# MLIR Python Bindings **Current status**: Under development and not enabled by default [TOC] ## Building ### Pre-requisites * A relatively recent Python3 installation * Installation of python dependencies as specified in `mlir/python/requirements.txt` ### CMake variables * **`MLIR_ENABLE_BINDINGS_PYTHON`**`:BOOL` Enables building the Python bindings. Defaults to `OFF`. * **`Python3_EXECUTABLE`**:`STRING` Specifies the `python` executable used for the LLVM build, including for determining header/link flags for the Python bindings. On systems with multiple Python implementations, setting this explicitly to the preferred `python3` executable is strongly recommended. ### Recommended development practices It is recommended to use a python virtual environment. Many ways exist for this, but the following is the simplest: ```shell # Make sure your 'python' is what you expect. Note that on multi-python # systems, this may have a version suffix, and on many Linuxes and MacOS where # python2 and python3 co-exist, you may also want to use `python3`. which python python -m venv ~/.venv/mlirdev source ~/.venv/mlirdev/bin/activate # Note that many LTS distros will bundle a version of pip itself that is too # old to download all of the latest binaries for certain platforms. # The pip version can be obtained with `python -m pip --version`, and for # Linux specifically, this should be cross checked with minimum versions # here: https://github.com/pypa/manylinux # It is recommended to upgrade pip: python -m pip install --upgrade pip # Now the `python` command will resolve to your virtual environment and # packages will be installed there. python -m pip install -r mlir/python/requirements.txt # Now run `cmake`, `ninja`, et al. ``` For interactive use, it is sufficient to add the `tools/mlir/python_packages/mlir_core/` directory in your `build/` directory to the `PYTHONPATH`. Typically: ```shell export PYTHONPATH=$(cd build && pwd)/tools/mlir/python_packages/mlir_core ``` Note that if you have installed (i.e. via `ninja install`, et al), then python packages for all enabled projects will be in your install tree under `python_packages/` (i.e. `python_packages/mlir_core`). Official distributions are built with a more specialized setup. ## Design ### Use cases There are likely two primary use cases for the MLIR python bindings: 1. Support users who expect that an installed version of LLVM/MLIR will yield the ability to `import mlir` and use the API in a pure way out of the box. 1. Downstream integrations will likely want to include parts of the API in their private namespace or specially built libraries, probably mixing it with other python native bits. ### Composable modules In order to support use case \#2, the Python bindings are organized into composable modules that downstream integrators can include and re-export into their own namespace if desired. This forces several design points: * Separate the construction/populating of a `py::module` from `PYBIND11_MODULE` global constructor. * Introduce headers for C++-only wrapper classes as other related C++ modules will need to interop with it. * Separate any initialization routines that depend on optional components into its own module/dependency (currently, things like `registerAllDialects` fall into this category). There are a lot of co-related issues of shared library linkage, distribution concerns, etc that affect such things. Organizing the code into composable modules (versus a monolithic `cpp` file) allows the flexibility to address many of these as needed over time. Also, compilation time for all of the template meta-programming in pybind scales with the number of things you define in a translation unit. Breaking into multiple translation units can significantly aid compile times for APIs with a large surface area. ### Submodules Generally, the C++ codebase namespaces most things into the `mlir` namespace. However, in order to modularize and make the Python bindings easier to understand, sub-packages are defined that map roughly to the directory structure of functional units in MLIR. Examples: * `mlir.ir` * `mlir.passes` (`pass` is a reserved word :( ) * `mlir.dialect` * `mlir.execution_engine` (aside from namespacing, it is important that "bulky"/optional parts like this are isolated) In addition, initialization functions that imply optional dependencies should be in underscored (notionally private) modules such as `_init` and linked separately. This allows downstream integrators to completely customize what is included "in the box" and covers things like dialect registration, pass registration, etc. ### Loader LLVM/MLIR is a non-trivial python-native project that is likely to co-exist with other non-trivial native extensions. As such, the native extension (i.e. the `.so`/`.pyd`/`.dylib`) is exported as a notionally private top-level symbol (`_mlir`), while a small set of Python code is provided in `mlir/_cext_loader.py` and siblings which loads and re-exports it. This split provides a place to stage code that needs to prepare the environment *before* the shared library is loaded into the Python runtime, and also provides a place that one-time initialization code can be invoked apart from module constructors. It is recommended to avoid using `__init__.py` files to the extent possible, until reaching a leaf package that represents a discrete component. The rule to keep in mind is that the presence of an `__init__.py` file prevents the ability to split anything at that level or below in the namespace into different directories, deployment packages, wheels, etc. See the documentation for more information and advice: https://packaging.python.org/guides/packaging-namespace-packages/ ### Use the C-API The Python APIs should seek to layer on top of the C-API to the degree possible. Especially for the core, dialect-independent parts, such a binding enables packaging decisions that would be difficult or impossible if spanning a C++ ABI boundary. In