LLVM 15 Branched, Ends Feature Work Ahead Of September Release With AMD RDNA3 + MI300 Bits

LLVM 15.0 and its sub-projects like the Clang compiler are now under a feature freeze and branched from the main code-base ahead of the stable 15.0 release in September.

LLVM 15 is the next half-year update to this open-source compiler stack. LLVM 15 is bringing an HTTP server for Debuginfod, initial SPIR-V back-end code, Sony began upstreaming the PlayStation 5 compiler target, initial DirectX / HLSL target code, and initial LoongArch CPU code.

On the new hardware support side, LLVM 15 introduces support for the Cortex-M85, AmpereOne as Ampere's upcoming in-house core design, and other new Arm support. Also notable is on the GPU side with the AMDGPU shader compiler back-end. LLVM 15.0 has the initial compiler support for AMD RDNA3/GFX11 graphics hardware as well as GFX940 as the next-gen CDNA target expected to premiere as the AMD Instinct MI300 series. This new AMDGPU support is needed for Mesa's RadeonSI Gallium3D (OpenGL) driver ahead of the next-gen Radeon "RDNA3" graphics cards launching later this year. The LLVM shader compiler is also used by the AMDVLK open-source Vulkan driver and also the ROCM compute stack. It's the open-source RADV driver that prefers its own ACO compiler alternative within Mesa.

As of this morning, LLVM 15.0 is branched and preparing for the release candidate phase. The LLVM 15.0 RC1 release is expected later this weekend and at least two more release candidates in August. The stable LLVM 15.0.0 release is expected around 6 September.