[docs][llvm-nm] Improve symbol code documentation

[jhenderson]

Summary

The existing symbol code documentation was very incomplete. This patch adds the missing codes, and defines them based on the current code behaviour.

Fixes https://bugs.llvm.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42231.

[mtrent]

All this looks reasonable, but my grasp of Mach-O is not as complete as I would like, and I have some questions for you.

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

65 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

I am not sure about the "Absolute Symbol" note. Can you point me at why you think that's what it means?

The historical documentation for 's' is "A symbol in a section that is not in TEXT, DATA (non-BSS), or in DATA (BSS). I'd hate to call that "unknown" because "undefined" is such a strong concept and they start with the same letter and are easy to confuse. Pragmatically, you can use directives to tell clang to write symbols into any arbitrary segment/section; and symbols defined in such a way would be listed as "s". So it's not that they're "unknown" as they are "uncommon" or perhaps "uncanonical." For the sake of documentation, it might be best to say "Mach-O: symbol not in TEXT or __DATA.

69 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

Hmm ... I don't *think* Mach-O will print this value. But, please let me know if you know otherwise, and thanks for bringing this to my attention.

97 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

I believe we do not print w/W for Mach-O files. If you know otherwise, please let me know.

101 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

Yes, that's what the documentation says ... I've been looking for an example ...

[MaskRay]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

51 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

I think the semantics (GNU nm behavior) of n are similar to what the reverted rL359312 did, but unfortunately I cannot find a reasonable use case to write a test, nor can I find useful tests in the binutils-gdb repository.

I don't know if relocations into non-SHF_ALLOC sections other than .debug* are reasonable.

[rupprecht]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

31 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

Do we print lowercase a? man nm doesn't include it.

[jhenderson]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

31 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

Yes, and indeed GNU nm prints it too:

// bar.s
foo = 1234

PS C:\Work\TempWork> clang -c bar.s
PS C:\Work\TempWork> nm bar.o
00000000000004d2 a foo
PS C:\Work\TempWork> \llvm\build\Debug\bin\llvm-nm bar.o
00000000000004d2 a foo

51 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

I don't know if relocations into non-SHF_ALLOC sections other than .debug* are reasonable.

We use them in Sony-specific sections at least. I think they are reasonable for additional metadata that needs to refer to the actual code in some way.

I'm okay with the semantics of 'n' changing in the future (this is just one example where the code doesn't necessarily make sense). I'd just like to document what we currently do now - we can document what the behaviour is when we change the code.

65 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

I am not sure about the "Absolute Symbol" note. Can you point me at why you think that's what it means?

See: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/master/llvm/tools/llvm-nm/llvm-nm.cpp#L1005. If the N_Type is N_ABS, the code returns 's'.

I'll update the text slightly to explicitly refer to the section names.

69 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

It doesn't. As far as I can see, it's COFF and ELF-specific. I'm not sure whether we want to indicate where something isn't supported by Mach-O only. Happy for feedback on this.

97 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

llvm-nm doesn't use 'w' for Mach-O. See above for my comments about whether we should explicitly state this.

101 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

It's also what the code says. I have no idea what an N_STAB symbol actually is though. Happy for something better here (or even to delete it entirely).

[jhenderson]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

51 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

We use them in Sony-specific sections at least. I think they are reasonable for additional metadata that needs to refer to the actual code in some way.

I misread your comment. I don't know about relocations into non-alloc sections, but it's certainly possible to produce local symbols in them at least.

[jhenderson]

Update text of 's' to specify which sections it applies to more precisely.

[MaskRay]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

51 ↗

(On Diff #204742)

Sent out D63588. The new behavior should match what I observed from GNU nm.

ELF: .note or .comment section symbol, or local symbol from non-alloc section.

This should just be: local symbol from non-alloc section if D63588 is accepted. (You can add non-writable if that matters.. though I can't find a use case of a writable non-alloc section)

Note sections are usually SHF_ALLOC. .comment sections do not have relocations. I don't know why the original code was written that way...

81 ↗

(On Diff #205613)

It doesn't have to be "referenced".

as /dev/null -o a.o
ld.bfd a.o -u foo -o a  # or gold; but ld.lld doesn't have this behavior
nm a => U foo

though foo is not referenced...