addition, factoring in this way side-steps some very difficult issues that arise when combining RTTI-based modules (which pybind derived things are) with non-RTTI polymorphic C++ code (the default compilation mode of LLVM). ### Ownership in the Core IR There are several top-level types in the core IR that are strongly owned by their python-side reference: * `PyContext` (`mlir.ir.Context`) * `PyModule` (`mlir.ir.Module`) * `PyOperation` (`mlir.ir.Operation`) - but with caveats All other objects are dependent. All objects maintain a back-reference (keep-alive) to their closest containing top-level object. Further, dependent objects fall into two categories: a) uniqued (which live for the life-time of the context) and b) mutable. Mutable objects need additional machinery for keeping track of when the C++ instance that backs their Python object is no longer valid (typically due to some specific mutation of the IR, deletion, or bulk operation). ### Optionality and argument ordering in the Core IR The following types support being bound to the current thread as a context manager: * `PyLocation` (`loc: mlir.ir.Location = None`) * `PyInsertionPoint` (`ip: mlir.ir.InsertionPoint = None`) * `PyMlirContext` (`context: mlir.ir.Context = None`) In order to support composability of function arguments, when these types appear as arguments, they should always be the last and appear in the above order and with the given names (which is generally the order in which they are expected to need to be expressed explicitly in special cases) as necessary. Each should carry a default value of `py::none()` and use either a manual or automatic conversion for resolving either with the explicit value or a value from the thread context manager (i.e. `DefaultingPyMlirContext` or `DefaultingPyLocation`). The rationale for this is that in Python, trailing keyword arguments to the *right* are the most composable, enabling a variety of strategies such as kwarg passthrough, default values, etc. Keeping function signatures composable increases the chances that interesting DSLs and higher level APIs can be constructed without a lot of exotic boilerplate. Used consistently, this enables a style of IR construction that rarely needs to use explicit contexts, locations, or insertion points but is free to do so when extra control is needed. #### Operation hierarchy As mentioned above, `PyOperation` is special because it can exist in either a top-level or dependent state. The life-cycle is unidirectional: operations can be created detached (top-level) and once added to another operation, they are then dependent for the remainder of their lifetime. The situation is more complicated when considering construction scenarios where an operation is added to a transitive parent that is still detached, necessitating further accounting at such transition points (i.e. all such added children are initially added to the IR with a parent of their outer-most detached operation, but then once it is added to an attached operation, they need to be re-parented to the containing module). Due to the validity and parenting accounting needs, `PyOperation` is the owner for regions and blocks and needs to be a top-level type that we can count on not aliasing. This let's us do things like selectively invalidating instances when mutations occur without worrying that there is some alias to the same operation in the hierarchy. Operations are also the only entity that are allowed to be in a detached state, and they are interned at the context level so that there is never more than one Python `mlir.ir.Operation` object for a unique `MlirOperation`, regardless of how it is obtained. The C/C++ API allows for Region/Block to also be detached, but it simplifies the ownership model a lot to eliminate that possibility in this API, allowing the Region/Block to be completely dependent on its owning operation for accounting. The aliasing of Python `Region`/`Block` instances to underlying `MlirRegion`/`MlirBlock` is considered benign and these objects are not interned in the context (unlike operations). If we ever want to re-introduce detached regions/blocks, we could do so with new "DetachedRegion" class or similar and also avoid the complexity of accounting. With the way it is now, we can avoid having a global live list for regions and blocks. We may end up needing an op-local one at some point TBD, depending on how hard it is to guarantee how mutations interact with their Python peer objects. We can cross that bridge easily when we get there. Module, when used purely from the Python API, can't alias anyway, so we can use it as a top-level ref type without a live-list for interning. If the API ever changes such that this cannot be guaranteed (i.e. by letting you marshal a native-defined Module in), then there would need to be a live table for it too. ## User-level API ### Context Management The bindings rely on Python [context managers](https://docs.python.org/3/reference/datamodel.html#context-managers) (`with` statements) to simplify creation and handling of IR objects by omitting repeated arguments such as MLIR contexts, operation insertion points and locations. A context manager sets up the default object to be used by all binding calls within the following context and in the same thread. This default can be overridden by specific calls through the dedicated keyword arguments. #### MLIR Context An MLIR context is a top-level entity that owns attributes and types and is referenced from virtually all IR constructs. Contexts also provide thread safety at the C++ level. In Python bindings, the MLIR context is also a Python context manager, one can write: ```python from mlir.ir import Context, Module with Context() as ctx: # IR construction using `ctx` as context. # For example, parsing an MLIR module from string requires the context. Module.parse("builtin.module {}") ``` IR objects referencing a context usually provide access to it through the `.context` property. Most IR-constructing functions expect the context to be provided in some form. In case of attributes and types, the context may be extracted from the contained attribute or type. In case of operations, the context is systematically extracted from Locations (see below). When the context cannot be extracted from any argument, the bindings API expects the (keyword) argument `context`. If it is not provided or set to `None` (default), it will be looked up from an implicit stack of contexts maintained by the bindings in the current thread and updated by context managers. If there is no surrounding context, an error will be raised. Note that it is possible to manually specify the MLIR context both inside and outside of the `with` statement: ```python from mlir.ir import Context, Module standalone_ctx = Context() with Context() as managed_ctx: # Parse a module in managed_ctx. Module.parse("...") # Parse a module in standalone_ctx (override the context manager). Module.parse("...", context=standalone_ctx) # Parse a module without using context managers. Module.parse("...", context=standalone_ctx) ``` The context object remains live as long as there are IR objects referencing it. #### Insertion Points and Locations When constructing an MLIR operation, two pieces of information are required: - an *insertion point* that indicates where the operation is to be created in the IR region/block/operation structure (usually before or after another operation, or at the end of some block); it may be missing, at which point the operation is created in the *detached* state; - a *location* that contains user-understandable information about the source of the operation (for example, file/line/column information), which must always be provided as it carries a reference to the MLIR context. Both can be provided using context managers or explicitly as keyword arguments in the operation constructor. They can be also provided as keyword arguments `ip` and `loc` both within and outside of the context manager. ```python from mlir.ir import Context, InsertionPoint, Location, Module, Operation with Context() as ctx: module = Module.create() # Prepare for inserting operations into the body of the module and indicate # that these operations originate in the "f.mlir" file at the given line and # column. with InsertionPoint(module.body), Location.file("f.mlir", line=42, col=1): # This operation will be inserted at the end of the module body and will # have the location set up by the context manager. Operation(<...>) # This operation will be inserted at the end of the module (and after the # previously constructed operation) and will have the location provided as # the keyword argument. Operation(<...>, loc=Location.file("g.mlir", line=1, col=10)) # This operation will be inserted at the *beginning* of the block rather # than at its end. Operation(<...>, ip=InsertionPoint.at_block_begin(module.body)) ``` Note that `Location` needs an MLIR context to be constructed. It can take the context set up in the current thread by some surrounding context manager, or accept it as an explicit argument: ```python from mlir.ir import Context, Location # Create a context and a location in this context in the same `with` statement. with Context() as ctx, Location.file("f.mlir", line=42, col=1, context=ctx): pass ``` Locations are owned by the context and live as long as they are (transitively) referenced from somewhere in Python code. Unlike locations, the insertion point may be left unspecified (or, equivalently, set to `None` or `False`) during operation construction. In this case, the operation is created in the *detached* state, that is, it is not added into the region of another operation and is owned by the caller. This is usually the case for top-level operations that contain the IR, such as modules. Regions, blocks and values contained in an operation point back to it and maintain it live. ### Inspecting IR Objects Inspecting the IR is one of the primary tasks the Python bindings are designed for. One can traverse the IR operation/region/block structure and inspect their aspects such as operation attributes and value types. #### Operations, Regions and Blocks Operations are represented as either: - the generic `Operation` class, useful in particular for generic processing of unregistered operations; or - a specific subclass of `OpView` that provides more semantically-loaded accessors to operation properties. Given an `OpView` subclass, one can obtain an `Operation` using its `.operation` property. Given an `Operation`, one can obtain the corresponding `OpView` using its `.opview` property *as long as* the corresponding class has been set up. This typically means that the Python module of its dialect has been loaded. By default, the `OpView` version is produced when navigating the IR tree. One can check if an operation has a specific type by means of Python's `isinstance` function: ```python operation = <...> opview = <...> if isinstance(operation.opview, mydialect.MyOp): pass if isinstance(opview, mydialect.MyOp): pass ``` The components of an operation can be inspected using its properties. - `attributes` is a collection of operation attributes . It can be subscripted as both dictionary and sequence, e.g., both `operation.attributes["value"]` and `operation.attributes[0]` will work. There is no guarantee on the order in which the attributes are traversed when iterating over the `attributes` property as sequence. - `operands` is a sequence collection of operation operands. - `results` is a sequence collection of operation results. - `regions` is a sequence collection of regions attached to the operation. The objects produced by `operands` and `results` have a `.types` property that contains a sequence collection of types of the corresponding values. ```python from mlir.ir import Operation operation1 = <...> operation2 = <...> if operation1.results.types == operation2.operand.types: pass ``` `OpView` subclasses for specific operations may provide leaner accessors to properties of an operation. For example, named attributes, operand and results are usually accessible as properties of the `OpView` subclass with the same name, such as `operation.const_value` instead of `operation.attributes["const_value"]`. If this name is a reserved Python keyword, it is suffixed with an underscore. The operation itself is iterable, which provides access to the attached regions in order: ```python from mlir.ir import Operation operation = <...> for region in operation: do_something_with_region(region) ``` A region is conceptually a sequence of blocks. Objects of the `Region` class are thus iterable, which provides access to the blocks. One can also use the `.blocks` property. ```python # Regions are directly iterable and give access to blocks. for block1, block2 in zip(operation.regions[0], operation.regions[0].blocks) assert block1 == block2 ``` A block contains a sequence of operations, and has several additional properties. Objects of the `Block` class are iterable and provide access to the operations contained in the block. So does the `.operations` property. Blocks also have a list of arguments available as a sequence collection using the `.arguments` property. Block and region belong to the parent operation in Python bindings and keep it alive. This operation can be accessed using the `.owner` property. #### Attributes and Types Attributes and types are (mostly) immutable context-owned objects. They are represented as either: - an opaque `Attribute` or `Type` object supporting printing and comparison; or - a concrete subclass thereof with access to properties of the attribute or type. Given an `Attribute` or `Type` object, one can obtain a concrete subclass using the constructor of the subclass. This may raise a `ValueError` if the attribute or type is not of the expected subclass: ```python from mlir.ir import Attribute, Type from mlir. import ConcreteAttr, ConcreteType attribute = <...> type = <...> try: concrete_attr = ConcreteAttr(attribute) concrete_type = ConcreteType(type) except ValueError as e: # Handle incorrect subclass. ``` In addition, concrete attribute and type classes provide a static `isinstance` method to check whether an object of the opaque `Attribute` or `Type` type can be downcasted: ```python from mlir.ir import Attribute, Type from mlir. import ConcreteAttr, ConcreteType attribute = <...> type = <...> # No need to handle errors here. if ConcreteAttr.isinstance(attribute): concrete_attr = ConcreteAttr(attribute) if ConcreteType.isinstance(type): concrete_type = ConcreteType(type) ``` By default, and unlike operations, attributes and types are returned from IR traversals using the opaque `Attribute` or `Type` that needs to be downcasted. Concrete attribute and type classes usually expose their properties as Python readonly properties. For example, the elemental type of a tensor type can be accessed using the `.element_type` property. #### Values MLIR has two kinds of values based on their defining object: block arguments and operation results. Values are handled similarly to attributes and types. They are represented as either: - a generic `Value` object; or - a concrete `BlockArgument` or `OpResult` object. The former provides all the generic functionality such as comparison, type access and printing. The latter provide access to the defining block or operation and the position of the value within it. By default, the generic `Value` objects are returned from IR traversals. Downcasting is implemented through concrete subclass constructors, similarly to attribtues and types: ```python from mlir.ir import BlockArgument, OpResult, Value value = ... # Set `concrete` to the specific value subclass. try: concrete = BlockArgument(value) except ValueError: # This must not raise another ValueError as values are either block arguments # or op results. concrete = OpResult(value) ``` #### Interfaces MLIR interfaces are a mechanism to interact with the IR without needing to know specific types of operations but only some of their aspects. Operation interfaces are available as Python classes with the same name as their C++ counterparts. Objects of these classes can be constructed from either: - an object of the `Operation` class or of any `OpView` subclass; in this case, all interface methods are available; - a subclass of `OpView` and a context; in this case, only the *static* interface methods are available as there is no associated operation. In both cases, construction of the interface raises a `ValueError` if the operation class does not implement the interface in the given context (or, for operations, in the context that the operation is defined in). Similarly to attributes and types, the MLIR context may be set up by a surrounding context manager. ```python from mlir.ir import Context, InferTypeOpInterface with Context(): op = <...> # Attempt to cast the operation into an interface. try: iface = InferTypeOpInterface(op) except ValueError: print("Operation does not implement InferTypeOpInterface.") raise # All methods are available on interface objects constructed from an Operation # or an OpView. iface.someInstanceMethod() # An interface object can also be constructed given an OpView subclass. It # also needs a context in which the interface will be looked up. The context # can be provided explicitly or set up by the surrounding context manager. try: iface = InferTypeOpInterface(some_dialect.SomeOp) except ValueError: print("SomeOp does not implement InferTypeOpInterface.") raise # Calling an instance method on an interface object constructed from a class # will raise TypeError. try: iface.someInstanceMethod() except TypeError: pass # One can still call static interface methods though. iface.inferOpReturnTypes(<...