First hack-and-slash on the release notes. Comments and improvements welcome

git-svn-id: https://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/llvm/trunk@24092 91177308-0d34-0410-b5e6-96231b3b80d8

1 files changed, 167 insertions, 23 deletions

diff --git a/docs/ReleaseNotes.html b/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
index 465f719..2374278 100644
--- a/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
+++ b/docs/ReleaseNotes.html
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 </ol>
 
 <div class="doc_author">
-  <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">LLVM Team</a><p>
+  <p>Written by the <a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Team</a><p>
 </div>
 
 <!-- *********************************************************************** -->
@@ -35,12 +35,12 @@
 infrastructure, release 1.6.  Here we describe the status of LLVM, including any
 known problems and major improvements from the previous release.  The most
 up-to-date version of this document can be found on the <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/releases/1.6/">LLVM 1.6 web site</a>.  If you are
+href="http://llvm.org/releases/1.6/">LLVM 1.6 web site</a>.  If you are
 not reading this on the LLVM web pages, you should probably go there because
 this document may be updated after the release.</p>
 
 <p>For more information about LLVM, including information about the latest
-release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">main LLVM
+release, please check out the <a href="http://llvm.org/">main LLVM
 web site</a>.  If you have questions or comments, the <a
 href="http://mail.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/llvmdev">LLVM developer's mailing
 list</a> is a good place to send them.</p>
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ list</a> is a good place to send them.</p>
 <p>Note that if you are reading this file from CVS or the main LLVM web page,
 this document applies to the <i>next</i> release, not the current one.  To see
 the release notes for the current or previous releases, see the <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
+href="http://llvm.org/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
 
 </div>
 
@@ -60,11 +60,12 @@ href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/releases/">releases page</a>.</p>
 
 <div class="doc_text">
 
-<p>This is the seventh public release of the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure.</p>
-
-<p>LLVM 1.6 is known to correctly compile a wide range of C and C++ programs,
-includes bug fixes for those problems found since the 1.5 release, and includes
-a large number of new features and enhancements, described below.</p>
+<p>This is the seventh public release of the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure. This
+release incorporates a large number of enhancements and additions (primarily in
+the code generator), which combine to improve the quality of the code generated
+by LLVM by up to 30% in some cases.  This release is also the first release to
+have first-class support for Mac OS/X: all of the major bugs have been shaken
+out and it is now as well supported as Linux on X86.</p>
 
 </div>
 
@@ -73,14 +74,106 @@ a large number of new features and enhancements, described below.</p>
 <a name="newfeatures">New Features in LLVM 1.6</a>
 </div>
 
