[MLIR] Split ExecutionEngine Initialization out of ctor into an explicit method call (#153373)

This PR introduces a mechanism to defer JIT engine initialization,
enabling registration of required symbols before global constructor
execution.

## Problem

Modules containing `gpu.module` generate global constructors (e.g.,
kernel load/unload) that execute *during* engine creation. This can
force premature symbol resolution, causing failures when:
- Symbols are registered via `mlirExecutionEngineRegisterSymbol` *after*
creation
- Global constructors exist (even if not directly using unresolved
symbols, e.g., an external function declaration)
   - GPU modules introduce mandatory binary loading logic

## Usage
```c
// Create engine without initialization
MlirExecutionEngine jit = mlirExecutionEngineCreate(...);

// Register required symbols
mlirExecutionEngineRegisterSymbol(jit, ...);

// Explicitly initialize (runs global constructors)
mlirExecutionEngineInitialize(jit);
```

---------

Co-authored-by: Mehdi Amini <[email protected]>

Author: jackalcooper

mlir/include/mlir-c/ExecutionEngine.h

@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED MlirExecutionEngine mlirExecutionEngineCreate(
     MlirModule op, int optLevel, int numPaths,
     const MlirStringRef *sharedLibPaths, bool enableObjectDump);
 
+/// Initialize the ExecutionEngine. Global constructors specified by
+/// `llvm.mlir.global_ctors` will be run. One common scenario is that kernel
+/// binary compiled from `gpu.module` gets loaded during initialization. Make
+/// sure all symbols are resolvable before initialization by calling
+/// `mlirExecutionEngineRegisterSymbol` or including shared libraries.
+MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED void mlirExecutionEngineInitialize(MlirExecutionEngine jit);
+
 /// Destroy an ExecutionEngine instance.
 MLIR_CAPI_EXPORTED void mlirExecutionEngineDestroy(MlirExecutionEngine jit);
 

mlir/include/mlir/ExecutionEngine/ExecutionEngine.h

@@ -227,6 +227,13 @@ class ExecutionEngine {
       llvm::function_ref<llvm::orc::SymbolMap(llvm::orc::MangleAndInterner)>
           symbolMap);
 
+  /// Initialize the ExecutionEngine. Global constructors specified by
+  /// `llvm.mlir.global_ctors` will be run. One common scenario is that kernel
+  /// binary compiled from `gpu.module` gets loaded during initialization. Make
+  /// sure all symbols are resolvable before initialization by calling
+  /// `registerSymbols` or including shared libraries.
+  void initialize();
+
 private:
   /// Ordering of llvmContext and jit is important for destruction purposes: the
   /// jit must be destroyed before the context.
@@ -250,6 +257,8 @@ class ExecutionEngine {
   /// Destroy functions in the libraries loaded by the ExecutionEngine that are
   /// called when this ExecutionEngine is destructed.
   SmallVector<LibraryDestroyFn> destroyFns;
+
+  bool isInitialized = false;
 };
 
 } // namespace mlir

mlir/lib/Bindings/Python/ExecutionEngineModule.cpp

@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 #include "mlir-c/ExecutionEngine.h"
-#include "mlir/Bindings/Python/NanobindAdaptors.h"
 #include "mlir/Bindings/Python/Nanobind.h"
+#include "mlir/Bindings/Python/NanobindAdaptors.h"
 
 namespace nb = nanobind;
 using namespace mlir;
@@ -124,6 +124,17 @@ NB_MODULE(_mlirExecutionEngine, m) {
           },
           nb::arg("name"), nb::arg("callback"),
           "Register `callback` as the runtime symbol `name`.")
+      .def(
+          "initialize",
+          [](PyExecutionEngine &executionEngine) {
+            mlirExecutionEngineInitialize(executionEngine.get());
+          },
+          "Initialize the ExecutionEngine. Global constructors specified by "
+          "`llvm.mlir.global_ctors` will be run. One common scenario is that "
+          "kernel binary compiled from `gpu.module` gets loaded during "
+          "initialization. Make sure all symbols are resolvable before "
+          "initialization by calling `raw_register_runtime` or including "
+          "shared libraries.")
       .def(
           "dump_to_object_file",
           [](PyExecutionEngine &executionEngine, const std::string &fileName) {

mlir/lib/CAPI/ExecutionEngine/ExecutionEngine.cpp

@@ -68,6 +68,10 @@ mlirExecutionEngineCreate(MlirModule op, int optLevel, int numPaths,
   return wrap(jitOrError->release());
 }
 
