:`-Wextra-tokens` is ignored for only a single line
953of code, after which the diagnostics return to whatever state had previously
954existed.
955
956.. code-block:: c
957
958  #if foo
959  #endif foo // warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive
960
961  #pragma clang diagnostic push
962  #pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wextra-tokens"
963
964  #if foo
965  #endif foo // no warning
966
967  #pragma clang diagnostic pop
968
969The push and pop pragmas will save and restore the full diagnostic state
970of the compiler, regardless of how it was set. That means that it is
971possible to use push and pop around GCC compatible diagnostics and Clang
972will push and pop them appropriately, while GCC will ignore the pushes
973and pops as unknown pragmas. It should be noted that while Clang
974supports the GCC pragma, Clang and GCC do not support the exact same set
975of warnings, so even when using GCC compatible #pragmas there is no
976guarantee that they will have identical behaviour on both compilers.
977
978In addition to controlling warnings and errors generated by the compiler, it is
979possible to generate custom warning and error messages through the following
980pragmas:
981
982.. code-block:: c
983
984  // The following will produce warning messages
985  #pragma message "some diagnostic message"
986  #pragma GCC warning "TODO: replace deprecated feature"
987
988  // The following will produce an error message
989  #pragma GCC error "Not supported"
990
991These pragmas operate similarly to the ``#warning`` and ``#error`` preprocessor
992directives, except that they may also be embedded into preprocessor macros via
993the C99 ``_Pragma`` operator, for example:
994
995.. code-block:: c
996
997  #define STR(X) #X
998  #define DEFER(M,...) M(__VA_ARGS__)
999  #define CUSTOM_ERROR(X) _Pragma(STR(GCC error(X " at line " DEFER(STR,__LINE__))))
1000
1001  CUSTOM_ERROR("Feature not available");
1002
1003Controlling Diagnostics in System Headers
1004^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1005
1006Warnings are suppressed when they occur in system headers. By default,
1007an included file is treated as a system header if it is found in an
1008include path specified by ``-isystem``, but this can be overridden in
1009several ways.
1010
1011The ``system_header`` pragma can be used to mark the current file as
1012being a system header. No warnings will be produced from the location of
1013the pragma onwards within the same file.
1014
1015.. code-block:: c
1016
1017  #if foo
1018  #endif foo // warning: extra tokens at end of #endif directive
1019
1020  #pragma clang system_header
1021
1022  #if foo
1023  #endif foo // no warning
1024
1025The `--system-header-prefix=` and `--no-system-header-prefix=`
1026command-line arguments can be used to override whether subsets of an include
1027path are treated as system headers. When the name in a ``#include`` directive
1028is found within a header search path and starts with a system prefix, the
1029header is treated as a system header. The last prefix on the
1030command-line which matches the specified header name takes precedence.
1031For instance:
1032
1033.. code-block:: console
1034
1035  $ clang -Ifoo -isystem bar --system-header-prefix=x/ \
1036      --no-system-header-prefix=x/y/
1037
1038Here, ``#include "x/a.h"`` is treated as including a system header, even
1039if the header is found in ``foo``, and ``#include "x/y/b.h"`` is treated
1040as not including a system header, even if the header is found in
1041``bar``.
1042
1043A ``#include`` directive which finds a file relative to the current
1044directory is treated as including a system header if the including file
1045is treated as a system header.
1046
1047.. _diagnostics_enable_everything:
1048
1049Enabling All Diagnostics
1050^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1051
1052In addition to the traditional ``-W`` flags, one can enable **all** diagnostics
1053by passing :option:`-Weverything`. This works as expected with
1054:option:`-Werror`, and also includes the warnings from :option:`-pedantic`. Some
1055diagnostics contradict each other, therefore, users of :option:`-Weverything`
1056often disable many diagnostics such as `-Wno-c++98-compat` and `-Wno-c++-compat`
1057because they contradict recent C++ standards.
1058
1059Since :option:`-Weverything` enables every diagnostic, we generally don't
1060recommend using it. `-Wall` `-Wextra` are a better choice for most projects.
1061Using :option:`-Weverything` means that updating your compiler is more difficult
1062because you're exposed to experimental diagnostics which might be of lower
1063quality than the default ones. If you do use :option:`-Weverything` then we
1064advise that you address all new compiler diagnostics as they get added to Clang,
1065either by fixing everything they find or explicitly disabling that diagnostic
1066with its corresponding `Wno-` option.
1067
1068Note that when combined with :option:`-w` (which disables all warnings),
1069disabling all warnings wins.
1070
1071Controlling Static Analyzer Diagnostics
1072^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1073
1074While not strictly part of the compiler, the diagnostics from Clang's
1075`static analyzer <https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org>`_ can also be
1076influenced by the user via changes to the source code. See the available
1077`annotations <https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org/annotations.html>`_ and the
1078analyzer's `FAQ
1079page <https://clang-analyzer.llvm.org/faq.html#exclude_code>`_ for more
1080information.
1081
1082.. _usersmanual-precompiled-headers:
1083
1084Precompiled Headers
1085-------------------
1086
1087`Precompiled headers <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precompiled_header>`_
1088are a general approach employed by many compilers to reduce compilation
1089time. The underlying motivation of the approach is that it is common for
1090the same (and often large) header files to be included by multiple
1091source files. Consequently, compile times can often be greatly improved
1092by caching some of the (redundant) work done by a compiler to process
1093headers. Precompiled header files, which represent one of many ways to
1094implement this optimization, are literally files that represent an
1095on-disk cache that contains the vital information necessary to reduce
1096some of the work needed to process a corresponding header file. While
1097details of precompiled headers vary between compilers, precompiled
1098headers have been shown to be highly effective at speeding up program
1099compilation on systems with very large system headers (e.g., macOS).
1100
1101Generating a PCH File
1102^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1103
1104To generate a PCH file using Clang, one invokes Clang with the
1105`-x <language>-header` option. This mirrors the interface in GCC
1106for generating PCH files:
1107
1108.. code-block:: console
1109
1110  $ gcc -x c-header test.h -o test.h.gch
1111  $ clang -x c-header test.h -o test.h.pch
1112
1113Using a PCH File
1114^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1115
1116A PCH file can then be used as a prefix header when a :option:`-include`
1117option is passed to ``clang``:
1118
1119.. code-block:: console
1120
1121  $ clang -include test.h test.c -o test
1122
1123The ``clang`` driver will first check if a PCH file for ``test.h`` is
1124available; if so, the contents of ``test.h`` (and the files it includes)
1125will be processed from the PCH file. Otherwise, Clang falls back to
1126directly processing the content of ``test.h``. This mirrors the behavior
1127of GCC.
1128
1129.. note::
1130
1131  Clang does *not* automatically use PCH files for headers that are directly
1132  included within a source file. For example:
1133
1134  .. code-block:: console
1135
1136    $ clang -x c-header test.h -o test.h.pch
1137    $ cat test.c
1138    #include "test.h"
1139    $ clang test.c -o test
1140
1141  In this example, ``clang`` will not automatically use the PCH file for
1142  ``test.h`` since ``test.h`` was included directly in the source file and not
1143  specified on the command line using :option:`-include`.
1144
1145Relocatable PCH Files
1146^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1147
1148It is sometimes necessary to build a precompiled header from headers
1149that are not yet in their final, installed locations. For example, one
1150might build a precompiled header within the build tree that is then
1151meant to be installed alongside the headers. Clang permits the creation
1152of "relocatable" precompiled headers, which are built with a given path
1153(into the build directory) and can later be used from an installed
1154location.
1155
1156To build a relocatable precompiled header, place your headers into a
1157subdirectory whose structure mimics the installed location. For example,
1158if you want to build a precompiled header for the header ``mylib.h``
1159that will be installed into ``/usr/include``, create a subdirectory
1160``build/usr/include`` and place the header ``mylib.h`` into that
1161subdirectory. If ``mylib.h`` depends on other headers, then they can be
1162stored within ``build/usr/include`` in a way that mimics the installed
1163location.
1164
1165Building a relocatable precompiled header requires two additional
1166arguments. First, pass the ``--relocatable-pch`` flag to indicate that
1167the resulting PCH file should be relocatable. Second, pass
1168``-isysroot /path/to/build``, which makes all includes for your library
1169relative to the build directory. For example:
1170
1171.. code-block:: console
1172
1173  # clang -x c-header --relocatable-pch -isysroot /path/to/build /path/to/build/mylib.h mylib.h.pch
1174
1175When loading the relocatable PCH file, the various headers used in the
1176PCH file are found from the system header root. For example, ``mylib.h``
1177can be found in ``/usr/include/mylib.h``. If the headers are installed
1178in some other system root, the ``-isysroot`` option can be used provide
1179a different system root from which the headers will be based. For
1180example, ``-isysroot /Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk`` will look for
1181``mylib.h`` in ``/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.4u.sdk/usr/include/mylib.h``.
1182
1183Relocatable precompiled headers are intended to be used in a limited
1184number of cases where the compilation environment is tightly controlled
1185and the precompiled header cannot be generated after headers have been
1186installed.
1187
1188.. _controlling-fp-behavior:
1189
1190Controlling Floating Point Behavior
1191-----------------------------------
1192
1193Clang provides a number of ways to control floating point behavior. The options
1194are listed below.
1195
1196.. option:: -ffast-math
1197
1198   Enable fast-math mode.  This option lets the
1199   compiler make aggressive, potentially-lossy assumptions about
1200   floating-point math.  These include:
1201
1202   * Floating-point math obeys regular algebraic rules for real numbers (e.g.
1203     ``+`` and ``*`` are associative, ``x/y == x * (1/y)``, and
1204     ``(a + b) * c == a * c + b * c``),
1205   * Operands to floating-point operations are not equal to ``NaN`` and
1206     ``Inf``, and
1207   * ``+0`` and ``-0`` are interchangeable.
1208
1209   ``-ffast-math`` also defines the ``__FAST_MATH__`` preprocessor
1210   macro. Some math libraries recognize this macro and change their behavior.
1211   With the exception of ``-ffp-contract=fast``, using any of the options
1212   below to disable any of the individual optimizations in ``-ffast-math``
1213   will cause ``__FAST_MATH__`` to no longer be set.
1214
1215  This option implies:
1216
1217   * ``-fno-honor-infinities``
1218
1219   * ``-fno-honor-nans``
1220
1221   * ``-fno-math-errno``
1222
1223   * ``-ffinite-math``
1224
1225   * ``-fassociative-math``
1226
1227   * ``-freciprocal-math``
1228
1229   * ``-fno-signed-zeros``
1230
1231   * ``-fno-trapping-math``
1232
1233   * ``-ffp-contract=fast``
1234
1235.. option:: -fdenormal-fp-math=<value>
1236
1237   Select which denormal numbers the code is permitted to require.
1238
1239   Valid values are:
1240
1241   * ``ieee`` - IEEE 754 denormal numbers
1242   * ``preserve-sign`` - the sign of a flushed-to-zero number is preserved in the sign of 0
1243   * ``positive-zero`` - denormals are flushed to positive zero
1244
1245   Defaults to ``ieee``.
1246
1247.. _opt_fstrict-float-cast-overflow:
1248
1249**-f[no-]strict-float-cast-overflow**
1250
1251   When a floating-point value is not representable in a destination integer
1252   type, the code has undefined behavior according to the language standard.
1253   By default, Clang will not guarantee any particular result in that case.
1254   With the 'no-strict' option, Clang attempts to match the overflowing behavior
1255   of the target's native float-to-int conversion instructions.
1256
1257.. _opt_fmath-errno:
1258
1259**-f[no-]math-errno**
1260
1261   Require math functions to indicate errors by setting errno.
1262   The default varies by ToolChain.  ``-fno-math-errno`` allows optimizations
1263   that might cause standard C math functions to not set ``errno``.
1264   For example, on some systems, the math function ``sqrt`` is specified
1265   as setting ``errno`` to ``EDOM`` when the input is negative. On these
1266   systems, the compiler cannot normally optimize a call to ``sqrt`` to use
1267   inline code (e.g. the x86 ``sqrtsd`` instruction) without additional
1268   checking to ensure that ``errno`` is set appropriately.
1269   ``-fno-math-errno`` permits these transformations.
1270
1271   On some targets, math library functions never set ``errno``, and so
1272   ``-fno-math-errno`` is the default. This includes most BSD-derived
1273   systems, including Darwin.
1274
1275.. _opt_ftrapping-math:
1276
1277**-f[no-]trapping-math**
1278
1279   Control floating point exception behavior. ``-fno-trapping-math`` allows optimizations that assume that floating point operations cannot generate traps such as divide-by-zero, overflow and underflow.
1280
1281- The option ``-ftrapping-math`` behaves identically to ``-ffp-exception-behavior=strict``.
1282- The option ``-fno-trapping-math`` behaves identically to ``-ffp-exception-behavior=ignore``.   This is the default.
1283
1284.. option:: -ffp-contract=<value>
1285
1286   Specify when the compiler is permitted to form fused floating-point
1287   operations, such as fused multiply-add (FMA). Fused operations are
1288   permitted to produce more precise results than performing the same
1289   operations separately.
1290
1291   The C standard permits intermediate floating-point results within an
1292   expression to be computed with more precision than their type would
1293   normally allow. This permits operation fusing, and Clang takes advantage
1294   of this by default. This behavior can be controlled with the
1295   ``FP_CONTRACT`` pragma. Please refer to the pragma documentation for a
1296   description of how the pragma interacts with this option.
1297
1298   Valid values are:
1299
1300   * ``fast`` (everywhere)
1301   * ``on`` (according to FP_CONTRACT pragma, default)
1302   * ``off`` (never fuse)
1303
1304.. _opt_fhonor-infinities:
1305
1306**-f[no-]honor-infinities**
1307
1308   If both ``-fno-honor-infinities`` and ``-fno-honor-nans`` are used,
1309   has the same effect as specifying ``-ffinite-math``.
1310
1311.. _opt_fhonor-nans:
1312
1313**-f[no-]honor-nans**
1314
1315   If both ``-fno-honor-infinities`` and ``-fno-honor-nans`` are used,
1316   has the same effect as specifying ``-ffinite-math``.
1317
1318.. _opt_fsigned-zeros:
1319
1320**-f[no-]signed-zeros**
1321
1322   Allow optimizations that ignore the sign of floating point zeros.
1323   Defaults to ``-fno-signed-zeros``.
1324
1325.. _opt_fassociative-math:
1326
1327**-f[no-]associative-math**
1328
1329  Allow floating point operations to be reassociated.
1330  Defaults to ``-fno-associative-math``.
1331
1332.. _opt_freciprocal-math:
1333
1334**-f[no-]reciprocal-math**
1335
1336  Allow division operations to be transformed into multiplication by a
1337  reciprocal. This can be significantly faster than an ordinary division
1338  but can also have significantly less precision. Defaults to
1339  ``-fno-reciprocal-math``.