>) ``` If an interface object was constructed from an `Operation` or an `OpView`, they are available as `.operation` and `.opview` properties of the interface object, respectively. Only a subset of operation interfaces are currently provided in Python bindings. Attribute and type interfaces are not yet available in Python bindings. ### Creating IR Objects Python bindings also support IR creation and manipulation. #### Operations, Regions and Blocks Operations can be created given a `Location` and an optional `InsertionPoint`. It is often easier to user context managers to specify locations and insertion points for several operations created in a row as described above. Concrete operations can be created by using constructors of the corresponding `OpView` subclasses. The generic, default form of the constructor accepts: - an optional sequence of types for operation results (`results`); - an optional sequence of values for operation operands, or another operation producing those values (`operands`); - an optional dictionary of operation attributes (`attributes`); - an optional sequence of successor blocks (`successors`); - the number of regions to attach to the operation (`regions`, default `0`); - the `loc` keyword argument containing the `Location` of this operation; if `None`, the location created by the closest context manager is used or an exception will be raised if there is no context manager; - the `ip` keyword argument indicating where the operation will be inserted in the IR; if `None`, the insertion point created by the closest context manager is used; if there is no surrounding context manager, the operation is created in the detached state. Most operations will customize the constructor to accept a reduced list of arguments that are relevant for the operation. For example, zero-result operations may omit the `results` argument, so can the operations where the result types can be derived from operand types unambiguously. As a concrete example, built-in function operations can be constructed by providing a function name as string and its argument and result types as a tuple of sequences: ```python from mlir.ir import Context, Module from mlir.dialects import builtin with Context(): module = Module.create() with InsertionPoint(module.body), Location.unknown(): func = func.FuncOp("main", ([], [])) ``` Also see below for constructors generated from ODS. Operations can also be constructed using the generic class and based on the canonical string name of the operation using `Operation.create`. It accepts the operation name as string, which must exactly match the canonical name of the operation in C++ or ODS, followed by the same argument list as the default constructor for `OpView`. *This form is discouraged* from use and is intended for generic operation processing. ```python from mlir.ir import Context, Module from mlir.dialects import builtin with Context(): module = Module.create() with InsertionPoint(module.body), Location.unknown(): # Operations can be created in a generic way. func = Operation.create( "func.func", results=[], operands=[], attributes={"function_type":TypeAttr.get(FunctionType.get([], []))}, successors=None, regions=1) # The result will be downcasted to the concrete `OpView` subclass if # available. assert isinstance(func, func.FuncOp) ``` Regions are created for an operation when constructing it on the C++ side. They are not constructible in Python and are not expected to exist outside of operations (unlike in C++ that supports detached regions). Blocks can be created within a given region and inserted before or after another block of the same region using `create_before()`, `create_after()` methods of the `Block` class, or the `create_at_start()` static method of the same class. They are not expected to exist outside of regions (unlike in C++ that supports detached blocks). ```python from mlir.ir import Block, Context, Operation with Context(): op = Operation.create("generic.op", regions=1) # Create the first block in the region. entry_block = Block.create_at_start(op.regions[0]) # Create further blocks. other_block = entry_block.create_after() ``` Blocks can be used to create `InsertionPoint`s, which can point to the beginning or the end of the block, or just before its terminator. It is common for `OpView` subclasses to provide a `.body` property that can be used to construct an `InsertionPoint`. For example, builtin `Module` and `FuncOp` provide a `.body` and `.add_entry_blocK()`, respectively. #### Attributes and Types Attributes and types can be created given a `Context` or another attribute or type object that already references the context. To indicate that they are owned by the context, they are obtained by calling the static `get` method on the concrete attribute or type class. These method take as arguments the data necessary to construct the attribute or type and a the keyword `context` argument when the context cannot be derived from other arguments. ```python from mlir.ir import Context, F32Type, FloatAttr # Attribute and types require access to an MLIR context, either directly or # through another context-owned object. ctx = Context() f32 = F32Type.get(context=ctx) pi = FloatAttr.get(f32, 3.14) # They may use the context defined by the surrounding context manager. with Context(): f32 = F32Type.get() pi = FloatAttr.get(f32, 3.14) ``` Some attributes provide additional construction methods for clarity. ```python from mlir.ir import Context, IntegerAttr, IntegerType with Context(): i8 = IntegerType.get_signless(8) IntegerAttr.get(i8, 42) ``` Builtin attribute can often be constructed from Python types with similar structure. For example, `ArrayAttr` can be constructed from a sequence collection of attributes, and a `DictAttr` can be constructed from a dictionary: ```python from mlir.ir import ArrayAttr, Context, DictAttr, UnitAttr with Context(): array = ArrayAttr.get([UnitAttr.get(), UnitAttr.get()]) dictionary = DictAttr.get({"array": array, "unit": UnitAttr.get()}) ``` Custom builders for Attributes to be used during Operation creation can be registered by way of the `register_attribute_builder`. In