Skip to content

Developer tips and trickslink

The IREE compiler is built using MLIR, so it naturally supports the common MLIR debugging workflows. For areas where IREE differentiates itself, this page lists other helpful tips and tricks.

Setting compiler optionslink

Tools such as iree-compile take options via command-line flags. Pass --help to see the full list:

$ iree-compile --help

OVERVIEW: IREE compilation driver

USAGE: iree-compile [options] <input file or '-' for stdin>

OPTIONS:
  ...

Tip - Options and the Python bindings

If you are using the Python bindings, options can be passed via the extra_args=["--flag"] argument:

import iree.compiler as ireec

input_mlir = """
func.func @abs(%input : tensor<f32>) -> (tensor<f32>) {
  %result = math.absf %input : tensor<f32>
  return %result : tensor<f32>
}"""

compiled_module = ireec.tools.compile_str(
    input_mlir,
    target_backends=["llvm-cpu"],
    extra_args=["--mlir-timing"])

Inspecting .vmfb fileslink

The IREE compiler generates FlatBuffer files using the .vmfb file extension, short for "Virtual Machine FlatBuffer", which can then be loaded and executed using IREE's runtime.

Info - other output formats

The IREE compiler can output different formats with the `--output-format= flag:

Flag value Output
--output-format=vm-bytecode (default) VM Bytecode (.vmfb) files
--output-format=vm-c C source modules

VM Bytecode files are usable across a range of deployment scenarios, while C source modules provide low level connection points for constrained environments like bare metal platforms.

By default, .vmfb files can be opened as zip files: (1)

  1. Setting --iree-vm-emit-polyglot-zip=false will disable this feature and decrease file size slightly
$ unzip -d simple_abs_cpu ./simple_abs_cpu.vmfb

Archive:  ./simple_abs_cpu.vmfb
  extracting: simple_abs_cpu/module.fb
  extracting: simple_abs_cpu/abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.so

The embedded binary (here an ELF shared object with CPU code) can be parsed by standard tools:

$ readelf -Ws ./simple_abs_cpu/abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.so

Symbol table '.dynsym' contains 2 entries:
  Num:    Value          Size Type    Bind   Vis      Ndx Name
    0: 0000000000000000     0 NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT  UND
    1: 0000000000001760    17 FUNC    GLOBAL DEFAULT    7 iree_hal_executable_library_query

Symbol table '.symtab' contains 42 entries:
  Num:    Value          Size Type    Bind   Vis      Ndx Name
    0: 0000000000000000     0 NOTYPE  LOCAL  DEFAULT  UND
    1: 0000000000000000     0 FILE    LOCAL  DEFAULT  ABS abs_dispatch_0
    2: 0000000000001730    34 FUNC    LOCAL  DEFAULT    7 abs_dispatch_0_generic
    3: 00000000000034c0    80 OBJECT  LOCAL  DEFAULT    8 iree_hal_executable_library_query_v0
    4: 0000000000001780   111 FUNC    LOCAL  DEFAULT    7 iree_h2f_ieee
    5: 00000000000017f0   207 FUNC    LOCAL  DEFAULT    7 iree_f2h_ieee
    ...

The iree-dump-module tool can also be used to see information about a given .vmfb file:

$ iree-dump-module simple_abs.vmfb

//===---------------------------------------------------------------------===//
// @module : version 0
//===---------------------------------------------------------------------===//

Required Types:
  [  0] i32
  [  1] i64
  [  2] !hal.allocator
  [  3] !hal.buffer
  ...

Module Dependencies:
  hal, version >= 0, required

Imported Functions:
  [  0] hal.allocator.allocate(!vm.ref<?>, i32, i32, i64) -> (!vm.ref<?>)
  [  1] hal.devices.get(i32) -> (!vm.ref<?>)
  ...

Exported Functions:
  [  0] abs(!vm.ref<?>) -> (!vm.ref<?>)
  [  1] __init() -> ()

...

Dumping executable fileslink

The --iree-hal-dump-executable-* flags instruct the compiler to save files related to "executable translation" (code generation for a specific hardware target) into a directory of your choosing. If you are interested in seeing which operations in your input program were fused into a compute kernel or what device code was generated for a given program structure, these flags are a great starting point.