1340
1341.. _opt_funsafe-math-optimizations:
1342
1343**-f[no-]unsafe-math-optimizations**
1344
1345   Allow unsafe floating-point optimizations. Also implies:
1346
1347   * ``-fassociative-math``
1348   * ``-freciprocal-math``
1349   * ``-fno-signed-zeroes``
1350   * ``-fno-trapping-math``.
1351
1352   Defaults to ``-fno-unsafe-math-optimizations``.
1353
1354.. _opt_ffinite-math:
1355
1356**-f[no-]finite-math**
1357
1358   Allow floating-point optimizations that assume arguments and results are
1359   not NaNs or +-Inf.  This defines the ``__FINITE_MATH_ONLY__`` preprocessor macro.
1360   Also implies:
1361
1362   * ``-fno-honor-infinities``
1363   * ``-fno-honor-nans``
1364
1365   Defaults to ``-fno-finite-math``.
1366
1367.. _opt_frounding-math:
1368
1369**-f[no-]rounding-math**
1370
1371Force floating-point operations to honor the dynamically-set rounding mode by default.
1372
1373The result of a floating-point operation often cannot be exactly represented in the result type and therefore must be rounded.  IEEE 754 describes different rounding modes that control how to perform this rounding, not all of which are supported by all implementations.  C provides interfaces (``fesetround`` and ``fesetenv``) for dynamically controlling the rounding mode, and while it also recommends certain conventions for changing the rounding mode, these conventions are not typically enforced in the ABI.  Since the rounding mode changes the numerical result of operations, the compiler must understand something about it in order to optimize floating point operations.
1374
1375Note that floating-point operations performed as part of constant initialization are formally performed prior to the start of the program and are therefore not subject to the current rounding mode.  This includes the initialization of global variables and local ``static`` variables.  Floating-point operations in these contexts will be rounded using ``FE_TONEAREST``.
1376
1377- The option ``-fno-rounding-math`` allows the compiler to assume that the rounding mode is set to ``FE_TONEAREST``.  This is the default.
1378- The option ``-frounding-math`` forces the compiler to honor the dynamically-set rounding mode.  This prevents optimizations which might affect results if the rounding mode changes or is different from the default; for example, it prevents floating-point operations from being reordered across most calls and prevents constant-folding when the result is not exactly representable.
1379
1380.. option:: -ffp-model=<value>
1381
1382   Specify floating point behavior. ``-ffp-model`` is an umbrella
1383   option that encompasses functionality provided by other, single
1384   purpose, floating point options.  Valid values are: ``precise``, ``strict``,
1385   and ``fast``.
1386   Details:
1387
1388   * ``precise`` Disables optimizations that are not value-safe on floating-point data, although FP contraction (FMA) is enabled (``-ffp-contract=fast``).  This is the default behavior.
1389   * ``strict`` Enables ``-frounding-math`` and ``-ffp-exception-behavior=strict``, and disables contractions (FMA).  All of the ``-ffast-math`` enablements are disabled.
1390   * ``fast`` Behaves identically to specifying both ``-ffast-math`` and ``ffp-contract=fast``
1391
1392   Note: If your command line specifies multiple instances
1393   of the ``-ffp-model`` option, or if your command line option specifies
1394   ``-ffp-model`` and later on the command line selects a floating point
1395   option that has the effect of negating part of the  ``ffp-model`` that
1396   has been selected, then the compiler will issue a diagnostic warning
1397   that the override has occurred.
1398
1399.. option:: -ffp-exception-behavior=<value>
1400
1401   Specify the floating-point exception behavior.
1402
1403   Valid values are: ``ignore``, ``maytrap``, and ``strict``.
1404   The default value is ``ignore``.  Details:
1405
1406   * ``ignore`` The compiler assumes that the exception status flags will not be read and that floating point exceptions will be masked.
1407   * ``maytrap`` The compiler avoids transformations that may raise exceptions that would not have been raised by the original code. Constant folding performed by the compiler is exempt from this option.
1408   * ``strict`` The compiler ensures that all transformations strictly preserve the floating point exception semantics of the original code.
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413.. _controlling-code-generation:
1414
1415Controlling Code Generation
1416---------------------------
1417
1418Clang provides a number of ways to control code generation. The options
1419are listed below.
1420
1421**-f[no-]sanitize=check1,check2,...**
1422   Turn on runtime checks for various forms of undefined or suspicious
1423   behavior.
1424
1425   This option controls whether Clang adds runtime checks for various
1426   forms of undefined or suspicious behavior, and is disabled by
1427   default. If a check fails, a diagnostic message is produced at
1428   runtime explaining the problem. The main checks are:
1429
1430   -  .. _opt_fsanitize_address:
1431
1432      ``-fsanitize=address``:
1433      :doc:`AddressSanitizer`, a memory error
1434      detector.
1435   -  .. _opt_fsanitize_thread:
1436
1437      ``-fsanitize=thread``: :doc:`ThreadSanitizer`, a data race detector.
1438   -  .. _opt_fsanitize_memory:
1439
1440      ``-fsanitize=memory``: :doc:`MemorySanitizer`,
1441      a detector of uninitialized reads. Requires instrumentation of all
1442      program code.
1443   -  .. _opt_fsanitize_undefined:
1444
1445      ``-fsanitize=undefined``: :doc:`UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer`,
1446      a fast and compatible undefined behavior checker.
1447
1448   -  ``-fsanitize=dataflow``: :doc:`DataFlowSanitizer`, a general data
1449      flow analysis.
1450   -  ``-fsanitize=cfi``: :doc:`control flow integrity <ControlFlowIntegrity>`
1451      checks. Requires ``-flto``.
1452   -  ``-fsanitize=safe-stack``: :doc:`safe stack <SafeStack>`
1453      protection against stack-based memory corruption errors.
1454
1455   There are more fine-grained checks available: see
1456   the :ref:`list <ubsan-checks>` of specific kinds of
1457   undefined behavior that can be detected and the :ref:`list <cfi-schemes>`
1458   of control flow integrity schemes.
1459
1460   The ``-fsanitize=`` argument must also be provided when linking, in
1461   order to link to the appropriate runtime library.
1462
1463   It is not possible to combine more than one of the ``-fsanitize=address``,
1464   ``-fsanitize=thread``, and ``-fsanitize=memory`` checkers in the same
1465   program.
1466
1467**-f[no-]sanitize-recover=check1,check2,...**
1468
1469**-f[no-]sanitize-recover=all**
1470
1471   Controls which checks enabled by ``-fsanitize=`` flag are non-fatal.
1472   If the check is fatal, program will halt after the first error
1473   of this kind is detected and error report is printed.
1474
1475   By default, non-fatal checks are those enabled by
1476   :doc:`UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer`,
1477   except for ``-fsanitize=return`` and ``-fsanitize=unreachable``. Some
1478   sanitizers may not support recovery (or not support it by default
1479   e.g. :doc:`AddressSanitizer`), and always crash the program after the issue
1480   is detected.
1481
1482   Note that the ``-fsanitize-trap`` flag has precedence over this flag.
1483   This means that if a check has been configured to trap elsewhere on the
1484   command line, or if the check traps by default, this flag will not have
1485   any effect unless that sanitizer's trapping behavior is disabled with
1486   ``-fno-sanitize-trap``.
1487
1488   For example, if a command line contains the flags ``-fsanitize=undefined
1489   -fsanitize-trap=undefined``, the flag ``-fsanitize-recover=alignment``
1490   will have no effect on its own; it will need to be accompanied by
1491   ``-fno-sanitize-trap=alignment``.
1492
1493**-f[no-]sanitize-trap=check1,check2,...**
1494
1495   Controls which checks enabled by the ``-fsanitize=`` flag trap. This
1496   option is intended for use in cases where the sanitizer runtime cannot
1497   be used (for instance, when building libc or a kernel module), or where
1498   the binary size increase caused by the sanitizer runtime is a concern.
1499
1500   This flag is only compatible with :doc:`control flow integrity
1501   <ControlFlowIntegrity>` schemes and :doc:`UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer`
1502   checks other than ``vptr``. If this flag
1503   is supplied together with ``-fsanitize=undefined``, the ``vptr`` sanitizer
1504   will be implicitly disabled.
1505
1506   This flag is enabled by default for sanitizers in the ``cfi`` group.
1507
1508.. option:: -fsanitize-blacklist=/path/to/blacklist/file
1509
1510   Disable or modify sanitizer checks for objects (source files, functions,
1511   variables, types) listed in the file. See
1512   :doc:`SanitizerSpecialCaseList` for file format description.
1513
1514.. option:: -fno-sanitize-blacklist
1515
1516   Don't use blacklist file, if it was specified earlier in the command line.
1517
1518**-f[no-]sanitize-coverage=[type,features,...]**
1519
1520   Enable simple code coverage in addition to certain sanitizers.
1521   See :doc:`SanitizerCoverage` for more details.
1522
1523**-f[no-]sanitize-stats**
1524
1525   Enable simple statistics gathering for the enabled sanitizers.
1526   See :doc:`SanitizerStats` for more details.
1527
1528.. option:: -fsanitize-undefined-trap-on-error
1529
1530   Deprecated alias for ``-fsanitize-trap=undefined``.
1531
1532.. option:: -fsanitize-cfi-cross-dso
1533
1534   Enable cross-DSO control flow integrity checks. This flag modifies
1535   the behavior of sanitizers in the ``cfi`` group to allow checking
1536   of cross-DSO virtual and indirect calls.
1537
1538.. option:: -fsanitize-cfi-icall-generalize-pointers
1539
1540   Generalize pointers in return and argument types in function type signatures
1541   checked by Control Flow Integrity indirect call checking. See
1542   :doc:`ControlFlowIntegrity` for more details.
1543
1544.. option:: -fstrict-vtable-pointers
1545
1546   Enable optimizations based on the strict rules for overwriting polymorphic
1547   C++ objects, i.e. the vptr is invariant during an object's lifetime.
1548   This enables better devirtualization. Turned off by default, because it is
1549   still experimental.
1550
1551.. option:: -fwhole-program-vtables
1552
1553   Enable whole-program vtable optimizations, such as single-implementation
1554   devirtualization and virtual constant propagation, for classes with
1555   :doc:`hidden LTO visibility <LTOVisibility>`. Requires ``-flto``.
1556
1557.. option:: -fforce-emit-vtables
1558
1559   In order to improve devirtualization, forces emitting of vtables even in
1560   modules where it isn't necessary. It causes more inline virtual functions
1561   to be emitted.
1562
1563.. option:: -fno-assume-sane-operator-new
1564
1565   Don't assume that the C++'s new operator is sane.
1566
1567   This option tells the compiler to do not assume that C++'s global
1568   new operator will always return a pointer that does not alias any
1569   other pointer when the function returns.
1570
1571.. option:: -ftrap-function=[name]
1572
1573   Instruct code generator to emit a function call to the specified
1574   function name for ``__builtin_trap()``.
1575
1576   LLVM code generator translates ``__builtin_trap()`` to a trap
1577   instruction if it is supported by the target ISA. Otherwise, the
1578   builtin is translated into a call to ``abort``. If this option is
1579   set, then the code generator will always lower the builtin to a call
1580   to the specified function regardless of whether the target ISA has a
1581   trap instruction. This option is useful for environments (e.g.
1582   deeply embedded) where a trap cannot be properly handled, or when
1583   some custom behavior is desired.
1584
1585.. option:: -ftls-model=[model]
1586
1587   Select which TLS model to use.
1588
1589   Valid values are: ``global-dynamic``, ``local-dynamic``,
1590   ``initial-exec`` and ``local-exec``. The default value is
1591   ``global-dynamic``. The compiler may use a different model if the
1592   selected model is not supported by the target, or if a more
1593   efficient model can be used. The TLS model can be overridden per
1594   variable using the ``tls_model`` attribute.
1595
1596.. option:: -femulated-tls
1597
1598   Select emulated TLS model, which overrides all -ftls-model choices.
1599
1600   In emulated TLS mode, all access to TLS variables are converted to
1601   calls to __emutls_get_address in the runtime library.
1602
1603.. option:: -mhwdiv=[values]
1604
1605   Select the ARM modes (arm or thumb) that support hardware division
1606   instructions.
1607
1608   Valid values are: ``arm``, ``thumb`` and ``arm,thumb``.
1609   This option is used to indicate which mode (arm or thumb) supports
1610   hardware division instructions. This only applies to the ARM
1611   architecture.
1612
1613.. option:: -m[no-]crc
1614
1615   Enable or disable CRC instructions.
1616
1617   This option is used to indicate whether CRC instructions are to
1618   be generated. This only applies to the ARM architecture.
1619
1620   CRC instructions are enabled by default on ARMv8.
1621
1622.. option:: -mgeneral-regs-only
1623
1624   Generate code which only uses the general purpose registers.
1625
1626   This option restricts the generated code to use general registers
1627   only. This only applies to the AArch64 architecture.
1628
1629.. option:: -mcompact-branches=[values]
1630
1631   Control the usage of compact branches for MIPSR6.
1632
1633   Valid values are: ``never``, ``optimal`` and ``always``.
1634   The default value is ``optimal`` which generates compact branches
1635   when a delay slot cannot be filled. ``never`` disables the usage of
1636   compact branches and ``always`` generates compact branches whenever
1637   possible.
1638
1639**-f[no-]max-type-align=[number]**
1640   Instruct the code generator to not enforce a higher alignment than the given
1641   number (of bytes) when accessing memory via an opaque pointer or reference.
1642   This cap is ignored when directly accessing a variable or when the pointee
1643   type has an explicit “aligned” attribute.
1644
1645   The value should usually be determined by the properties of the system allocator.
1646   Some builtin types, especially vector types, have very high natural alignments;
1647   when working with values of those types, Clang usually wants to use instructions
1648   that take advantage of that alignment.  However, many system allocators do
1649   not promise to return memory that is more than 8-byte or 16-byte-aligned.  Use
1650   this option to limit the alignment that the compiler can assume for an arbitrary
1651   pointer, which may point onto the heap.
1652
1653   This option does not affect the ABI alignment of types; the layout of structs and
1654   unions and the value returned by the alignof operator remain the same.
1655
1656   This option can be overridden on a case-by-case basis by putting an explicit
1657   “aligned” alignment on a struct, union, or typedef.  For example:
1658
1659   .. code-block:: console
1660
1661      #include <immintrin.h>
1662      // Make an aligned typedef of the AVX-512 16-int vector type.
1663      typedef __v16si __aligned_v16si __attribute__((aligned(64)));
1664
1665      void initialize_vector(__aligned_v16si *v) {
1666        // The compiler may assume that ‘v’ is 64-byte aligned, regardless of the
1667        // value of -fmax-type-align.
