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<h1 id="queries-demand-driven-compilation"><a class="header" href="#queries-demand-driven-compilation">Queries: demand-driven compilation</a></h1>
<p>As described in <a href="overview.html#queries">Overview of the compiler</a>, the Rust compiler
is still (as of <!-- date-check --> July 2021) transitioning from a
traditional “pass-based” setup to a “demand-driven” system.
The compiler query system is the key to rustc’s demand-driven organization.
The idea is pretty simple.
Instead of entirely independent passes
(parsing, type-checking, etc.), a set of function-like <em>queries</em>
compute information about the input source.
For example,
there is a query called <code>type_of</code> that, given the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_span/def_id/struct.DefId.html"><code>DefId</code></a> of
some item, will compute the type of that item and return it to you.</p>
<p>Query execution is <em>memoized</em>. The first time you invoke a
query, it will go do the computation, but the next time, the result is returned from a hashtable.
Moreover, query execution fits nicely into
<em>incremental computation</em>; the idea is roughly that, when you invoke a
query, the result <em>may</em> be returned to you by loading stored data from disk.<sup class="footnote-reference" id="fr-incr-comp-detail-1"><a href="#footnote-incr-comp-detail">1</a></sup></p>
<p>Eventually, we want the entire compiler control-flow to be query driven.
There will effectively be one top-level query (<code>compile</code>) that will run compilation on a crate; this
will in turn demand information about that crate, starting from the <em>end</em>.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>The <code>compile</code> query might demand to get a list of codegen-units
(i.e. modules that need to be compiled by LLVM).</li>
<li>But computing the list of codegen-units would invoke some subquery
that returns the list of all modules defined in the Rust source.</li>
<li>That query in turn would invoke something asking for the HIR.</li>
<li>This keeps going further and further back until we wind up doing the actual parsing.</li>
</ul>
<p>Although this vision is not fully realized, large sections of the
compiler (for example, generating <a href="mir/index.html">MIR</a>) currently work exactly like this.</p>
<h2 id="invoking-queries"><a class="header" href="#invoking-queries">Invoking queries</a></h2>
<p>Invoking a query is simple.
The <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/ty/struct.TyCtxt.html"><code>TyCtxt</code></a> (“type context”) struct offers a method for each defined query.
For example, to invoke the <code>type_of</code> query, you would just do this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">let ty = tcx.type_of(some_def_id);</code></pre>
<h2 id="how-the-compiler-executes-a-query"><a class="header" href="#how-the-compiler-executes-a-query">How the compiler executes a query</a></h2>
<p>So you may be wondering what happens when you invoke a query method.
The answer is that, for each query, the compiler maintains a
cache – if your query has already been executed, then, the answer is
simple: we clone the return value out of the cache and return it
(therefore, you should try to ensure that the return types of queries
are cheaply cloneable; insert an <code>Rc</code> if necessary).</p>
<h3 id="providers"><a class="header" href="#providers">Providers</a></h3>
<p>If, however, the query is <em>not</em> in the cache, then the compiler will
call the corresponding <strong>provider</strong> function.
A provider is a function implemented in a specific module and <strong>manually registered</strong> into either
the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/struct.Providers.html"><code>Providers</code></a> struct (for local crate queries) or
the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/struct.ExternProviders.html"><code>ExternProviders</code></a> struct (for external crate queries)
during compiler initialization.
The macro system generates both structs,
which act as function tables for all query implementations, where each
field is a function pointer to the actual provider.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> Both the <code>Providers</code> and <code>ExternProviders</code> structs are generated by macros and act as function tables for all query implementations.
They are <strong>not</strong> Rust traits, but plain structs with function pointer fields.</p>
<p><strong>Providers are defined per-crate.</strong> The compiler maintains,
internally, a table of providers for every crate, at least conceptually.
There are two sets of providers:</p>
<ul>
<li>The <code>Providers</code> struct for queries about the <strong>local crate</strong> (that is, the one being compiled)</li>
<li>The <code>ExternProviders</code> struct for queries about <strong>external crates</strong> (that is,
dependencies of the local crate)</li>
</ul>
<p>Note that what determines the crate that a query is targeting is not the <em>kind</em> of query, but the <em>key</em>.
