Sphinxify the AliasAnalysis document.

git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@158805 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8

1 files changed, 702 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/AliasAnalysis.rst b/docs/AliasAnalysis.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d4f291
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/AliasAnalysis.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,702 @@
+.. _alias_analysis:
+
+==================================
+LLVM Alias Analysis Infrastructure
+==================================
+
+.. contents::
+   :local:
+
+Introduction
+============
+
+Alias Analysis (aka Pointer Analysis) is a class of techniques which attempt to
+determine whether or not two pointers ever can point to the same object in
+memory.  There are many different algorithms for alias analysis and many
+different ways of classifying them: flow-sensitive vs. flow-insensitive,
+context-sensitive vs. context-insensitive, field-sensitive
+vs. field-insensitive, unification-based vs. subset-based, etc.  Traditionally,
+alias analyses respond to a query with a `Must, May, or No`_ alias response,
+indicating that two pointers always point to the same object, might point to the
+same object, or are known to never point to the same object.
+
+The LLVM `AliasAnalysis
+<http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__ class is the
+primary interface used by clients and implementations of alias analyses in the
+LLVM system.  This class is the common interface between clients of alias
+analysis information and the implementations providing it, and is designed to
+support a wide range of implementations and clients (but currently all clients
+are assumed to be flow-insensitive).  In addition to simple alias analysis
+information, this class exposes Mod/Ref information from those implementations
+which can provide it, allowing for powerful analyses and transformations to work
+well together.
+
+This document contains information necessary to successfully implement this
+interface, use it, and to test both sides.  It also explains some of the finer
+points about what exactly results mean.  If you feel that something is unclear
+or should be added, please `let me know <mailto:sabre@nondot.org>`_.
+
+``AliasAnalysis`` Class Overview
+================================
+
+The `AliasAnalysis <http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__
+class defines the interface that the various alias analysis implementations
+should support.  This class exports two important enums: ``AliasResult`` and
+``ModRefResult`` which represent the result of an alias query or a mod/ref
+query, respectively.
+
+The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface exposes information about memory, represented in
+several different ways.  In particular, memory objects are represented as a
+starting address and size, and function calls are represented as the actual
+``call`` or ``invoke`` instructions that performs the call.  The
+``AliasAnalysis`` interface also exposes some helper methods which allow you to
+get mod/ref information for arbitrary instructions.
+
+All ``AliasAnalysis`` interfaces require that in queries involving multiple
+values, values which are not `constants <LangRef.html#constants>`_ are all
+defined within the same function.
+
+Representation of Pointers
+--------------------------
+
+Most importantly, the ``AliasAnalysis`` class provides several methods which are
+used to query whether or not two memory objects alias, whether function calls
+can modify or read a memory object, etc.  For all of these queries, memory
+objects are represented as a pair of their starting address (a symbolic LLVM
+``Value*``) and a static size.
+
+Representing memory objects as a starting address and a size is critically
+important for correct Alias Analyses.  For example, consider this (silly, but
+possible) C code:
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+  int i;
+  char C[2];
+  char A[10]; 
+  /* ... */
+  for (i = 0; i != 10; ++i) {
+    C[0] = A[i];          /* One byte store */
+    C[1] = A[9-i];        /* One byte store */
+  }
+
+In this case, the ``basicaa`` pass will disambiguate the stores to ``C[0]`` and
+``C[1]`` because they are accesses to two distinct locations one byte apart, and
+the accesses are each one byte.  In this case, the Loop Invariant Code Motion
+(LICM) pass can use store motion to remove the stores from the loop.  In
+constrast, the following code:
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+  int i;
+  char C[2];
+  char A[10]; 
+  /* ... */
+  for (i = 0; i != 10; ++i) {
+    ((short*)C)[0] = A[i];  /* Two byte store! */
+    C[1] = A[9-i];          /* One byte store */
+  }
+
+In this case, the two stores to C do alias each other, because the access to the
+``&C[0]`` element is a two byte access.  If size information wasn't available in
+the query, even the first case would have to conservatively assume that the
+accesses alias.