1668      }
1669
1670.. option:: -faddrsig, -fno-addrsig
1671
1672   Controls whether Clang emits an address-significance table into the object
1673   file. Address-significance tables allow linkers to implement `safe ICF
1674   <https://research.google.com/pubs/archive/36912.pdf>`_ without the false
1675   positives that can result from other implementation techniques such as
1676   relocation scanning. Address-significance tables are enabled by default
1677   on ELF targets when using the integrated assembler. This flag currently
1678   only has an effect on ELF targets.
1679
1680Profile Guided Optimization
1681---------------------------
1682
1683Profile information enables better optimization. For example, knowing that a
1684branch is taken very frequently helps the compiler make better decisions when
1685ordering basic blocks. Knowing that a function ``foo`` is called more
1686frequently than another function ``bar`` helps the inliner. Optimization
1687levels ``-O2`` and above are recommended for use of profile guided optimization.
1688
1689Clang supports profile guided optimization with two different kinds of
1690profiling. A sampling profiler can generate a profile with very low runtime
1691overhead, or you can build an instrumented version of the code that collects
1692more detailed profile information. Both kinds of profiles can provide execution
1693counts for instructions in the code and information on branches taken and
1694function invocation.
1695
1696Regardless of which kind of profiling you use, be careful to collect profiles
1697by running your code with inputs that are representative of the typical
1698behavior. Code that is not exercised in the profile will be optimized as if it
1699is unimportant, and the compiler may make poor optimization choices for code
1700that is disproportionately used while profiling.
1701
1702Differences Between Sampling and Instrumentation
1703^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1704
1705Although both techniques are used for similar purposes, there are important
1706differences between the two:
1707
17081. Profile data generated with one cannot be used by the other, and there is no
1709   conversion tool that can convert one to the other. So, a profile generated
1710   via ``-fprofile-instr-generate`` must be used with ``-fprofile-instr-use``.
1711   Similarly, sampling profiles generated by external profilers must be
1712   converted and used with ``-fprofile-sample-use``.
1713
17142. Instrumentation profile data can be used for code coverage analysis and
1715   optimization.
1716
17173. Sampling profiles can only be used for optimization. They cannot be used for
1718   code coverage analysis. Although it would be technically possible to use
1719   sampling profiles for code coverage, sample-based profiles are too
1720   coarse-grained for code coverage purposes; it would yield poor results.
1721
17224. Sampling profiles must be generated by an external tool. The profile
1723   generated by that tool must then be converted into a format that can be read
1724   by LLVM. The section on sampling profilers describes one of the supported
1725   sampling profile formats.
1726
1727
1728Using Sampling Profilers
1729^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1730
1731Sampling profilers are used to collect runtime information, such as
1732hardware counters, while your application executes. They are typically
1733very efficient and do not incur a large runtime overhead. The
1734sample data collected by the profiler can be used during compilation
1735to determine what the most executed areas of the code are.
1736
1737Using the data from a sample profiler requires some changes in the way
1738a program is built. Before the compiler can use profiling information,
1739the code needs to execute under the profiler. The following is the
1740usual build cycle when using sample profilers for optimization:
1741
17421. Build the code with source line table information. You can use all the
1743   usual build flags that you always build your application with. The only
1744   requirement is that you add ``-gline-tables-only`` or ``-g`` to the
1745   command line. This is important for the profiler to be able to map
1746   instructions back to source line locations.
1747
1748   .. code-block:: console
1749
1750     $ clang++ -O2 -gline-tables-only code.cc -o code
1751
17522. Run the executable under a sampling profiler. The specific profiler
1753   you use does not really matter, as long as its output can be converted
1754   into the format that the LLVM optimizer understands. Currently, there
1755   exists a conversion tool for the Linux Perf profiler
1756   (https://perf.wiki.kernel.org/), so these examples assume that you
1757   are using Linux Perf to profile your code.
1758
1759   .. code-block:: console
1760
1761     $ perf record -b ./code
1762
1763   Note the use of the ``-b`` flag. This tells Perf to use the Last Branch
1764   Record (LBR) to record call chains. While this is not strictly required,
1765   it provides better call information, which improves the accuracy of
1766   the profile data.
1767
17683. Convert the collected profile data to LLVM's sample profile format.
1769   This is currently supported via the AutoFDO converter ``create_llvm_prof``.
1770   It is available at https://github.com/google/autofdo. Once built and
1771   installed, you can convert the ``perf.data`` file to LLVM using
1772   the command:
1773
1774   .. code-block:: console
1775
1776     $ create_llvm_prof --binary=./code --out=code.prof
1777
1778   This will read ``perf.data`` and the binary file ``./code`` and emit
1779   the profile data in ``code.prof``. Note that if you ran ``perf``
1780   without the ``-b`` flag, you need to use ``--use_lbr=false`` when
1781   calling ``create_llvm_prof``.
1782
17834. Build the code again using the collected profile. This step feeds
1784   the profile back to the optimizers. This should result in a binary
1785   that executes faster than the original one. Note that you are not
1786   required to build the code with the exact same arguments that you
1787   used in the first step. The only requirement is that you build the code
1788   with ``-gline-tables-only`` and ``-fprofile-sample-use``.
1789
1790   .. code-block:: console
1791
1792     $ clang++ -O2 -gline-tables-only -fprofile-sample-use=code.prof code.cc -o code
1793
1794
1795Sample Profile Formats
1796""""""""""""""""""""""
1797
1798Since external profilers generate profile data in a variety of custom formats,
1799the data generated by the profiler must be converted into a format that can be
1800read by the backend. LLVM supports three different sample profile formats:
1801
18021. ASCII text. This is the easiest one to generate. The file is divided into
1803   sections, which correspond to each of the functions with profile
1804   information. The format is described below. It can also be generated from
1805   the binary or gcov formats using the ``llvm-profdata`` tool.
1806
18072. Binary encoding. This uses a more efficient encoding that yields smaller
1808   profile files. This is the format generated by the ``create_llvm_prof`` tool
1809   in https://github.com/google/autofdo.
1810
18113. GCC encoding. This is based on the gcov format, which is accepted by GCC. It
1812   is only interesting in environments where GCC and Clang co-exist. This
1813   encoding is only generated by the ``create_gcov`` tool in
1814   https://github.com/google/autofdo. It can be read by LLVM and
1815   ``llvm-profdata``, but it cannot be generated by either.
1816
1817If you are using Linux Perf to generate sampling profiles, you can use the
1818conversion tool ``create_llvm_prof`` described in the previous section.
1819Otherwise, you will need to write a conversion tool that converts your
1820profiler's native format into one of these three.
1821
1822
1823Sample Profile Text Format
1824""""""""""""""""""""""""""
1825
1826This section describes the ASCII text format for sampling profiles. It is,
1827arguably, the easiest one to generate. If you are interested in generating any
1828of the other two, consult the ``ProfileData`` library in LLVM's source tree
1829(specifically, ``include/llvm/ProfileData/SampleProfReader.h``).
1830
1831.. code-block:: console
1832
1833    function1:total_samples:total_head_samples
1834     offset1[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn1:num fn2:num ... ]
1835     offset2[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn3:num fn4:num ... ]
1836     ...
1837     offsetN[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn5:num fn6:num ... ]
1838     offsetA[.discriminator]: fnA:num_of_total_samples
1839      offsetA1[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn7:num fn8:num ... ]
1840      offsetA1[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn9:num fn10:num ... ]
1841      offsetB[.discriminator]: fnB:num_of_total_samples
1842       offsetB1[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn11:num fn12:num ... ]
1843
1844This is a nested tree in which the indentation represents the nesting level
1845of the inline stack. There are no blank lines in the file. And the spacing
1846within a single line is fixed. Additional spaces will result in an error
1847while reading the file.
1848
1849Any line starting with the '#' character is completely ignored.
1850
1851Inlined calls are represented with indentation. The Inline stack is a
1852stack of source locations in which the top of the stack represents the
1853leaf function, and the bottom of the stack represents the actual
1854symbol to which the instruction belongs.
1855
1856Function names must be mangled in order for the profile loader to
1857match them in the current translation unit. The two numbers in the
1858function header specify how many total samples were accumulated in the
1859function (first number), and the total number of samples accumulated
1860in the prologue of the function (second number). This head sample
1861count provides an indicator of how frequently the function is invoked.
1862
1863There are two types of lines in the function body.
1864
1865-  Sampled line represents the profile information of a source location.
1866   ``offsetN[.discriminator]: number_of_samples [fn5:num fn6:num ... ]``
1867
1868-  Callsite line represents the profile information of an inlined callsite.
1869   ``offsetA[.discriminator]: fnA:num_of_total_samples``
1870
1871Each sampled line may contain several items. Some are optional (marked
1872below):
1873
1874a. Source line offset. This number represents the line number
1875   in the function where the sample was collected. The line number is
1876   always relative to the line where symbol of the function is
1877   defined. So, if the function has its header at line 280, the offset
1878   13 is at line 293 in the file.
1879
1880   Note that this offset should never be a negative number. This could
1881   happen in cases like macros. The debug machinery will register the
1882   line number at the point of macro expansion. So, if the macro was
1883   expanded in a line before the start of the function, the profile
1884   converter should emit a 0 as the offset (this means that the optimizers
1885   will not be able to associate a meaningful weight to the instructions
1886   in the macro).
1887
1888b. [OPTIONAL] Discriminator. This is used if the sampled program
1889   was compiled with DWARF discriminator support
1890   (http://wiki.dwarfstd.org/index.php?title=Path_Discriminators).
1891   DWARF discriminators are unsigned integer values that allow the
1892   compiler to distinguish between multiple execution paths on the
1893   same source line location.
1894
1895   For example, consider the line of code ``if (cond) foo(); else bar();``.
1896   If the predicate ``cond`` is true 80% of the time, then the edge
1897   into function ``foo`` should be considered to be taken most of the
1898   time. But both calls to ``foo`` and ``bar`` are at the same source
1899   line, so a sample count at that line is not sufficient. The
1900   compiler needs to know which part of that line is taken more
1901   frequently.
1902
1903   This is what discriminators provide. In this case, the calls to
1904   ``foo`` and ``bar`` will be at the same line, but will have
1905   different discriminator values. This allows the compiler to correctly
1906   set edge weights into ``foo`` and ``bar``.
1907
1908c. Number of samples. This is an integer quantity representing the
1909   number of samples collected by the profiler at this source
1910   location.
1911
1912d. [OPTIONAL] Potential call targets and samples. If present, this
1913   line contains a call instruction. This models both direct and
1914   number of samples. For example,
1915
1916   .. code-block:: console
1917
1918     130: 7  foo:3  bar:2  baz:7
1919
1920   The above means that at relative line offset 130 there is a call
1921   instruction that calls one of ``foo()``, ``bar()`` and ``baz()``,
1922   with ``baz()`` being the relatively more frequently called target.
1923
1924As an example, consider a program with the call chain ``main -> foo -> bar``.
1925When built with optimizations enabled, the compiler may inline the
1926calls to ``bar`` and ``foo`` inside ``main``. The generated profile
1927could then be something like this:
1928
1929.. code-block:: console
1930
1931    main:35504:0
1932    1: _Z3foov:35504
1933      2: _Z32bari:31977
1934      1.1: 31977
1935    2: 0
1936
1937This profile indicates that there were a total of 35,504 samples
1938collected in main. All of those were at line 1 (the call to ``foo``).
1939Of those, 31,977 were spent inside the body of ``bar``. The last line
1940of the profile (``2: 0``) corresponds to line 2 inside ``main``. No
1941samples were collected there.
1942
1943Profiling with Instrumentation
1944^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1945
1946Clang also supports profiling via instrumentation. This requires building a
1947special instrumented version of the code and has some runtime
1948overhead during the profiling, but it provides more detailed results than a
1949sampling profiler. It also provides reproducible results, at least to the
1950extent that the code behaves consistently across runs.
1951
1952Here are the steps for using profile guided optimization with
1953instrumentation:
1954
19551. Build an instrumented version of the code by compiling and linking with the
1956   ``-fprofile-instr-generate`` option.
1957
1958   .. code-block:: console
1959
1960     $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-instr-generate code.cc -o code
1961
19622. Run the instrumented executable with inputs that reflect the typical usage.
1963   By default, the profile data will be written to a ``default.profraw`` file
1964   in the current directory. You can override that default by using option
1965   ``-fprofile-instr-generate=`` or by setting the ``LLVM_PROFILE_FILE``
1966   environment variable to specify an alternate file. If non-default file name
1967   is specified by both the environment variable and the command line option,
1968   the environment variable takes precedence. The file name pattern specified
1969   can include different modifiers: ``%p``, ``%h``, and ``%m``.
1970
1971   Any instance of ``%p`` in that file name will be replaced by the process
1972   ID, so that you can easily distinguish the profile output from multiple
1973   runs.
1974
1975   .. code-block:: console
1976
1977     $ LLVM_PROFILE_FILE="code-%p.profraw" ./code
1978
1979   The modifier ``%h`` can be used in scenarios where the same instrumented
1980   binary is run in multiple different host machines dumping profile data
1981   to a shared network based storage. The ``%h`` specifier will be substituted
1982   with the hostname so that profiles collected from different hosts do not
1983   clobber each other.
1984
1985   While the use of ``%p`` specifier can reduce the likelihood for the profiles
1986   dumped from different processes to clobber each other, such clobbering can still
1987   happen because of the ``pid`` re-use by the OS. Another side-effect of using
1988   ``%p`` is that the storage requirement for raw profile data files is greatly
1989   increased.  To avoid issues like this, the ``%m`` specifier can used in the profile
1990   name.  When this specifier is used, the profiler runtime will substitute ``%m``
1991   with a unique integer identifier associated with the instrumented binary. Additionally,
1992   multiple raw profiles dumped from different processes that share a file system (can be
1993   on different hosts) will be automatically merged by the profiler runtime during the
1994   dumping. If the program links in multiple instrumented shared libraries, each library
1995   will dump the profile data into its own profile data file (with its unique integer
1996   id embedded in the profile name). Note that the merging enabled by ``%m`` is for raw
1997   profile data generated by profiler runtime. The resulting merged "raw" profile data
1998   file still needs to be converted to a different format expected by the compiler (
1999   see step 3 below).
2000
2001   .. code-block:: console
2002
2003     $ LLVM_PROFILE_FILE="code-%m.profraw" ./code
2004
2005
20063. Combine profiles from multiple runs and convert the "raw" profile format to
2007   the input expected by clang. Use the ``merge`` command of the
2008   ``llvm-profdata`` tool to do this.
2009
2010   .. code-block:: console
2011
2012     $ llvm-profdata merge -output=code.profdata code-*.profraw
2013
2014   Note that this step is necessary even when there is only one "raw" profile,
2015   since the merge operation also changes the file format.
2016
20174. Build the code again using the ``-fprofile-instr-use`` option to specify the
2018   collected profile data.
