Beyond a Joke: Dead Code Elimination Can Delete Live Code
Dead Code Elimination (DCE) is a fundamental compiler optimization technique that removes dead code (e.g., unreachable or reachable but whose results are unused) in the program to produce smaller or faster executables. However, since compiler optimizations are typically aggressively performed and there are complex relationships/interplay among a vast number of compiler optimizations (including DCE), it is not known whether DCE is indeed correctly performed and will only delete dead code in practice. In this study, we open a new research problem to investigate: can DCE happen to erroneously delete live code? To tackle this problem, we design a new approach named Xdead, which leverages differential testing, static binary analysis, and dynamic symbolic execution techniques, to detect miscompilation bugs caused by the erroneously deleted live code. Preliminary evaluation shows that Xdead can identify many divergent portions indicating erroneously deleted live code and finally detect two such miscompilation bugs in LLVM compilers. Our findings call for more attention to the potential issues in existing DCE implementations and more conservative strategies when designing new DCE-related compiler optimizations.
Thu 18 AprDisplayed time zone: Lisbon change
11:00 - 12:30 | Analysis and Debugging 2New Ideas and Emerging Results / Research Track at Luis de Freitas Branco Chair(s): Pedro Diniz | ||
11:00 15mTalk | Trace-based Multi-Dimensional Root Cause Localization of Performance Issues in Microservice Systems Research Track Chenxi Zhang Fudan University, Zhen Dong Fudan University, China, Xin Peng Fudan University, Bicheng Zhang Fudan University, Miao Chen Fudan University | ||
11:15 15mTalk | ReClues: Representing and indexing failures in parallel debugging with program variables Research Track Yi Song School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Xihao Zhang School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Xiaoyuan Xie School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, China, Quanming Liu School of Computer Science, Wuhan University, Ruizhi Gao Sonos Inc., Chenliang Xing School of Computer Science, Wuhan University | ||
11:30 15mTalk | PyAnalyzer: An Effective and Practical Approach for Dependency Extraction from Python Code Research Track Wuxia Jin Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shuo Xu Xi'an jiaotong university, Dawei Chen Xi'an Jiaotong University, Jiajun He Xi'an jiaotong university, Dinghong Zhong Xi'an jiaotong university, Ming Fan Xi'an Jiaotong University, Hongxu Chen Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Huijia Zhang Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Ting Liu Xi'an Jiaotong University Media Attached | ||
11:45 15mTalk | Detecting Automatic Software Plagiarism via Token Sequence Normalization Research Track Timur Sağlam Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Moritz Brödel Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Larissa Schmid Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Sebastian Hahner Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) DOI Pre-print | ||
12:00 15mTalk | NuzzleBug: Debugging Block-Based Programs in Scratch Research Track Pre-print | ||
12:15 7mTalk | Locating Buggy Segments in Quantum Program Debugging New Ideas and Emerging Results | ||
12:22 7mTalk | Beyond a Joke: Dead Code Elimination Can Delete Live Code New Ideas and Emerging Results Haoxin Tu Singapore Management University, Singapore, Lingxiao Jiang Singapore Management University, Debin Gao Singapore Management University, He Jiang Dalian University of Technology |