+
+.. _alias:
+
+The ``alias`` method
+--------------------
+  
+The ``alias`` method is the primary interface used to determine whether or not
+two memory objects alias each other.  It takes two memory objects as input and
+returns MustAlias, PartialAlias, MayAlias, or NoAlias as appropriate.
+
+Like all ``AliasAnalysis`` interfaces, the ``alias`` method requires that either
+the two pointer values be defined within the same function, or at least one of
+the values is a `constant <LangRef.html#constants>`_.
+
+.. _Must, May, or No:
+
+Must, May, and No Alias Responses
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``NoAlias`` response may be used when there is never an immediate dependence
+between any memory reference *based* on one pointer and any memory reference
+*based* the other. The most obvious example is when the two pointers point to
+non-overlapping memory ranges. Another is when the two pointers are only ever
+used for reading memory. Another is when the memory is freed and reallocated
+between accesses through one pointer and accesses through the other --- in this
+case, there is a dependence, but it's mediated by the free and reallocation.
+
+As an exception to this is with the `noalias <LangRef.html#noalias>`_ keyword;
+the "irrelevant" dependencies are ignored.
+
+The ``MayAlias`` response is used whenever the two pointers might refer to the
+same object.
+
+The ``PartialAlias`` response is used when the two memory objects are known to
+be overlapping in some way, but do not start at the same address.
+
+The ``MustAlias`` response may only be returned if the two memory objects are
+guaranteed to always start at exactly the same location. A ``MustAlias``
+response implies that the pointers compare equal.
+
+The ``getModRefInfo`` methods
+-----------------------------
+
+The ``getModRefInfo`` methods return information about whether the execution of
+an instruction can read or modify a memory location.  Mod/Ref information is
+always conservative: if an instruction **might** read or write a location,
+``ModRef`` is returned.
+
+The ``AliasAnalysis`` class also provides a ``getModRefInfo`` method for testing
+dependencies between function calls.  This method takes two call sites (``CS1``
+& ``CS2``), returns ``NoModRef`` if neither call writes to memory read or
+written by the other, ``Ref`` if ``CS1`` reads memory written by ``CS2``,
+``Mod`` if ``CS1`` writes to memory read or written by ``CS2``, or ``ModRef`` if
+``CS1`` might read or write memory written to by ``CS2``.  Note that this
+relation is not commutative.
+
+Other useful ``AliasAnalysis`` methods
+--------------------------------------
+
+Several other tidbits of information are often collected by various alias
+analysis implementations and can be put to good use by various clients.
+
+The ``pointsToConstantMemory`` method
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``pointsToConstantMemory`` method returns true if and only if the analysis
+can prove that the pointer only points to unchanging memory locations
+(functions, constant global variables, and the null pointer).  This information
+can be used to refine mod/ref information: it is impossible for an unchanging
+memory location to be modified.
+
+.. _never access memory or only read memory:
+
+The ``doesNotAccessMemory`` and  ``onlyReadsMemory`` methods
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+These methods are used to provide very simple mod/ref information for function
+calls.  The ``doesNotAccessMemory`` method returns true for a function if the
+analysis can prove that the function never reads or writes to memory, or if the
+function only reads from constant memory.  Functions with this property are
+side-effect free and only depend on their input arguments, allowing them to be
+eliminated if they form common subexpressions or be hoisted out of loops.  Many
+common functions behave this way (e.g., ``sin`` and ``cos``) but many others do
+not (e.g., ``acos``, which modifies the ``errno`` variable).
+
+The ``onlyReadsMemory`` method returns true for a function if analysis can prove
+that (at most) the function only reads from non-volatile memory.  Functions with
+this property are side-effect free, only depending on their input arguments and
+the state of memory when they are called.  This property allows calls to these
+functions to be eliminated and moved around, as long as there is no store
+instruction that changes the contents of memory.  Note that all functions that
+satisfy the ``doesNotAccessMemory`` method also satisfies ``onlyReadsMemory``.
