7d83f7bcc4
The code for Tier 2 is now only compiled when configured with `--enable-experimental-jit[=yes|interpreter]`. We drop support for `PYTHON_UOPS` and -`Xuops`, but you can disable the interpreter or JIT at runtime by setting `PYTHON_JIT=0`. You can also build it without enabling it by default using `--enable-experimental-jit=yes-off`; enable with `PYTHON_JIT=1`. On Windows, the `build.bat` script supports `--experimental-jit`, `--experimental-jit-off`, `--experimental-interpreter`. In the C code, `_Py_JIT` is defined as before when the JIT is enabled; the new variable `_Py_TIER2` is defined when the JIT *or* the interpreter is enabled. It is actually a bitmask: 1: JIT; 2: default-off; 4: interpreter. |
||
---|---|---|
.. | ||
README.md | ||
_llvm.py | ||
_schema.py | ||
_stencils.py | ||
_targets.py | ||
_writer.py | ||
build.py | ||
mypy.ini | ||
template.c |
README.md
The JIT Compiler
This version of CPython can be built with an experimental just-in-time compiler. While most everything you already know about building and using CPython is unchanged, you will probably need to install a compatible version of LLVM first.
Installing LLVM
The JIT compiler does not require end users to install any third-party dependencies, but part of it must be built using LLVM1. You are not required to build the rest of CPython using LLVM, or even the same version of LLVM (in fact, this is uncommon).
LLVM version 18 is required. Both clang
and llvm-readobj
need to be installed and discoverable (version suffixes, like clang-18
, are okay). It's highly recommended that you also have llvm-objdump
available, since this allows the build script to dump human-readable assembly for the generated code.
It's easy to install all of the required tools:
Linux
Install LLVM 18 on Ubuntu/Debian:
wget https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh
chmod +x llvm.sh
sudo ./llvm.sh 18
macOS
Install LLVM 18 with Homebrew:
brew install llvm@18
Homebrew won't add any of the tools to your $PATH
. That's okay; the build script knows how to find them.
Windows
Install LLVM 18 by searching for it on LLVM's GitHub releases page, clicking on "Assets", downloading the appropriate Windows installer for your platform (likely the file ending with -win64.exe
), and running it. When installing, be sure to select the option labeled "Add LLVM to the system PATH".
Dev Containers
If you are working CPython in a Codespaces instance, there's no need to install LLVM as the Fedora 40 base image includes LLVM 18 out of the box.
Building
For PCbuild
-based builds, pass the new --experimental-jit
option to build.bat
.
For all other builds, pass the new --enable-experimental-jit
option to configure
.
Otherwise, just configure and build as you normally would. Cross-compiling "just works", since the JIT is built for the host platform.
-
Clang is specifically needed because it's the only C compiler with support for guaranteed tail calls (
musttail
), which are required by CPython's continuation-passing-style approach to JIT compilation. Since LLVM also includes other functionalities we need (namely, object file parsing and disassembly), it's convenient to only support one toolchain at this time. ↩︎