Merge pull request #2843 from Amanieu/llvm-asm

Add llvm_asm! and deprecate asm!

Author: Amanieu

text/2843-llvm-asm.md

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+- Feature Name: `llvm_asm`
+- Start Date: 2019-12-31
+- RFC PR: [rust-lang/rfcs#2843](https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2843)
+- Rust Issue: [rust-lang/rust#70173](https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/70173)
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Deprecate the existing `asm!` macro and provide an identical one called
+`llvm_asm!`. The feature gate is also renamed from `asm` to `llvm_asm`.
+
+Unlike `asm!`, `llvm_asm!` is not intended to ever become stable.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+This change frees up the `asm!` macro so that it can be used for the new
+`asm!` macro designed by the inline asm project group while giving existing
+users of `asm!` an easy way to keep their code working.
+
+It may also be useful to have an inline asm implementation available
+(on nightly) for architectures that the new `asm!` macro does not support yet.
+
+# Guide-level explanation
+[guide-level-explanation]: #guide-level-explanation
+
+The Rust team is currently in the process of redesigning the `asm!` macro.
+You should replace all uses of `asm!` with `llvm_asm!` in your code to avoid breakage when the new `asm!` macro is implemented.
+
+# Reference-level explanation
+[reference-level-explanation]: #reference-level-explanation
+
+All references to `asm!` inside the compiler will be changed to refer to `llvm_asm!` instead.
+`asm!` will become a simple (deprecated) `macro_rules!` which redirects to `llvm_asm!`.
+The deprecation warning will advise users that the semantics of `asm!` will change in the future and invite them to use `llvm_asm!` instead. The `llvm_asm!` macro will be guarded by the `llvm_asm` feature gate.
+
+# Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+This change may require people to change their code twice: first to `llvm_asm!`, and then to the new
+`asm!` macro once it is implemented.
+
+# Rationale and alternatives
+[rationale-and-alternatives]: #rationale-and-alternatives
+
+We could skip the deprecation period and perform the renaming at the same time the new `asm!` macro
+is implemented. However this is guaranteed to break a lot of code using nightly Rust at once without
+any transition period.
+
+# Prior art
+[prior-art]: #prior-art
+
+The D programming language also support 2 forms of inline assembly. The [first one][d-asm] provides an embedded DSL
+for inline assembly, which allows direct access to variables in scope and does not require the use of clobbers, but is only available on x86 and x86_64. The [second one][d-llvm-asm] is a raw interface to LLVM's internal inline assembly syntax, which is available on all architectures but only on the LDC backend.
+
+[d-asm]: https://dlang.org/spec/iasm.html
+[d-llvm-asm]: https://wiki.dlang.org/LDC_inline_assembly_expressions
+
+# Unresolved questions
+[unresolved-questions]: #unresolved-questions
+
+None
+
+# Future possibilities
+[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
+
+When the [new `asm!` macro][inline-asm-rfc] is implemented it will replace the current one. This
+will break anyone who has not yet transitioned their code to `llvm_asm!`. No
+silent miscompilations are expected since the operand separator will be changed
+from `:` to `,`, which will guarantee that any existing `asm!` invocations will
+fail with a syntax error with the new `asm!` macro.
+
+[inline-asm-rfc]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rfcs/pull/2873