+
+Writing a new ``AliasAnalysis`` Implementation
+==============================================
+
+Writing a new alias analysis implementation for LLVM is quite straight-forward.
+There are already several implementations that you can use for examples, and the
+following information should help fill in any details.  For a examples, take a
+look at the `various alias analysis implementations`_ included with LLVM.
+
+Different Pass styles
+---------------------
+
+The first step to determining what type of `LLVM pass <WritingAnLLVMPass.html>`_
+you need to use for your Alias Analysis.  As is the case with most other
+analyses and transformations, the answer should be fairly obvious from what type
+of problem you are trying to solve:
+
+#. If you require interprocedural analysis, it should be a ``Pass``.
+#. If you are a function-local analysis, subclass ``FunctionPass``.
+#. If you don't need to look at the program at all, subclass ``ImmutablePass``.
+
+In addition to the pass that you subclass, you should also inherit from the
+``AliasAnalysis`` interface, of course, and use the ``RegisterAnalysisGroup``
+template to register as an implementation of ``AliasAnalysis``.
+
+Required initialization calls
+-----------------------------
+
+Your subclass of ``AliasAnalysis`` is required to invoke two methods on the
+``AliasAnalysis`` base class: ``getAnalysisUsage`` and
+``InitializeAliasAnalysis``.  In particular, your implementation of
+``getAnalysisUsage`` should explicitly call into the
+``AliasAnalysis::getAnalysisUsage`` method in addition to doing any declaring
+any pass dependencies your pass has.  Thus you should have something like this:
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+  void getAnalysisUsage(AnalysisUsage &amp;AU) const {
+    AliasAnalysis::getAnalysisUsage(AU);
+    // declare your dependencies here.
+  }
+
+Additionally, your must invoke the ``InitializeAliasAnalysis`` method from your
+analysis run method (``run`` for a ``Pass``, ``runOnFunction`` for a
+``FunctionPass``, or ``InitializePass`` for an ``ImmutablePass``).  For example
+(as part of a ``Pass``):
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+  bool run(Module &M) {
+    InitializeAliasAnalysis(this);
+    // Perform analysis here...
+    return false;
+  }
+
+Interfaces which may be specified
+---------------------------------
+
+All of the `AliasAnalysis
+<http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasAnalysis.html>`__ virtual methods
+default to providing `chaining`_ to another alias analysis implementation, which
+ends up returning conservatively correct information (returning "May" Alias and
+"Mod/Ref" for alias and mod/ref queries respectively).  Depending on the
+capabilities of the analysis you are implementing, you just override the
+interfaces you can improve.
+
+.. _chaining:
+.. _chain:
+
+``AliasAnalysis`` chaining behavior
+-----------------------------------
+
+With only one special exception (the `no-aa`_ pass) every alias analysis pass
+chains to another alias analysis implementation (for example, the user can
+specify "``-basicaa -ds-aa -licm``" to get the maximum benefit from both alias
+analyses).  The alias analysis class automatically takes care of most of this
+for methods that you don't override.  For methods that you do override, in code
+paths that return a conservative MayAlias or Mod/Ref result, simply return
+whatever the superclass computes.  For example:
+
+.. code-block:: c++
+
+  AliasAnalysis::AliasResult alias(const Value *V1, unsigned V1Size,
+                                   const Value *V2, unsigned V2Size) {
+    if (...)
+      return NoAlias;
+    ...
+
+    // Couldn't determine a must or no-alias result.
+    return AliasAnalysis::alias(V1, V1Size, V2, V2Size);
+  }
+
+In addition to analysis queries, you must make sure to unconditionally pass LLVM
+`update notification`_ methods to the superclass as well if you override them,
+which allows all alias analyses in a change to be updated.
