65816-llvm-mos/STATUS.md
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# llvm816 — Current Status
LLVM/Clang backend for the WDC 65816 (Apple IIgs), forked from
llvm-mos as a separate `W65816` target.
## What works
End-to-end C-to-binary toolchain that produces 65816 machine code
which runs correctly under MAME (apple2gs).
**Language coverage at -O2 (no extra flags):**
- All scalar arithmetic: i8 / i16 / i32 / i64 add, sub, mul, div, mod
(signed and unsigned). Carry-chained multi-word ops via ADC/SBC pseudos
+ ASLA16 / shift libcalls.
- Comparisons and signed/unsigned widening (sext, zext, trunc) for all
the above sizes.
- Pointer arithmetic, array indexing, struct field access, struct
return-by-value (up to 8 bytes — Pair, Vec4, double).
- Bitfields, switch statements (verified up to ~12 cases + default),
function pointers, function-pointer tables, indirect calls via
`__jsl_indir` trampoline.
- Recursion: factorial, Fibonacci, depth-3 binary-tree
insert/sum/min/max, simple recursive quicksort.
- Loops with goto / break / continue, nested loops, state machines.
- `<stdarg.h>` varargs with int / long / unsigned long long mixed args.
- Heap: `malloc` / `free` (libc.c first-fit allocator) — linked-list
reverse with `cons` works.
- Strings: hand-rolled `strlen`, `strcmp`, `strcpy`, `strchr`, atoi/itoa
roundtrip.
- Soft-float (single): all four ops + comparisons, MAME-verified.
- Soft-double: add, sub, mul, div all return correct bit patterns
bit-for-bit against gcc with round-to-nearest-even rounding;
3-iter Newton sqrt converges. Long-running iterations may hit MAME's
1-second sim-time budget (test config issue, not a compiler bug).
- Inline assembly with `"a"`, `"x"`, `"y"` register constraints and
arbitrary opcode bytes (used for the `pha;plb` bank-switch idiom).
- C++ minimal: clang++ compiles a class with virtual + non-trivial
ctor (vtable + RTTI omitted; no exceptions).
- printf with `%d %x %s %c %p` and width/precision specifiers.
- `setjmp` / `longjmp` from libgcc.s.
- Static constructors via crt0's init_array walk.
**Toolchain:**
- `clang` / `llc` produce W65816 assembly + ELF object files.
- `tools/link816` resolves cross-translation-unit refs, lays out
text/rodata/bss, emits a flat binary the IIgs ROM can load.
- `tools/omfEmit` produces OMF v2.1 single-segment files (the IIgs's
native object format) for round-tripping with classic dev tools.
- `runtime/build.sh` builds crt0, libc, soft-float, soft-double,
libgcc into linkable objects.
- `scripts/smokeTest.sh` runs ~80 end-to-end checks (scalar ops,
control flow, calling conventions, MAME execution, regressions).
Currently 100% pass.
**ABI:**
- arg0 in A; arg1 in X for i32-first-arg signatures; rest pushed RTL
on the system stack with PHA. Caller deallocates via `tsc;clc;adc
#N;tcs` or `PLY*N/2`.
- Return: i8/i16 in A; i32 in A:X; i64 in A:X:Y plus DP[$F0..$F1] for
the highest 16 bits.
- Frame is empty-descending (S points to next-free); offsets account
for the +1 skew vs LLVM's full-descending model.
## In flight
Nothing currently in flight. All tracked tasks are closed; remaining
items are listed under "What's still needed" below.
The **DWARF sidecar** (`link816 --debug-out FILE`) now applies
text/rodata/bss/init_array relocations to every `.debug_*` section
before writing it. PC values in `.debug_addr` and `.debug_line` end
up as final-image addresses, so a consumer can map back to source
lines without re-running the linker. Intra-debug references (e.g.
`.debug_info` -> `.debug_str` offsets) are intentionally left
object-local — sections are concatenated, not recompacted, and each
slice carries an `; OBJ ... SEC ... SIZE ...` header so a multi-TU
consumer can scope intra-debug offsets per-slice. The smoke test
verifies the address of a known function appears in the patched
sidecar bytes.
## Known issues / workarounds
- **Greedy register allocator mis-orders spills** in iterative
quicksort with `if/else` recursion choice (#70). Live-range
tracking for `hi` is wrong across the inner loop and post-loop
swap call, producing miscompiled code. Reproduces only at
`-O1`/`-O2` with greedy. Workarounds (any one):
- `__attribute__((noinline,optnone))` on the affected function —
routes through fast regalloc per-function. Verified in smoke
test; recommended for new code that hits this.
- `-mllvm -regalloc=fast` for the whole translation unit.
`softDouble.c` already uses this for `__muldf3` (build.sh
applies it automatically).
- Rewrite the loop with explicit recursion guards instead of
the iterative tail-elim form.
Real fix needs deeper greedy work; deferred behind the per-
function attribute since it covers the practical cases.
- **(d,s),y / (sr,s),y addressing wraps the bank** when Y is
negative as 16-bit unsigned. Worked around by `W65816NegYIndY`
rewriting the affected ops to `TAX ; LDA/STA $0000,X`. Stays
correct for negative offsets like `arr[i-1]`.
- **(d,s),y for stack-local pointer dereferences uses DBR**, so
user code that switches DBR (e.g. `pha;plb` to bank 2 to reach
IIgs hardware) must not call into a function that takes the
address of one of its locals — the callee's `*p = v` will write
to the wrong bank. Documented; no compiler-side mitigation
beyond the existing DPF0 fake-physreg routing for the i64-return
high half.
## What's still needed for a "ship-ready" toolchain
- **Greedy regalloc spill-ordering fix** — see above. Removes the
need for the per-file `-regalloc=fast` workaround on
`softDouble.c` and unblocks pattern-rich code that currently
must be compiled at `-O0` for correctness.
- **More of the C standard library**: `<math.h>` transcendental
functions (sin, cos, exp, log, pow), `<string.h>` beyond what's
hand-coded, `<stdio.h>` file I/O (`fopen`, `fread`, `fwrite`,
`fseek`).
- **C++ runtime support**: vtable layout for multiple inheritance,
RTTI, exceptions (or a documented `-fno-exceptions` requirement).
- **REP/SEP scheduling pass** (design doc §3.3): the current
prologue picks one M-mode for the whole function based on
whether any 8-bit accumulator value is used. A per-region
scheduler would reduce the SEP/REP wrap overhead on i8 stores.
- **Toolbox / IIgs system call bindings**: header files declaring
the Apple IIgs system calls (`SystemTask`, `WaitMouseUp`,
`DrawString`, …) with the right inline-asm dispatch glue.
- **Real-world program coverage**: the smoke tests are
microbenchmarks. A few known-good Apple IIgs C programs (e.g.
a textfile pager, a small game) compiled and run end-to-end
would catch issues no synthetic test currently exercises.
- **Cycle-time / size benchmarks vs Calypsi 5.16**: design doc §1
says the goal is to "match or exceed" Calypsi. We have neither
baseline numbers nor a comparison harness yet.