+<!--_________________________________________________________________________-->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="iselgen">Instruction Selector
+Generation from Target Description</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>LLVM now includes support for auto-generating large portions of the
+instruction selectors from target descriptions.  This allows us to
+write patterns in the target .td file, instead of writing lots of
+nasty C++ code.  Most of the PowerPC instruction selector is now
+generated from the PowerPC target description files and other targets
+are adding support that will be live for LLVM 1.7.</p>
+
+<p>For example, here are some patterns used by the PowerPC backend.  A 
+floating-point multiply then subtract instruction (FMSUBS):</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code"><p>
+<tt>(set F4RC:$FRT, (fsub (fmul F4RC:$FRA, F4RC:$FRC), F4RC:$FRB))</tt>
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Exclusive-or by 16-bit immediate (XORI):</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code"><p>
+<tt>(set GPRC:$dst, (xor GPRC:$src1, immZExt16:$src2))</tt>
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Exclusive-or by 16-bit immediate shifted right 16-bits (XORIS):</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code"><p>
+<tt>(set GPRC:$dst, (xor GPRC:$src1, imm16Shifted:$src2))</tt>
+</p></div>
+
+<p>With these definitions, we teach the code generator how to combine these two
+instructions to xor an abitrary 32-bit immediate with the following
+definition.  The first line specifies what to match (a xor with an arbitrary
+immediate) the second line specifies what to produce:</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code"><p>
+<pre>def : Pat<(xor GPRC:$in, imm:$imm),
+          (XORIS (XORI GPRC:$in, (LO16 imm:$imm)), (HI16 imm:$imm))>;
+</pre>
+</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+<!--_________________________________________________________________________-->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="sched">Instruction Scheduling
+Support</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>Instruction selectors using the refined <a 
+href="CodeGenerator.html#instselect">instruction selection framework</a> can now
+use a simple pre-pass scheduler included with LLVM 1.6.  This scheduler is 
+currently simple (cannot be configured much by the targets), but will be
+extended in the future.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!--_________________________________________________________________________-->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="subtarget">Code Generator Subtarget
+Support</a></div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>It is now straight-forward to parameterize a target implementation, and
+provide a mapping from CPU names to sets of target parameters.  LLC now supports
+a <tt>-mcpu=cpu</tt> option that lets you choose a subtarget by CPU name: use 
+"<tt>llvm-as &lt; /dev/null | llc -march=XXX -mcpu=help</tt>" to get a list of 
+supported CPUs for target "XXX".  It also provides a 
+<tt>-mattr=+attr1,-attr2</tt> option that can be used to control individual 
+features of a target (the previous command will list available features as
+well).</p>
+
+<p>This functionality is nice when you want tell LLC something like "compile to
+code that is specialized for the PowerPC G5, but doesn't use altivec code.  In
+this case, using "<tt>llc -march=ppc32 -mcpu=g5 -mattr=-altivec</tt>".</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!--_________________________________________________________________________-->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection"><a name="jitlock">Other New Features</a></div>
+
 <div class="doc_text">
 <ol>
   <li>The JIT now uses mutexes to protect its internal data structures. This
   allows multi-threaded programs to be run from the JIT or interpreter without
   corruption of the internal data structures. See 
-  <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR418">PR418</a> and
-  <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR540">PR540</a> for the details.
+  <a href="http://llvm.org/PR418">PR418</a> and
+  <a href="http://llvm.org/PR540">PR540</a> for the details.
   </li>
+  <li>LLVM on Win32 <a href="http://llvm.org/PR614">no longer requires sed,
+      flex, or bison when compiling with Visual C++</a>.</li>
+  <li>The llvm-test suite can now use the NAG Fortran to C compiler to compile
+    SPEC FP programs if available (allowing us to test all of SPEC'95 &amp; 
+    2000).</li>
+  <li>When bugpoint is grinding away and the user hits ctrl-C, it now
+    gracefully stops and gives what it has reduced so far, instead of
+    giving up completely.  In addition, <a href="http://llvm.org/PR576">the JIT
+    debugging mode of bugpoint is much faster</a>.</li>
+  <li>LLVM now includes Xcode project files in the llvm/Xcode directory.</li>
+  <li>LLVM now supports Mac OS/X on Intel.</li>
+  <li>LLVM now builds cleanly with GCC 4.1.</li>
 </ol>
 </div>
 
@@ -89,11 +182,45 @@ a large number of new features and enhancements, described below.</p>
 <a name="codequality">Code Quality Improvements in LLVM 1.6</a>
 </div>
 
+<div class="doc_text">
+<ol>
+  <li>The <tt>-globalopt</tt> pass can now statically evaluate C++ static
+      constructors when they are simple enough.  For example, it can
+    now statically initialize "<tt>struct X { int a; X() : a(4) {} } g;</tt>".
+  </li>
+  <li>The Loop Strength Reduction pass has been completely rewritten, is far
+      more aggressive, and is turned on by default in the RISC targets.  On PPC,
+      we find that it often speeds up programs from 10-40% depending on the
+      program.</li>
+  <li>The code produced when exception handling is enabled is far more
+      efficient in some cases, particularly on Mac OS/X.</li>
+</ol>
+</div>
+
+
 <!--=========================================================================-->
 <div class="doc_subsection">
 <a name="codequality">Code Generator Improvements in LLVM 1.6</a>
 </div>
 
+<div class="doc_text">
+<ol>
+<li>The Alpha backend is substantially more stable and robust than in LLVM 1.5.
+    For example, it now fully supports varargs functions.  The Alpha backend
+    also now features beta JIT support.</li>
+<li>The code generator contains a new component, the DAG Combiner.  This allows
+    us to optimize lowered code (e.g. after 64-bit operations have been lowered
+    to use 32-bit registers on 32-bit targets) and do fine-grained bit-twiddling
+    optimizations for the backend.</li>
+<li>The SelectionDAG infrastructure is far more capable and mature, able to
+    handle many new target peculiarities in a target-independent way.</li>
+<li>The default <a href="http://llvm.org/PR547">register allocator is now far
+    faster on some testcases</a>,
+    particularly on targets with a large number of registers (e.g. IA64
+    and PPC).</li>
+</ol>
+</div>
+
 <!--=========================================================================-->
 <div class="doc_subsection">
 <a name="bugfix">Significant Bugs Fixed in LLVM 1.6</a>
@@ -101,7 +228,22 @@ a large number of new features and enhancements, described below.</p>
 
