> On 20 Jan 2026, at 05:23, Andrew Pinski <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 8:12 PM Soumya AR <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> Ping.
>> 
>> I split the files from the previous mail so it's hopefully easier to review.
> 
> I can review this but the approval won't be for until stage1. This
> pass at this point is too risky for this point of the release cycle.

Thanks for any feedback you can give. FWIW we’ve been testing this internally 
for a few months without any issues.

> 
> Though I also wonder how much of this can/should be done on the gimple
> level in a generic way.

GIMPLE does have powerful ranger infrastructure for this, but I was concerned 
about doing this earlier because it’s very likely that some later pass could 
introduce extra extend operations, which would likely undo the benefit of the 
narrowing.

Thanks,
Kyrill

> And if there is a way to get the zero-bits from the gimple level down
> to the RTL level still so we don't need to keep on recomputing them
> (this is useful for other passes too).
> 
> Thanks,
> Andrew Pinski
> 
>> 
>> Also CC'ing Alex Coplan to this thread.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Soumya
>> 
>>> On 12 Jan 2026, at 12:42 PM, Soumya AR <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Tamar,
>>> 
>>> Attaching an updated version of this patch that enables the pass at O2 and 
>>> above
>>> on aarch64, and can be optionally disabled with -mno-narrow-gp-writes.
>>> 
>>> Enabling it by default at O2 touched quite a large number of tests, which I
>>> have updated in this patch.
>>> 
>>> Most of the updates are straightforward, which involve changing x registers 
>>> to
>>> (w|x) registers (e.g., x[0-9]+ -> [wx][0-9]+).
>>> 
>>> There are some tests (eg. aarch64/int_mov_immediate_1.c) where the
>>> representation of the immediate changes:
>>> 
>>>        mov w0, 4294927974 -> mov w0, -39322
>>> 
>>> This is because when the following RTL is narrowed to SI:
>>>        (set (reg/i:DI 0 x0)
>>>                (const_int 4294927974 [0xffff6666]))
>>> 
>>> Due to the MSB changing to Bit 31, which is set, the output is printed as
>>> signed.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Soumya
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 1 Dec 2025, at 2:03 PM, Soumya AR <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> External email: Use caution opening links or attachments
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Ping.
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Soumya
>>>> 
>>>>> On 13 Nov 2025, at 11:43 AM, Soumya AR <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> AArch64: Add RTL pass to narrow 64-bit GP reg writes to 32-bit
>>>>> 
>>>>> This patch adds a new AArch64 RTL pass that optimizes 64-bit
>>>>> general purpose register operations to use 32-bit W-registers when the
>>>>> upper 32 bits of the register are known to be zero.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This is beneficial for the Olympus core, which benefits from using 32-bit
>>>>> W-registers over 64-bit X-registers if possible. This is recommended by 
>>>>> the
>>>>> updated Olympus Software Optimization Guide, which will be published soon.
>>>>> 
>>>>> This pass can be controlled with -mnarrow-gp-writes and is active at -O2 
>>>>> and
>>>>> above, but not enabled by default, except for -mcpu=olympus.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> In AArch64, each 64-bit X register has a corresponding 32-bit W register
>>>>> that maps to its lower half.  When we can guarantee that the upper 32 bits
>>>>> are never used, we can safely narrow operations to use W registers 
>>>>> instead.
>>>>> 
>>>>> For example, this code:
>>>>> uint64_t foo(uint64_t a) {
>>>>>    return (a & 255) + 3;
>>>>> }
>>>>> 
>>>>> Currently compiles to:
>>>>> and x8, x0, #0xff
>>>>> add x0, x8, #3
>>>>> 
>>>>> But with this pass enabled, it optimizes to:
>>>>> and x8, x0, #0xff
>>>>> add w0, w8, #3      // Using W register instead of X
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> The pass operates in two phases:
>>>>> 
>>>>> 1) Analysis Phase:
>>>>> - Using RTL-SSA, iterates through extended basic blocks (EBBs)
>>>>> - Computes nonzero bit masks for each register definition
>>>>> - Recursively processes PHI nodes
>>>>> - Identifies candidates for narrowing
>>>>> 2) Transformation Phase:
>>>>> - Applies narrowing to validated candidates
>>>>> - Converts DImode operations to SImode where safe
>>>>> 
>>>>> The pass runs late in the RTL pipeline, after register allocation, to 
>>>>> ensure
>>>>> stable def-use chains and avoid interfering with earlier optimizations.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> nonzero_bits(src, DImode) is a function defined in rtlanal.cc that 
>>>>> recursively
