TensorFlow Bazel Clang

This is a specialized toolchain that uses an old Debian with a new Clang that can cross compile to any x86_64 microarchitecture. It's intended to build Linux binaries that only require the following ABIs:

• GLIBC_2.18
• CXXABI_1.3.7 (GCC 4.8.3)
• GCC_4.2.0

Which are available on at least the following Linux platforms:

• Ubuntu 14+
• CentOS 7+
• Debian 8+
• SuSE 13.2+
• Mint 17.3+
• Manjaro 0.8.11

System Install

On Debian 8 (Jessie) Clang 6.0 can be installed as follows:

cat >>/etc/apt/sources.list <<'EOF'
deb http://apt.llvm.org/jessie/ llvm-toolchain-jessie main
deb-src http://apt.llvm.org/jessie/ llvm-toolchain-jessie main
EOF
wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key | apt-key add -
apt-key fingerprint |& grep '6084 F3CF 814B 57C1 CF12  EFD5 15CF 4D18 AF4F 7421'
apt-get update
apt-get install clang lld

Bazel Configuration

This toolchain can compile TensorFlow in 2m30s on a 96-core Skylake GCE VM if the following .bazelrc settings are added:

startup --host_jvm_args=-Xmx30G
startup --host_jvm_args=-Xms30G
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:MaxNewSize=3g
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:-UseAdaptiveSizePolicy
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:TargetSurvivorRatio=70
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:SurvivorRatio=6
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:CMSFullGCsBeforeCompaction=1
startup --host_jvm_args=-XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75

build --jobs=100
build --local_resources=200000,100,100
build --crosstool_top=@local_config_clang6//clang6
build --noexperimental_check_output_files
build --nostamp
build --config=opt
build --noexperimental_check_output_files
build --copt=-march=native
build --host_copt=-march=native

x86_64 Microarchitectures

Intel CPU Line

• 2003 P6 M SSE SSE2
• 2004 prescott SSE3 SSSE3 (-march=prescott)
• 2006 core X64 SSE4.1 (only on 45nm variety) (-march=core2)
• 2008 nehalem SSE4.2 VT-x VT-d (-march=nehalem)
• 2010 westmere CLMUL AES (-march=westmere)
• 2012 sandybridge AVX TXT (-march=sandybridge)
• 2012 ivybridge F16C MOVBE (-march=ivybridge)
• 2013 haswell AVX2 TSX BMI2 FMA (-march=haswell)
• 2014 broadwell RDSEED ADCX PREFETCHW (-march=broadwell - works on trusty gcc4.9)
• 2015 skylake SGX ADX MPX AVX-512[xeon-only](-march=skylake / -march=skylake-avx512 - needs gcc7)
• 2018 cannonlake AVX-512 SHA (-march=cannonlake - needs clang5)

Intel Low Power CPU Line

• 2013 silvermont SSE4.1 SSE4.2 VT-x (-march=silvermont)
• 2016 goldmont SHA (-march=goldmont - needs clang5)

AMD CPU Line

• 2003 k8 SSE SSE2 (-march=k8)
• 2005 k8 (Venus) SSE3 (-march=k8-sse3)
• 2008 barcelona SSE4a?! (-march=barcelona)
• 2011 bulldozer SSE4.1 SSE4.2 CLMUL AVX AES FMA4?! (-march=bdver1)
• 2011 piledriver FMA (-march=bdver2)
• 2015 excavator AVX2 BMI2 MOVBE (-march=bdver4)

Google Compute Engine Supported CPUs

• 2012 sandybridge 2.6gHz -march=sandybridge
• 2012 ivybridge 2.5gHz -march=ivybridge
• 2013 haswell 2.3gHz -march=haswell
• 2014 broadwell 2.2gHz -march=broadwell
• 2015 skylake 2.0gHz -march=skylake-avx512

See: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/cpu-platforms