2019
2020   .. code-block:: console
2021
2022     $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-instr-use=code.profdata code.cc -o code
2023
2024   You can repeat step 4 as often as you like without regenerating the
2025   profile. As you make changes to your code, clang may no longer be able to
2026   use the profile data. It will warn you when this happens.
2027
2028Profile generation using an alternative instrumentation method can be
2029controlled by the GCC-compatible flags ``-fprofile-generate`` and
2030``-fprofile-use``. Although these flags are semantically equivalent to
2031their GCC counterparts, they *do not* handle GCC-compatible profiles.
2032They are only meant to implement GCC's semantics with respect to
2033profile creation and use. Flag ``-fcs-profile-generate`` also instruments
2034programs using the same instrumentation method as ``-fprofile-generate``.
2035
2036.. option:: -fprofile-generate[=<dirname>]
2037
2038  The ``-fprofile-generate`` and ``-fprofile-generate=`` flags will use
2039  an alternative instrumentation method for profile generation. When
2040  given a directory name, it generates the profile file
2041  ``default_%m.profraw`` in the directory named ``dirname`` if specified.
2042  If ``dirname`` does not exist, it will be created at runtime. ``%m`` specifier
2043  will be substituted with a unique id documented in step 2 above. In other words,
2044  with ``-fprofile-generate[=<dirname>]`` option, the "raw" profile data automatic
2045  merging is turned on by default, so there will no longer any risk of profile
2046  clobbering from different running processes.  For example,
2047
2048  .. code-block:: console
2049
2050    $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-generate=yyy/zzz code.cc -o code
2051
2052  When ``code`` is executed, the profile will be written to the file
2053  ``yyy/zzz/default_xxxx.profraw``.
2054
2055  To generate the profile data file with the compiler readable format, the
2056  ``llvm-profdata`` tool can be used with the profile directory as the input:
2057
2058   .. code-block:: console
2059
2060     $ llvm-profdata merge -output=code.profdata yyy/zzz/
2061
2062 If the user wants to turn off the auto-merging feature, or simply override the
2063 the profile dumping path specified at command line, the environment variable
2064 ``LLVM_PROFILE_FILE`` can still be used to override
2065 the directory and filename for the profile file at runtime.
2066
2067.. option:: -fcs-profile-generate[=<dirname>]
2068
2069  The ``-fcs-profile-generate`` and ``-fcs-profile-generate=`` flags will use
2070  the same instrumentation method, and generate the same profile as in the
2071  ``-fprofile-generate`` and ``-fprofile-generate=`` flags. The difference is
2072  that the instrumentation is performed after inlining so that the resulted
2073  profile has a better context sensitive information. They cannot be used
2074  together with ``-fprofile-generate`` and ``-fprofile-generate=`` flags.
2075  They are typically used in conjunction with ``-fprofile-use`` flag.
2076  The profile generated by ``-fcs-profile-generate`` and ``-fprofile-generate``
2077  can be merged by llvm-profdata. A use example:
2078
2079  .. code-block:: console
2080
2081    $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-generate=yyy/zzz code.cc -o code
2082    $ ./code
2083    $ llvm-profdata merge -output=code.profdata yyy/zzz/
2084
2085  The first few steps are the same as that in ``-fprofile-generate``
2086  compilation. Then perform a second round of instrumentation.
2087
2088  .. code-block:: console
2089
2090    $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-use=code.profdata -fcs-profile-generate=sss/ttt \
2091      -o cs_code
2092    $ ./cs_code
2093    $ llvm-profdata merge -output=cs_code.profdata sss/ttt code.profdata
2094
2095  The resulted ``cs_code.prodata`` combines ``code.profdata`` and the profile
2096  generated from binary ``cs_code``. Profile ``cs_code.profata`` can be used by
2097  ``-fprofile-use`` compilaton.
2098
2099  .. code-block:: console
2100
2101    $ clang++ -O2 -fprofile-use=cs_code.profdata
2102
2103  The above command will read both profiles to the compiler at the identical
2104  point of instrumenations.
2105
2106.. option:: -fprofile-use[=<pathname>]
2107
2108  Without any other arguments, ``-fprofile-use`` behaves identically to
2109  ``-fprofile-instr-use``. Otherwise, if ``pathname`` is the full path to a
2110  profile file, it reads from that file. If ``pathname`` is a directory name,
2111  it reads from ``pathname/default.profdata``.
2112
2113Disabling Instrumentation
2114^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2115
2116In certain situations, it may be useful to disable profile generation or use
2117for specific files in a build, without affecting the main compilation flags
2118used for the other files in the project.
2119
2120In these cases, you can use the flag ``-fno-profile-instr-generate`` (or
2121``-fno-profile-generate``) to disable profile generation, and
2122``-fno-profile-instr-use`` (or ``-fno-profile-use``) to disable profile use.
2123
2124Note that these flags should appear after the corresponding profile
2125flags to have an effect.
2126
2127Profile remapping
2128^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2129
2130When the program is compiled after a change that affects many symbol names,
2131pre-existing profile data may no longer match the program. For example:
2132
2133 * switching from libstdc++ to libc++ will result in the mangled names of all
2134   functions taking standard library types to change
2135 * renaming a widely-used type in C++ will result in the mangled names of all
2136   functions that have parameters involving that type to change
2137 * moving from a 32-bit compilation to a 64-bit compilation may change the
2138   underlying type of ``size_t`` and similar types, resulting in changes to
2139   manglings
2140
2141Clang allows use of a profile remapping file to specify that such differences
2142in mangled names should be ignored when matching the profile data against the
2143program.
2144
2145.. option:: -fprofile-remapping-file=<file>
2146
2147  Specifies a file containing profile remapping information, that will be
2148  used to match mangled names in the profile data to mangled names in the
2149  program.
2150
2151The profile remapping file is a text file containing lines of the form
2152
2153.. code-block:: text
2154
2155  fragmentkind fragment1 fragment2
2156
2157where ``fragmentkind`` is one of ``name``, ``type``, or ``encoding``,
2158indicating whether the following mangled name fragments are
2159<`name <https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/abi.html#mangle.name>`_>s,
2160<`type <https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/abi.html#mangle.type>`_>s, or
2161<`encoding <https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/abi.html#mangle.encoding>`_>s,
2162respectively.
2163Blank lines and lines starting with ``#`` are ignored.
2164
2165For convenience, built-in <substitution>s such as ``St`` and ``Ss``
2166are accepted as <name>s (even though they technically are not <name>s).
2167
2168For example, to specify that ``absl::string_view`` and ``std::string_view``
2169should be treated as equivalent when matching profile data, the following
2170remapping file could be used:
2171
2172.. code-block:: text
2173
2174  # absl::string_view is considered equivalent to std::string_view
2175  type N4absl11string_viewE St17basic_string_viewIcSt11char_traitsIcEE
2176
2177  # std:: might be std::__1:: in libc++ or std::__cxx11:: in libstdc++
2178  name 3std St3__1
2179  name 3std St7__cxx11
2180
2181Matching profile data using a profile remapping file is supported on a
2182best-effort basis. For example, information regarding indirect call targets is
2183currently not remapped. For best results, you are encouraged to generate new
2184profile data matching the updated program, or to remap the profile data
2185using the ``llvm-cxxmap`` and ``llvm-profdata merge`` tools.
2186
2187.. note::
2188
2189  Profile data remapping support is currently only implemented for LLVM's
2190  new pass manager, which can be enabled with
2191  ``-fexperimental-new-pass-manager``.
2192
2193.. note::
2194
2195  Profile data remapping is currently only supported for C++ mangled names
2196  following the Itanium C++ ABI mangling scheme. This covers all C++ targets
2197  supported by Clang other than Windows.
2198
2199GCOV-based Profiling
2200--------------------
2201
2202GCOV is a test coverage program, it helps to know how often a line of code
2203is executed. When instrumenting the code with ``--coverage`` option, some
2204counters are added for each edge linking basic blocks.
2205
2206At compile time, gcno files are generated containing information about
2207blocks and edges between them. At runtime the counters are incremented and at
2208exit the counters are dumped in gcda files.
2209
2210The tool ``llvm-cov gcov`` will parse gcno, gcda and source files to generate
2211a report ``.c.gcov``.
2212
2213.. option:: -fprofile-filter-files=[regexes]
2214
2215  Define a list of regexes separated by a semi-colon.
2216  If a file name matches any of the regexes then the file is instrumented.
2217
2218   .. code-block:: console
2219
2220     $ clang --coverage -fprofile-filter-files=".*\.c$" foo.c
2221
2222  For example, this will only instrument files finishing with ``.c``, skipping ``.h`` files.
2223
2224.. option:: -fprofile-exclude-files=[regexes]
2225
2226  Define a list of regexes separated by a semi-colon.
2227  If a file name doesn't match all the regexes then the file is instrumented.
2228
2229  .. code-block:: console
2230
2231     $ clang --coverage -fprofile-exclude-files="^/usr/include/.*$" foo.c
2232
2233  For example, this will instrument all the files except the ones in ``/usr/include``.
2234
2235If both options are used then a file is instrumented if its name matches any
2236of the regexes from ``-fprofile-filter-list`` and doesn't match all the regexes
2237from ``-fprofile-exclude-list``.
2238
2239.. code-block:: console
2240
2241   $ clang --coverage -fprofile-exclude-files="^/usr/include/.*$" \
2242           -fprofile-filter-files="^/usr/.*$"
2243
2244In that case ``/usr/foo/oof.h`` is instrumented since it matches the filter regex and
2245doesn't match the exclude regex, but ``/usr/include/foo.h`` doesn't since it matches
2246the exclude regex.
2247
2248Controlling Debug Information
2249-----------------------------
2250
2251Controlling Size of Debug Information
2252^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2253
2254Debug info kind generated by Clang can be set by one of the flags listed
2255below. If multiple flags are present, the last one is used.
2256
2257.. option:: -g0
2258
2259  Don't generate any debug info (default).
2260
2261.. option:: -gline-tables-only
2262
2263  Generate line number tables only.
2264
2265  This kind of debug info allows to obtain stack traces with function names,
2266  file names and line numbers (by such tools as ``gdb`` or ``addr2line``).  It
2267  doesn't contain any other data (e.g. description of local variables or
2268  function parameters).
2269
2270.. option:: -fstandalone-debug
2271
2272  Clang supports a number of optimizations to reduce the size of debug
2273  information in the binary. They work based on the assumption that
2274  the debug type information can be spread out over multiple
2275  compilation units.  For instance, Clang will not emit type
2276  definitions for types that are not needed by a module and could be
2277  replaced with a forward declaration.  Further, Clang will only emit
2278  type info for a dynamic C++ class in the module that contains the
2279  vtable for the class.
2280
2281  The **-fstandalone-debug** option turns off these optimizations.
2282  This is useful when working with 3rd-party libraries that don't come
2283  with debug information.  Note that Clang will never emit type
2284  information for types that are not referenced at all by the program.
2285
2286.. option:: -fno-standalone-debug
2287
2288   On Darwin **-fstandalone-debug** is enabled by default. The
2289   **-fno-standalone-debug** option can be used to get to turn on the
2290   vtable-based optimization described above.
2291
2292.. option:: -g
2293
2294  Generate complete debug info.
2295
2296Controlling Macro Debug Info Generation
2297^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2298
2299Debug info for C preprocessor macros increases the size of debug information in
2300the binary. Macro debug info generated by Clang can be controlled by the flags
2301listed below.
2302
2303.. option:: -fdebug-macro
2304
2305  Generate debug info for preprocessor macros. This flag is discarded when
2306  **-g0** is enabled.
2307
2308.. option:: -fno-debug-macro
2309
2310  Do not generate debug info for preprocessor macros (default).
2311
2312Controlling Debugger "Tuning"
2313^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2314
2315While Clang generally emits standard DWARF debug info (http://dwarfstd.org),
2316different debuggers may know how to take advantage of different specific DWARF
2317features. You can "tune" the debug info for one of several different debuggers.
2318
2319.. option:: -ggdb, -glldb, -gsce
2320
2321  Tune the debug info for the ``gdb``, ``lldb``, or Sony PlayStation\ |reg|
2322  debugger, respectively. Each of these options implies **-g**. (Therefore, if
2323  you want both **-gline-tables-only** and debugger tuning, the tuning option
2324  must come first.)
2325
2326
2327Controlling LLVM IR Output
2328--------------------------
2329
2330Controlling Value Names in LLVM IR
2331^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2332
2333Emitting value names in LLVM IR increases the size and verbosity of the IR.
2334By default, value names are only emitted in assertion-enabled builds of Clang.
2335However, when reading IR it can be useful to re-enable the emission of value
2336names to improve readability.
2337
2338.. option:: -fdiscard-value-names
2339
2340  Discard value names when generating LLVM IR.
2341
2342.. option:: -fno-discard-value-names
2343
2344  Do not discard value names when generating LLVM IR. This option can be used
2345  to re-enable names for release builds of Clang.
2346
2347
2348Comment Parsing Options
2349-----------------------
2350
2351Clang parses Doxygen and non-Doxygen style documentation comments and attaches
2352them to the appropriate declaration nodes.  By default, it only parses
2353Doxygen-style comments and ignores ordinary comments starting with ``//`` and
2354``/*``.
2355
2356.. option:: -Wdocumentation
2357
2358  Emit warnings about use of documentation comments.  This warning group is off
2359  by default.
2360
2361  This includes checking that ``\param`` commands name parameters that actually
2362  present in the function signature, checking that ``\returns`` is used only on
2363  functions that actually return a value etc.
2364
2365.. option:: -Wno-documentation-unknown-command
2366
2367  Don't warn when encountering an unknown Doxygen command.
2368
2369.. option:: -fparse-all-comments
2370
2371  Parse all comments as documentation comments (including ordinary comments
2372  starting with ``//`` and ``/*``).
2373
2374.. option:: -fcomment-block-commands=[commands]
2375
2376  Define custom documentation commands as block commands.  This allows Clang to
2377  construct the correct AST for these custom commands, and silences warnings
2378  about unknown commands.  Several commands must be separated by a comma
2379  *without trailing space*; e.g. ``-fcomment-block-commands=foo,bar`` defines
2380  custom commands ``\foo`` and ``\bar``.
2381
2382  It is also possible to use ``-fcomment-block-commands`` several times; e.g.
2383  ``-fcomment-block-commands=foo -fcomment-block-commands=bar`` does the same
2384  as above.
2385
2386.. _c:
2387
2388C Language Features
2389===================
2390
2391The support for standard C in clang is feature-complete except for the
2392C99 floating-point pragmas.
2393
2394Extensions supported by clang
2395-----------------------------
2396
2397See :doc:`LanguageExtensions`.
