devdocs notes on memory layout and runtime initialisation

doc/devdocs/init.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,250 @@
+***********************************
+Initialisation of the Julia runtime
+***********************************
+
+How does the Julia runtime execute :code:`julia -e 'println("Hello World!")'` ?
+
+main()
+------
+
+Execution starts at `main() in julia/ui/repl.c
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/ui/repl.c#L333>`_.
+
+main() calls `libsupport_init()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/support/libsupportinit.c#L10>`_
+to set the C library locale and to initialise the "ios" library
+(see `ios_init_stdstreams()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/support/ios.c#L917>`_
+and :ref:`dev-ios`).
+
+Next `parse_opts()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/ui/repl.c#L80>`_
+is called to process command line options. Note that parse_opts()
+only deals with options that affect code generation or early initialisation. Other
+options are handled later by `process_options() in base/client.jl
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/client.jl#L214>`_
+
+parse_opts() stores command line options in the `global jl_compileropts
+struct
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L1320>`_.
+
+
+julia_init()
+------------
+
+
+`julia_init() in task.c
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/task.c#L270>`_ is
+called by main() and calls `_julia_init() in init.c
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L875>`_.
+
+_julia_init() begins by calling libsupport_init() again (it does
+nothing the second time).
+
+`restore_signals()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L402>`_ is
+called to zero the signal handler mask.
+
+`jl_resolve_sysimg_location()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L823>`_ searches
+configured paths for the base system image. See :ref:`dev-sysimg`.
+
+`jl_gc_init()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/gc.c#L1096>`_
+sets up allocation pools and lists for: weak refs, preserved values
+and finalization.
+
+`jl_init_frontend()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/ast.c#L119>`_
+loads and initialises a pre-compiled femptolisp image containing
+the scanner/paser;
+
+`jl_init_types()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/jltypes.c#L2887>`_
+creates jl_datatype_t type description objects for the `built-in
+types defined in julia.h
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L295>`_. e.g.::
+
+    jl_any_type = jl_new_abstracttype(jl_symbol("Any"), NULL, jl_null);
+    jl_any_type->super = jl_any_type;
+
+    jl_type_type = jl_new_abstracttype(jl_symbol("Type"), jl_any_type, jl_null);
+
+    jl_int32_type = jl_new_bitstype(jl_symbol("Int32"),
+                                    jl_any_type, jl_null, 32);
+
+`jl_init_tasks()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/task.c#L870>`_ creates
+the jl_datatype_t* jl_task_type object; initialises the global
+`jl_root_task struct
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L1159>`_; and
+sets jl_current_task to the root task.
+
+`jl_init_codegen()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/codegen.cpp#L4830>`_
+initialises the `LLVM library <http://llvm.org>`_.
+
+`jl_init_serializer()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/dump.c#L1732>`_
+initialises 8-bit serialisation tags for 256 frequently used
+jl_value_t values. The serialisation mechanism uses these tags as
+shorthand (in lieu of storing whole objects) to save storage space.
+
+.. sidebar:: sysimg
+
+    If there is a sysimg file, it contains a pre-cooked image of the "Core" and "Main" modules (and whatever else is created by "boot.jl"). See :ref:`dev-sysimg`.
+
+    `jl_restore_system_image() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/dump.c#L1379>`_ de-serialises the saved sysimg into the current Julia runtime environment and initialisation continues after jl_init_box_caches() below...
+
+    Note: `jl_restore_system_image() (and dump.c in general) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/dump.c#L1379>`_ uses the :ref:`dev-ios`.
+
+
+If there is no sysimg file (:code:`!jl_compileropts.image_file`) then
+then "Core" and "Main" modules are created and "boot.jl" is evaluated:
+
+:code:`jl_core_module = jl_new_module(jl_symbol("Core"))` creates
+the Julia "Core" module.
+
+`jl_init_intrinsic_functions()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/intrinsics.cpp#L1254>`_
+creates a new Julia module "Intrinsics" containing constant
+jl_intrinsic_type symbols. These define an integer code for
+each `intrinsic function
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/intrinsics.cpp#L2>`_.
+`emit_intrinsic()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/intrinsics.cpp#L757>`_
+translates these symbols into LLVM instructions during code generation.
+
+`jl_init_primitives()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/builtins.c#L989>`_
+hooks C functions up to Julia function symbols. e.g. the symbol
+:func:`Base.is` is bound to C function pointer :code:`jl_f_is`
+by calling :code:`add_builtin_func("eval", jl_f_top_eval)`, which does::
+
+    jl_set_const(jl_core_module,
+                 jl_symbol("is"),
+                 jl_new_closure(jl_f_top_eval, jl_symbol("eval"), NULL));
+
+
+`jl_new_main_module()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c>`_
+creates the global "Main" module and sets
+:code:`jl_current_task->current_module = jl_main_module`.
+
+Note: _julia_init() `then sets <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L975>`_ :code:`jl_root_task->current_module = jl_core_module`. :code:`jl_root_task` is an alias of :code:`jl_current_task` at this point, so the current_module set by jl_new_main_module() above is overwritten.
+
+`jl_load("boot.jl") <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L568>`_ calls `jl_parse_eval_all("boot.jl") <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L525>`_ which repeatedly calls `jl_parse_next() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/ast.c#L523>`_ and `jl_toplevel_eval_flex() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L376>`_ to parse and execute `boot.jl <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/boot.jl#L116>`_. TODO -- drill down into eval?
+
+`jl_get_builtin_hooks() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L1209>`_ initialises global C pointers to Julia globals defined in boot.jl.
+
+
+`jl_init_box_caches() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/alloc.c#L850>`_ pre-allocates global boxed integer value objects for values up to 1024. This speeds up allocation of boxed ints later on. e.g.::
+
+    jl_value_t *jl_box_uint8(uint32_t x)
+    {
+        return boxed_uint8_cache[(uint8_t)x];
+    }
+
+`_julia_init() iterates <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L997>`_ over the :code:`jl_core_module->bindings.table` looking for :code:`jl_datatype_t` values and sets the type name's module prefix to :code:`jl_core_module`.
+