+
+.. _update notification:
+
+Updating analysis results for transformations
+---------------------------------------------
+
+Alias analysis information is initially computed for a static snapshot of the
+program, but clients will use this information to make transformations to the
+code.  All but the most trivial forms of alias analysis will need to have their
+analysis results updated to reflect the changes made by these transformations.
+
+The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface exposes four methods which are used to
+communicate program changes from the clients to the analysis implementations.
+Various alias analysis implementations should use these methods to ensure that
+their internal data structures are kept up-to-date as the program changes (for
+example, when an instruction is deleted), and clients of alias analysis must be
+sure to call these interfaces appropriately.
+
+The ``deleteValue`` method
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``deleteValue`` method is called by transformations when they remove an
+instruction or any other value from the program (including values that do not
+use pointers).  Typically alias analyses keep data structures that have entries
+for each value in the program.  When this method is called, they should remove
+any entries for the specified value, if they exist.
+
+The ``copyValue`` method
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``copyValue`` method is used when a new value is introduced into the
+program.  There is no way to introduce a value into the program that did not
+exist before (this doesn't make sense for a safe compiler transformation), so
+this is the only way to introduce a new value.  This method indicates that the
+new value has exactly the same properties as the value being copied.
+
+The ``replaceWithNewValue`` method
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+This method is a simple helper method that is provided to make clients easier to
+use.  It is implemented by copying the old analysis information to the new
+value, then deleting the old value.  This method cannot be overridden by alias
+analysis implementations.
+
+The ``addEscapingUse`` method
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``addEscapingUse`` method is used when the uses of a pointer value have
+changed in ways that may invalidate precomputed analysis information.
+Implementations may either use this callback to provide conservative responses
+for points whose uses have change since analysis time, or may recompute some or
+all of their internal state to continue providing accurate responses.
+
+In general, any new use of a pointer value is considered an escaping use, and
+must be reported through this callback, *except* for the uses below:
+
+* A ``bitcast`` or ``getelementptr`` of the pointer
+* A ``store`` through the pointer (but not a ``store`` *of* the pointer)
+* A ``load`` through the pointer
+
+Efficiency Issues
+-----------------
+
+From the LLVM perspective, the only thing you need to do to provide an efficient
+alias analysis is to make sure that alias analysis **queries** are serviced
+quickly.  The actual calculation of the alias analysis results (the "run"
+method) is only performed once, but many (perhaps duplicate) queries may be
+performed.  Because of this, try to move as much computation to the run method
+as possible (within reason).
+
+Limitations
+-----------
+
+The AliasAnalysis infrastructure has several limitations which make writing a
+new ``AliasAnalysis`` implementation difficult.
+
+There is no way to override the default alias analysis. It would be very useful
+to be able to do something like "``opt -my-aa -O2``" and have it use ``-my-aa``
+for all passes which need AliasAnalysis, but there is currently no support for
+that, short of changing the source code and recompiling. Similarly, there is
+also no way of setting a chain of analyses as the default.
+
+There is no way for transform passes to declare that they preserve
+``AliasAnalysis`` implementations. The ``AliasAnalysis`` interface includes
+``deleteValue`` and ``copyValue`` methods which are intended to allow a pass to
+keep an AliasAnalysis consistent, however there's no way for a pass to declare
+in its ``getAnalysisUsage`` that it does so. Some passes attempt to use
+``AU.addPreserved<AliasAnalysis>``, however this doesn't actually have any
+effect.
+
+``AliasAnalysisCounter`` (``-count-aa``) and ``AliasDebugger`` (``-debug-aa``)
+are implemented as ``ModulePass`` classes, so if your alias analysis uses
+``FunctionPass``, it won't be able to use these utilities. If you try to use
+them, the pass manager will silently route alias analysis queries directly to
+``BasicAliasAnalysis`` instead.
+
+Similarly, the ``opt -p`` option introduces ``ModulePass`` passes between each
+pass, which prevents the use of ``FunctionPass`` alias analysis passes.
+
+The ``AliasAnalysis`` API does have functions for notifying implementations when
+values are deleted or copied, however these aren't sufficient. There are many
+other ways that LLVM IR can be modified which could be relevant to
+``AliasAnalysis`` implementations which can not be expressed.
