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- Interaction of GraalVM with Native Code
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- GraalVM LLVM Runtime Debugging
- LLI Command Options
- LLVM Compatibility
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This documentation is for the unreleased GraalVM version.Download Early Access Builds from GitHub.
GraalVM LLVM Runtime
The GraalVM LLVM runtime can execute programming languages that can be transformed to LLVM bitcode. This includes languages like C/C++, Fortran and others.
In contrast to static compilation that is normally used for LLVM-based languages, GraalVM’s implementation of the lli
tool first interprets LLVM bitcode and then dynamically compiles the hot parts of the program using the Graal compiler.
This allows seamless interoperability with the dynamic languages supported by GraalVM.
Getting Started #
The GraalVM LLVM runtime is available as a standalone distribution. You can download a standalone based on Oracle GraalVM or GraalVM Community Edition.
-
Download the LLVM 24.0 standalone for your operating system:
- Native standalone
- JVM standalone
-
Unzip the archive:
Note: If you are using macOS Catalina and later you may need to remove the quarantine attribute:
sudo xattr -r -d com.apple.quarantine <archive>.tar.gz
Extract:
tar -xzf <archive>.tar.gz
-
A standalone comes with a JVM in addition to its native launcher. Check the version to see GraalVM LLVM runtime is active:
./path/to/bin/lli --version
Now you can execute programs in the LLVM bitcode format.
LLVM Toolchain #
Additionally, a prebuilt LLVM toolchain is bundled with the GraalVM LLVM runtime.
- Get the location of the toolchain, using the
--print-toolchain-path
argument oflli
:./path/to/bin/lli --print-toolchain-path
- Set the
LLVM_TOOLCHAIN
environment variable:export LLVM_TOOLCHAIN=$(./path/to/bin/lli --print-toolchain-path)
- Then see the content of the toolchain path for a list of available tools:
ls $LLVM_TOOLCHAIN
Now you can compile C/C++ code to LLVM bitcode using clang
from the GraalVM LLVM toolchain.
Run LLVM Bitcode #
To run LLVM-based languages on the GraalVM LLVM runtime, the binaries need to be compiled with embedded bitcode. The Compiling guide provides information on how to compile a program to LLVM bitcode and what file format is expected.
The syntax to execute programs in LLVM bitcode format is:
lli [LLI options] [GraalVM options] [polyglot options] <bitcode file> [program args]
Here, <bitcode file>
is a compiled program with embedded LLVM bitcode.
See LLI Command Options or use lli --help
for options explanations.
For example, put this C code into a file named hello.c
:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello from GraalVM!\n");
return 0;
}
Then compile hello.c
to an executable hello
with embedded LLVM bitcode and run it as follows:
$LLVM_TOOLCHAIN/clang hello.c -o hello
lli hello
Note: LLVM bitcode is platform-dependent. The program must be compiled to bitcode for an appropriate platform.