+extern "C" void mlirExecutionEngineInitialize(MlirExecutionEngine jit) {
+  unwrap(jit)->initialize();
+}
+
 extern "C" void mlirExecutionEngineDestroy(MlirExecutionEngine jit) {
   delete (unwrap(jit));
 }
@@ -106,9 +110,8 @@ extern "C" void mlirExecutionEngineRegisterSymbol(MlirExecutionEngine jit,
                                                   void *sym) {
   unwrap(jit)->registerSymbols([&](llvm::orc::MangleAndInterner interner) {
     llvm::orc::SymbolMap symbolMap;
-    symbolMap[interner(unwrap(name))] =
-        { llvm::orc::ExecutorAddr::fromPtr(sym),
-          llvm::JITSymbolFlags::Exported };
+    symbolMap[interner(unwrap(name))] = {llvm::orc::ExecutorAddr::fromPtr(sym),
+                                         llvm::JITSymbolFlags::Exported};
     return symbolMap;
   });
 }

mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/ExecutionEngine.cpp

@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ void ExecutionEngine::dumpToObjectFile(StringRef filename) {
   }
   // Compilation is lazy and it doesn't populate object cache unless requested.
   // In case object dump is requested before cache is populated, we need to
-  // force compilation manually. 
+  // force compilation manually.
   if (cache->isEmpty()) {
     for (std::string &functionName : functionNames) {
       auto result = lookupPacked(functionName);
@@ -400,13 +400,6 @@ ExecutionEngine::create(Operation *m, const ExecutionEngineOptions &options,
     return symbolMap;
   };
   engine->registerSymbols(runtimeSymbolMap);
-
-  // Execute the global constructors from the module being processed.
-  // TODO: Allow JIT initialize for AArch64. Currently there's a bug causing a
-  // crash for AArch64 see related issue #71963.
-  if (!engine->jit->getTargetTriple().isAArch64())
-    cantFail(engine->jit->initialize(engine->jit->getMainJITDylib()));
-
   return std::move(engine);
 }
 
@@ -442,6 +435,7 @@ Expected<void *> ExecutionEngine::lookup(StringRef name) const {
 
 Error ExecutionEngine::invokePacked(StringRef name,
                                     MutableArrayRef<void *> args) {
+  initialize();
   auto expectedFPtr = lookupPacked(name);
   if (!expectedFPtr)
     return expectedFPtr.takeError();
@@ -451,3 +445,13 @@ Error ExecutionEngine::invokePacked(StringRef name,
 
   return Error::success();
 }
+
+void ExecutionEngine::initialize() {
+  if (isInitialized)
+    return;
+  // TODO: Allow JIT initialize for AArch64. Currently there's a bug causing a
+  // crash for AArch64 see related issue #71963.
+  if (!jit->getTargetTriple().isAArch64())
+    cantFail(jit->initialize(jit->getMainJITDylib()));
+  isInitialized = true;
+}

mlir/lib/ExecutionEngine/JitRunner.cpp

@@ -202,6 +202,8 @@ compileAndExecute(Options &options, Operation *module, StringRef entryPoint,
 
   auto engine = std::move(*expectedEngine);
 
+  engine->initialize();
+
   auto expectedFPtr = engine->lookupPacked(entryPoint);
   if (!expectedFPtr)
     return expectedFPtr.takeError();

mlir/test/CAPI/execution_engine.c

@@ -137,6 +137,60 @@ void testOmpCreation(void) {
   mlirContextDestroy(ctx);
 }
 
+// Helper variable to track callback invocations
+static int initCnt = 0;
+
+// Callback function that will be called during JIT initialization
+static void initCallback(void) { initCnt += 1; }
+
+// CHECK-LABEL: Running test 'testGlobalCtorJitCallback'
+void testGlobalCtorJitCallback(void) {
+  MlirContext ctx = mlirContextCreate();
+  registerAllUpstreamDialects(ctx);
+
+  // Create module with global constructor that calls our callback
+  MlirModule module = mlirModuleCreateParse(
+      ctx, mlirStringRefCreateFromCString(
+               // clang-format off
+"module {                                                                       \n"
+"  llvm.mlir.global_ctors ctors = [@ctor], priorities = [0 : i32], data = [#llvm.zero] \n"
+"  llvm.func @ctor() {                                                          \n"
+"    func.call @init_callback() : () -> ()                                      \n"
+"    llvm.return                                                                \n"
+"  }                                                                            \n"
+"  func.func private @init_callback() attributes { llvm.emit_c_interface }      \n"
+"}                                                                              \n"
+               // clang-format on
+               ));
+
+  lowerModuleToLLVM(ctx, module);
+  mlirRegisterAllLLVMTranslations(ctx);
+
+  // Create execution engine with initialization disabled
+  MlirExecutionEngine jit = mlirExecutionEngineCreate(
+      module, /*optLevel=*/2, /*numPaths=*/0, /*sharedLibPaths=*/NULL,
+      /*enableObjectDump=*/false);
+
+  if (mlirExecutionEngineIsNull(jit)) {
+    fprintf(stderr, "Execution engine creation failed");
+    exit(2);
+  }
+
+  // Register callback symbol before initialization
+  mlirExecutionEngineRegisterSymbol(
+      jit, mlirStringRefCreateFromCString("_mlir_ciface_init_callback"),
+      (void *)(uintptr_t)initCallback);
+
+  mlirExecutionEngineInitialize(jit);
+
+  // CHECK: Init count: 1
+  printf("Init count: %d\n", initCnt);
+
+  mlirExecutionEngineDestroy(jit);
+  mlirModuleDestroy(module);
+  mlirContextDestroy(ctx);
+}
+
 int main(void) {
 
 #define _STRINGIFY(x) #x
@@ -147,5 +201,6 @@ int main(void) {
 
   TEST(testSimpleExecution);
   TEST(testOmpCreation);
+  TEST(testGlobalCtorJitCallback);
   return 0;
 }

mlir/unittests/ExecutionEngine/Invoke.cpp

@@ -322,4 +322,42 @@ TEST(NativeMemRefJit, MAYBE_JITCallback) {
     ASSERT_EQ(elt, coefficient * count++);
 }
 
+static int initCnt = 0;
+// A helper function that will be called during the JIT's initialization.
+static void initCallback() { initCnt += 1; }
+
+TEST(GlobalCtorJit, MAYBE_JITCallback) {
+  std::string moduleStr = R"mlir(
+  llvm.mlir.global_ctors ctors = [@ctor], priorities = [0 : i32], data = [#llvm.zero]
+  llvm.func @ctor() {
+    func.call @init_callback() : () -> ()
+    llvm.return
+  }
+  func.func private @init_callback() attributes { llvm.emit_c_interface }
+  )mlir";
+
+  DialectRegistry registry;
+  registerAllDialects(registry);
+  registerBuiltinDialectTranslation(registry);
+  registerLLVMDialectTranslation(registry);
+  MLIRContext context(registry);
+  auto module = parseSourceString<ModuleOp>(moduleStr, &context);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(!!module);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(succeeded(lowerToLLVMDialect(*module)));
+  ExecutionEngineOptions jitOptions;
+  auto jitOrError = ExecutionEngine::create(*module, jitOptions);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(!!jitOrError);
+  auto jit = std::move(jitOrError.get());
+  // Define any extra symbols so they're available at initialization.
+  jit->registerSymbols([&](llvm::orc::MangleAndInterner interner) {
+    llvm::orc::SymbolMap symbolMap;
+    symbolMap[interner("_mlir_ciface_init_callback")] = {
+        llvm::orc::ExecutorAddr::fromPtr(initCallback),
+        llvm::JITSymbolFlags::Exported};
+    return symbolMap;
+  });
+  jit->initialize();
+  ASSERT_EQ(initCnt, 1);
+}
+
 #endif // _WIN32