f30ce1fe97
For host VM code, we use plain reference counting, where cloning increments
the reference count, and dropping decrements it. We can avoid many of the
on-stack increment/decrement operations that typically plague the
performance of reference counting via Rust's ownership and borrowing system.
Moving a `VMExternRef` avoids mutating its reference count, and borrowing it
either avoids the reference count increment or delays it until if/when the
`VMExternRef` is cloned.
When passing a `VMExternRef` into compiled Wasm code, we don't want to do
reference count mutations for every compiled `local.{get,set}`, nor for
every function call. Therefore, we use a variation of **deferred reference
counting**, where we only mutate reference counts when storing
`VMExternRef`s somewhere that outlives the activation: into a global or
table. Simultaneously, we over-approximate the set of `VMExternRef`s that
are inside Wasm function activations. Periodically, we walk the stack at GC
safe points, and use stack map information to precisely identify the set of
`VMExternRef`s inside Wasm activations. Then we take the difference between
this precise set and our over-approximation, and decrement the reference
count for each of the `VMExternRef`s that are in our over-approximation but
not in the precise set. Finally, the over-approximation is replaced with the
precise set.
The `VMExternRefActivationsTable` implements the over-approximized set of
`VMExternRef`s referenced by Wasm activations. Calling a Wasm function and
passing it a `VMExternRef` moves the `VMExternRef` into the table, and the
compiled Wasm function logically "borrows" the `VMExternRef` from the
table. Similarly, `global.get` and `table.get` operations clone the gotten
`VMExternRef` into the `VMExternRefActivationsTable` and then "borrow" the
reference out of the table.
When a `VMExternRef` is returned to host code from a Wasm function, the host
increments the reference count (because the reference is logically
"borrowed" from the `VMExternRefActivationsTable` and the reference count
from the table will be dropped at the next GC).
For more general information on deferred reference counting, see *An
Examination of Deferred Reference Counting and Cycle Detection* by Quinane:
https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/42030/2/hon-thesis.pdf
cc #929
Fixes #1804
Cranelift Code Generator
A Bytecode Alliance project
Cranelift is a low-level retargetable code generator. It translates a target-independent intermediate representation into executable machine code.
For more information, see the documentation.
For an example of how to use the JIT, see the SimpleJIT Demo, which implements a toy language.
For an example of how to use Cranelift to run WebAssembly code, see Wasmtime, which implements a standalone, embeddable, VM using Cranelift.
Status
Cranelift currently supports enough functionality to run a wide variety of programs, including all the functionality needed to execute WebAssembly MVP functions, although it needs to be used within an external WebAssembly embedding to be part of a complete WebAssembly implementation.
The x86-64 backend is currently the most complete and stable; other architectures are in various stages of development. Cranelift currently supports both the System V AMD64 ABI calling convention used on many platforms and the Windows x64 calling convention. The performance of code produced by Cranelift is not yet impressive, though we have plans to fix that.
The core codegen crates have minimal dependencies, support no_std mode (see below), and do not require any host floating-point support, and do not use callstack recursion.
Cranelift does not yet perform mitigations for Spectre or related security issues, though it may do so in the future. It does not currently make any security-relevant instruction timing guarantees. It has seen a fair amount of testing and fuzzing, although more work is needed before it would be ready for a production use case.
Cranelift's APIs are not yet stable.
Cranelift currently requires Rust 1.37 or later to build.
Contributing
If you're interested in contributing to Cranelift: thank you! We have a [contributing guide] which will help you getting involved in the Cranelift project.
Planned uses
Cranelift is designed to be a code generator for WebAssembly, but it is general enough to be useful elsewhere too. The initial planned uses that affected its design are:
- WebAssembly compiler for the SpiderMonkey engine in Firefox.
- Backend for the IonMonkey JavaScript JIT compiler in Firefox.
- Debug build backend for the Rust compiler.
- Wasmtime non-Web wasm engine.
Building Cranelift
Cranelift uses a conventional Cargo build process.
Cranelift consists of a collection of crates, and uses a Cargo
Workspace,
so for some cargo commands, such as cargo test, the --all is needed
to tell cargo to visit all of the crates.
test-all.sh at the top level is a script which runs all the cargo
tests and also performs code format, lint, and documentation checks.
Building with no_std
The following crates support `no_std`, although they do depend on liballoc:
- cranelift-entity
- cranelift-bforest
- cranelift-codegen
- cranelift-frontend
- cranelift-native
- cranelift-wasm
- cranelift-module
- cranelift-preopt
- cranelift
To use no_std mode, disable the std feature and enable the core feature. This currently requires nightly rust.
For example, to build `cranelift-codegen`:
cd cranelift-codegen
cargo build --no-default-features --features core
Or, when using cranelift-codegen as a dependency (in Cargo.toml):
[dependency.cranelift-codegen]
...
default-features = false
features = ["core"]
no_std support is currently "best effort". We won't try to break it, and we'll accept patches fixing problems, however we don't expect all developers to build and test no_std when submitting patches. Accordingly, the ./test-all.sh script does not test no_std.
There is a separate ./test-no_std.sh script that tests the no_std support in packages which support it.
It's important to note that cranelift still needs liballoc to compile. Thus, whatever environment is used must implement an allocator.
Also, to allow the use of HashMaps with no_std, an external crate called hashmap_core is pulled in (via the core feature). This is mostly the same as std::collections::HashMap, except that it doesn't have DOS protection. Just something to think about.
Log configuration
Cranelift uses the log crate to log messages at various levels. It doesn't
specify any maximal logging level, so embedders can choose what it should be;
however, this can have an impact of Cranelift's code size. You can use log
features to reduce the maximum logging level. For instance if you want to limit
the level of logging to warn messages and above in release mode:
[dependency.log]
...
features = ["release_max_level_warn"]
Editor Support
Editor support for working with Cranelift IR (clif) files: