LLI(1)

📦
version 23.1.4 · 10 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 lli — the LLVM one, bestie

ok so this is the LLI(1) page from the LLVM manual, and I'm gonna walk you through it like we're on FaceTime at 1am. it's giving "run your bitcode directly," and honestly? iconic.

✨ NAME ✨

lli — directly execute programs from LLVM bitcode 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

lli [options] [filename] [program args]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so lli directly executes programs in LLVM bitcode format. like, it takes a program in LLVM bitcode format and executes it using a just-in-time compiler or an interpreter. no middleman, no drama, we love to see it ✨

but heads up bestie: lli is not an emulator. it will not execute IR of different architectures, and it can only interpret (or JIT-compile) for the host architecture. so don't come crying to me when your cross-arch dreams get humbled 😭 it's a whole different vibe and lli is simply not that girl.

the JIT compiler takes the same arguments as other tools, like llc, but they don't necessarily work for the interpreter. iykyk 💅

if filename is not specified, then lli reads the LLVM bitcode for the program from standard input. yes, stdin. main character energy from a pipe 🎀

the optional args specified on the command line are passed to the program as arguments. slay, forwarding 🫶

💖 GENERAL OPTIONS 💖

  • -fake-argv0=executable — override the argv[0] value passed into the executing program. identity theft but make it legal ✨
  • -force-interpreter={false,true} — if set to true, use the interpreter even if a just-in-time compiler is available for this architecture. defaults to false. ngl sometimes you just wanna keep it old school 🧚
  • -help — print a summary of command line options. the classic.
  • -stats — print statistics from the code-generation passes. this is only meaningful for the just-in-time compiler, at present. just so you know 🫶
  • -time-passes — record the amount of time needed for each code-generation pass and print it to standard error. lowkey obsessed with timekeeping ⏱️
  • -version — print out the version of lli and exit without doing anything else. it said "i'm out" 💀

🌈 TARGET OPTIONS 🌈

  • *-mtriple=target triple* — override the target triple specified in the input bitcode file with the specified string. this may result in a crash if you pick an architecture which is not compatible with the current system. bestie. be careful. 😭
  • *-march=arch* — specify the architecture for which to generate assembly, overriding the target encoded in the bitcode file. see the output of llc -help for a list of valid architectures. by default this is inferred from the target triple or autodetected to the current architecture. autodetect ate, fr fr.
  • *-mcpu=cpuname* — specify a specific chip in the current architecture to generate code for. by default this is inferred from the target triple and autodetected to the current architecture. for a list of available CPUs, use: llvm-as < /dev/null | llc -march=xyz -mcpu=help 🧚
  • *-mattr=a1,+a2,-a3,...* — override or control specific attributes of the target, such as whether SIMD operations are enabled or not. the default set of attributes is set by the current CPU. for a list of available attributes, use: llvm-as < /dev/null | llc -march=xyz -mattr=help 👑

🎀 FLOATING POINT OPTIONS 🎀

  • -disable-excess-fp-precision — disable optimizations that may increase floating point precision.
  • -enable-no-infs-fp-math — enable optimizations that assume no Inf values. infinity? never met her 🙈
  • -enable-no-nans-fp-math — enable optimizations that assume no NAN values.
  • -soft-float — causes lli to generate software floating point library calls instead of equivalent hardware instructions. crunchy but valid 🍓

🔥 CODE GENERATION OPTIONS 🔥

  • *-code-model=model* — choose the code model from:
    • default: Target default code model
    • tiny: Tiny code model
    • small: Small code model
    • kernel: Kernel code model
    • medium: Medium code model
    • large: Large code model

pick your fighter 💅

  • -disable-post-RA-scheduler — disable scheduling after register allocation.
  • -disable-spill-fusing — disable fusing of spill code into instructions.
  • -jit-enable-eh — exception handling should be enabled in the just-in-time compiler. messy girls stay ready 😭
  • -join-liveintervals — coalesce copies (default=true). the default is already yes, she's that confident.
  • -nozero-initialized-in-bss — don't place zero-initialized symbols into the BSS section.
  • *-pre-RA-sched=scheduler* — instruction schedulers available (before register allocation):
    • =default: Best scheduler for the target
    • =none: No scheduling: breadth first sequencing
    • =simple: Simple two pass scheduling: minimize critical path and maximize processor utilization
    • =simple-noitin: Simple two pass scheduling: Same as simple except using generic latency
    • =list-burr: Bottom-up register reduction list scheduling
    • =list-tdrr: Top-down register reduction list scheduling
    • =list-td: Top-down list scheduler

the way there are so many options… choose wisely bestie ✨

  • *-regalloc=allocator* — register allocator to use (default=linearscan):
    • =bigblock: Big-block register allocator
    • =linearscan: linear scan register allocator
    • =local: local register allocator
    • =simple: simple register allocator
  • *-relocation-model=model* — choose relocation model from:
    • =default: Target default relocation model
    • =static: Non-relocatable code
    • =pic: Fully relocatable, position independent code
    • =dynamic-no-pic: Relocatable external references, non-relocatable code
  • -spiller — spiller to use (default=local):
    • =simple: simple spiller
    • =local: local spiller

spiller? more like spill the tea ☕

  • *-x86-asm-syntax=syntax* — choose style of code to emit from X86 backend:
    • =att: Emit AT&T-style assembly
    • =intel: Emit Intel-style assembly

⭐ EXIT STATUS ⭐

if lli fails to load the program, it will exit with an exit code of 1. otherwise, it will return the exit code of the program it executes. so basically it's a good little messenger and hands you back whatever your program said 🫶

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

llc(1) <llc.html> — go say hi 💜

🧚 Author 🧚

maintained by the LLVM Team (https://llvm.org/). keeping it together for us all, no cap.

2003-2026, LLVM Project

and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 this was LLI(1) from the LLVM manual, version 23, dated 2026-10-20 — go forth and execute your bitcode, you absolute icon 💅✨🦋

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