89 ↗

(On Diff #205613)

Multiple definitions link together into zero or one definitions.

This sentence makes me puzzled. You may delete it if no better description can be found.

[jhenderson]

docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

81 ↗

(On Diff #205613)

You're right. This one is just moved from earlier, but we can update it now to be better.

89 ↗

(On Diff #205613)

How about "This definition will only be used if no regular definitions exist in a link. If multiple weak definitions and no regular definitons exist, one of the weak definitions will be used."?

[jhenderson]

Reword undefined and weak symbol code text. Also update 'n' text following behaviour change.

[MaskRay]

Thank you for improving the documentation! The ELF part looks good to me, but it'd good to have someone else to take a look.

[jhenderson]

Thanks @MaskRay

@majnemer, I've added you as it looks like you've worked on the COFF llvm-nm side a fair bit. How do the COFF aspects look?

@mtrent, are you happy with the Mach-O parts?

[jhenderson]

Thanks all. I'm going to land this shortly. I'm happy to make further changes if there's any remaining issues.

llvm/docs/CommandGuide/llvm-nm.rst

 standard input stream.
 
 :program:`llvm-nm`'s default output format is the traditional BSD :program:`nm`
 output format.  Each such output record consists of an (optional) 8-digit
 hexadecimal address, followed by a type code character, followed by a name, for
 each symbol.  One record is printed per line; fields are separated by spaces.
 When the address is omitted, it is replaced by 8 spaces.
 
-Type code characters currently supported, and their meanings, are as follows:
+Type code characters currently supported, and their meanings, are as follows.
+Where both lower and upper-case characters are listed for the same meaning, a
+lower-case character represents a local symbol, whilst an upper-case character
+represents a global (external) symbol:
 
-U
 
- Named object is referenced but undefined in this bitcode file
+a, A
+
+ Absolute symbol.
+
+b, B
+
+ Unitialized data (bss) object.
 
 C
 
- Common (multiple definitions link together into one def)
+ Common symbol. Multiple definitions link together into one definition.
 
-W
+d, D
+
+ Writable data object.
+
+i, I
+
+ COFF: .idata symbol or symbol in a section with IMAGE_SCN_LNK_INFO set.
+
+n
+
+ ELF: local symbol from non-alloc section.
+
+ COFF: debug symbol.
+
+N
+
+ ELF: debug section symbol, or global symbol from non-alloc section.
+
+s, S
 
- Weak reference (multiple definitions link together into zero or one definitions)
+ COFF: section symbol.
 
-t
+ Mach-O: absolute symbol or symbol from a section other than __TEXT_EXEC __text,
+ __TEXT __text, __DATA __data, or __DATA __bss.
 
- Local function (text) object
+r, R
 
-T
+ Read-only data object.
 
- Global function (text) object
+t, T
 
-d
+ Code (text) object.
+
+u
+
+ ELF: GNU unique symbol.
+
+U
+
+ Named object is undefined in this file.
+
+v
+
+ ELF: Undefined weak object. It is not a link failure if the object is not
+ defined.
+
+V
+
+ ELF: Defined weak object symbol. This definition will only be used if no
+ regular definitions exist in a link. If multiple weak definitions and no
+ regular definitons exist, one of the weak definitions will be used.
+
+w
+
+ Undefined weak symbol other than an ELF object symbol. It is not a link failure
+ if the symbol is not defined.
+
+W
 
- Local data object
+ Defined weak symbol other than an ELF object symbol. This definition will only
+ be used if no regular definitions exist in a link. If multiple weak definitions
+ and no regular definitons exist, one of the weak definitions will be used.
 
-D
+\-
 
- Global data object
+ Mach-O: N_STAB symbol.
 
 ?
 
- Something unrecognizable
+ Something unrecognizable.
 
 Because LLVM bitcode files typically contain objects that are not considered to
 have addresses until they are linked into an executable image or dynamically
 compiled "just-in-time", :program:`llvm-nm` does not print an address for any
 symbol in an LLVM bitcode file, even symbols which are defined in the bitcode
 file.
 
 OPTIONS