LLVM released version 16.0.0 on March 18, 2023, realizing perfect support for the LoongArch instruction set architecture at the official backend (official target) level.

So far, the five most important basic software (BIG FIVE) in the open source software world, namely the Linux kernel, GCC, LLVM, Glibc, and Binutils, have released official versions supporting the LoongArch architecture.

Afterwards, the release version of the LoongArch architecture operating system will be directly based on the upstream community version, marking that the LoongArch software ecological construction will usher in a new stage of rapid development.

Introduction to LLVM

LLVM is one of the most important frameworks for designing and developing compilers today. It not only provides the well-known C/C++ compiler front-end Clang, but also provides compilation framework support for many other programming languages ​​such as Rust, including Chromium. Large-scale software uses LLVM as a compilation and construction tool.

The LLVM project fully supports LoongArch

According to the official release notes of the LLVM community (https://releases.llvm.org/), in LLVM16, the LoongArch architecture has been upgraded from the experimental backend (experimental target) to the official backend (official target), This means that the LoongArch backend will be compiled by default on any platform without specifying it via additional CMake options.

Screenshot of LLVM 16.0.0 Release Notes

In addition, the LoongArch architecture has received more comprehensive support in the entire LLVM project, which can support advanced features such as OrcJIT and GHC calling conventions, and sub-projects such as clang, compiler-rt, lldb, openmp and libunwind.

According to reports, Loongson Zhongke is an institutional participant with a large amount of code contributions to the LLVM community in 2022. Since 2022, it has contributed a total of 65,000 lines of source code to the LLVM community. In addition, open source developers from home and abroad have also contributed nearly 5,000 lines of LoongArch architecture support code to the LLVM community.