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The ZiCondops extension provides a conditional zero primitive upon which subsets of conditional move and conditional arithmetic/logical operations can be implemented.   Transforming control flow into conditional operations can improve code performance by eliminating branch mispredict costs as well as reducing the load on the branch predictors.  The earlier in the optimizer pipeline these transformations are performed the more likely they are to expose secondary optimization opportunities as well since the transformations result in larger basic blocks (a fundamental unit of code most compiler optimizations work on).

This work consists of 3 4 subprojects:

1. Basic ZICondops patterns in the RISC-V target description
   1. VRULL + Ventana + ESWIN
2. Improvements to generate those patterns early in the RTL optimizer pipeline
   1. Ventana (primarily Raphael's work with bugfixing from Jeff) + ESWIN
3. Fixes to cost model to enable more conditional move generatinon
4. Improvements to the if-converter to consistently utilize the conditional zero primitive provided by ZICondops
   1. Mixed work from VRULL, Ventana & ESWIN

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ESWIN: Submission of basic Zicond support, conditional move and limited improvements to ifcvt

Dependencies

Binutils needs to have ZICondops approved before compilers can utilize it.

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Status

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Updates

31 Oct 2023 

• eswin has posted updates to the generic if-converter, both those and the version used by Ventana are breaking x86, this needs to be understood and fixed before this work can move forward

04 Oct 2023 

• Cost model fixes integrated, resulting in more aggressive if-conversion and use of zicond
• Additional testcases from ESWIN integrated
• Leaves just the target independent changes to sort through

27 Sep 2023

• Testcases from patch #3 from eswin's kit are upstreamed
• Patch which should fix the costing model issues enabling tests from patch #4 to get installed is ready for testing
• No progress on patch #5 (target independent improvements to if-conversion)

06 Sep 2023 

• One codegen fix and once ICE fix upstreamed
• Addition of xventanacondops on top of zicond

30 Aug 2023 

• Found and fixed missed case affecting CRC loop in coremark
• Still untangling generic changes.  3 significant implementations in play
• Cost model fixes still pending – critically important as we can't add the full suite of tests until that's fixed, hoping to wrap it up this week

09 Aug 2023 

• Target dependent bits to wire up zicond to conditional move support done & integrated
• Improvements to generic code to synthesize conditional arithmetic/logicals under review
  • ESWIN's code looks to be more aggressive in many respects (good)
  • But also less aggressive in handling sub-word cases
  • Not sure yet on approach to be taken
• General upstream agreement that costing model needs work.
• Dependencies on binutils/qemu dropped as they've been resolved.

02 Aug 2023 

• Several bugs found & fixed in additional optimization patterns provided by ESWIN
• Costing model issues are deeper than anticipated.  May spin out distinct project for that
• Initial bits to wire up zicond to implement conditional moves ready to land

26 Jul 2023

• Basic Zicond support from ESWIN is the same as Ventana's internal bits and in-line with where VRULL was asked to go
  • Basic support integrated
  • Working on costing model which we ought to have sorted out 7/26.
• Next will be unifying the ESWIN and Ventana bits to enable limited conditional move support using Zicond
• After that we need to evaluate what if-converter bits are needed.

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