+
+The ``AliasAnalysisDebugger`` utility seems to suggest that ``AliasAnalysis``
+implementations can expect that they will be informed of any relevant ``Value``
+before it appears in an alias query. However, popular clients such as ``GVN``
+don't support this, and are known to trigger errors when run with the
+``AliasAnalysisDebugger``.
+
+Due to several of the above limitations, the most obvious use for the
+``AliasAnalysisCounter`` utility, collecting stats on all alias queries in a
+compilation, doesn't work, even if the ``AliasAnalysis`` implementations don't
+use ``FunctionPass``.  There's no way to set a default, much less a default
+sequence, and there's no way to preserve it.
+
+The ``AliasSetTracker`` class (which is used by ``LICM``) makes a
+non-deterministic number of alias queries. This can cause stats collected by
+``AliasAnalysisCounter`` to have fluctuations among identical runs, for
+example. Another consequence is that debugging techniques involving pausing
+execution after a predetermined number of queries can be unreliable.
+
+Many alias queries can be reformulated in terms of other alias queries. When
+multiple ``AliasAnalysis`` queries are chained together, it would make sense to
+start those queries from the beginning of the chain, with care taken to avoid
+infinite looping, however currently an implementation which wants to do this can
+only start such queries from itself.
+
+Using alias analysis results
+============================
+
+There are several different ways to use alias analysis results.  In order of
+preference, these are:
+
+Using the ``MemoryDependenceAnalysis`` Pass
+-------------------------------------------
+
+The ``memdep`` pass uses alias analysis to provide high-level dependence
+information about memory-using instructions.  This will tell you which store
+feeds into a load, for example.  It uses caching and other techniques to be
+efficient, and is used by Dead Store Elimination, GVN, and memcpy optimizations.
+
+.. _AliasSetTracker:
+
+Using the ``AliasSetTracker`` class
+-----------------------------------
+
+Many transformations need information about alias **sets** that are active in
+some scope, rather than information about pairwise aliasing.  The
+`AliasSetTracker <http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1AliasSetTracker.html>`__
+class is used to efficiently build these Alias Sets from the pairwise alias
+analysis information provided by the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface.
+
+First you initialize the AliasSetTracker by using the "``add``" methods to add
+information about various potentially aliasing instructions in the scope you are
+interested in.  Once all of the alias sets are completed, your pass should
+simply iterate through the constructed alias sets, using the ``AliasSetTracker``
+``begin()``/``end()`` methods.
+
+The ``AliasSet``\s formed by the ``AliasSetTracker`` are guaranteed to be
+disjoint, calculate mod/ref information and volatility for the set, and keep
+track of whether or not all of the pointers in the set are Must aliases.  The
+AliasSetTracker also makes sure that sets are properly folded due to call
+instructions, and can provide a list of pointers in each set.
+
+As an example user of this, the `Loop Invariant Code Motion
+<doxygen/structLICM.html>`_ pass uses ``AliasSetTracker``\s to calculate alias
+sets for each loop nest.  If an ``AliasSet`` in a loop is not modified, then all
+load instructions from that set may be hoisted out of the loop.  If any alias
+sets are stored to **and** are must alias sets, then the stores may be sunk
+to outside of the loop, promoting the memory location to a register for the
+duration of the loop nest.  Both of these transformations only apply if the
+pointer argument is loop-invariant.
+
+The AliasSetTracker implementation
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The AliasSetTracker class is implemented to be as efficient as possible.  It
+uses the union-find algorithm to efficiently merge AliasSets when a pointer is
+inserted into the AliasSetTracker that aliases multiple sets.  The primary data
+structure is a hash table mapping pointers to the AliasSet they are in.