For example, when you invoke <code>tcx.type_of(def_id)</code>, that could be a
local query or an external query, depending on what crate the <code>def_id</code>
is referring to (see the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/keys/trait.Key.html"><code>self::keys::Key</code></a> trait for more information on how that works).</p>
<p>Providers always have the same signature:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">fn provider&lt;'tcx&gt;(
tcx: TyCtxt&lt;'tcx&gt;,
key: QUERY_KEY,
) -&gt; QUERY_RESULT {
...
}</code></pre>
<p>Providers take two arguments: the <code>tcx</code> and the query key.
They return the result of the query.</p>
<p>N.B. Most of the <code>rustc_*</code> crates only provide <strong>local
providers</strong>. Almost all <strong>extern providers</strong> wind up going through the
<a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_metadata/index.html"><code>rustc_metadata</code> crate</a>, which loads the information from the crate metadata.
But in some cases there are crates that
provide queries for <em>both</em> local and external crates, in which case
they define both a <code>provide</code> and a <code>provide_extern</code> function, through
<a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_codegen_ssa/back/symbol_export/fn.wasm_import_module_map.html"><code>wasm_import_module_map</code></a>, that <code>rustc_driver</code> can invoke.</p>
<h3 id="how-providers-are-set-up"><a class="header" href="#how-providers-are-set-up">How providers are set up</a></h3>
<p>When the tcx is created, it is given both the local and external providers by its creator using
the <code>Providers</code> struct from <code>rustc_middle::util</code>.
This struct contains both the local and external providers:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">pub struct Providers {
pub queries: crate::query::Providers, // Local crate providers
pub extern_queries: crate::query::ExternProviders, // External crate providers
pub hooks: crate::hooks::Providers,
}</code></pre>
<p>Each of these provider structs is generated by the macros and contains function pointers for their respective queries.</p>
<h4 id="how-are-providers-registered"><a class="header" href="#how-are-providers-registered">How are providers registered?</a></h4>
<p>The <code>util::Providers</code> struct is filled in during compiler initialization, by the <code>rustc_interface</code> crate from the <code>DEFAULT_QUERY_PROVIDERS</code> static.
The actual provider functions are defined across various <code>rustc_*</code> crates (like <code>rustc_middle</code>, <code>rustc_hir_analysis</code>, etc).</p>
<p>To register providers, each crate exposes a <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/hir/fn.provide.html"><code>provide</code></a> function that looks like this:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">pub fn provide(providers: &amp;mut query::Providers) {
*providers = query::Providers {
type_of,
// ... add more providers here
..*providers
};
}</code></pre>
<p>Note that this function accepts <code>query::Providers</code> not <code>util::Providers</code>.
It is exceedingly rare to need a <code>provide</code> function that doesn’t just accept <code>query::Providers</code>.
If more than the <code>queries</code> field of <code>util::Providers</code> is being updated then <code>util::Providers</code> can be accepted instead:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">pub fn provide(providers: &amp;mut rustc_middle::util::Providers) {
providers.queries.type_of = type_of;
// ... add more local providers here
providers.extern_queries.type_of = extern_type_of;
// ... add more external providers here
providers.hooks.some_hook = some_hook;
// ... add more hooks here
}</code></pre>
<p>Note that <code>util::Providers</code> implements <code>DerefMut</code> to <code>query::Providers</code> so callers of the <code>provide</code> functions can pass in a <code>util::Providers</code> and it will just work for provider functions that accept <code>query::Providers</code> too</p>
<ul>
<li>This function takes a mutable reference to the <code>query::Providers</code> struct and sets the fields to point to the correct provider functions.</li>
<li>You can also assign queries individually, e.g. <code>providers.type_of = type_of;</code>.</li>
<li>You can assign fields individually for each provider type (local, external, and hooks).</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="adding-a-new-provider"><a class="header" href="#adding-a-new-provider">Adding a new provider</a></h4>
<p>Suppose you want to add a new query called <code>fubar</code>.
This section focuses on wiring up the providers; for how to declare the query itself in the big <code>rustc_queries!</code> macro, see <a href="#adding-a-new-query">Adding a new query</a> below.</p>
<p>In practice you usually:</p>
<ol>
<li>Decide which crate “owns” the query (for example <code>rustc_hir_analysis</code>, <code>rustc_mir_build</code>, or another <code>rustc_*</code> crate).</li>
<li>In that crate, look for an existing <code>provide</code> function:
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">pub fn provide(providers: &amp;mut query::Providers) {
// existing assignments
}</code></pre>
If it exists, you will extend it to set the field for your new query.