Flag Files dumped
iree-hal-dump-executable-files-to All files (meta-flag)
iree-hal-dump-executable-sources-to Source .mlir files prior to HAL compilation
iree-hal-dump-executable-intermediates-to Intermediate files (e.g. .o files, .mlir stages)
iree-hal-dump-executable-binaries-to Binary files (e.g. .so, .spv, .ptx), as used in the .vmfb
iree-hal-dump-executable-benchmarks-to Standalone benchmark files for iree-benchmark-module 
$ mkdir -p /tmp/iree/simple_abs/

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --iree-llvmcpu-link-embedded=false \
  --iree-hal-dump-executable-files-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs \
  -o /tmp/iree/simple_abs/simple_abs_cpu.vmfb

$ ls /tmp/iree/simple_abs

module_abs_dispatch_0.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64_benchmark.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.codegen.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.codegen.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.linked.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.linked.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.optimized.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.optimized.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.o
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.s
module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.so
simple_abs_cpu.vmfb

Tip - Embedded and system linking

The default value of --iree-llvmcpu-link-embedded=true generates embedded ELF files. By disabling that flag, the compiler will produce platform-standard .so files for Linux, .dll files for Windows, etc. While embedded ELF files can be smaller and more portable, inspection of artifacts is easier with platform-standard shared object files.

Tip - Disassembling .bc files with llvm-dis

This section can be skipped if the .ll files are already in the directory you choose. The .bc intermediate files use the LLVM BitCode format, which can be disassembled using llvm-dis:

// Build `llvm-dis` from source as needed:
$ cmake --build iree-build/ --target llvm-dis
$ iree-build/llvm-project/bin/llvm-dis --help

$ cd /tmp/iree/simple_abs/
$ llvm-dis module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.codegen.bc
$ cat module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.codegen.ll

; ModuleID = 'module_abs_dispatch_0_system_elf_x86_64.codegen.bc'
source_filename = "abs_dispatch_0"
target triple = "x86_64-linux-gnu"

%iree_hal_executable_library_header_t = type { i32, ptr, i32, i32 }
%iree_hal_executable_dispatch_attrs_v0_t = type { i16, i16 }

...

define internal i32 @abs_dispatch_0_generic(
    ptr noalias nonnull align 16 %0,
    ptr noalias nonnull align 16 %1,
    ptr noalias nonnull align 16 %2) #0 {
  %4 = load %iree_hal_executable_dispatch_state_v0_t, ptr %1, align 8,
  %5 = extractvalue %iree_hal_executable_dispatch_state_v0_t %4, 10,
  %6 = load ptr, ptr %5, align 8,
  %7 = ptrtoint ptr %6 to i64,
  %8 = and i64 %7, 63,
  %9 = icmp eq i64 %8, 0,
  call void @llvm.assume(i1 %9),
  %10 = load %iree_hal_executable_dispatch_state_v0_t, ptr %1, align 8,
  %11 = extractvalue %iree_hal_executable_dispatch_state_v0_t %10, 10,
  %12 = getelementptr ptr, ptr %11, i32 1,
  %13 = load ptr, ptr %12, align 8,
  %14 = ptrtoint ptr %13 to i64,
  %15 = and i64 %14, 63,
  %16 = icmp eq i64 %15, 0,
  call void @llvm.assume(i1 %16),
  %17 = load float, ptr %6, align 4,
  %18 = call float @llvm.fabs.f32(float %17),
  store float %18, ptr %13, align 4,
  ret i32 0,
}

...

$ mkdir -p /tmp/iree/simple_abs/

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=vulkan-spirv \
  --iree-hal-dump-executable-files-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs \
  -o /tmp/iree/simple_abs/simple_abs_vulkan.vmfb

$ ls /tmp/iree/simple_abs

module_abs_dispatch_0.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_vulkan_spirv_fb_benchmark.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_vulkan_spirv_fb.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_vulkan_spirv_fb.spv
simple_abs_vulkan.vmfb
Tip - Disassembling .spv files with spirv-dis

The .spv files use the SPIR-V binary format, which can be disassembled using spirv-dis from SPIR-V Tools:

$ cd /tmp/iree/simple_abs/
$ spirv-dis module_abs_dispatch_0_vulkan_spirv_fb.spv

; SPIR-V
; Version: 1.0
; Generator: Khronos; 22
; Bound: 20
; Schema: 0
              OpCapability Shader
              OpExtension "SPV_KHR_storage_buffer_storage_class"
        %18 = OpExtInstImport "GLSL.std.450"
              OpMemoryModel Logical GLSL450
              OpEntryPoint GLCompute %abs_dispatch_0_generic "abs_dispatch_0_generic"
              OpExecutionMode %abs_dispatch_0_generic LocalSize 1 1 1
              OpName %__resource_var_0_0_ "__resource_var_0_0_"
              OpName %__resource_var_0_1_ "__resource_var_0_1_"
              OpName %abs_dispatch_0_generic "abs_dispatch_0_generic"
              OpDecorate %_arr_float_uint_1 ArrayStride 4
              OpMemberDecorate %_struct_2 0 Offset 0
              OpDecorate %_struct_2 Block
              OpDecorate %__resource_var_0_0_ Binding 0
              OpDecorate %__resource_var_0_0_ DescriptorSet 0
              OpDecorate %__resource_var_0_1_ Binding 1
              OpDecorate %__resource_var_0_1_ DescriptorSet 0
      %float = OpTypeFloat 32
      %uint = OpTypeInt 32 0
    %uint_1 = OpConstant %uint 1
%_arr_float_uint_1 = OpTypeArray %float %uint_1
  %_struct_2 = OpTypeStruct %_arr_float_uint_1
%_ptr_StorageBuffer__struct_2 = OpTypePointer StorageBuffer %_struct_2
%__resource_var_0_0_ = OpVariable %_ptr_StorageBuffer__struct_2 StorageBuffer
%__resource_var_0_1_ = OpVariable %_ptr_StorageBuffer__struct_2 StorageBuffer
      %void = OpTypeVoid
          %9 = OpTypeFunction %void
    %uint_0 = OpConstant %uint 0
%_ptr_StorageBuffer_float = OpTypePointer StorageBuffer %float
%abs_dispatch_0_generic = OpFunction %void None %9
        %12 = OpLabel
        %15 = OpAccessChain %_ptr_StorageBuffer_float %__resource_var_0_0_ %uint_0 %uint_0
        %16 = OpLoad %float %15
        %17 = OpExtInst %float %18 FAbs %16
        %19 = OpAccessChain %_ptr_StorageBuffer_float %__resource_var_0_1_ %uint_0 %uint_0
              OpStore %19 %17
              OpReturn
              OpFunctionEnd

$ mkdir -p /tmp/iree/simple_abs/

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=cuda \
  --iree-hal-dump-executable-files-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs \
  -o /tmp/iree/simple_abs/simple_abs_cuda.vmfb

$ ls /tmp/iree/simple_abs

module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb_benchmark.mlir
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.codegen.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.codegen.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.linked.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.linked.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.optimized.ll
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.optimized.bc
module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.ptx
module_abs_dispatch_0.mlir
simple_abs_cuda.vmfb
Tip - Disassembling .bc files with llvm-dis

This section can be skipped if the .ll files are already in the directory you choose. The .bc intermediate files use the LLVM BitCode format, which can be disassembled using llvm-dis:

// Build `llvm-dis` from source as needed:
$ cmake --build iree-build/ --target llvm-dis
$ iree-build/llvm-project/bin/llvm-dis --help

$ cd /tmp/iree/simple_abs/
$ llvm-dis module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.codegen.bc
$ cat module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.codegen.ll

; ModuleID = 'module_abs_dispatch_0_cuda_nvptx_fb.codegen.bc'
source_filename = "abs_dispatch_0"

declare ptr @malloc(i64)

declare void @free(ptr)

declare float @__nv_fabsf(float)

define void @abs_dispatch_0_generic(ptr noalias readonly align 16 %0, ptr noalias align 16 %1) {
  %3 = ptrtoint ptr %0 to i64
  %4 = and i64 %3, 63
  %5 = icmp eq i64 %4, 0
  call void @llvm.assume(i1 %5)
  %6 = ptrtoint ptr %1 to i64
  %7 = and i64 %6, 63
  %8 = icmp eq i64 %7, 0
  call void @llvm.assume(i1 %8)
  %9 = load float, ptr %0, align 4
  %10 = call float @__nv_fabsf(float %9)
  store float %10, ptr %1, align 4
  ret void
}

!nvvm.annotations = !{!0, !1, !2, !3}

!0 = !{ptr @abs_dispatch_0_generic, !"kernel", i32 1}
!1 = !{ptr @abs_dispatch_0_generic, !"maxntidx", i32 1}
!2 = !{ptr @abs_dispatch_0_generic, !"maxntidy", i32 1}
!3 = !{ptr @abs_dispatch_0_generic, !"maxntidz", i32 1}

Module level executable benchmarkslink

The benchmark files produced by --iree-hal-dump-executable-benchmarks-to can be compiled in isolation and passed to iree-benchmark-module, where they exercise the full IREE runtime for a single executable:

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --iree-hal-dump-executable-benchmarks-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs/ \
  -o /dev/null

$ iree-compile \
  /tmp/iree/simple_abs/module_abs_dispatch_0_embedded_elf_x86_64_benchmark.mlir \
  -o /tmp/iree/simple_abs/module_abs_dispatch_0_benchmark.vmfb

$ iree-benchmark-module \
  /tmp/iree/simple_abs/module_abs_dispatch_0_benchmark.vmfb

Low level executable binary benchmarkslink

The binary files produced by --iree-hal-dump-executable-binaries-to can be passed to iree-benchmark-executable where they are benchmarked directly, without using the IREE VM, HAL APIs, task system, etc. Note that this interface is much lower level and you must specify all push constants / binding parameters manually:

$ iree-compile \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --iree-hal-dump-executable-binaries-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs/ \
  -o /dev/null

$ iree-benchmark-executable \
  --device=local-sync \
  --executable_format=embedded-elf-x86_64 \
  --executable_file=/tmp/iree/simple_abs/module_abs_dispatch_0_embedded_elf_x86_64.so \
  --entry_point=0 \
  --binding=f32=-2.5 \
  --binding=f32=0 \
  --workgroup_count=1,1,1

See the comments in tools/iree-benchmark-executable-main.c and the test file at tools/test/iree-benchmark-executable.mlir for more information and examples.

Compiling phase by phaselink

IREE compiles programs through a series of broad phases:

graph LR
  accTitle: Compilation phases overview
  accDescr: Input to ABI to Flow to Stream to HAL to VM

  A([Input])
  A --> B([ABI])
  B --> C([Flow])
  C --> D([Stream])
  D --> E([HAL])
  E --> F([VM])
Tip - available phases

These are the phase names available for use with the --compile-to and --compile-from flags described below:

Phase name Description
input Performs input processing and lowering into core IREE input dialects (linalg/etc)
abi Adjusts the program ABI for the specified execution environment
preprocessing Applies customizable preprocessing prior to FLow/Stream/HAL/VM
flow Models execution data flow and partitioning using the flow dialect
stream Models execution partitioning and scheduling using the stream dialect
executable-sources Prepares hal dialect executables for translation, prior to codegen
executable-targets Runs code generation for hal dialect executables
hal Finishes hal dialect processing
vm Lowers to IREE's abstract virtual machine using the vm dialect
end Completes the full compilation pipeline

For an accurate list of phases, see the source code or check the help output with a command such as:

iree-compile --help | sed -n '/--compile-to/,/--/p' | head -n -1

You can output a program snapshot at intermediate phases with the --compile-to=<phase name> flag:

$ cat simple_abs.mlir

func.func @abs(%input : tensor<f32>) -> (tensor<f32>) {
  %result = math.absf %input : tensor<f32>
  return %result : tensor<f32>
}

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir --compile-to=abi

module {
  func.func @abs(%arg0: !hal.buffer_view) -> !hal.buffer_view attributes {iree.abi.stub} {
    %0 = hal.tensor.import %arg0 "input 0" : !hal.buffer_view -> tensor<f32>
    %1 = math.absf %0 : tensor<f32>
    %2 = hal.tensor.export %1 "output 0" : tensor<f32> -> !hal.buffer_view
    return %2 : !hal.buffer_view
  }
}

This is similar to the --mlir-print-ir-after= flag, but at clearly defined pipeline phases.

Compilation can be continued from any intermediate phase. This allows for interative workflows - compile to a phase, make edits to the .mlir file, then resume compilation and continue through the pipeline:

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir --compile-to=abi -o simple_abs_abi.mlir

$ sed \
  -e 's/math.absf/math.exp/' \
  -e 's/@abs/@exp/' \
  simple_abs_abi.mlir > simple_exp_abi.mlir

$ iree-compile simple_exp_abi.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  -o simple_exp_cpu.vmfb

or explicitly resume from an intermediate phase with --compile-from=<phase name>:

$ iree-compile simple_exp_abi.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --compile-from=abi \
  -o simple_exp_cpu.vmfb

Dumping compilation phaseslink

The --dump-compilation-phases-to flag can be used to dump program IR after each phase, much like --compile-to but without exiting early:

$ iree-compile simple_abs.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --dump-compilation-phases-to=/tmp/iree/simple_abs \
  -o /tmp/iree/simple_abs/simple_abs_cpu.vmfb

$ ls /tmp/iree/simple_abs -1v

simple_abs.1.input.mlir
simple_abs.2.abi.mlir
simple_abs.3.preprocessing.mlir
simple_abs.4.global-optimization.mlir
simple_abs.5.flow.mlir
simple_abs.6.stream.mlir
simple_abs.7.executable-sources.mlir
simple_abs.8.executable-configurations.mlir
simple_abs.9.executable-targets.mlir
simple_abs.10.hal.mlir
simple_abs.11.vm.mlir

As with --compile-to, these files can be used together with --compile-from:

$ iree-compile simple_abs.2.abi.mlir \
  --iree-hal-target-backends=llvm-cpu \
  --compile-from=abi \
  -o simple_exp_cpu.vmfb

All together, these passes can be used to, for example:

  • speed up triage ("at which phase do we go wrong")
  • allow for faster development iteration (snapshot all phases at some baseline, modify the compiler source, then resume from just before where those changes impact a pipeline)