+
+The AliasSetTracker class must maintain a list of all of the LLVM ``Value*``\s
+that are in each AliasSet.  Since the hash table already has entries for each
+LLVM ``Value*`` of interest, the AliasesSets thread the linked list through
+these hash-table nodes to avoid having to allocate memory unnecessarily, and to
+make merging alias sets extremely efficient (the linked list merge is constant
+time).
+
+You shouldn't need to understand these details if you are just a client of the
+AliasSetTracker, but if you look at the code, hopefully this brief description
+will help make sense of why things are designed the way they are.
+
+Using the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface directly
+----------------------------------------------
+
+If neither of these utility class are what your pass needs, you should use the
+interfaces exposed by the ``AliasAnalysis`` class directly.  Try to use the
+higher-level methods when possible (e.g., use mod/ref information instead of the
+`alias`_ method directly if possible) to get the best precision and efficiency.
+
+Existing alias analysis implementations and clients
+===================================================
+
+If you're going to be working with the LLVM alias analysis infrastructure, you
+should know what clients and implementations of alias analysis are available.
+In particular, if you are implementing an alias analysis, you should be aware of
+the `the clients`_ that are useful for monitoring and evaluating different
+implementations.
+
+.. _various alias analysis implementations:
+
+Available ``AliasAnalysis`` implementations
+-------------------------------------------
+
+This section lists the various implementations of the ``AliasAnalysis``
+interface.  With the exception of the `-no-aa`_ implementation, all of these
+`chain`_ to other alias analysis implementations.
+
+.. _no-aa:
+.. _-no-aa:
+
+The ``-no-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-no-aa`` pass is just like what it sounds: an alias analysis that never
+returns any useful information.  This pass can be useful if you think that alias
+analysis is doing something wrong and are trying to narrow down a problem.
+
+The ``-basicaa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-basicaa`` pass is an aggressive local analysis that *knows* many
+important facts:
+
+* Distinct globals, stack allocations, and heap allocations can never alias.
+* Globals, stack allocations, and heap allocations never alias the null pointer.
+* Different fields of a structure do not alias.
+* Indexes into arrays with statically differing subscripts cannot alias.
+* Many common standard C library functions `never access memory or only read
+  memory`_.
+* Pointers that obviously point to constant globals "``pointToConstantMemory``".
+* Function calls can not modify or references stack allocations if they never
+  escape from the function that allocates them (a common case for automatic
+  arrays).
+
+The ``-globalsmodref-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+This pass implements a simple context-sensitive mod/ref and alias analysis for
+internal global variables that don't "have their address taken".  If a global
+does not have its address taken, the pass knows that no pointers alias the
+global.  This pass also keeps track of functions that it knows never access
+memory or never read memory.  This allows certain optimizations (e.g. GVN) to
+eliminate call instructions entirely.
+
+The real power of this pass is that it provides context-sensitive mod/ref
+information for call instructions.  This allows the optimizer to know that calls
+to a function do not clobber or read the value of the global, allowing loads and
+stores to be eliminated.
+
+.. note::
+
+  This pass is somewhat limited in its scope (only support non-address taken
+  globals), but is very quick analysis.
+
+The ``-steens-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-steens-aa`` pass implements a variation on the well-known "Steensgaard's
+algorithm" for interprocedural alias analysis.  Steensgaard's algorithm is a
+unification-based, flow-insensitive, context-insensitive, and field-insensitive
+alias analysis that is also very scalable (effectively linear time).
+
+The LLVM ``-steens-aa`` pass implements a "speculatively field-**sensitive**"
+version of Steensgaard's algorithm using the Data Structure Analysis framework.
+This gives it substantially more precision than the standard algorithm while
+maintaining excellent analysis scalability.
+
+.. note::
+
+  ``-steens-aa`` is available in the optional "poolalloc" module. It is not part
+  of the LLVM core.
+
+The ``-ds-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-ds-aa`` pass implements the full Data Structure Analysis algorithm.  Data
+Structure Analysis is a modular unification-based, flow-insensitive,
+context-**sensitive**, and speculatively field-**sensitive** alias
+analysis that is also quite scalable, usually at ``O(n * log(n))``.