If the crate does not yet have a <code>provide</code> function, add one and make sure it is included in <code>DEFAULT_QUERY_PROVIDERS</code> in the <code>rustc_interface</code> crate so that it actually gets called during initialization (see the discussion above).</li>
<li>Implement the provider function itself:
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">fn fubar&lt;'tcx&gt;(tcx: TyCtxt&lt;'tcx&gt;, key: LocalDefId) -&gt; Fubar&lt;'tcx&gt; { ... }</code></pre>
</li>
<li>Register it in the crate’s <code>provide</code> function:
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">pub fn provide(providers: &amp;mut query::Providers) {
*providers = query::Providers {
fubar,
..*providers
};
}</code></pre>
</li>
</ol>
<h3 id="how-queries-interact-with-external-crate-metadata"><a class="header" href="#how-queries-interact-with-external-crate-metadata">How queries interact with external crate metadata</a></h3>
<p>When a query is made for an external crate (i.e., a dependency), the query system needs to load the information from that crate’s metadata.
This is handled by the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_metadata/index.html"><code>rustc_metadata</code> crate</a>, which is responsible for decoding and providing the information stored in the <code>.rmeta</code> files.</p>
<p>The process works like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>When a query is made, the query system first checks if the <code>DefId</code> refers to a local or external crate by checking if <code>def_id.krate == LOCAL_CRATE</code>.
This determines whether to use the local provider from <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/struct.Providers.html"><code>Providers</code></a> or the external provider from <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/struct.ExternProviders.html"><code>ExternProviders</code></a>.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>For external crates, the query system will look for a provider in the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/struct.ExternProviders.html"><code>ExternProviders</code></a> struct.
The <code>rustc_metadata</code> crate registers these external providers through the <code>provide_extern</code> function in <code>rustc_metadata/src/rmeta/decoder/cstore_impl.rs</code>.
Just like:</p>
<pre class="playground"><code class="language-rust"><span class="boring">#![allow(unused)]
</span><span class="boring">fn main() {
</span>pub fn provide_extern(providers: &amp;mut ExternProviders) {
providers.foo = |tcx, def_id| {
// Load and decode metadata for external crate
let cdata = CStore::from_tcx(tcx).get_crate_data(def_id.krate);
cdata.foo(def_id.index)
};
// Register other external providers...
}
<span class="boring">}</span></code></pre>
</li>
<li>
<p>The metadata is stored in a binary format in <code>.rmeta</code> files that contains pre-computed information about the external crate, such as types, function signatures, trait implementations, and other information needed by the compiler.
When an external query is made, the <code>rustc_metadata</code> crate:</p>
<ul>
<li>Loads the <code>.rmeta</code> file for the external crate</li>
<li>Decodes the metadata using the <code>Decodable</code> trait</li>
<li>Returns the decoded information to the query system</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p>This approach avoids recompiling external crates, allows for faster compilation of dependent crates, and enables incremental compilation to work across crate boundaries.
Here is a simplified example, when you call <code>tcx.type_of(def_id)</code> for a type defined in an external crate, the query system will:</p>
<ol>
<li>Detect that the <code>def_id</code> refers to an external crate by checking <code>def_id.krate != LOCAL_CRATE</code></li>
<li>Call the appropriate provider from <code>ExternProviders</code> which was registered by <code>rustc_metadata</code></li>
<li>The provider will load and decode the type information from the external crate’s metadata</li>
<li>Return the decoded type to the caller</li>
</ol>
<p>This is why most <code>rustc_*</code> crates only need to provide local providers - the external providers are handled by the metadata system.
The only exception is when a crate needs to provide special handling for external queries, in which case it would implement both local and external providers.</p>
<p>When we define a new query that should work across crates, it does not automatically become cross-crate just because it is listed in <code>rustc_queries!</code>.
You will typically need to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Add the query to <code>rustc_queries!</code> with appropriate modifiers (for example whether it is cached on disk).</li>
<li>Implement a local provider in the owning crate and register it via that crate’s <code>provide</code> function.</li>
<li>Add an external provider in <code>rustc_metadata</code> via <code>provide_extern</code>, and ensure the query’s result is encoded and decoded in the crate metadata.</li>
</ul>
<p>An example of introducing such a cross-crate query can be found in commit <a href="https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/commit/996a185"><code>996a185</code></a> in the <code>rust-lang/rust</code> repository.</p>
<hr>
<h2 id="adding-a-new-query"><a class="header" href="#adding-a-new-query">Adding a new query</a></h2>
<p>How do you add a new query?
