4.4. Modules

While they conceptually represent the same thing, modules in the IR layer and modules in the binding layer don’t have the same roles and don’t expose the same API.

While modules in the IR layer allow to build and group functions together, modules in the binding layer give access to compilation, linking and execution of code. To distinguish between the two, the module class in the binding layer is called ModuleRef as opposed to llvmlite.ir.Module.

To go from one realm to the other, you must use the parse_assembly() function.

4.4.1. Factory functions

A module can be created from the following factory functions:

llvmlite.binding.parse_assembly(llvmir)

Parse the given llvmir, a string containing some LLVM IR code. If parsing is successful, a new ModuleRef instance is returned.

llvmir can be obtained, for example, by calling str() on a llvmlite.ir.Module object.

llvmlite.binding.parse_bitcode(bitcode)

Parse the given bitcode, a bytestring containing the LLVM bitcode of a module. If parsing is successful, a new ModuleRef instance is returned.

bitcode can be obtained, for example, by calling ModuleRef.as_bitcode().

4.4.2. The ModuleRef class

class llvmlite.binding.ModuleRef

A wrapper around a LLVM module object. The following methods and properties are available:

as_bitcode()

Return the bitcode of this module as a bytes object.

get_function(name)

Get the function with the given name in this module. If found, a ValueRef is returned. Otherwise, NameError is raised.

get_global_variable(name)

Get the global variable with the given name in this module. If found, a ValueRef is returned. Otherwise, NameError is raised.

Link the other module into this module, resolving references wherever possible. If preserve is true, the other module is first copied in order to preserve its contents; if preserve is false, the other module is not usable after this call anymore.

verify()

Verify the module’s correctness. RuntimeError is raised on error.

data_layout

The data layout string for this module. This attribute is settable.

functions

An iterator over the functions defined in this module. Each function is a ValueRef instance.

global_variables

An iterator over the global variables defined in this module. Each global variable is a ValueRef instance.

name

The module’s identifier, as a string. This attribute is settable.

triple

The platform “triple” string for this module. This attribute is settable.