TinyC x86-64 Backend

tcg, an x86-64 backend for TinyC, written in C11. The canonical repository is https://github.com/vlasakm/master-thesis.

Usage

The compiler currently accepts TinyC source files as input, and produces either assembly files (without dependencies), object files (assembled with nasm), or executables (assembled with nasm and linked with gcc). Additional flags are available regardless of the output format.

Output formats

• -S, assembly
• -c, object file
• (default), executable

Flags

The -f flags can be turned either on or off. Only the non default option is shown below.

• -o <filename>, sets output file name. Default: a.out
• -fno-number-values, disable SSA construction by value numbering.
• -fno-peephole, disable peephole optimization (both before and after register allocation).
• -flinux-freestanding, provide syscall function and don't link with the C library.

Example usage

meson setup build
meson compile -C build

# with libc `syscall`
build/tcg -o syscall examples/syscall.tc
build/tcg -S -o syscall.asm examples/syscall.tc
build/tcg -c -o syscall.o examples/syscall.tc

# with custom runtime
build/tcg -o syscall -flinux-freestanding examples/syscall.tc

Building

tcg uses the Meson build system. A release build can be compiled with:

meson setup builddir --buildtype release
meson compile -C builddir

An tcg binary is then built at builddir/fml. All build artifacts are contained in the builddir directory (you are free to choose any other name) and can be safely deleted.

Or more simply:

gcc -O2 -o tcg src/one.c

Customize compile flags as you like.

Installation

You can just copy the built file. It's all there is anyway.

Or you can use meson install at your own risk.

Dependencies

Build only dependencies:

• meson (+ python)
• ninja

Build and run time dependencies:

• gcc, for linking support (i.e. not -S, nor -c)

Run time dependencies:

• nasm, for assembling support (i.e. not -S)

Insight

The compiler stays mostly silent. To get more insight into the passes that constitute it, set the DUMP environment variable, which will print functions after each pass. For example:

DUMP=1 build/tcg tests/in/critical_edge.tc