Defining a query takes place in two steps:</p>
<ol>
<li>Declare the query name, its arguments and description.</li>
<li>Supply query providers where needed.</li>
</ol>
<p>To declare the query name and arguments, you simply add an entry to
the big macro invocation in <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/index.html"><code>compiler/rustc_middle/src/query/mod.rs</code></a>.
Then you need to add a documentation comment to it with some <em>internal</em> description.
Then, provide the <code>desc</code> attribute which contains a <em>user-facing</em> description of the query.
The <code>desc</code> attribute is shown to the user in query cycles.</p>
<p>This looks something like:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">rustc_queries! {
/// Records the type of every item.
query type_of(key: DefId) -&gt; Ty&lt;'tcx&gt; {
cache_on_disk_if { key.is_local() }
desc { |tcx| "computing the type of `{}`", tcx.def_path_str(key) }
}
...
}</code></pre>
<p>A query definition has the following form:</p>
<pre><code class="language-rust ignore">query type_of(key: DefId) -&gt; Ty&lt;'tcx&gt; { ... }
^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^
| | | | |
| | | | query modifiers
| | | result type
| | query key type
| name of query
query keyword</code></pre>
<p>Let’s go over these elements one by one:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Query keyword:</strong> indicates a start of a query definition.</li>
<li><strong>Name of query:</strong> the name of the query method (<code>tcx.type_of(..)</code>).
Also used as the name of a struct (<code>ty::queries::type_of</code>) that will be generated to represent
this query.</li>
<li><strong>Query key type:</strong> the type of the argument to this query.
This type must implement the <a href="https://doc.rust-lang.org/nightly/nightly-rustc/rustc_middle/query/keys/trait.Key.html"><code>ty::query::keys::Key</code></a> trait, which
defines (for example) how to map it to a crate, and so forth.</li>
<li><strong>Result type of query:</strong> the type produced by this query.
This type should (a) not use <code>RefCell</code> or other interior mutability and (b) be
cheaply cloneable.
Interning or using <code>Rc</code> or <code>Arc</code> is recommended for non-trivial data types.<sup class="footnote-reference" id="fr-steal-1"><a href="#footnote-steal">2</a></sup></li>
<li><strong>Query modifiers:</strong> various flags and options that customize how the
query is processed (mostly with respect to <a href="queries/incremental-compilation-in-detail.html#query-modifiers">incremental compilation</a>).</li>
</ul>
<p>So, to add a query:</p>
<ul>
<li>Add an entry to <code>rustc_queries!</code> using the format above.</li>
<li>Link the provider by modifying the appropriate <code>provide</code> method;
or add a new one if needed and ensure that <code>rustc_driver</code> is invoking it.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="external-links"><a class="header" href="#external-links">External links</a></h2>
<p>Related design ideas, and tracking issues:</p>
<ul>
<li>Design document: <a href="https://github.com/nikomatsakis/rustc-on-demand-incremental-design-doc/blob/master/0000-rustc-on-demand-and-incremental.md">On-demand Rustc incremental design doc</a></li>
<li>Tracking Issue: <a href="https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/42293">“Red/Green” dependency tracking in compiler</a></li>
</ul>
<p>More discussion and issues:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/42633">GitHub issue #42633</a></li>
<li><a href="https://internals.rust-lang.org/t/incremental-compilation-beta/4721">Incremental Compilation Beta</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.rust-lang.org/2016/09/08/incremental.html">Incremental Compilation Announcement</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<ol class="footnote-definition">
<li id="footnote-incr-comp-detail">
<p>The <a href="queries/incremental-compilation-in-detail.html">Incremental compilation in detail</a> chapter gives a more
in-depth description of what queries are and how they work.
If you intend to write a query of your own, this is a good read. <a href="#fr-incr-comp-detail-1"></a></p>
</li>
<li id="footnote-steal">
<p>The one exception to those rules is the <code>ty::steal::Steal</code> type,
which is used to cheaply modify MIR in place.
See the definition of <code>Steal</code> for more details.
New uses of <code>Steal</code> should <strong>not</strong> be added without alerting <code>@rust-lang/compiler</code>. <a href="#fr-steal-1"></a></p>
</li>
</ol>
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