>>>>> analyzes RTL expressions to compute a bitmask. However, nonzero_bits has a
>>>>> limitation: when it encounters a register, it conservatively returns the 
>>>>> mode
>>>>> mask (all bits potentially set). Since this pass analyzes all defs in an
>>>>> instruction, this information can be used to refine the mask. The pass 
>>>>> maintains
>>>>> a hash map of computed bit masks and installs a custom RTL hooks callback
>>>>> to consult this mask when encountering a register.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> PHI nodes require special handling to merge masks from all inputs. This 
>>>>> is done
>>>>> by combine_mask_from_phi. 3 cases are tackled here:
>>>>> 1. Input Edge has a Definition: This is the simplest case. For each input
>>>>> edge to the PHI, the def information is retreived and its mask is looked 
>>>>> up.
>>>>> 2. Input Edge has no Definition: A conservative mask is assumed for that
>>>>> input.
>>>>> 3. Input Edge is a PHI: Recursively call combine_mask_from_phi to
>>>>> merge the masks of all incoming values.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> When processing regular instructions, the pass first tackles SET and 
>>>>> PARALLEL
>>>>> patterns with compare instructions.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Single SET instructions:
>>>>> 
>>>>> If the upper 32 bits of the source are known to be zero, then the 
>>>>> instruction
>>>>> qualifies for narrowing. Instead of just using lowpart_subreg for the 
>>>>> source,
>>>>> we define narrow_dimode_src to attempt further optimizations:
>>>>> 
>>>>> - Bitwise operations (AND/OR/XOR/ASHIFT): simplified via 
>>>>> simplify_gen_binary
>>>>> - IF_THEN_ELSE: simplified via simplify_gen_ternary
>>>>> 
>>>>> PARALLEL Instructions (Compare + SET):
>>>>> 
>>>>> The pass tackles flag-setting operations (ADDS, SUBS, ANDS, etc.) where 
>>>>> the SET
>>>>> source equals the first operand of the COMPARE. Depending on the 
>>>>> condition code
>>>>> for the compare, the pass checks for the required bits to be zero:
>>>>> 
>>>>> - CC_Zmode/CC_NZmode: Upper 32 bits
>>>>> - CC_NZVmode: Upper 32 bits and bit 31 (for overflow)
>>>>> 
>>>>> If the instruction does not match the above patterns (or matches but 
>>>>> cannot be
>>>>> optimized), the pass still analyzes all its definitions to ensure 
>>>>> nzero_map is
>>>>> complete. This ensures every definition has an entry in nzero_map.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> When transforming the qualified instructions, the pass uses 
>>>>> rtl_ssa::recog and
>>>>> rtl_ssa::change_is_worthwhile to verify the new pattern and determine if 
>>>>> the
>>>>> transformation is worthwhile.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> As an additional benefit, testing on Neoverse-V2 shows that instances of
>>>>> 'and x1, x2, #0xffffffff' are converted to zero-latency 'mov w1, w2'
>>>>> instructions after this pass narrows them.
>>>>> 
>>>>> ---
>>>>> 
>>>>> The patch was bootstrapped and regtested on aarch64-linux-gnu, no 
>>>>> regression.
>>>>> OK for mainline?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Co-authored-by: Kyrylo Tkachov <[email protected]>
>>>>> Signed-off-by: Soumya AR <[email protected]>
>>>>> 
>>>>> gcc/ChangeLog:
>>>>> 
>>>>>   * config.gcc: Add aarch64-narrow-gp-writes.o.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/aarch64-passes.def (INSERT_PASS_BEFORE): Insert
>>>>>   pass_narrow_gp_writes before pass_cleanup_barriers.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/aarch64-tuning-flags.def (AARCH64_EXTRA_TUNING_OPTION):
>>>>>   Add AARCH64_EXTRA_TUNE_NARROW_GP_WRITES.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/tuning_models/olympus.h:
>>>>>   Add AARCH64_EXTRA_TUNE_NARROW_GP_WRITES to tune_flags.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/aarch64-protos.h (make_pass_narrow_gp_writes): Declare.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/aarch64.opt (mnarrow-gp-writes): New option.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/t-aarch64: Add aarch64-narrow-gp-writes.o rule.
>>>>>   * doc/invoke.texi: Document -mnarrow-gp-writes.
>>>>>   * config/aarch64/aarch64-narrow-gp-writes.cc: New file.
>>>>> 
>>>>> gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog:
>>>>> 
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-1.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-2.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-3.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-4.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-5.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-6.c: New test.
>>>>>   * gcc.target/aarch64/narrow-gp-writes-7.c: New test.
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> <0001-AArch64-Add-RTL-pass-to-narrow-64-bit-GP-reg-writes-.patch>
>>>> 
>>> 

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