+`jl_add_standard_imports(jl_main_module) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L34>`_ does "using Base" in the "Main" module.
+
+Note: _julia_init() `now reverts <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L1017>`_ to :code:`jl_root_task->current_module = jl_main_module` as it was before being `set to jl_core_module <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L975>`_ above.
+
+Platform specific signal handlers are initialised for SIGSEGV (OSX, Linux), and SIGFPE (Windows).
+
+Other signals (SIGINFO, SIGBUS, SIGILL, SIGTERM, SIGABRT, SIGQUIT, SIGSYS and SIGPIPE) are hooked up to `sigdie_handler() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L174>`_ which prints a backtrace.
+
+`jl_init_restored_modules() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/dump.c#L1458>`_ calls `jl_module_run_initializer() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/module.c#L429>`_ for each de-serialised module to run the "__init__" function.
+
+Finally `sigint_handler() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L409>`_ is hooked up to SIGINT and calls :code:`jl_throw(jl_interrupt_exception)`.
+
+_julia_init() the returns `back to main() in julia/ui/repl.c
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/ui/repl.c#L355>`_ and main() calls :code:`true_main(argc, (char**)argv)`.
+
+true_main()
+-----------
+
+`true_main() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/ui/repl.c#L275>`_ loads the contents of :code:`argv[]` into :data:`Base.ARGS`.
+
+If a .jl "program" file was supplied on the command line, then `exec_program() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/ui/repl.c#L219>`_ calls `jl_load(program) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L568>`_ which calls `jl_parse_eval_all() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L525>`_ which repeatedly calls `jl_parse_next() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/ast.c#L523>`_ and `jl_toplevel_eval_flex() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L376>`_ to parse and execute the program.
+
+However, in our example (:code:`julia -e 'println("Hello World!")'`), `jl_get_global(jl_base_module, jl_symbol("_start")) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/module.c#L320>`_ looks up `Base._start <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/client.jl#L388>`_ and `jl_apply() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L987>`_ executes it.
+
+
+Base._start
+-----------
+
+`Base._start <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/client.jl#L388>`_ calls `Base.process_options <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/client.jl#L214>`_ which calls `jl_parse_input_line("println(\"Hello World!\")") <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/ast.c#L468>`_ to create an expression object and :func:`Base.eval` to execute it.
+
+
+Base.eval 
+---------
+
+Base.eval was `mapped to jl_f_top_eval <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/builtins.c#L1005>`_ by jl_init_primitives().
+
+`jl_f_top_eval() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/builtins.c#L444>`_ calls `jl_toplevel_eval_in(jl_main_module, ex) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/builtins.c#L444>`_, where "ex" is the parsed expression :code:`println("Hello World!")`.
+
+`jl_toplevel_eval_in() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/builtins.c#L417>`_ calls `jl_toplevel_eval_flex() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/toplevel.c#L376>`_ which calls `eval() in interpreter.c <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/interpreter.c#L112>`_.
+
+The stack dump below shows how the interpreter works its way through various methods of :func:`Base.println` and :func:`Base.print` before arriving at `write{T}(s::AsyncStream, a::Array{T}) <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/base/stream.jl#L782>`_  which does :code:`ccall(jl_write_no_copy())`.
+
+`jl_write_no_copy() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/jl_uv.c#L580>`_
+calls uv_write() to write "Hello World!" to JL_STDOUT. See :ref:`dev-libuv`.::
+
+    Hello World!
+
+
+============================  =================  ===============================================
+Stack frame                   Source code        Notes
+============================  =================  ===============================================
+jl_write_no_copy()            jl_uv.c:552        called though :func:`Base.ccall`
+julia_write_282942            stream.jl:734      function write!{T}(s::AsyncStream, a::Array{T})
+julia_print_284639            ascii.jl:93        print(io::IO, s::ASCIIString) = (write(io, s);nothing)
+jlcall_print_284639
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_trampoline()               builtins.c:835
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_apply_generic()            gf.c:1624          Base.print(Base.TTY, ASCIIString)
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_trampoline()               builtins.c:835
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_apply_generic()            gf.c:1643          Base.print(Base.TTY, ASCIIString, Char, Char...)
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_f_apply()                  builtins.c:374
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_trampoline()               builtins.c:835
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_apply_generic()            gf.c:1643          Base.println(Base.TTY, ASCIIString, ASCIIString...)
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_trampoline()               builtins.c:835
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+jl_apply_generic()            gf.c:1643          Base.println(ASCIIString,)
+jl_apply()                    julia.h:989
+do_call()                     interpreter.c:70
+eval()                        interpreter.c:210  
+jl_interpret_toplevel_expr()  interpreter.c:25
+jl_toplevel_eval_flex()       toplevel.c:498
+jl_toplevel_eval()            toplevel.c:521
+jl_toplevel_eval_in()         builtins.c:440
+jl_f_top_eval()               builtins.c:469
+============================  =================  ===============================================
+
+Since our example has just one function call, which has done its
+job of printing "Hello World!" the stack now rapidly unwinds back to main().
+
+
+jl_atexit_hook()
+----------------
+
+main() calls `jl_atexit_hook()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L448>`_. This
+calls _atexit for each module, then calls `jl_gc_run_all_finalizers()
+<https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/gc.c#L325>`_
+and cleans up libuv handles.
+
+
+julia_save()
+------------
+
+Finally main() calls `julia_save() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/init.c#L1155>`_, which if requested on the command line, saves the runtime state to a new system image. See `jl_compile_all() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/gf.c#L1525>`_ and `jl_save_system_image() <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/dump.c#L1300>`_.

