LunarG, with support from Valve, announces the GlassyMesa project, an effort to bring the LLVM compiler infrastructure to Mesa.
GlassyMesa utilizes LunarGLASS, the LLVM compiler stack with modifications allowing it to represent and optimize 3D shaders and target GPUs. This also includes use of glslang, the Khronos GLSL reference parser. It also includes a translation pass from LLVM IR to GLSL IR, the IR used by Mesa compiler backends.
LLVM brings state-of-the-art compiler optimizations to Mesa immediately. As importantly, it brings a modern Intermediate Representation (IR) which can be the basis for rapid development of new optimizations as shaders and shader languages evolve as well as enable multiple teams to develop components independently more efficiently than current IRs. Furthermore, this capability can be used as a basis for development of compiler backends using the LLVM backend infrastructure.
Mesa 3D Development Mailing List: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.video.mesa3d.devel/79499
