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Optimization optionslink

This page documents various supported flags for optimizing IREE programs. Each is presented with its English name, flag to enable/disable, and default state.

These flags can be passed to the:

  • iree-compile command line tool
  • extra_args=["--flag"] argument to iree.compiler.tools Python wrappers
  • In-process Python compiler API iree.compiler.transforms.iree-compile.CompilerOptions("--flag", "--flag2") constructor
  • ireeCompilerOptionsSetFlags() compiler C API function

High level program optimizationslink

Constant evaluation (--iree-opt-const-eval (on))link

Performs compile-time evaluation of any global initializers which produce the initial values for global constants, storing the global directly in the program as constant data. This extracts such constant program fragments and recursively compiles them, using the runtime to evaluate the results.

Note that this only has any effect on computations in module initializer functions, not free-standing operations in the program which may produce constant-derived results. See --iree-opt-const-expr-hoisting for options to optimize these.

Constant expression hoisting (--iree-opt-const-expr-hoisting (off))link

Identifies all trees of constant expressions in the program and uses a heuristic to determine which would be profitable to hoist into global initializers for evaluation at module load. Together with --iree-opt-const-eval, this will convert eligible trees of expressions to purely static data embedded in the module.

The heuristic is currently relatively primitive, using static information to disable hoisting of leaf operations which are metadata only (i.e. broadcasts, etc) or are expected to fold away as part of operator fusion. Notably, the current heuristic is likely to pessimize module size in the case of complicated programs with trees of constant, large tensors.

Numeric precision reduction (--iree-opt-numeric-precision-reduction (off))link

Analyzes program constant data and program flow to identify math operations which can be safely evaluated with reduced precision (currently with a minimum of 8bit integers but being extended to infer any bit depth) and inserts appropriate casts. In conjunction with Constant Expression Hoisting, Constant Evaluation and other automatic optimizations, this can produce programs where large amounts (up to the whole) have had their numeric operations and constant data rewritten to lower precision types.

This feature is actively evolving and will be the subject of dedicated documentation when ready.

Strip Debug Assertions (--iree-opt-strip-assertions (off))link

Strips all std.assert ops in the input program after useful information for optimization analysis has been extracted. Assertions provide useful user-visible error messages but can prevent critical optimizations. Assertions are not, however, a substitution for control flow and frontends that want to check errors in optimized release builds should do so via actual code - similar to when one would if (foo) return false; vs. assert(foo); in a normal program.