2398
2399Differences between various standard modes
2400------------------------------------------
2401
2402clang supports the -std option, which changes what language mode clang
2403uses. The supported modes for C are c89, gnu89, c99, gnu99, c11, gnu11,
2404c17, gnu17, and various aliases for those modes. If no -std option is
2405specified, clang defaults to gnu11 mode. Many C99 and C11 features are
2406supported in earlier modes as a conforming extension, with a warning. Use
2407``-pedantic-errors`` to request an error if a feature from a later standard
2408revision is used in an earlier mode.
2409
2410Differences between all ``c*`` and ``gnu*`` modes:
2411
2412-  ``c*`` modes define "``__STRICT_ANSI__``".
2413-  Target-specific defines not prefixed by underscores, like "linux",
2414   are defined in ``gnu*`` modes.
2415-  Trigraphs default to being off in ``gnu*`` modes; they can be enabled by
2416   the -trigraphs option.
2417-  The parser recognizes "asm" and "typeof" as keywords in ``gnu*`` modes;
2418   the variants "``__asm__``" and "``__typeof__``" are recognized in all
2419   modes.
2420-  The Apple "blocks" extension is recognized by default in ``gnu*`` modes
2421   on some platforms; it can be enabled in any mode with the "-fblocks"
2422   option.
2423-  Arrays that are VLA's according to the standard, but which can be
2424   constant folded by the frontend are treated as fixed size arrays.
2425   This occurs for things like "int X[(1, 2)];", which is technically a
2426   VLA. ``c*`` modes are strictly compliant and treat these as VLAs.
2427
2428Differences between ``*89`` and ``*99`` modes:
2429
2430-  The ``*99`` modes default to implementing "inline" as specified in C99,
2431   while the ``*89`` modes implement the GNU version. This can be
2432   overridden for individual functions with the ``__gnu_inline__``
2433   attribute.
2434-  Digraphs are not recognized in c89 mode.
2435-  The scope of names defined inside a "for", "if", "switch", "while",
2436   or "do" statement is different. (example: "``if ((struct x {int
2437   x;}*)0) {}``".)
2438-  ``__STDC_VERSION__`` is not defined in ``*89`` modes.
2439-  "inline" is not recognized as a keyword in c89 mode.
2440-  "restrict" is not recognized as a keyword in ``*89`` modes.
2441-  Commas are allowed in integer constant expressions in ``*99`` modes.
2442-  Arrays which are not lvalues are not implicitly promoted to pointers
2443   in ``*89`` modes.
2444-  Some warnings are different.
2445
2446Differences between ``*99`` and ``*11`` modes:
2447
2448-  Warnings for use of C11 features are disabled.
2449-  ``__STDC_VERSION__`` is defined to ``201112L`` rather than ``199901L``.
2450
2451Differences between ``*11`` and ``*17`` modes:
2452
2453-  ``__STDC_VERSION__`` is defined to ``201710L`` rather than ``201112L``.
2454
2455GCC extensions not implemented yet
2456----------------------------------
2457
2458clang tries to be compatible with gcc as much as possible, but some gcc
2459extensions are not implemented yet:
2460
2461-  clang does not support decimal floating point types (``_Decimal32`` and
2462   friends) or fixed-point types (``_Fract`` and friends); nobody has
2463   expressed interest in these features yet, so it's hard to say when
2464   they will be implemented.
2465-  clang does not support nested functions; this is a complex feature
2466   which is infrequently used, so it is unlikely to be implemented
2467   anytime soon. In C++11 it can be emulated by assigning lambda
2468   functions to local variables, e.g:
2469
2470   .. code-block:: cpp
2471
2472     auto const local_function = [&](int parameter) {
2473       // Do something
2474     };
2475     ...
2476     local_function(1);
2477
2478-  clang only supports global register variables when the register specified
2479   is non-allocatable (e.g. the stack pointer). Support for general global
2480   register variables is unlikely to be implemented soon because it requires
2481   additional LLVM backend support.
2482-  clang does not support static initialization of flexible array
2483   members. This appears to be a rarely used extension, but could be
2484   implemented pending user demand.
2485-  clang does not support
2486   ``__builtin_va_arg_pack``/``__builtin_va_arg_pack_len``. This is
2487   used rarely, but in some potentially interesting places, like the
2488   glibc headers, so it may be implemented pending user demand. Note
2489   that because clang pretends to be like GCC 4.2, and this extension
2490   was introduced in 4.3, the glibc headers will not try to use this
2491   extension with clang at the moment.
2492-  clang does not support the gcc extension for forward-declaring
2493   function parameters; this has not shown up in any real-world code
2494   yet, though, so it might never be implemented.
2495
2496This is not a complete list; if you find an unsupported extension
2497missing from this list, please send an e-mail to cfe-dev. This list
2498currently excludes C++; see :ref:`C++ Language Features <cxx>`. Also, this
2499list does not include bugs in mostly-implemented features; please see
2500the `bug
2501tracker <https://bugs.llvm.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=product%3Aclang+component%3A-New%2BBugs%2CAST%2CBasic%2CDriver%2CHeaders%2CLLVM%2BCodeGen%2Cparser%2Cpreprocessor%2CSemantic%2BAnalyzer>`_
2502for known existing bugs (FIXME: Is there a section for bug-reporting
2503guidelines somewhere?).
2504
2505Intentionally unsupported GCC extensions
2506----------------------------------------
2507
2508-  clang does not support the gcc extension that allows variable-length
2509   arrays in structures. This is for a few reasons: one, it is tricky to
2510   implement, two, the extension is completely undocumented, and three,
2511   the extension appears to be rarely used. Note that clang *does*
2512   support flexible array members (arrays with a zero or unspecified
2513   size at the end of a structure).
2514-  clang does not have an equivalent to gcc's "fold"; this means that
2515   clang doesn't accept some constructs gcc might accept in contexts
2516   where a constant expression is required, like "x-x" where x is a
2517   variable.
2518-  clang does not support ``__builtin_apply`` and friends; this extension
2519   is extremely obscure and difficult to implement reliably.
2520
2521.. _c_ms:
2522
2523Microsoft extensions
2524--------------------
2525
2526clang has support for many extensions from Microsoft Visual C++. To enable these
2527extensions, use the ``-fms-extensions`` command-line option. This is the default
2528for Windows targets. Clang does not implement every pragma or declspec provided
2529by MSVC, but the popular ones, such as ``__declspec(dllexport)`` and ``#pragma
2530comment(lib)`` are well supported.
2531
2532clang has a ``-fms-compatibility`` flag that makes clang accept enough
2533invalid C++ to be able to parse most Microsoft headers. For example, it
2534allows `unqualified lookup of dependent base class members
2535<https://clang.llvm.org/compatibility.html#dep_lookup_bases>`_, which is
2536a common compatibility issue with clang. This flag is enabled by default
2537for Windows targets.
2538
2539``-fdelayed-template-parsing`` lets clang delay parsing of function template
2540definitions until the end of a translation unit. This flag is enabled by
2541default for Windows targets.
2542
2543For compatibility with existing code that compiles with MSVC, clang defines the
2544``_MSC_VER`` and ``_MSC_FULL_VER`` macros. These default to the values of 1800
2545and 180000000 respectively, making clang look like an early release of Visual
2546C++ 2013. The ``-fms-compatibility-version=`` flag overrides these values.  It
2547accepts a dotted version tuple, such as 19.00.23506. Changing the MSVC
2548compatibility version makes clang behave more like that version of MSVC. For
2549example, ``-fms-compatibility-version=19`` will enable C++14 features and define
2550``char16_t`` and ``char32_t`` as builtin types.
2551
2552.. _cxx:
2553
2554C++ Language Features
2555=====================
2556
2557clang fully implements all of standard C++98 except for exported
2558templates (which were removed in C++11), and all of standard C++11
2559and the current draft standard for C++1y.
2560
2561Controlling implementation limits
2562---------------------------------
2563
2564.. option:: -fbracket-depth=N
2565
2566  Sets the limit for nested parentheses, brackets, and braces to N.  The
2567  default is 256.
2568
2569.. option:: -fconstexpr-depth=N
2570
2571  Sets the limit for recursive constexpr function invocations to N.  The
2572  default is 512.
2573
2574.. option:: -fconstexpr-steps=N
2575
2576  Sets the limit for the number of full-expressions evaluated in a single
2577  constant expression evaluation.  The default is 1048576.
2578
2579.. option:: -ftemplate-depth=N
2580
2581  Sets the limit for recursively nested template instantiations to N.  The
2582  default is 1024.
2583
2584.. option:: -foperator-arrow-depth=N
2585
2586  Sets the limit for iterative calls to 'operator->' functions to N.  The
2587  default is 256.
2588
2589.. _objc:
2590
2591Objective-C Language Features
2592=============================
2593
2594.. _objcxx:
2595
2596Objective-C++ Language Features
2597===============================
2598
2599.. _openmp:
2600
2601OpenMP Features
2602===============
2603
2604Clang supports all OpenMP 4.5 directives and clauses. See :doc:`OpenMPSupport`
2605for additional details.
2606
2607Use `-fopenmp` to enable OpenMP. Support for OpenMP can be disabled with
2608`-fno-openmp`.
2609
2610Use `-fopenmp-simd` to enable OpenMP simd features only, without linking
2611the runtime library; for combined constructs
2612(e.g. ``#pragma omp parallel for simd``) the non-simd directives and clauses
2613will be ignored. This can be disabled with `-fno-openmp-simd`.
2614
2615Controlling implementation limits
2616---------------------------------
2617
2618.. option:: -fopenmp-use-tls
2619
2620 Controls code generation for OpenMP threadprivate variables. In presence of
2621 this option all threadprivate variables are generated the same way as thread
2622 local variables, using TLS support. If `-fno-openmp-use-tls`
2623 is provided or target does not support TLS, code generation for threadprivate
2624 variables relies on OpenMP runtime library.
2625
2626.. _opencl:
2627
2628OpenCL Features
2629===============
2630
2631Clang can be used to compile OpenCL kernels for execution on a device
2632(e.g. GPU). It is possible to compile the kernel into a binary (e.g. for AMD or
2633Nvidia targets) that can be uploaded to run directly on a device (e.g. using
2634`clCreateProgramWithBinary
2635<https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/specs/opencl-1.1.pdf#111>`_) or
2636into generic bitcode files loadable into other toolchains.
2637
2638Compiling to a binary using the default target from the installation can be done
2639as follows:
2640
2641   .. code-block:: console
2642
2643     $ echo "kernel void k(){}" > test.cl
2644     $ clang test.cl
2645
2646Compiling for a specific target can be done by specifying the triple corresponding
2647to the target, for example:
2648
2649   .. code-block:: console
2650
2651     $ clang -target nvptx64-unknown-unknown test.cl
2652     $ clang -target amdgcn-amd-amdhsa -mcpu=gfx900 test.cl
2653
2654Compiling to bitcode can be done as follows:
2655
2656   .. code-block:: console
2657
2658     $ clang -c -emit-llvm test.cl
2659
2660This will produce a generic test.bc file that can be used in vendor toolchains
2661to perform machine code generation.
2662
2663Clang currently supports OpenCL C language standards up to v2.0. Starting from
2664clang 9 a C++ mode is available for OpenCL (see
2665:ref:`C++ for OpenCL <cxx_for_opencl>`).
2666
2667OpenCL Specific Options
2668-----------------------
2669
2670Most of the OpenCL build options from `the specification v2.0 section 5.8.4
2671<https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0.pdf#200>`_ are available.
2672
2673Examples:
2674
2675   .. code-block:: console
2676
2677     $ clang -cl-std=CL2.0 -cl-single-precision-constant test.cl
2678
2679Some extra options are available to support special OpenCL features.
2680
2681.. option:: -finclude-default-header
2682
2683Loads standard includes during compilations. By default OpenCL headers are not
2684loaded and therefore standard library includes are not available. To load them
2685automatically a flag has been added to the frontend (see also :ref:`the section
2686on the OpenCL Header <opencl_header>`):
2687
2688   .. code-block:: console
2689
2690     $ clang -Xclang -finclude-default-header test.cl
2691
2692Alternatively ``-include`` or ``-I`` followed by the path to the header location
2693can be given manually.
2694
2695   .. code-block:: console
2696
2697     $ clang -I<path to clang>/lib/Headers/opencl-c.h test.cl
2698
2699In this case the kernel code should contain ``#include <opencl-c.h>`` just as a
2700regular C include.
2701
2702.. _opencl_cl_ext:
2703
2704.. option:: -cl-ext
2705
2706Disables support of OpenCL extensions. All OpenCL targets provide a list
2707of extensions that they support. Clang allows to amend this using the ``-cl-ext``
2708flag with a comma-separated list of extensions prefixed with ``'+'`` or ``'-'``.
2709The syntax: ``-cl-ext=<(['-'|'+']<extension>[,])+>``,  where extensions
2710can be either one of `the OpenCL specification extensions
2711<https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/sdk/2.0/docs/man/xhtml/EXTENSION.html>`_
2712or any known vendor extension. Alternatively, ``'all'`` can be used to enable
2713or disable all known extensions.
2714Example disabling double support for the 64-bit SPIR target:
2715
2716   .. code-block:: console
2717
2718     $ clang -cc1 -triple spir64-unknown-unknown -cl-ext=-cl_khr_fp64 test.cl
2719
2720Enabling all extensions except double support in R600 AMD GPU can be done using:
2721
2722   .. code-block:: console
2723
2724     $ clang -cc1 -triple r600-unknown-unknown -cl-ext=-all,+cl_khr_fp16 test.cl
2725
2726.. _opencl_fake_address_space_map:
2727
2728.. option:: -ffake-address-space-map
2729
2730Overrides the target address space map with a fake map.
2731This allows adding explicit address space IDs to the bitcode for non-segmented
2732memory architectures that don't have separate IDs for each of the OpenCL
2733logical address spaces by default. Passing ``-ffake-address-space-map`` will
2734add/override address spaces of the target compiled for with the following values:
2735``1-global``, ``2-constant``, ``3-local``, ``4-generic``. The private address
2736space is represented by the absence of an address space attribute in the IR (see
2737also :ref:`the section on the address space attribute <opencl_addrsp>`).
2738
2739   .. code-block:: console
2740
2741     $ clang -ffake-address-space-map test.cl
2742
2743Some other flags used for the compilation for C can also be passed while
2744compiling for OpenCL, examples: ``-c``, ``-O<1-4|s>``, ``-o``, ``-emit-llvm``, etc.
2745
2746OpenCL Targets
2747--------------
2748
2749OpenCL targets are derived from the regular Clang target classes. The OpenCL
2750specific parts of the target representation provide address space mapping as
2751well as a set of supported extensions.
2752
2753Specific Targets
2754^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2755
2756There is a set of concrete HW architectures that OpenCL can be compiled for.