+
+This algorithm is capable of responding to a full variety of alias analysis
+queries, and can provide context-sensitive mod/ref information as well.  The
+only major facility not implemented so far is support for must-alias
+information.
+
+.. note::
+
+  ``-ds-aa`` is available in the optional "poolalloc" module. It is not part of
+  the LLVM core.
+
+The ``-scev-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-scev-aa`` pass implements AliasAnalysis queries by translating them into
+ScalarEvolution queries. This gives it a more complete understanding of
+``getelementptr`` instructions and loop induction variables than other alias
+analyses have.
+
+Alias analysis driven transformations
+-------------------------------------
+
+LLVM includes several alias-analysis driven transformations which can be used
+with any of the implementations above.
+
+The ``-adce`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-adce`` pass, which implements Aggressive Dead Code Elimination uses the
+``AliasAnalysis`` interface to delete calls to functions that do not have
+side-effects and are not used.
+
+The ``-licm`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-licm`` pass implements various Loop Invariant Code Motion related
+transformations.  It uses the ``AliasAnalysis`` interface for several different
+transformations:
+
+* It uses mod/ref information to hoist or sink load instructions out of loops if
+  there are no instructions in the loop that modifies the memory loaded.
+
+* It uses mod/ref information to hoist function calls out of loops that do not
+  write to memory and are loop-invariant.
+
+* If uses alias information to promote memory objects that are loaded and stored
+  to in loops to live in a register instead.  It can do this if there are no may
+  aliases to the loaded/stored memory location.
+
+The ``-argpromotion`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-argpromotion`` pass promotes by-reference arguments to be passed in
+by-value instead.  In particular, if pointer arguments are only loaded from it
+passes in the value loaded instead of the address to the function.  This pass
+uses alias information to make sure that the value loaded from the argument
+pointer is not modified between the entry of the function and any load of the
+pointer.
+
+The ``-gvn``, ``-memcpyopt``, and ``-dse`` passes
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+These passes use AliasAnalysis information to reason about loads and stores.
+
+.. _the clients:
+
+Clients for debugging and evaluation of implementations
+-------------------------------------------------------
+
+These passes are useful for evaluating the various alias analysis
+implementations.  You can use them with commands like:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  % opt -ds-aa -aa-eval foo.bc -disable-output -stats
+
+The ``-print-alias-sets`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-print-alias-sets`` pass is exposed as part of the ``opt`` tool to print
+out the Alias Sets formed by the `AliasSetTracker`_ class.  This is useful if
+you're using the ``AliasSetTracker`` class.  To use it, use something like:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  % opt -ds-aa -print-alias-sets -disable-output
+
+The ``-count-aa`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-count-aa`` pass is useful to see how many queries a particular pass is
+making and what responses are returned by the alias analysis.  As an example:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+  % opt -basicaa -count-aa -ds-aa -count-aa -licm
+
+will print out how many queries (and what responses are returned) by the
+``-licm`` pass (of the ``-ds-aa`` pass) and how many queries are made of the
+``-basicaa`` pass by the ``-ds-aa`` pass.  This can be useful when debugging a
+transformation or an alias analysis implementation.
+
+The ``-aa-eval`` pass
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The ``-aa-eval`` pass simply iterates through all pairs of pointers in a
+function and asks an alias analysis whether or not the pointers alias.  This
+gives an indication of the precision of the alias analysis.  Statistics are
+printed indicating the percent of no/may/must aliases found (a more precise
+algorithm will have a lower number of may aliases).
+
+Memory Dependence Analysis
+==========================
+
+If you're just looking to be a client of alias analysis information, consider
+using the Memory Dependence Analysis interface instead.  MemDep is a lazy,
+caching layer on top of alias analysis that is able to answer the question of
+what preceding memory operations a given instruction depends on, either at an
+intra- or inter-block level.  Because of its laziness and caching policy, using
+MemDep can be a significant performance win over accessing alias analysis
+directly.