doc/devdocs/julia.rst

@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 1
 
+   init
+   object
    cartesian
    meta
    subarrays

doc/devdocs/object.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+******************************
+Memory layout of Julia Objects
+******************************
+
+Object layout (jl_value_t)
+--------------------------
+
+.. sidebar:: `special case. <https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/jltypes.c#L2897>`_
+
+    :code:`jl_tuple_type->type = jl_tuple_type`
+
+The :code:`jl_value_t` struct defines the minimal header for a Julia
+object in memory.
+The :code:`type` field points to a
+`jl_datatype_t <http://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L204>`_ object::
+
+    typedef struct _jl_value_t {
+        struct _jl_value_t *type;
+    } jl_value_t;
+
+
+
+The layout of the rest of the object is dependant on its type.
+
+e.g. a :func:`Base.tuple` object has an array of pointers to the
+objects contained by the tuple::
+
+    typedef struct {
+        struct _jl_value_t *type;
+        size_t length;
+        jl_value_t *data[];
+    } jl_tuple_t;
+
+e.g. a "boxed" uint16_t (created by :func:`jl_box_uint16`) is stored as
+follows::
+
+    struct {
+        struct _jl_value_t *type; -- 8 bytes
+        uint16_t data;            -- 2 bytes
+                                  -- 6 bytes padding
+    };
+
+Structs for the built-in types are `defined in julia.h <http://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/julia.h#L69>`_. The corresponding global jl_datatype_t objects are created by `jl_init_types() <http://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/blob/master/src/jltypes.c#L2887>`_.
+
+
+Garbage collector mark bit
+--------------------------
+
+The garbage collector uses the low bit of the :code:`jl_value_t.type`
+pointer as a flag to mark reachable objects (see :code:`gcval_t`).
+During each mark/sweep cycle, the gc sets the mark bit of each
+reachable object, deallocates objects that are not marked, then
+clears the mark bits. While the mark/sweep is in progress the
+:code:`jl_value_t.type` pointer is altered by the mark bit. The gc
+uses the :func:`gc_typeof` macro to retrieve the original type
+pointer::
+
+    #define gc_typeof(v) ((jl_value_t*)(((uptrint_t)jl_typeof(v))&~1UL))
+
+
+Object allocation
+-----------------
+
+Storage for new objects is allocated by :func:`newobj` in julia_internal.h::
+
+    STATIC_INLINE jl_value_t *newobj(jl_value_t *type, size_t nfields)
+    {
+        jl_value_t *jv = (jl_value_t*)allocobj((1+nfields) * sizeof(void*));
+        jv->type = type;
+        return jv;
+    }
+
+Note that all objects are allocated in multiples of 8 bytes, so the
+smallest object size is 16 bytes (8 byte type pointer + 8 bytes
+data).  :func:`allocobj` in gc.c allocates memory for new objects.
+Memory is allocated from a pool for objects up to 2048 bytes, or
+by malloc() otherwise.::

doc/devdocs/sysimg.rst

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 System Image Building
 *********************
 
+.. _dev-sysimg:
+
 Building the Julia system image
 -------------------------------