SSA-based register allocation with PBQP

Abstract

Recent research shows that maintaining SSA form allows to split register allocation into separate phases: spilling, register assignment and copy coalescing. After spilling, register assignment can be done in polynomial time, but copy coalescing is NP-complete. In this paper we present an assignment approach with integrated copy coalescing, which maps the problem to the Partitioned Boolean Quadratic Problem (PBQP). Compared to the state-of-the-art recoloring approach, this reduces the relative number of swap and copy instructions for the SPEC CINT2000 benchmark to 99.6% and 95.2%, respectively, while taking 19% less time for assignment and coalescing. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.