 <div class="doc_text">
 <ol>
-  <li><a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR591">[simplify-libcalls] The simplify-libcalls pass generates ill-formed LLVM code</a>.</li>
+  <li>A vast number of bugs have been fixed in the PowerPC backend and in
+      llvm-gcc when configured for Mac OS/X (particularly relating to ABI
+      issues).  For example:
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR603">PR449</a>,
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR594">PR594</a>, 
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR603">PR603</a>,
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR609">PR609</a>, 
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR630">PR630</a>, 
+      <a href="http://llvm.org/PR643">PR643</a>, 
+      and several others without bugzilla bugs.</li>
+  <li>Several bugs in tail call support have been fixed.</li>
+  <li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR608">configure does not correctly detect gcc 
+      version on cygwin</a>.</li>
+  <li>Many many other random bugs have been fixed.  Query <a 
+      href="http://llvm.org/bugs">our bugzilla</a> with a target of 1.6 for more
+      information.</li>
 </ol>
 </div>
 
@@ -145,7 +287,7 @@ portability patches and reports of successful builds or error messages.</p>
 <p>This section contains all known problems with the LLVM system, listed by
 component.  As new problems are discovered, they will be added to these
 sections.  If you run into a problem, please check the <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
+href="http://llvm.org/bugs/">LLVM bug database</a> and submit a bug if
 there isn't already one.</p>
 
 </div>
@@ -169,6 +311,7 @@ components, please contact us on the llvmdev list.</p>
 <li>The <tt>llvm-db</tt> tool is in a very early stage of development, but can
     be used to step through programs and inspect the stack.</li>
 <li>The SparcV8 and IA64 code generators are experimental.</li>
+<li>The Alpha JIT is experimental.</li>
 </ul>
 
 </div>
@@ -206,7 +349,7 @@ components, please contact us on the llvmdev list.</p>
 </pre></li>
 
 <li>Initialization of global union variables can only be done <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR162">with the largest union member</a>.</li>
+href="http://llvm.org/PR162">with the largest union member</a>.</li>
 
 </ul>
 </div>
@@ -431,7 +574,7 @@ Analysis rules.  As such, special options may be necessary to compile the code
 (for example, GCC requires the <tt>-fno-strict-aliasing</tt> option).  This
 problem probably cannot be fixed.</li>
 
-<li><a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR56">Zero arg vararg functions are not 
+<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR56">Zero arg vararg functions are not 
 supported</a>.  This should not affect LLVM produced by the C or C++ 
 frontends.</li>
 
@@ -447,7 +590,8 @@ frontends.</li>
 <div class="doc_text">
 
 <ul>
-<li><a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR566">Memory Mapped I/O Intrinsics do not fence memory</a></li>
+<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR566">Memory Mapped I/O Intrinsics do not fence 
+memory</a></li>
 </ul>
 
 </div>
@@ -473,7 +617,7 @@ frontends.</li>
 <div class="doc_text">
 
 <ul>
-<li><a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR60">[sparcv9] SparcV9 backend miscompiles
+<li><a href="http://llvm.org/PR60">[sparcv9] SparcV9 backend miscompiles
 several programs in the LLVM test suite</a></li>
 </ul>
 
@@ -511,7 +655,7 @@ made where the argument is not 16-byte aligned, as required on IA64. (Strictly
 speaking this is not a bug in the IA64 back-end; it will also be encountered
 when building C++ programs using the C back-end.)</li>
 
-<li>The C++ front-end does not use <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/PR406">IA64
+<li>The C++ front-end does not use <a href="http://llvm.org/PR406">IA64
 ABI compliant layout of v-tables</a>.  In particular, it just stores function
 pointers instead of function descriptors in the vtable.  This bug prevents
 mixing C++ code compiled with LLVM with C++ objects compiled by other C++
@@ -549,16 +693,16 @@ arithmetic).  This back-end is in pre-beta state.</li>
 <div class="doc_text">
 
 <p>A wide variety of additional information is available on the <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">LLVM web page</a>, including <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/docs/">documentation</a> and <a
-href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/pubs/">publications describing algorithms and
+href="http://llvm.org">LLVM web page</a>, including <a
+href="http://llvm.org/docs/">documentation</a> and <a
+href="http://llvm.org/pubs/">publications describing algorithms and
 components implemented in LLVM</a>.  The web page also contains versions of the
 API documentation which is up-to-date with the CVS version of the source code.
 You can access versions of these documents specific to this release by going
 into the "<tt>llvm/doc/</tt>" directory in the LLVM tree.</p>
 
 <p>If you have any questions or comments about LLVM, please feel free to contact
-us via the <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu/docs/#maillist"> mailing
+us via the <a href="http://llvm.org/docs/#maillist"> mailing
 lists</a>.</p>
 
 </div>
@@ -572,7 +716,7 @@ lists</a>.</p>
   <a href="http://validator.w3.org/check/referer"><img
   src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!" /></a>
 
-  <a href="http://llvm.cs.uiuc.edu">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
+  <a href="http://llvm.org/">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br>
   Last modified: $Date$
 </address>