[m-dev.] .NET back-end now bootstraps!

[Fergus Henderson]

I finally got the .NET back-end to complete a three-stage bootstrap today!

A little bit of manual intervention was required at some points to get
it to build, but in the end the generated stage 2 and stage 3 *.il files
matched exactly, modulo some full path names embedded in the ".line"
directives in the generated IL (which were .../stage2/... and
.../stage3/... respectively).

This is a major test of the functionality and reliability of the Mercury
compiler's .NET back-end (and also a test of the .NET implementation,
of course -- in this case I was using the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK
version 1.0).

Unfortunately it only bootstraps correctly if the IL files are assembled
with debugging enabled; if they are not, then at some point the compiler
gets a System.InvalidProgramException.  Fixing that is still, uh,
"Future Work" ;-)

I'd like to tell you all how many petacycles the bootstrapping process
took, but unfortunately the click-wrap license for the .NET SDK version
1.0 says that "You may not disclose the results of any benchmark test of
the .NET Framework component of the Product to any third party without
Microsoft's prior written approval".

----------

For reference, here are directions on how to bootstrap the compiler in
grade `il'.

- Start things off as usual, e.g.

	cvs checkout mercury
	cd mercury
	cvs checkout tests
	autoconf
	sh configure

  At this point I applied the attached patch, but in retrospect
  I think that in fact this patch is probably not needed.

- Then put
 	
	GRADE = il
	EXTRA_MS_ILASMFLAGS=/debug
	EXTRA_MS_CSCFLAGS=/debug+ /debug:full
	EXTRA_MS_CLFLAGS=/Zi
  
  in Mmake.params, and if you applied the patch mentioned above
  also put

	GRADE = il
	EXTRA_MS_ILASMFLAGS=/debug
	EXTRA_MS_CSCFLAGS=/debug+ /debug:full
	EXTRA_MS_CLFLAGS=/Zi
	FIX_PATH_FOR_MMC=cygpath -w                                                     

  in Mmake.stage.params, and then do

	tools/bootcheck --grade il

  I think it *is* necessary to build stage 1 in grade IL
  to get stage 2 and 3 to compare OK; there are some issues
  with character representation and computation of e.g. string
  switch hash tables when cross-compiling to a different
  character representation which cause differences between
  stage 1 and 2.

- The build or bootcheck may sometimes die due to
  "cygpath: error obtaining title Mutex" which seems to
  occur intermittently.  This can be avoided by invoking
  the failing shell command manually (rather than from make),
  and then continuing the bootcheck. 
  Putting "notitle" in the CYGWIN environment variable
  might also avoid this problem, but I haven't tried that.

- The bootcheck may die when it gets to the library directory.
  If so, do
  	cd library	# or stage2/library or stage3/library
	mmake copy_runtime_dlls
  and then continue the bootcheck.
  This one is actually a missing dependency in our Mmakefiles
  and could easily be fixed.

- The bootcheck may die when it gets to the next stage,
  due to not being able to find some DLLs.
  Do
	cd compiler	# or stage2/compiler or stage3/compiler
	cd ../browser/*.dll .
	cd ../analysis/*.dll .
	mmake hlds.passes_aux__csharp_code.dll
  and then continue the bootcheck again.
  This one is another missing dependency in our Mmakefiles
  that could also easily be fixed.

- In the directions above, "continue the bootcheck" means to cd back to
  the main `mercury' directory, and then do one of
  	tools/bootcheck --grade il
  	tools/bootcheck --grade il --keep-stage-2
  	tools/bootcheck --grade il --keep-stage-2 --keep-stage-3
  depending on how far it got last time.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh at cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.
-------------- next part --------------
Index: Mmake.workspace
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/mercury1/repository/mercury/Mmake.workspace,v
retrieving revision 1.12
diff -u -d -u -r1.12 Mmake.workspace
--- Mmake.workspace	13 Feb 2003 08:28:42 -0000	1.12
+++ Mmake.workspace	21 Feb 2003 05:59:51 -0000
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@
 MCFLAGS +=	--options-file $(WORKSPACE)/Mercury.options
 endif
 
-MCFLAGS += 	--no-mercury-stdlib-dir -I$(LIBRARY_DIR)
+FIX_PATH_FOR_MMC = echo
+MCFLAGS += 	--no-mercury-stdlib-dir -I`$(FIX_PATH_FOR_MMC) $(LIBRARY_DIR)`
 MGNUCFLAGS +=	--no-mercury-stdlib-dir
 C2INITFLAGS += 	--trace-init-file $(BROWSER_DIR)/$(BROWSER_LIB_NAME).init
 C2INITARGS +=	$(LIBRARY_DIR)/$(STD_LIB_NAME).init \