#9718: Avoid TidyPgm predicting what CorePrep will do -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Reporter: simonpj | Owner: Type: bug | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Component: Compiler | Version: 7.8.3 Keywords: | Operating System: Architecture: Unknown/Multiple | Unknown/Multiple Difficulty: Unknown | Type of failure: Blocked By: | None/Unknown Related Tickets: | Test Case: | Blocking: | Differential Revisions: -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- At the moment the `TidyPgm` pass is forced to predict, accurately but unpleasantly, some aspects of what `CorePrep` and `Core2Stg` will do. Reason: * Each `Id` in the interface file records (among other things) the '''arity''' of the `Id`, and whether it has '''CAF references''' * We really only know these two things for sure after `CorePrep`. The conversion from Core to STG makes no structural changes. * However the result of `TidyPgm` (which preceded `CorePrep`) is used to generate the interface file. So it has to predict the arity and CAF-ref status of each `Id`. * This is not good. It restricts what `CorePrep` can do (notably, it must not change the arity of a top-level `Id`), and it leads to unsavoury code (e.g. look at the call to `CorePrep.cvtLitInteger` in `TidyPgm.cafRefsL`. It's also dangerous: an inconsistency could lead to a crash. This is a long-standing problem. My current thought for how to unravel it is this: * `TidyPgm` does not attach arity or CAF-ref info. * Instead, run `CorePrep` after `TidyPgm`, and generate accurate arity and CAF-ref info * Then use that auxiliary mapping during the conversion from tidied program to `ModIface`. I don't think this would be hard. It would mean that the tidied program and the core-prep'd program would have to exist in memory at the same time. An alternative would be to generate the `ModIface` from the tidied program ''sans'' arity and CAF-ref info, and then, after `CorePrep` run over it to add arity and CAF-ref info. (You'd have to do this before generating the fingerprints.) The advantage of this is that the `ModIface` can be a lot smaller than the code for the entire module. A long-standing wart which needs some careful attention. Simon -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9718 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler