Emit the low-level guard of a predicated run

[leftbyte]

For ARM predicated instructions, the high level AST from the lifting is represented as a branch on the instruction predicate. The serialization from the high level to low level representation flattened every block into one instruction sequence so a conditional store was rendered as though it always executes. This resulted in the low-level form of the guard being detached from the rest of the graph (i.e the exprid did not have a node.)

The following is an example three-line function whose guarded store gcc if-converts:

void set_channel(char *dst, int idx, char v, unsigned *nwrites) {
    if (idx >= 0)
        dst[idx] = v;          /* one predicated instruction */
    (*nwrites)++;
}

1074c:  cmp    r1, #0
10750:  strbge r2, [r0, r1]    <- executes only when the guard holds
10754:  ldr    r2, [r3]

Before, in the low-level AST, the store always happens and the provenance pointed at a guard that was not there:

#450  block
  #449  block
    #409  label
    #447  instrs
      #413  assign  ignored = (R1 minus 0)                 @ 0x1074c
      #424  assign  *((R0 plus (R1 lsl 0))) = R2           @ 0x10750   <- unconditional
      #432  assign  R2 = *((R3 plus 0))                    @ 0x10754
      #437  assign  R2 = (R2 plus 1)                       @ 0x10758
      #445  assign  *((R3 plus 0)) = R2                    @ 0x1075c
      #446  nop                                            @ 0x10760
    #448  return

expression-mapping: {'3': 2, '12': 4, '18': 15, '26': 21, '38': 28, '47': 39}
  hl exprid 3   -> ll exprid 2   |  #382 idx                 -> #412 (R1 minus 0)
  hl exprid 12  -> ll exprid 4   |  #358 v                   -> #423 R2
  hl exprid 18  -> ll exprid 15  |  #349 (idx ge 0)          -> NO NODE CARRIES EXPRID 15
  hl exprid 26  -> ll exprid 21  |  #395 *(nwrites)          -> #431 *((R3 plus 0))
  hl exprid 38  -> ll exprid 28  |  #404 (*(nwrites) plus 1) -> #436 (R2 plus 1)
  hl exprid 47  -> ll exprid 39  |  #373 (*(nwrites) plus 1) -> #444 R2

Five of the six entries resolve to a node. The sixth is the guard where the high-level exprid 18 is node #349, (idx ge 0) (the condition of the high-level if) that maps to low-level exprid 15, which did not have a node in the low-level AST. A consumer that resolves the low-level form of a guard finds nothing, which caused the mram-patcher to raise a KeyError.

After. The predicated run is emitted as a branch, and node #421 carries exprid 15:

#463  block
  #462  block
    #409  label
    #460  block
      #414  instrs
        #413  assign  ignored = (R1 minus 0)               @ 0x1074c
      #436  if (N eq V)  [cond node #421 exprid=15]  predicated=1   @ 0x10750
        #434  block
          #433  instrs
            #432  assign  *((R0 plus (R1 lsl 0))) = R2     @ 0x10750
        #435  block
      #459  instrs
        #444  assign  R2 = *((R3 plus 0))                  @ 0x10754
        ...
    #461  return

hl exprid 18  -> ll exprid 15  |  #349 (idx ge 0)          -> #421 (N eq V)

(N eq V) is the flag test the ge predicate reads and it is the same expression object the mapping already pointed at. assembly_ast now partitions a block that has control flow and emits each fragment, mirroring the structure the high-level side already uses (ast -> fragmented_ast -> ast_fragment). A predicated fragment becomes a branch so the node keeps its exprid.

[sipma]

It looks good to me. Thank you for fixing this.

Ricardo, could you please also have a look at it, and merge it if you think it is okay?

[waskyo]

First pass: I think I understand the reason for the change and (high-level) what you're doing to fix it, now I'm just trying to make sure the code details match up.

Apologies for the pain.

[waskyo]

Just the 1 question + previous request for a magic-comment.

Can you do a final regression test run and if it passes I'll merge? 🙏

[leftbyte]

passed regressions with only CHB branch: https://github.com/Aarno-Labs/codehawk-regression/actions/runs/35637485245
passed regressions with CHB, patcher, and codehawk-regression work: https://github.com/Aarno-Labs/codehawk-regression/actions/runs/35637617160