2757
2758- For AMD target:
2759
2760   .. code-block:: console
2761
2762     $ clang -target amdgcn-amd-amdhsa -mcpu=gfx900 test.cl
2763
2764- For Nvidia architectures:
2765
2766   .. code-block:: console
2767
2768     $ clang -target nvptx64-unknown-unknown test.cl
2769
2770
2771Generic Targets
2772^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2773
2774- SPIR is available as a generic target to allow portable bitcode to be produced
2775  that can be used across GPU toolchains. The implementation follows `the SPIR
2776  specification <https://www.khronos.org/spir>`_. There are two flavors
2777  available for 32 and 64 bits.
2778
2779   .. code-block:: console
2780
2781    $ clang -target spir-unknown-unknown test.cl
2782    $ clang -target spir64-unknown-unknown test.cl
2783
2784  All known OpenCL extensions are supported in the SPIR targets. Clang will
2785  generate SPIR v1.2 compatible IR for OpenCL versions up to 2.0 and SPIR v2.0
2786  for OpenCL v2.0.
2787
2788- x86 is used by some implementations that are x86 compatible and currently
2789  remains for backwards compatibility (with older implementations prior to
2790  SPIR target support). For "non-SPMD" targets which cannot spawn multiple
2791  work-items on the fly using hardware, which covers practically all non-GPU
2792  devices such as CPUs and DSPs, additional processing is needed for the kernels
2793  to support multiple work-item execution. For this, a 3rd party toolchain,
2794  such as for example `POCL <http://portablecl.org/>`_, can be used.
2795
2796  This target does not support multiple memory segments and, therefore, the fake
2797  address space map can be added using the :ref:`-ffake-address-space-map
2798  <opencl_fake_address_space_map>` flag.
2799
2800.. _opencl_header:
2801
2802OpenCL Header
2803-------------
2804
2805By default Clang will not include standard headers and therefore OpenCL builtin
2806functions and some types (i.e. vectors) are unknown. The default CL header is,
2807however, provided in the Clang installation and can be enabled by passing the
2808``-finclude-default-header`` flag to the Clang frontend.
2809
2810   .. code-block:: console
2811
2812     $ echo "bool is_wg_uniform(int i){return get_enqueued_local_size(i)==get_local_size(i);}" > test.cl
2813     $ clang -Xclang -finclude-default-header -cl-std=CL2.0 test.cl
2814
2815Because the header is very large and long to parse, PCH (:doc:`PCHInternals`)
2816and modules (:doc:`Modules`) are used internally to improve the compilation
2817speed.
2818
2819To enable modules for OpenCL:
2820
2821   .. code-block:: console
2822
2823     $ clang -target spir-unknown-unknown -c -emit-llvm -Xclang -finclude-default-header -fmodules -fimplicit-module-maps -fmodules-cache-path=<path to the generated module> test.cl
2824
2825OpenCL Extensions
2826-----------------
2827
2828All of the ``cl_khr_*`` extensions from `the official OpenCL specification
2829<https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/sdk/2.0/docs/man/xhtml/EXTENSION.html>`_
2830up to and including version 2.0 are available and set per target depending on the
2831support available in the specific architecture.
2832
2833It is possible to alter the default extensions setting per target using
2834``-cl-ext`` flag. (See :ref:`flags description <opencl_cl_ext>` for more details).
2835
2836Vendor extensions can be added flexibly by declaring the list of types and
2837functions associated with each extensions enclosed within the following
2838compiler pragma directives:
2839
2840  .. code-block:: c
2841
2842       #pragma OPENCL EXTENSION the_new_extension_name : begin
2843       // declare types and functions associated with the extension here
2844       #pragma OPENCL EXTENSION the_new_extension_name : end
2845
2846For example, parsing the following code adds ``my_t`` type and ``my_func``
2847function to the custom ``my_ext`` extension.
2848
2849  .. code-block:: c
2850
2851       #pragma OPENCL EXTENSION my_ext : begin
2852       typedef struct{
2853         int a;
2854       }my_t;
2855       void my_func(my_t);
2856       #pragma OPENCL EXTENSION my_ext : end
2857
2858Declaring the same types in different vendor extensions is disallowed.
2859
2860Clang also supports language extensions documented in `The OpenCL C Language
2861Extensions Documentation
2862<https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Khronosdotorg/blob/master/api/opencl/assets/OpenCL_LangExt.pdf>`_.
2863
2864OpenCL Metadata
2865---------------
2866
2867Clang uses metadata to provide additional OpenCL semantics in IR needed for
2868backends and OpenCL runtime.
2869
2870Each kernel will have function metadata attached to it, specifying the arguments.
2871Kernel argument metadata is used to provide source level information for querying
2872at runtime, for example using the `clGetKernelArgInfo
2873<https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/specs/opencl-1.2.pdf#167>`_
2874call.
2875
2876Note that ``-cl-kernel-arg-info`` enables more information about the original CL
2877code to be added e.g. kernel parameter names will appear in the OpenCL metadata
2878along with other information.
2879
2880The IDs used to encode the OpenCL's logical address spaces in the argument info
2881metadata follows the SPIR address space mapping as defined in the SPIR
2882specification `section 2.2
2883<https://www.khronos.org/registry/spir/specs/spir_spec-2.0.pdf#18>`_
2884
2885OpenCL-Specific Attributes
2886--------------------------
2887
2888OpenCL support in Clang contains a set of attribute taken directly from the
2889specification as well as additional attributes.
2890
2891See also :doc:`AttributeReference`.
2892
2893nosvm
2894^^^^^
2895
2896Clang supports this attribute to comply to OpenCL v2.0 conformance, but it
2897does not have any effect on the IR. For more details reffer to the specification
2898`section 6.7.2
2899<https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#49>`_
2900
2901
2902opencl_unroll_hint
2903^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2904
2905The implementation of this feature mirrors the unroll hint for C.
2906More details on the syntax can be found in the specification
2907`section 6.11.5
2908<https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#61>`_
2909
2910convergent
2911^^^^^^^^^^
2912
2913To make sure no invalid optimizations occur for single program multiple data
2914(SPMD) / single instruction multiple thread (SIMT) Clang provides attributes that
2915can be used for special functions that have cross work item semantics.
2916An example is the subgroup operations such as `intel_sub_group_shuffle
2917<https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/extensions/intel/cl_intel_subgroups.txt>`_
2918
2919   .. code-block:: c
2920
2921     // Define custom my_sub_group_shuffle(data, c)
2922     // that makes use of intel_sub_group_shuffle
2923     r1 = ...
2924     if (r0) r1 = computeA();
2925     // Shuffle data from r1 into r3
2926     // of threads id r2.
2927     r3 = my_sub_group_shuffle(r1, r2);
2928     if (r0) r3 = computeB();
2929
2930with non-SPMD semantics this is optimized to the following equivalent code:
2931
2932   .. code-block:: c
2933
2934     r1 = ...
2935     if (!r0)
2936       // Incorrect functionality! The data in r1
2937       // have not been computed by all threads yet.
2938       r3 = my_sub_group_shuffle(r1, r2);
2939     else {
2940       r1 = computeA();
2941       r3 = my_sub_group_shuffle(r1, r2);
2942       r3 = computeB();
2943     }
2944
2945Declaring the function ``my_sub_group_shuffle`` with the convergent attribute
2946would prevent this:
2947
2948   .. code-block:: c
2949
2950     my_sub_group_shuffle() __attribute__((convergent));
2951
2952Using ``convergent`` guarantees correct execution by keeping CFG equivalence
2953wrt operations marked as ``convergent``. CFG ``G´`` is equivalent to ``G`` wrt
2954node ``Ni`` : ``iff ∀ Nj (i≠j)`` domination and post-domination relations with
2955respect to ``Ni`` remain the same in both ``G`` and ``G´``.
2956
2957noduplicate
2958^^^^^^^^^^^
2959
2960``noduplicate`` is more restrictive with respect to optimizations than
2961``convergent`` because a convergent function only preserves CFG equivalence.
2962This allows some optimizations to happen as long as the control flow remains
2963unmodified.
2964
2965   .. code-block:: c
2966
2967     for (int i=0; i<4; i++)
2968       my_sub_group_shuffle()
2969
2970can be modified to:
2971
2972   .. code-block:: c
2973
2974     my_sub_group_shuffle();
2975     my_sub_group_shuffle();
2976     my_sub_group_shuffle();
2977     my_sub_group_shuffle();
2978
2979while using ``noduplicate`` would disallow this. Also ``noduplicate`` doesn't
2980have the same safe semantics of CFG as ``convergent`` and can cause changes in
2981CFG that modify semantics of the original program.
2982
2983``noduplicate`` is kept for backwards compatibility only and it considered to be
2984deprecated for future uses.
2985
2986.. _opencl_addrsp:
2987
2988address_space
2989^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2990
2991Clang has arbitrary address space support using the ``address_space(N)``
2992attribute, where ``N`` is an integer number in the range ``0`` to ``16777215``
2993(``0xffffffu``).
2994
2995An OpenCL implementation provides a list of standard address spaces using
2996keywords: ``private``, ``local``, ``global``, and ``generic``. In the AST and
2997in the IR local, global, or generic will be represented by the address space
2998attribute with the corresponding unique number. Note that private does not have
2999any corresponding attribute added and, therefore, is represented by the absence
3000of an address space number. The specific IDs for an address space do not have to
3001match between the AST and the IR. Typically in the AST address space numbers
3002represent logical segments while in the IR they represent physical segments.
3003Therefore, machines with flat memory segments can map all AST address space
3004numbers to the same physical segment ID or skip address space attribute
3005completely while generating the IR. However, if the address space information
3006is needed by the IR passes e.g. to improve alias analysis, it is recommended
3007to keep it and only lower to reflect physical memory segments in the late
3008machine passes.
3009
3010OpenCL builtins
3011---------------
3012
3013There are some standard OpenCL functions that are implemented as Clang builtins:
3014
3015- All pipe functions from `section 6.13.16.2/6.13.16.3
3016  <https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#160>`_ of
3017  the OpenCL v2.0 kernel language specification. `
3018
3019- Address space qualifier conversion functions ``to_global``/``to_local``/``to_private``
3020  from `section 6.13.9
3021  <https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#101>`_.
3022
3023- All the ``enqueue_kernel`` functions from `section 6.13.17.1
3024  <https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#164>`_ and
3025  enqueue query functions from `section 6.13.17.5
3026  <https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-2.0-openclc.pdf#171>`_.
3027
3028.. _cxx_for_opencl:
3029
3030C++ for OpenCL
3031--------------
3032
3033Starting from clang 9 kernel code can contain C++17 features: classes, templates,
3034function overloading, type deduction, etc. Please note that this is not an
3035implementation of `OpenCL C++
3036<https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenCL/specs/2.2/pdf/OpenCL_Cxx.pdf>`_ and
3037there is no plan to support it in clang in any new releases in the near future.
3038
3039For detailed information about this language refer to `The C++ for OpenCL
3040Programming Language Documentation
3041<https://github.com/KhronosGroup/Khronosdotorg/blob/master/api/opencl/assets/CXX_for_OpenCL.pdf>`_.
3042
3043Since C++ features are to be used on top of OpenCL C functionality, all existing
3044restrictions from OpenCL C v2.0 will inherently apply. All OpenCL C builtin types
3045and function libraries are supported and can be used in this mode.
3046
3047To enable the C++ for OpenCL mode, pass one of following command line options when
3048compiling ``.cl`` file ``-cl-std=clc++``, ``-cl-std=CLC++``, ``-std=clc++`` or
3049``-std=CLC++``.
3050
3051   .. code-block:: c++
3052
3053     template<class T> T add( T x, T y )
3054     {
3055       return x + y;
3056     }
3057
3058     __kernel void test( __global float* a, __global float* b)
3059     {
3060       auto index = get_global_id(0);
3061       a[index] = add(b[index], b[index+1]);
3062     }
3063
3064
3065   .. code-block:: console
3066
3067     clang -cl-std=clc++ test.cl
3068
3069Constructing and destroying global objects
3070^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3071
3072Global objects must be constructed before the first kernel using the global objects
3073is executed and destroyed just after the last kernel using the program objects is
3074executed. In OpenCL v2.0 drivers there is no specific API for invoking global
3075constructors. However, an easy workaround would be to enqueue a constructor
3076initialization kernel that has a name ``@_GLOBAL__sub_I_<compiled file name>``.
3077This kernel is only present if there are any global objects to be initialized in
3078the compiled binary. One way to check this is by passing ``CL_PROGRAM_KERNEL_NAMES``
3079to ``clGetProgramInfo`` (OpenCL v2.0 s5.8.7).
3080
3081Note that if multiple files are compiled and linked into libraries, multiple kernels
3082that initialize global objects for multiple modules would have to be invoked.
3083
3084Applications are currently required to run initialization of global objects manually
3085before running any kernels in which the objects are used.
3086
3087   .. code-block:: console
3088
3089     clang -cl-std=clc++ test.cl
3090
3091If there are any global objects to be initialized, the final binary will contain
3092the ``@_GLOBAL__sub_I_test.cl`` kernel to be enqueued.
3093
3094Global destructors can not be invoked in OpenCL v2.0 drivers. However, all memory used
3095for program scope objects is released on ``clReleaseProgram``.
3096
3097
3098.. _target_features:
3099
3100Target-Specific Features and Limitations
3101========================================
3102
3103CPU Architectures Features and Limitations
3104------------------------------------------
3105
3106X86
3107^^^
3108
3109The support for X86 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) is considered stable on
3110Darwin (macOS), Linux, FreeBSD, and Dragonfly BSD: it has been tested
3111to correctly compile many large C, C++, Objective-C, and Objective-C++
3112codebases.
3113
3114On ``x86_64-mingw32``, passing i128(by value) is incompatible with the
3115Microsoft x64 calling convention. You might need to tweak
3116``WinX86_64ABIInfo::classify()`` in lib/CodeGen/TargetInfo.cpp.
3117
3118For the X86 target, clang supports the `-m16` command line
3119argument which enables 16-bit code output. This is broadly similar to
3120using ``asm(".code16gcc")`` with the GNU toolchain. The generated code
3121and the ABI remains 32-bit but the assembler emits instructions
3122appropriate for a CPU running in 16-bit mode, with address-size and
3123operand-size prefixes to enable 32-bit addressing and operations.
3124
3125ARM
3126^^^
3127
3128The support for ARM (specifically ARMv6 and ARMv7) is considered stable
3129on Darwin (iOS): it has been tested to correctly compile many large C,
3130C++, Objective-C, and Objective-C++ codebases. Clang only supports a
3131limited number of ARM architectures. It does not yet fully support
3132ARMv5, for example.
3133
3134PowerPC
3135^^^^^^^
3136
3137The support for PowerPC (especially PowerPC64) is considered stable
3138on Linux and FreeBSD: it has been tested to correctly compile many
3139large C and C++ codebases. PowerPC (32bit) is still missing certain
3140features (e.g. PIC code on ELF platforms).
