Abstract
Modifying code after the compiler has generated it can be useful for both optimization and instrumentation. Several years ago we designed the Mahler system, which uses link-time code modification for a variety of tools on our experimental Titan workstations. Killian’s Pixie tool works even later, translating a fully-linked MIPS executable file into a new version with instrumentation added. Recently we wanted to develop a hybrid of the two, that would let us experiment with both optimization and instrumentation on a standard workstation, preferably without requiring us to modify the normal compilers and linker. This paper describes prototypes of two hybrid systems, closely related to Mahler and Pixie. We implemented basic-block counting in both, and compare the resulting time and space expansion to those of Mahler and Pixie.
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag London
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Wall, D.W. (1992). Systems for Late Code Modification. In: Giegerich, R., Graham, S.L. (eds) Code Generation — Concepts, Tools, Techniques. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3501-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3501-2_15
Publisher Name: Springer, London
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