particular the following is how a custom builder is registered for `I32Attr`: ```python @register_attribute_builder("I32Attr") def _i32Attr(x: int, context: Context): return IntegerAttr.get( IntegerType.get_signless(32, context=context), x) ``` This allows to invoke op creation of an op with a `I32Attr` with ```python foo.Op(30) ``` The registration is based on the ODS name but registry is via pure python method. Only single custom builder is allowed to be registered per ODS attribute type (e.g., I32Attr can have only one, which can correspond to multiple of the underlying IntegerAttr type). instead of ```python foo.Op(IntegerAttr.get(IndexType.get_signless(32, context=context), 30)) ``` ## Style In general, for the core parts of MLIR, the Python bindings should be largely isomorphic with the underlying C++ structures. However, concessions are made either for practicality or to give the resulting library an appropriately "Pythonic" flavor. ### Properties vs get\*() methods Generally favor converting trivial methods like `getContext()`, `getName()`, `isEntryBlock()`, etc to read-only Python properties (i.e. `context`). It is primarily a matter of calling `def_property_readonly` vs `def` in binding code, and makes things feel much nicer to the Python side. For example, prefer: ```c++ m.def_property_readonly("context", ...) ``` Over: ```c++ m.def("getContext", ...) ``` ### **repr** methods Things that have nice printed representations are really great :) If there is a reasonable printed form, it can be a significant productivity boost to wire that to the `__repr__` method (and verify it with a [doctest](#sample-doctest)). ### CamelCase vs snake\_case Name functions/methods/properties in `snake_case` and classes in `CamelCase`. As a mechanical concession to Python style, this can go a long way to making the API feel like it fits in with its peers in the Python landscape. If in doubt, choose names that will flow properly with other [PEP 8 style names](https://pep8.org/#descriptive-naming-styles). ### Prefer pseudo-containers Many core IR constructs provide methods directly on the instance to query count and begin/end iterators. Prefer hoisting these to dedicated pseudo containers. For example, a direct mapping of blocks within regions could be done this way: ```python region = ... for block in region: pass ``` However, this way is preferred: ```python region = ... for block in region.blocks: pass print(len(region.blocks)) print(region.blocks[0]) print(region.blocks[-1]) ``` Instead of leaking STL-derived identifiers (`front`, `back`, etc), translate them to appropriate `__dunder__` methods and iterator wrappers in the bindings. Note that this can be taken too far, so use good judgment. For example, block arguments may appear container-like but have defined methods for lookup and mutation that would be hard to model properly without making semantics complicated. If running into these, just mirror the C/C++ API. ### Provide one stop helpers for common things One stop helpers that aggregate over multiple low level entities can be incredibly helpful and are encouraged within reason. For example, making `Context` have a `parse_asm` or equivalent that avoids needing to explicitly construct a SourceMgr can be quite nice. One stop helpers do not have to be mutually exclusive with a more complete mapping of the backing constructs. ## Testing Tests should be added in the `test/Bindings/Python` directory and should typically be `.py` files that have a lit run line. We use `lit` and `FileCheck` based tests: * For generative tests (those that produce IR), define a Python module that constructs/prints the IR and pipe it through `FileCheck`. * Parsing should be kept self-contained within the module under test by use of raw constants and an appropriate `parse_asm` call. * Any file I/O code should be staged through a tempfile vs relying on file artifacts/paths outside of the test module. * For convenience, we also test non-generative API interactions with the same mechanisms, printing and `CHECK`ing as needed. ### Sample FileCheck test ```python # RUN: %PYTHON %s | mlir-opt -split-input-file | FileCheck # TODO: Move to a test utility class once any of this actually exists. def print_module(f): m = f() print("// -----") print("// TEST_FUNCTION:", f.__name__) print(m.to_asm()) return f # CHECK-LABEL: TEST_FUNCTION: create_my_op @print_module def create_my_op(): m = mlir.ir.Module() builder = m.new_op_builder() # CHECK: mydialect.my_operation ... builder.my_op() return m ``` ## Integration with ODS The MLIR Python bindings integrate with the tablegen-based ODS system for providing user-friendly wrappers around MLIR dialects and operations. There are multiple parts to this integration, outlined below. Most details have been elided: refer to the build rules and python sources under `mlir.dialects` for the canonical way to use this facility. Users are responsible for providing a `{DIALECT_NAMESPACE}.py` (or an equivalent directory with `__init__.py` file) as the entrypoint. ### Generating `_{DIALECT_NAMESPACE}_ops_gen.py` wrapper modules Each dialect with a mapping to python requires that an appropriate `_{DIALECT_NAMESPACE}_ops_gen.py` wrapper module is created. This is done by invoking `mlir-tblgen` on a python-bindings specific tablegen wrapper that includes the boilerplate and actual dialect specific `td` file. An example, for the `Func` (which is assigned the namespace `func` as a special case): ```tablegen #ifndef PYTHON_BINDINGS_FUNC_OPS #define PYTHON_BINDINGS_FUNC_OPS include "mlir/Dialect/Func/IR/FuncOps.td" #endif // PYTHON_BINDINGS_FUNC_OPS ``` In the main repository, building the wrapper is done via the CMake function `declare_mlir_dialect_python_bindings`, which invokes: ``` mlir-tblgen -gen-python-op-bindings -bind-dialect={DIALECT_NAMESPACE} \ {PYTHON_BINDING_TD_FILE} ``` The generates op classes must be included in the `{DIALECT_NAMESPACE}.py` file in a similar way that generated