3141
3142Other platforms
3143^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3144
3145clang currently contains some support for other architectures (e.g. Sparc);
3146however, significant pieces of code generation are still missing, and they
3147haven't undergone significant testing.
3148
3149clang contains limited support for the MSP430 embedded processor, but
3150both the clang support and the LLVM backend support are highly
3151experimental.
3152
3153Other platforms are completely unsupported at the moment. Adding the
3154minimal support needed for parsing and semantic analysis on a new
3155platform is quite easy; see ``lib/Basic/Targets.cpp`` in the clang source
3156tree. This level of support is also sufficient for conversion to LLVM IR
3157for simple programs. Proper support for conversion to LLVM IR requires
3158adding code to ``lib/CodeGen/CGCall.cpp`` at the moment; this is likely to
3159change soon, though. Generating assembly requires a suitable LLVM
3160backend.
3161
3162Operating System Features and Limitations
3163-----------------------------------------
3164
3165Darwin (macOS)
3166^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3167
3168Thread Sanitizer is not supported.
3169
3170Windows
3171^^^^^^^
3172
3173Clang has experimental support for targeting "Cygming" (Cygwin / MinGW)
3174platforms.
3175
3176See also :ref:`Microsoft Extensions <c_ms>`.
3177
3178Cygwin
3179""""""
3180
3181Clang works on Cygwin-1.7.
3182
3183MinGW32
3184"""""""
3185
3186Clang works on some mingw32 distributions. Clang assumes directories as
3187below;
3188
3189-  ``C:/mingw/include``
3190-  ``C:/mingw/lib``
3191-  ``C:/mingw/lib/gcc/mingw32/4.[3-5].0/include/c++``
3192
3193On MSYS, a few tests might fail.
3194
3195MinGW-w64
3196"""""""""
3197
3198For 32-bit (i686-w64-mingw32), and 64-bit (x86\_64-w64-mingw32), Clang
3199assumes as below;
3200
3201-  ``GCC versions 4.5.0 to 4.5.3, 4.6.0 to 4.6.2, or 4.7.0 (for the C++ header search path)``
3202-  ``some_directory/bin/gcc.exe``
3203-  ``some_directory/bin/clang.exe``
3204-  ``some_directory/bin/clang++.exe``
3205-  ``some_directory/bin/../include/c++/GCC_version``
3206-  ``some_directory/bin/../include/c++/GCC_version/x86_64-w64-mingw32``
3207-  ``some_directory/bin/../include/c++/GCC_version/i686-w64-mingw32``
3208-  ``some_directory/bin/../include/c++/GCC_version/backward``
3209-  ``some_directory/bin/../x86_64-w64-mingw32/include``
3210-  ``some_directory/bin/../i686-w64-mingw32/include``
3211-  ``some_directory/bin/../include``
3212
3213This directory layout is standard for any toolchain you will find on the
3214official `MinGW-w64 website <http://mingw-w64.sourceforge.net>`_.
3215
3216Clang expects the GCC executable "gcc.exe" compiled for
3217``i686-w64-mingw32`` (or ``x86_64-w64-mingw32``) to be present on PATH.
3218
3219`Some tests might fail <https://bugs.llvm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9072>`_ on
3220``x86_64-w64-mingw32``.
3221
3222.. _clang-cl:
3223
3224clang-cl
3225========
3226
3227clang-cl is an alternative command-line interface to Clang, designed for
3228compatibility with the Visual C++ compiler, cl.exe.
3229
3230To enable clang-cl to find system headers, libraries, and the linker when run
3231from the command-line, it should be executed inside a Visual Studio Native Tools
3232Command Prompt or a regular Command Prompt where the environment has been set
3233up using e.g. `vcvarsall.bat <https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f2ccy3wt.aspx>`_.
3234
3235clang-cl can also be used from inside Visual Studio by selecting the LLVM
3236Platform Toolset. The toolset is not part of the installer, but may be installed
3237separately from the
3238`Visual Studio Marketplace <https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=LLVMExtensions.llvm-toolchain>`_.
3239To use the toolset, select a project in Solution Explorer, open its Property
3240Page (Alt+F7), and in the "General" section of "Configuration Properties"
3241change "Platform Toolset" to LLVM.  Doing so enables an additional Property
3242Page for selecting the clang-cl executable to use for builds.
3243
3244To use the toolset with MSBuild directly, invoke it with e.g.
3245``/p:PlatformToolset=LLVM``. This allows trying out the clang-cl toolchain
3246without modifying your project files.
3247
3248It's also possible to point MSBuild at clang-cl without changing toolset by
3249passing ``/p:CLToolPath=c:\llvm\bin /p:CLToolExe=clang-cl.exe``.
3250
3251When using CMake and the Visual Studio generators, the toolset can be set with the ``-T`` flag:
3252
3253  ::
3254
3255    cmake -G"Visual Studio 15 2017" -T LLVM ..
3256
3257When using CMake with the Ninja generator, set the ``CMAKE_C_COMPILER`` and
3258``CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER`` variables to clang-cl:
3259
3260  ::
3261
3262    cmake -GNinja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER="c:/Program Files (x86)/LLVM/bin/clang-cl.exe"
3263        -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="c:/Program Files (x86)/LLVM/bin/clang-cl.exe" ..
3264
3265
3266Command-Line Options
3267--------------------
3268
3269To be compatible with cl.exe, clang-cl supports most of the same command-line
3270options. Those options can start with either ``/`` or ``-``. It also supports
3271some of Clang's core options, such as the ``-W`` options.
3272
3273Options that are known to clang-cl, but not currently supported, are ignored
3274with a warning. For example:
3275
3276  ::
3277
3278    clang-cl.exe: warning: argument unused during compilation: '/AI'
3279
3280To suppress warnings about unused arguments, use the ``-Qunused-arguments`` option.
3281
3282Options that are not known to clang-cl will be ignored by default. Use the
3283``-Werror=unknown-argument`` option in order to treat them as errors. If these
3284options are spelled with a leading ``/``, they will be mistaken for a filename:
3285
3286  ::
3287
3288    clang-cl.exe: error: no such file or directory: '/foobar'
3289
3290Please `file a bug <https://bugs.llvm.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=clang&component=Driver>`_
3291for any valid cl.exe flags that clang-cl does not understand.
3292
3293Execute ``clang-cl /?`` to see a list of supported options:
3294
3295  ::
3296
3297    CL.EXE COMPATIBILITY OPTIONS:
3298      /?                      Display available options
3299      /arch:<value>           Set architecture for code generation
3300      /Brepro-                Write current time into COFF output (default)
3301      /Brepro                 Do not write current time into COFF output (breaks link.exe /incremental)
3302      /clang:<arg>            Pass <arg> to the clang driver
3303      /C                      Do not discard comments when preprocessing
3304      /c                      Compile only
3305      /d1PP                   Retain macro definitions in /E mode
3306      /d1reportAllClassLayout Dump record layout information
3307      /diagnostics:caret      Enable caret and column diagnostics (default)
3308      /diagnostics:classic    Disable column and caret diagnostics
3309      /diagnostics:column     Disable caret diagnostics but keep column info
3310      /D <macro[=value]>      Define macro
3311      /EH<value>              Set exception handling model
3312      /EP                     Disable linemarker output and preprocess to stdout
3313      /execution-charset:<value>
3314                              Set runtime encoding, supports only UTF-8
3315      /E                      Preprocess to stdout
3316      /fallback               Fall back to cl.exe if clang-cl fails to compile
3317      /FA                     Output assembly code file during compilation
3318      /Fa<file or dir/>       Set assembly output file name (with /FA)
3319      /Fe<file or dir/>       Set output executable file name
3320      /FI <value>             Include file before parsing
3321      /Fi<file>               Set preprocess output file name (with /P)
3322      /Fo<file or dir/>       Set output object file (with /c)
3323      /fp:except-
3324      /fp:except
3325      /fp:fast
3326      /fp:precise
3327      /fp:strict
3328      /Fp<file>               Set pch file name (with /Yc and /Yu)
3329      /GA                     Assume thread-local variables are defined in the executable
3330      /Gd                     Set __cdecl as a default calling convention
3331      /GF-                    Disable string pooling
3332      /GF                     Enable string pooling (default)
3333      /GR-                    Do not emit RTTI data
3334      /Gregcall               Set __regcall as a default calling convention
3335      /GR                     Emit RTTI data (default)
3336      /Gr                     Set __fastcall as a default calling convention
3337      /GS-                    Disable buffer security check
3338      /GS                     Enable buffer security check (default)
3339      /Gs                     Use stack probes (default)
3340      /Gs<value>              Set stack probe size (default 4096)
3341      /guard:<value>          Enable Control Flow Guard with /guard:cf, or only the table with /guard:cf,nochecks
3342      /Gv                     Set __vectorcall as a default calling convention
3343      /Gw-                    Do not put each data item in its own section (default)
3344      /Gw                     Put each data item in its own section
3345      /GX-                    Deprecated (like not passing /EH)
3346      /GX                     Deprecated; use /EHsc
3347      /Gy-                    Do not put each function in its own section (default)
3348      /Gy                     Put each function in its own section
3349      /Gz                     Set __stdcall as a default calling convention
3350      /help                   Display available options
3351      /imsvc <dir>            Add <dir> to system include search path, as if in %INCLUDE%
3352      /I <dir>                Add directory to include search path
3353      /J                      Make char type unsigned
3354      /LDd                    Create debug DLL
3355      /LD                     Create DLL
3356      /link <options>         Forward options to the linker
3357      /MDd                    Use DLL debug run-time
3358      /MD                     Use DLL run-time
3359      /MTd                    Use static debug run-time
3360      /MT                     Use static run-time
3361      /O1                     Optimize for size  (like /Og     /Os /Oy /Ob2 /GF /Gy)
3362      /O2                     Optimize for speed (like /Og /Oi /Ot /Oy /Ob2 /GF /Gy)
3363      /Ob0                    Disable function inlining
3364      /Ob1                    Only inline functions explicitly or implicitly marked inline
3365      /Ob2                    Inline functions as deemed beneficial by the compiler
3366      /Od                     Disable optimization
3367      /Og                     No effect
3368      /Oi-                    Disable use of builtin functions
3369      /Oi                     Enable use of builtin functions
3370      /openmp-                Disable OpenMP support
3371      /openmp:experimental    Enable OpenMP support with experimental SIMD support
3372      /openmp                 Enable OpenMP support
3373      /Os                     Optimize for size
3374      /Ot                     Optimize for speed
3375      /Ox                     Deprecated (like /Og /Oi /Ot /Oy /Ob2); use /O2
3376      /Oy-                    Disable frame pointer omission (x86 only, default)
3377      /Oy                     Enable frame pointer omission (x86 only)
3378      /O<flags>               Set multiple /O flags at once; e.g. '/O2y-' for '/O2 /Oy-'
3379      /o <file or dir/>       Deprecated (set output file name); use /Fe or /Fe
3380      /P                      Preprocess to file
3381      /Qvec-                  Disable the loop vectorization passes
3382      /Qvec                   Enable the loop vectorization passes
3383      /showFilenames-         Do not print the name of each compiled file (default)
3384      /showFilenames          Print the name of each compiled file
3385      /showIncludes           Print info about included files to stderr
3386      /source-charset:<value> Set source encoding, supports only UTF-8
3387      /std:<value>            Set C++ version (c++14,c++17,c++latest)
3388      /TC                     Treat all source files as C
3389      /Tc <file>              Treat <file> as C source file
3390      /TP                     Treat all source files as C++
3391      /Tp <file>              Treat <file> as C++ source file
3392      /utf-8                  Set source and runtime encoding to UTF-8 (default)
3393      /U <macro>              Undefine macro
3394      /vd<value>              Control vtordisp placement
3395      /vmb                    Use a best-case representation method for member pointers
3396      /vmg                    Use a most-general representation for member pointers
3397      /vmm                    Set the default most-general representation to multiple inheritance
3398      /vms                    Set the default most-general representation to single inheritance
3399      /vmv                    Set the default most-general representation to virtual inheritance
3400      /volatile:iso           Volatile loads and stores have standard semantics
3401      /volatile:ms            Volatile loads and stores have acquire and release semantics
3402      /W0                     Disable all warnings
3403      /W1                     Enable -Wall
3404      /W2                     Enable -Wall
3405      /W3                     Enable -Wall
3406      /W4                     Enable -Wall and -Wextra
3407      /Wall                   Enable -Weverything
3408      /WX-                    Do not treat warnings as errors (default)
3409      /WX                     Treat warnings as errors
3410      /w                      Disable all warnings
3411      /X                      Do not add %INCLUDE% to include search path
3412      /Y-                     Disable precompiled headers, overrides /Yc and /Yu
3413      /Yc<filename>           Generate a pch file for all code up to and including <filename>
3414      /Yu<filename>           Load a pch file and use it instead of all code up to and including <filename>
3415      /Z7                     Enable CodeView debug information in object files
3416      /Zc:alignedNew-         Disable C++17 aligned allocation functions
3417      /Zc:alignedNew          Enable C++17 aligned allocation functions
3418      /Zc:char8_t-            Disable char8_t from c++2a
3419      /Zc:char8_t             Enable char8_t from C++2a
3420      /Zc:dllexportInlines-   Do not dllexport/dllimport inline member functions of dllexport/import classes
3421      /Zc:dllexportInlines    dllexport/dllimport inline member functions of dllexport/import classes (default)
3422      /Zc:sizedDealloc-       Disable C++14 sized global deallocation functions
3423      /Zc:sizedDealloc        Enable C++14 sized global deallocation functions
3424      /Zc:strictStrings       Treat string literals as const
3425      /Zc:threadSafeInit-     Disable thread-safe initialization of static variables
3426      /Zc:threadSafeInit      Enable thread-safe initialization of static variables
3427      /Zc:trigraphs-          Disable trigraphs (default)
3428      /Zc:trigraphs           Enable trigraphs
3429      /Zc:twoPhase-           Disable two-phase name lookup in templates (default)
3430      /Zc:twoPhase            Enable two-phase name lookup in templates
3431      /Zd                     Emit debug line number tables only
3432      /Zi                     Like /Z7
3433      /Zl                     Do not let object file auto-link default libraries
3434      /Zp                     Set default maximum struct packing alignment to 1
3435      /Zp<value>              Set default maximum struct packing alignment
3436      /Zs                     Syntax-check only
3437
3438    OPTIONS:
3439      -###                    Print (but do not run) the commands to run for this compilation
3440      --analyze               Run the static analyzer
3441      -enable-trivial-auto-var-init-zero-knowing-it-will-be-removed-from-clang
3442                              Trivial automatic variable initialization to zero is only here for benchmarks, it'll
3443                              eventually be removed, and I'm OK with that because I'm only using it to benchmark
3444      -faddrsig               Emit an address-significance table
3445      -fansi-escape-codes     Use ANSI escape codes for diagnostics
3446      -fblocks                Enable the 'blocks' language feature
3447      -fcf-protection=<value> Instrument control-flow architecture protection. Options: return, branch, full, none.
