The compiler would crash when compiling code such as:
serialize(#{tag := value, id := Id, domain := Domain}) ->
[case Id of
nil ->
error(id({required, id}));
_ ->
<<10, 1:16/signed, Id:16/signed>>
end,
case Domain of
nil ->
error(id({required, domain}));
_ ->
<<8, 2:16/signed, Domain:32/signed>>
end].
The crash would look like this:
Function: serialize/1
t.erl: internal error in block2;
crash reason: {badmatch,false}
in function beam_utils:live_opt/4 (beam_utils.erl, line 861)
in call from beam_utils:live_opt/1 (beam_utils.erl, line 285)
in call from beam_block:function/2 (beam_block.erl, line 47)
in call from beam_block:'-module/2-lc$^0/1-0-'/2 (beam_block.erl, line 33)
in call from beam_block:'-module/2-lc$^0/1-0-'/2 (beam_block.erl, line 33)
in call from beam_block:module/2 (beam_block.erl, line 33)
in call from compile:block2/2 (compile.erl, line 1358)
in call from compile:'-internal_comp/5-anonymous-1-'/3 (compile.erl, line 349)
The reason for the crash is an assertion failure caused by a previous
unsafe optimization. Here is the code before the unsafe optimization:
.
.
.
{bs_init2,{f,0},7,0,0,{field_flags,[]},{x,1}}.
{bs_put_string,3,{string,[8,0,2]}}.
{bs_put_integer,{f,0},{integer,32},1,{field_flags,[signed,big]},{y,1}}.
{move,{x,1},{x,0}}.
{test_heap,4,1}.
.
.
.
beam_block:move_allocate/1 moved up the test_heap/2 instruction past the
move/2 instruction, adjusting the number of live registers at the same
time:
.
.
.
{bs_init2,{f,0},7,0,0,{field_flags,[]},{x,1}}.
%% Only x1 is live now.
{bs_put_string,3,{string,[8,0,2]}}.
{bs_put_integer,{f,0},{integer,32},1,{field_flags,[signed,big]},{y,1}}.
{test_heap,4,2}. %Unsafe. x0 is dead.
{move,{x,1},{x,0}}.
.
.
.
This optimization is unsafe because the bs_init2 instruction killed
x0.
The bug is in beam_utils:anno_defs/1, which adds annotations indicating
the registers that are defined at the beginning of each block. The
annotation before the move/2 instruction incorrectly indicated that
x0 was live.
https://bugs.erlang.org/browse/ERL-650
https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/issues/7782