headers are included for C++ generated code: ```python from ._my_dialect_ops_gen import * ``` ### Extending the search path for wrapper modules When the python bindings need to locate a wrapper module, they consult the `dialect_search_path` and use it to find an appropriately named module. For the main repository, this search path is hard-coded to include the `mlir.dialects` module, which is where wrappers are emitted by the above build rule. Out of tree dialects can add their modules to the search path by calling: ```python from mlir.dialects._ods_common import _cext _cext.globals.append_dialect_search_prefix("myproject.mlir.dialects") ``` ### Wrapper module code organization The wrapper module tablegen emitter outputs: * A `_Dialect` class (extending `mlir.ir.Dialect`) with a `DIALECT_NAMESPACE` attribute. * An `{OpName}` class for each operation (extending `mlir.ir.OpView`). * Decorators for each of the above to register with the system. Note: In order to avoid naming conflicts, all internal names used by the wrapper module are prefixed by `_ods_`. Each concrete `OpView` subclass further defines several public-intended attributes: * `OPERATION_NAME` attribute with the `str` fully qualified operation name (i.e. `math.absf`). * An `__init__` method for the *default builder* if one is defined or inferred for the operation. * `@property` getter for each operand or result (using an auto-generated name for unnamed of each). * `@property` getter, setter and deleter for each declared attribute. It further emits additional private-intended attributes meant for subclassing and customization (default cases omit these attributes in favor of the defaults on `OpView`): * `_ODS_REGIONS`: A specification on the number and types of regions. Currently a tuple of (min_region_count, has_no_variadic_regions). Note that the API does some light validation on this but the primary purpose is to capture sufficient information to perform other default building and region accessor generation. * `_ODS_OPERAND_SEGMENTS` and `_ODS_RESULT_SEGMENTS`: Black-box value which indicates the structure of either the operand or results with respect to variadics. Used by `OpView._ods_build_default` to decode operand and result lists that contain lists. #### Default Builder Presently, only a single, default builder is mapped to the `__init__` method. The intent is that this `__init__` method represents the *most specific* of the builders typically generated for C++; however currently it is just the generic form below. * One argument for each declared result: * For single-valued results: Each will accept an `mlir.ir.Type`. * For variadic results: Each will accept a `List[mlir.ir.Type]`. * One argument for each declared operand or attribute: * For single-valued operands: Each will accept an `mlir.ir.Value`. * For variadic operands: Each will accept a `List[mlir.ir.Value]`. * For attributes, it will accept an `mlir.ir.Attribute`. * Trailing usage-specific, optional keyword arguments: * `loc`: An explicit `mlir.ir.Location` to use. Defaults to the location bound to the thread (i.e. `with Location.unknown():`) or an error if none is bound nor specified. * `ip`: An explicit `mlir.ir.InsertionPoint` to use. Default to the insertion point bound to the thread (i.e. `with InsertionPoint(...):`). In addition, each `OpView` inherits a `build_generic` method which allows construction via a (nested in the case of variadic) sequence of `results` and `operands`. This can be used to get some default construction semantics for operations that are otherwise unsupported in Python, at the expense of having a very generic signature. #### Extending Generated Op Classes As mentioned above, the build system generates Python sources like `_{DIALECT_NAMESPACE}_ops_gen.py` for each dialect with Python bindings. It is often desirable to use these generated classes as a starting point for further customization, so an extension mechanism is provided to make this easy. This mechanism uses conventional inheritance combined with `OpView` registration. For example, the default builder for `arith.constant` ```python class ConstantOp(_ods_ir.OpView): OPERATION_NAME = "arith.constant" _ODS_REGIONS = (0, True) def __init__(self, value, *, loc=None, ip=None): ... ``` expects `value` to be a `TypedAttr` (e.g., `IntegerAttr` or `FloatAttr`). Thus, a natural extension is a builder that accepts a MLIR type and a Python value and instantiates the appropriate `TypedAttr`: ```python from typing import Union from mlir.ir import Type, IntegerAttr, FloatAttr from mlir.dialects._arith_ops_gen import _Dialect, ConstantOp from mlir.dialects._ods_common import _cext @_cext.register_operation(_Dialect, replace=True) class ConstantOpExt(ConstantOp): def __init__( self, result: Type, value: Union[int, float], *, loc=None, ip=None ): if isinstance(value, int): super().__init__(IntegerAttr.get(result, value), loc=loc, ip=ip) elif isinstance(value, float): super().__init__(FloatAttr.get(result, value), loc=loc, ip=ip) else: raise NotImplementedError(f"Building `arith.constant` not supported for {result=} {value=}") ``` which enables building an instance of `arith.constant` like so: ```python from mlir.ir import F32Type a = ConstantOpExt(F32Type.get(), 42.42) b = ConstantOpExt(IntegerType.get_signless(32), 42) ``` Note, three key aspects of the extension mechanism in this example: 1. `ConstantOpExt` directly inherits from the generated `ConstantOp`; 2. in this, simplest, case all that's required is a call to the super class' initializer, i.e., `super().__init__(...)`; 3. in order to register `ConstantOpExt` as the preferred `OpView` that is returned by `mlir.ir.Operation.opview` (see [Operations, Regions and Blocks](#operations-regions-and-blocks)) we decorate the class with `@_cext.register_operation(_Dialect, replace=True)`, **where the `replace=True` must be used**. In some more complex cases it might be necessary to explicitly build the `OpView` through `OpView.build_generic` (see [Default Builder](#default-builder)), just as is performed by the generated builders. I.e., we must call `OpView.build_generic` **and pass the result to `OpView.