3448      -fcf-protection         Enable cf-protection in 'full' mode
3449      -fcolor-diagnostics     Use colors in diagnostics
3450      -fcomplete-member-pointers
3451                              Require member pointer base types to be complete if they would be significant under the Microsoft ABI
3452      -fcoverage-mapping      Generate coverage mapping to enable code coverage analysis
3453      -fcs-profile-generate=<directory>
3454                              Generate instrumented code to collect context sensitive execution counts into
3455                              <directory>/default.profraw (overridden by LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3456      -fcs-profile-generate   Generate instrumented code to collect context sensitive execution counts into
3457                              default.profraw (overridden by LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3458      -fdebug-compilation-dir <value>
3459                              The compilation directory to embed in the debug info.
3460      -fdebug-macro           Emit macro debug information
3461      -fdelayed-template-parsing
3462                              Parse templated function definitions at the end of the translation unit
3463      -fdiagnostics-absolute-paths
3464                              Print absolute paths in diagnostics
3465      -fdiagnostics-parseable-fixits
3466                              Print fix-its in machine parseable form
3467      -fgnuc-version=<value>  Sets various macros to claim compatibility with the given GCC version (default is 4.2.1)
3468      -fintegrated-cc1        Run cc1 in-process
3469      -flto=<value>           Set LTO mode to either 'full' or 'thin'
3470      -flto                   Enable LTO in 'full' mode
3471      -fmerge-all-constants   Allow merging of constants
3472      -fms-compatibility-version=<value>
3473                              Dot-separated value representing the Microsoft compiler version number to report in
3474                              _MSC_VER (0 = don't define it (default))
3475      -fms-compatibility      Enable full Microsoft Visual C++ compatibility
3476      -fms-extensions         Accept some non-standard constructs supported by the Microsoft compiler
3477      -fmsc-version=<value>   Microsoft compiler version number to report in _MSC_VER (0 = don't define it (default))
3478      -fno-addrsig            Don't emit an address-significance table
3479      -fno-builtin-<value>    Disable implicit builtin knowledge of a specific function
3480      -fno-builtin            Disable implicit builtin knowledge of functions
3481      -fno-complete-member-pointers
3482                              Do not require member pointer base types to be complete if they would be significant under the Microsoft ABI
3483      -fno-coverage-mapping   Disable code coverage analysis
3484      -fno-crash-diagnostics  Disable auto-generation of preprocessed source files and a script for reproduction during a clang crash
3485      -fno-debug-macro        Do not emit macro debug information
3486      -fno-delayed-template-parsing
3487                              Disable delayed template parsing
3488      -fno-integrated-cc1     Spawn a separate process for each cc1
3489      -fno-profile-generate   Disable generation of profile instrumentation.
3490      -fno-profile-instr-generate
3491                              Disable generation of profile instrumentation.
3492      -fno-profile-instr-use  Disable using instrumentation data for profile-guided optimization
3493      -fno-sanitize-address-poison-custom-array-cookie
3494                              Disable poisoning array cookies when using custom operator new[] in AddressSanitizer
3495      -fno-sanitize-address-use-after-scope
3496                              Disable use-after-scope detection in AddressSanitizer
3497      -fno-sanitize-address-use-odr-indicator
3498                              Disable ODR indicator globals
3499      -fno-sanitize-blacklist Don't use blacklist file for sanitizers
3500      -fno-sanitize-cfi-canonical-jump-tables
3501                              Do not make the jump table addresses canonical in the symbol table
3502      -fno-sanitize-cfi-cross-dso
3503                              Disable control flow integrity (CFI) checks for cross-DSO calls.
3504      -fno-sanitize-coverage=<value>
3505                              Disable specified features of coverage instrumentation for Sanitizers
3506      -fno-sanitize-memory-track-origins
3507                              Disable origins tracking in MemorySanitizer
3508      -fno-sanitize-memory-use-after-dtor
3509                              Disable use-after-destroy detection in MemorySanitizer
3510      -fno-sanitize-recover=<value>
3511                              Disable recovery for specified sanitizers
3512      -fno-sanitize-stats     Disable sanitizer statistics gathering.
3513      -fno-sanitize-thread-atomics
3514                              Disable atomic operations instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer
3515      -fno-sanitize-thread-func-entry-exit
3516                              Disable function entry/exit instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer
3517      -fno-sanitize-thread-memory-access
3518                              Disable memory access instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer
3519      -fno-sanitize-trap=<value>
3520                              Disable trapping for specified sanitizers
3521      -fno-standalone-debug   Limit debug information produced to reduce size of debug binary
3522      -fno-temp-file          Directly create compilation output files. This may lead to incorrect incremental builds if the compiler crashes
3523      -fobjc-runtime=<value>  Specify the target Objective-C runtime kind and version
3524      -forder-file-instrumentation
3525                              Generate instrumented code to collect order file into default.profraw file
3526                              (overridden by '=' form of option or LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3527      -fprofile-exclude-files=<value>
3528                              Instrument only functions from files where names don't match all the regexes separated by a semi-colon
3529      -fprofile-filter-files=<value>
3530                              Instrument only functions from files where names match any regex separated by a semi-colon
3531      -fprofile-generate=<directory>
3532                              Generate instrumented code to collect execution counts into
3533                              <directory>/default.profraw (overridden by LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3534      -fprofile-generate      Generate instrumented code to collect execution counts into
3535                              default.profraw (overridden by LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3536      -fprofile-instr-generate=<file>
3537                              Generate instrumented code to collect execution counts into
3538                              <file> (overridden by LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3539      -fprofile-instr-generate
3540                              Generate instrumented code to collect execution counts into
3541                              default.profraw file (overridden by '=' form of option or LLVM_PROFILE_FILE env var)
3542      -fprofile-instr-use=<value>
3543                              Use instrumentation data for profile-guided optimization
3544      -fprofile-remapping-file=<file>
3545                              Use the remappings described in <file> to match the profile data against names in the program
3546      -fsanitize-address-field-padding=<value>
3547                              Level of field padding for AddressSanitizer
3548      -fsanitize-address-globals-dead-stripping
3549                              Enable linker dead stripping of globals in AddressSanitizer
3550      -fsanitize-address-poison-custom-array-cookie
3551                              Enable poisoning array cookies when using custom operator new[] in AddressSanitizer
3552      -fsanitize-address-use-after-scope
3553                              Enable use-after-scope detection in AddressSanitizer
3554      -fsanitize-address-use-odr-indicator
3555                              Enable ODR indicator globals to avoid false ODR violation reports in partially sanitized
3556                              programs at the cost of an increase in binary size
3557      -fsanitize-blacklist=<value>
3558                              Path to blacklist file for sanitizers
3559      -fsanitize-cfi-canonical-jump-tables
3560                              Make the jump table addresses canonical in the symbol table
3561      -fsanitize-cfi-cross-dso
3562                              Enable control flow integrity (CFI) checks for cross-DSO calls.
3563      -fsanitize-cfi-icall-generalize-pointers
3564                              Generalize pointers in CFI indirect call type signature checks
3565      -fsanitize-coverage=<value>
3566                              Specify the type of coverage instrumentation for Sanitizers
3567      -fsanitize-hwaddress-abi=<value>
3568                              Select the HWAddressSanitizer ABI to target (interceptor or platform,
3569                              default interceptor). This option is currently unused.
3570      -fsanitize-memory-track-origins=<value>
3571                              Enable origins tracking in MemorySanitizer
3572      -fsanitize-memory-track-origins
3573                              Enable origins tracking in MemorySanitizer
3574      -fsanitize-memory-use-after-dtor
3575                              Enable use-after-destroy detection in MemorySanitizer
3576      -fsanitize-recover=<value>
3577                              Enable recovery for specified sanitizers
3578      -fsanitize-stats        Enable sanitizer statistics gathering.
3579      -fsanitize-system-blacklist=<value>
3580                              Path to system blacklist file for sanitizers
3581      -fsanitize-thread-atomics
3582                              Enable atomic operations instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer (default)
3583      -fsanitize-thread-func-entry-exit
3584                              Enable function entry/exit instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer (default)
3585      -fsanitize-thread-memory-access
3586                              Enable memory access instrumentation in ThreadSanitizer (default)
3587      -fsanitize-trap=<value> Enable trapping for specified sanitizers
3588      -fsanitize-undefined-strip-path-components=<number>
3589                              Strip (or keep only, if negative) a given number of path components when emitting check metadata.
3590      -fsanitize=<check>      Turn on runtime checks for various forms of undefined or suspicious behavior. See user manual for available checks
3591      -fsplit-lto-unit        Enables splitting of the LTO unit.
3592      -fstandalone-debug      Emit full debug info for all types used by the program
3593      -fthin-link-bitcode=<value>
3594                              Write minimized bitcode to <file> for the ThinLTO thin link only
3595      -fthinlto-index=<value> Perform ThinLTO importing using provided function summary index
3596      -ftime-trace-granularity=<value>
3597                              Minimum time granularity (in microseconds) traced by time profiler
3598      -ftime-trace            Turn on time profiler. Generates JSON file based on output filename.
3599      -ftrivial-auto-var-init=<value>
3600                              Initialize trivial automatic stack variables: uninitialized (default) | pattern
3601      -fvirtual-function-elimination
3602                              Enables dead virtual function elimination optimization. Requires -flto=full
3603      -fwhole-program-vtables Enables whole-program vtable optimization. Requires -flto
3604      -gcodeview-ghash        Emit type record hashes in a .debug$H section
3605      -gcodeview              Generate CodeView debug information
3606      -gdwarf                 Generate source-level debug information with the default dwarf version
3607      -gline-directives-only  Emit debug line info directives only
3608      -gline-tables-only      Emit debug line number tables only
3609      -gno-inline-line-tables Don't emit inline line tables
3610      -miamcu                 Use Intel MCU ABI
3611      -mllvm <value>          Additional arguments to forward to LLVM's option processing
3612      -nobuiltininc           Disable builtin #include directories
3613      -print-supported-cpus   Print supported cpu models for the given target
3614                              (if target is not specified, it will print the supported cpus for the default target)
3615      -Qunused-arguments      Don't emit warning for unused driver arguments
3616      -R<remark>              Enable the specified remark
3617      --target=<value>        Generate code for the given target
3618      --version               Print version information
3619      -v                      Show commands to run and use verbose output
3620      -W<warning>             Enable the specified warning
3621      -Xclang <arg>           Pass <arg> to the clang compiler
3622
3623The /clang: Option
3624^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3625
3626When clang-cl is run with a set of ``/clang:<arg>`` options, it will gather all
3627of the ``<arg>`` arguments and process them as if they were passed to the clang
3628driver. This mechanism allows you to pass flags that are not exposed in the
3629clang-cl options or flags that have a different meaning when passed to the clang
3630driver. Regardless of where they appear in the command line, the ``/clang:``
3631arguments are treated as if they were passed at the end of the clang-cl command
3632line.
3633
3634The /Zc:dllexportInlines- Option
3635^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3636
3637This causes the class-level `dllexport` and `dllimport` attributes to not apply
3638to inline member functions, as they otherwise would. For example, in the code
3639below `S::foo()` would normally be defined and exported by the DLL, but when
3640using the ``/Zc:dllexportInlines-`` flag it is not:
3641
3642.. code-block:: c
3643
3644  struct __declspec(dllexport) S {
3645    void foo() {}
3646  }
3647
3648This has the benefit that the compiler doesn't need to emit a definition of
3649`S::foo()` in every translation unit where the declaration is included, as it
3650would otherwise do to ensure there's a definition in the DLL even if it's not
3651used there. If the declaration occurs in a header file that's widely used, this
3652can save significant compilation time and output size. It also reduces the
3653number of functions exported by the DLL similarly to what
3654``-fvisibility-inlines-hidden`` does for shared objects on ELF and Mach-O.
3655Since the function declaration comes with an inline definition, users of the
3656library can use that definition directly instead of importing it from the DLL.
3657
3658Note that the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler does not support this option, and
3659if code in a DLL is compiled with ``/Zc:dllexportInlines-``, the code using the
3660DLL must be compiled in the same way so that it doesn't attempt to dllimport
3661the inline member functions. The reverse scenario should generally work though:
3662a DLL compiled without this flag (such as a system library compiled with Visual
3663C++) can be referenced from code compiled using the flag, meaning that the
3664referencing code will use the inline definitions instead of importing them from
3665the DLL.
3666
3667Also note that like when using ``-fvisibility-inlines-hidden``, the address of
3668`S::foo()` will be different inside and outside the DLL, breaking the C/C++
3669standard requirement that functions have a unique address.
3670
3671The flag does not apply to explicit class template instantiation definitions or
3672declarations, as those are typically used to explicitly provide a single
3673definition in a DLL, (dllexported instantiation definition) or to signal that
3674the definition is available elsewhere (dllimport instantiation declaration). It
3675also doesn't apply to inline members with static local variables, to ensure
3676that the same instance of the variable is used inside and outside the DLL.
3677
3678Using this flag can cause problems when inline functions that would otherwise
3679be dllexported refer to internal symbols of a DLL. For example:
3680
3681.. code-block:: c
3682
3683  void internal();
3684
3685  struct __declspec(dllimport) S {
3686    void foo() { internal(); }
3687  }
3688
3689Normally, references to `S::foo()` would use the definition in the DLL from
3690which it was exported, and which presumably also has the definition of
3691`internal()`. However, when using ``/Zc:dllexportInlines-``, the inline
3692definition of `S::foo()` is used directly, resulting in a link error since
3693`internal()` is not available. Even worse, if there is an inline definition of
3694`internal()` containing a static local variable, we will now refer to a
3695different instance of that variable than in the DLL:
3696
3697.. code-block:: c
3698
3699  inline int internal() { static int x; return x++; }
3700
3701  struct __declspec(dllimport) S {
3702    int foo() { return internal(); }
3703  }
3704
3705This could lead to very subtle bugs. Using ``-fvisibility-inlines-hidden`` can
3706lead to the same issue. To avoid it in this case, make `S::foo()` or
3707`internal()` non-inline, or mark them `dllimport/dllexport` explicitly.
3708
3709The /fallback Option
3710^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3711
3712When clang-cl is run with the ``/fallback`` option, it will first try to
3713compile files itself. For any file that it fails to compile, it will fall back
3714and try to compile the file by invoking cl.exe.
3715
3716This option is intended to be used as a temporary means to build projects where
3717clang-cl cannot successfully compile all the files. clang-cl may fail to compile
3718a file either because it cannot generate code for some C++ feature, or because
3719it cannot parse some Microsoft language extension.
3720