LLVM

lastmod 2025-03-13created 2015-02-2815 edits

LLVM (formerly Low Level Virtual Machine) is a compiler infrastructure. It is designed to make it easy to implement optimization of programs at compile time, link time, and run time, regardless of the language the program is written in.

LLVM originally stood for low-level virtual machine, but as LLVM grew and took on various purposes, the acronym is no longer used.

LLVM's core code is distributed under the 'LLVM license', which has properties similar to the BSD license. That is, when you distribute a program that uses LLVM, you are not obligated to release/distribute its source code. However, if you use an LLVM frontend based on the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), the frontend is distributed under the GPL. The LLVM project is running a project called Clang to provide a frontend under the LLVM license.

Category

• clang
• lldb
• IR
• AST
• Emscripten
• sanitizers
  • AddressSanitizer (ASAN)
  • ThreadSanitizer
  • MemorySanitizer
• llvmlite (Python)
• TEMU (Terma Emulator) - High-performance LLVM-based microprocessor emulator
• Flang - LLVM Fortran compiler

Common compiler misconceptions

See Compiler#Common compiler misconceptions.

See also

• Intermediate representation (IR; Intermediate language)
• Vortex - High-performance columnar file format. For handling compressed Apache Arrow arrays.

Favorite site

• LLVM web site
• LLVM for Windows
• Wikipedia (en) description of LLVM
• What is the LLVM compiler?
• Llvm basic introduction
• The LLVM project in comics | GeekNews
  • 49. The LLVM project (1/2) | Free/open-source software stories told in comics
  • 50. The LLVM project (2/2) | Free/open-source software stories told in comics

Guide

• A look at the LLVM C++ coding guidelines (1/3)