__init__`**, where the small issue becomes that the latter is already overridden by the generated builder. Thus, we must call a method of a super class' super class (the "grandparent"); for example: ```python from mlir.dialects._scf_ops_gen import _Dialect, ForOp from mlir.dialects._ods_common import _cext @_cext.register_operation(_Dialect, replace=True) class ForOpExt(ForOp): def __init__(self, lower_bound, upper_bound, step, iter_args, *, loc=None, ip=None): ... super(ForOp, self).__init__(self.build_generic(...)) ``` where `OpView.__init__` is called via `super(ForOp, self).__init__`. Note, there are alternatives ways to implement this (e.g., explicitly writing `OpView.__init__`); see any discussion on Python inheritance. ## Providing Python bindings for a dialect Python bindings are designed to support MLIR’s open dialect ecosystem. A dialect can be exposed to Python as a submodule of `mlir.dialects` and interoperate with the rest of the bindings. For dialects containing only operations, it is sufficient to provide Python APIs for those operations. Note that the majority of boilerplate APIs can be generated from ODS. For dialects containing attributes and types, it is necessary to thread those through the C API since there is no generic mechanism to create attributes and types. Passes need to be registered with the context in order to be usable in a text-specified pass manager, which may be done at Python module load time. Other functionality can be provided, similar to attributes and types, by exposing the relevant C API and building Python API on top. ### Operations Dialect operations are provided in Python by wrapping the generic `mlir.ir.Operation` class with operation-specific builder functions and properties. Therefore, there is no need to implement a separate C API for them. For operations defined in ODS, `mlir-tblgen -gen-python-op-bindings -bind-dialect=` generates the Python API from the declarative description. It is sufficient to create a new `.td` file that includes the original ODS definition and use it as source for the `mlir-tblgen` call. Such `.td` files reside in [`python/mlir/dialects/`](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/tree/main/mlir/python/mlir/dialects). The results of `mlir-tblgen` are expected to produce a file named `__ops_gen.py` by convention. The generated operation classes can be extended as described above. MLIR provides [CMake functions](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIRPython.cmake) to automate the production of such files. Finally, a `python/mlir/dialects/.py` or a `python/mlir/dialects//__init__.py` file must be created and filled with `import`s from the generated files to enable `import mlir.dialects.` in Python. ### Attributes and Types Dialect attributes and types are provided in Python as subclasses of the `mlir.ir.Attribute` and `mlir.ir.Type` classes, respectively. Python APIs for attributes and types must connect to the relevant C APIs for building and inspection, which must be provided first. Bindings for `Attribute` and `Type` subclasses can be defined using [`include/mlir/Bindings/Python/PybindAdaptors.h`](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/mlir/include/mlir/Bindings/Python/PybindAdaptors.h) utilities that mimic pybind11 API for defining functions and properties. These bindings are to be included in a separate pybind11 module. The utilities also provide automatic casting between C API handles `MlirAttribute` and `MlirType` and their Python counterparts so that the C API handles can be used directly in binding implementations. The methods and properties provided by the bindings should follow the principles discussed above. The attribute and type bindings for a dialect can be located in `lib/Bindings/Python/Dialect.cpp` and should be compiled into a separate “Python extension” library placed in `python/mlir/_mlir_libs` that will be loaded by Python at runtime. MLIR provides [CMake functions](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/mlir/cmake/modules/AddMLIRPython.cmake) to automate the production of such libraries. This library should be `import`ed from the main dialect file, i.e. `python/mlir/dialects/.py` or `python/mlir/dialects//__init__.py`, to ensure the types are available when the dialect is loaded from Python. ### Passes Dialect-specific passes can be made available to the pass manager in Python by registering them with the context and relying on the API for pass pipeline parsing from string descriptions. This can be achieved by creating a new pybind11 module, defined in `lib/Bindings/Python/Passes.cpp`, that calls the registration C API, which must be provided first. For passes defined declaratively using Tablegen, `mlir-tblgen -gen-pass-capi-header` and `-mlir-tblgen -gen-pass-capi-impl` automate the generation of C API. The pybind11 module must be compiled into a separate “Python extension” library, which can be `import`ed from the main dialect file, i.e. `python/mlir/dialects/.py` or `python/mlir/dialects//__init__.py`, or from a separate `passes` submodule to be put in `python/mlir/dialects//passes.py` if it is undesirable to make the passes available along with the dialect. ### Other functionality Dialect functionality other than IR objects or passes, such as helper functions, can be exposed to Python similarly to attributes and types. C API is expected to exist for this functionality, which can then be wrapped using pybind11 and `[include/mlir/Bindings/Python/PybindAdaptors.h](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/mlir/include/mlir/Bindings/Python/PybindAdaptors.h)` utilities to connect to the rest of Python API. The bindings can be located in a separate pybind11 module or in the same module as attributes and types, and loaded along with the dialect.