Bug #15303
closed
Return tracepoint doesn't fire when tailcall optimization is applied
Added by alanwu (Alan Wu) almost 6 years ago.
Updated over 5 years ago.
Description
After a tailcall, the "return" tracepoint event is only fired once. Normally, after a call at the end of a method, the return event is fired twice, once for the callee returning and once for the caller returning.
The following script outputs
:call
:call
:call
:return
method_source = <<-RB
def toy(n)
return if n == 2
toy(n+1)
end
RB
iseq = RubyVM::InstructionSequence.compile(method_source, tailcall_optimization: true)
#puts iseq.disasm
iseq.eval
trace = TracePoint.new(:call, :return) do |tp|
p tp.event
end
trace.enable
toy(0)
The "return" event behaves more like a "stack frame pop" event currently. I don't think it's feasible/desirable to have the same behavior when TCO is applied, but it would be nice if there was some way for the tracepoint to know a tail call is going to happen.
I'm raising this issue because the popular debugger "byebug" relies on these events to track execution in various stack frames. https://github.com/deivid-rodriguez/byebug/issues/481
Forwardable explicitly uses TCO which triggers this issue.
Files
- ruby -v set to ruby 2.6.0dev (2018-11-14 trunk 65727) [x86_64-darwin17]
hi,
how about to call return
event hook at tailcall? There is no need to introduce new API proposed at [Bug #15313].
def bar
end
iseq = RubyVM::InstructionSequence.new("def foo; bar; end", __FILE__, __FILE__, __LINE__, tailcall_optimization: true)
iseq.eval
TracePoint.new(:call, :return){|tp| p tp}.enable{
foo
}
#=>
#<TracePoint:call `foo'@/home/ko1/src/ruby/gitruby/test.rb:4>
#<TracePoint:return `foo'@/home/ko1/src/ruby/gitruby/test.rb:4>
#<TracePoint:call `bar'@/home/ko1/src/ruby/gitruby/test.rb:1>
#<TracePoint:return `bar'@/home/ko1/src/ruby/gitruby/test.rb:2>
patch:
diff --git a/compile.c b/compile.c
index d97cf4e8c6..696e127b9a 100644
--- a/compile.c
+++ b/compile.c
@@ -3144,13 +3144,15 @@ iseq_peephole_optimize(rb_iseq_t *iseq, LINK_ELEMENT *list, const int do_tailcal
if (piobj) {
struct rb_call_info *ci = (struct rb_call_info *)piobj->operands[0];
- if (IS_INSN_ID(piobj, send) || IS_INSN_ID(piobj, invokesuper)) {
- if (piobj->operands[2] == 0) { /* no blockiseq */
- ci->flag |= VM_CALL_TAILCALL;
+ if (IS_INSN_ID(piobj, send) || IS_INSN_ID(piobj, invokesuper)) {
+ if (piobj->operands[2] == 0) { /* no blockiseq */
+ goto change_to_tailcall;
}
}
else {
+ change_to_tailcall:
ci->flag |= VM_CALL_TAILCALL;
+ piobj->insn_info.events = RUBY_EVENT_RETURN;
}
}
}
The main concern I have with this approach is that there is no reasonable value we can make Tracepoint#return_value
return when we trigger it due to a tailcall:
def bar
:"bar's return value"
end
iseq = RubyVM::InstructionSequence.new("def foo; bar; end", __FILE__, __FILE__, __LINE__, tailcall_optimization: true)
iseq.eval
TracePoint.new(:return) {|tp|
p tp
p tp.return_value
}.enable{
foo
}
Outputs the following with the patch from https://bugs.ruby-lang.org/issues/15303#note-2 applied:
#<TracePoint:return `foo'@./test.rb:5>
main
#<TracePoint:return `bar'@./test.rb:3>
:"bar's return value"
Clearly, foo doesn't return main
; there is no meaningful value we can put for #return_value
since semantically, foo hasn't returned yet.
With this patch applied, #return_value
is not reliable anymore for return events.
I made #15313 because I felt it's the most backward compatible approach.
Yes, the patch should return nil
(I forgot to support it).
I think we can change the semantic of tailcall as a method call/return flow I proposed.
What kind of issue on this change?
If we return nil
for #return_value
, users can't tell whether the nil is from the method actually returning nil, or a nil
from tailcall.
I think the return event should be reserved for only real returns, because of its name.
I don't think this is a huge issue but I'm uncomfortable with ignoring it.
or raise
on return_value
?
it is irregular case. I think tailcall is not normal call (it is same as a method call by lexicial).
foo() # tailcall
we can see:
return_and_call(:foo)
and nobody think it is strange.
in other words, using tailcall, we can define it as "transformation from former syntax to latter syntax~ we can think.
I want to know the real issue by this spec, from real users such as debugger creators.
I personally don't see an issue with this spec, besides that it would introduce a breaking change one way or the other. I think it would fix the next
command in byebug, though. (it would have to rescue when it calls #return_value, though)
I've asked David Rodríguez, the creator of Byebug to join the discussion on Github. Hopefully we get to hear from him.
Ah, I have another strong idea (forgot to propose).
Cancel tailcall opt when return
event is specified.
ko1 (Koichi Sasada) wrote:
Cancel tailcall opt when return
event is specified.
I think anyone who goes through all the trouble to enable tailcall elimination right now relies on it to avoid stack overflow.
Why else would someone use it? It doesn't make your program faster, it's cumbersome to enable, and it erases part of your stack trace which makes debugging harder.
Making this change seems to me replacing a problem with a different one. It is a problem that affects way less people admittedly, but I feel that it would be punishing functional programmers for the benefit of everyone else.
If we just want to fix the problem most people have today, i.e., byebug's next
command's breakage, making Forwardable not use TCO is good enough. It will still be broken for tailcall optimized code, but at least most people won't run into this problem.
That might be the most pragmatic "fix", and it's a simple one. With it, we can keep ignoring this problem and wait till someone complains.
Hello! I have very similar views to alanwu.
The original proposal of extending the API to be able to distinguish between regular method calls and tail calls sounds good to me in principle and looks like it would solve the problem in the general case. It would be a niche feature, but tailcall optimization is a niche feature too, right? It just happens to be used in a standard lib method, that's why it's biting byebug.
Regarding koichi's first proposal, it's not bad either. The return_value
method in return events is only marginally used in byebug, so it's not a big deal to lose it on these egde cases.
Regarding koichi's last proposal.. Again I agree with alanwu. Couldn't using the tracepoint API over programs relying on tailcall optimization actually break those programs?
- Status changed from Open to Closed
Applied in changeset trunk|r66349.
Disable tailcall optimization [Bug #15303]
Matz decided to remove tailcall opt from core libraries.
r66349 was committed by nobu.
Thank you! That works for me too, and will solve the majority of the cases :)
- Backport changed from 2.3: UNKNOWN, 2.4: UNKNOWN, 2.5: UNKNOWN to 2.4: UNKNOWN, 2.5: REQUIRED
- Has duplicate Bug #15604: Backport r66349 to 2.5 added
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