SOLAR
Software Optimization
at Link-time And Run-time
Photo credit: The SOHO-EIT Consortium.
See bottom of page for more information.
A binary rewriting system transforms a binary program into
a different but functionally equivalent program. A link-time
optimizer is a binary rewriting system that modifies an object program
to improve some aspect of its behavior, such as
execution time, code size, or security.
A significant benefit of a link-time optimizer is that it can perform
whole program optimizations that cannot be done by
compilers---e.g., those based on run-time values---or that
usually are not done by compilers---e.g., because library source code
is not available or is written in a different language.
The SOLAR project is developing techniques for flexible
link-time and run-time code optimizations.
We are exploring a variety of applications, architectures, and
optimization metrics.
Applications include traditional sequential programs, parallel
scientific programs, operating systems, embedded systems,
and distributed systems.
Optimization metrics include performance (speed), code size, and
security properties.
To date we have developed link-time optimizers for three architectures:
ALTO for the Compaq Alpha, PLTO for the Intel IA-32 (Pentium),
and ILTO for the Intel/HP IA-64 (Itanium).
Current work is applying and extending the PLTO optimizer.
People
Faculty: Greg Andrews,
Saumya Debray
Collaborators: Gregg Townsend,
Rick Schlichting,
Matti Hiltunen
Graduate Students: Kevin Coogan,
Haifeng He,
Somu Periyanayagam,
Joe Roback
Undergraduate Students: Drew Davidson, Tasneem Kaochar
Graduate Alumni:
Milind Chabbi,
Aniket Dubashi,
Matt Legendre,
Rohit Kundaji,
Patrick Moseley,
Mohan Rajagopalan,
Sharad Santhanam,
Sharath Udupa,
Scott Watterson
Undergraduate Alumni:
S. Chandrasekharan,
Jose Gifford, Cullen Linn,
Igor Popov, Michael Prestwich,
Ben Schwarz,
Tal Shaked,
Noah Snavely,
John Trimble, Jeremy Weiner
Publications
The publications below are organized by the type of optimization and
application.
See the ALTO page for additional information
on the Alpha link-time optimizer.
See the Squeeze page for related work
on reducing code size.
General Topics
Robert Muth and Saumya Debray.
On the Complexity of Flow-Sensitive Dataflow Analyses.
Proc. 27th ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL),
Jan. 2000,
.
Abstract
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PostScript
Robert Muth, Scott Watterson, and Saumya Debray.
Code Specialization Based on Value Profiles.
Proc. 7th. International Static Analysis Symposium (SAS 2000),
June 2000.
.
Abstract
|
PostScript
Gregory R. Andrews.
Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel, and Distributed Programming.
Addison-Wesley,
2000.
Web Site
Scott Watterson and Saumya Debray.
Goal-Directed Value Profiling.
Proc. 2001 Int. Conf. on Compiler Construction (CC 2001),
April 2001.
Abstract
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PostScript
Benjamin Schwarz, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Disassembly of Executable Code Revisited.
Proc. 2002 IEEE Working Conference on Reverse Engineering (WCRE 2002),
Oct. 2002.
Abstract
|
PostScript
Patrick Moseley, Saumya Debray, and Greg Andrews.
Checking Program Profiles.
Proc. Third IEEE Workshop on Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM 2003),
September 2003.
PostScript
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PDF
Computer Security
Mila Dalla Preda, Mihai Christodorescu, Somesh Jha, and Saumya Debray.
A Semantics-Based Approach to Malware Detection.
Proc. 34th. ACM Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages (POPL),
January 2007.
PostScript
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PDF
Milind Chabbi.
Efficient Taint Analysis Using Multicore Machines.
Master's Thesis,
June 2007.
PostScript
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PDF
Code Compaction and Compression
Saumya Debray, William Evans and Robert Muth.
Compiler Techniques for Code Compression.
ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS),
.
Abstract
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PostScript
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Technical Report(contains raw data from experiments)
Bjorn De Sutter, Bruno De Bus, Koen De Bosschere, and Saumya Debray.
Combining Global Code and Data Compaction.
Proc. SIGPLAN Workshop on Languages, Compilers, and Tools for Embedded Systems (LCTES),
June 2001.
Abstract
|
PostScript
Saumya Debray and William Evans.
Profile-Guided Code Compression.
Proc. SIGPLAN '02 Conf. on Prog. Language Design and Implementation (PLDI 02),
June 2002.
PostScript
John Trimble.
Combining High Level Alias Analysis with Low Level Code Compaction of the Linux Kernel.
Honors Thesis,
December 2006.
PostScript
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PDF
Haifeng He, John Trimble, Somu Perinayagam, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Code Compaction of an Operating System Kernel.
Proc. Fifth International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization (CGO),
March 2007.
PostScript
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PDF
PLTO: Pentium Link-Time Optimizer
Gregory Andrews, Saumya Debray, Benjamin Schwarz, and Matthew Legendre.
Using Link-Time Optimization to Improve the Performance of MPI Programs.
Preliminary results,
April 2001.
Abstract
|
PostScript
Benjamin Schwarz, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
PLTO: A Link-Time Optimizer for the Intel IA-32 Architecture.
Proc. 2001 Workshop on Binary Translation (WBT-2001),
Sept. 2001.
Abstract
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PostScript
Benjamin Schwarz.
Post Link-Time Optimization on the Intel IA-32 Architecture.
Honors Thesis,
May 2002.
Abstract
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PostScript
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PDF
Systems Programs
Mohan Rajagopalan, Saumya Debray, Matti Hiltunen, and Richard Schlichting.
Profile-Directed Optimization of Event-Based Programs.
Proc. SIGPLAN '02 Conf. on Prog. Language Design and Implementation (PLDI 02),
June 2002.
Abstract
|
PostScript
Mohan Rajagopalan, Saumya Debray, Matti Hiltunen, and Richard Schlichting.
System Call Clustering: A Profile-Directed Optimization Technique.
Technical Report,
May 2002.
PostScript
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PDF
Mohan Rajagopalan, Matti Hiltunen, Trevor Jim, and Richard Schlichting.
Authenticated System Calls.
Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN 05),
June 2005.
PostScript
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PDF
Cullen Lin, Mohan Rajagopalan, Scott Baker, Christian Collberg, Saumya Debray, and John Hartman.
Protecting Against Unexpected System Calls.
Proc. USENIX Security '05,
August 2005.
PostScript
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PDF
Mohan Rajagopalan, Somu Perinayagam, Haifeng He, Gregory Andrews, and Saumya Debray.
Binary Rewriting of an Operating System Kernel.
Proc. Workshop on Binary Instrumentation and Applications,
October 2006.
PostScript
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PDF
Somu Perinayagam, Haifeng He, Mohan Rajagopalan, Gregory Andrews, and Saumya Debray.
Profile-Guided Specialization of an Operating System Kernel.
Proc. Workshop on Binary Instrumentation and Applications,
October 2006.
PostScript
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PDF
Intellectual Property Protection
Cullen Linn and Saumya Debray.
Obfuscation of Executable Code to Improve Resistance to Static Disassembly.
Proc. 10th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2003),
Oct. 2003.
PostScript
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PDF
Cullen Linn, Saumya Debray, and John Kececioglu.
Enhancing Software Tamper-Resistance via Stealthy Address Computations.
Work In Progress, 19th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC 2003),
Dec. 2003.
PostScript
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PDF
Christian Collberg, Saumya Debray, Edward Carter, Andrew Huntwork, Cullen Linn, and Mike Stepp.
Dynamic Path-Based Software Watermarking.
Proc. SIGPLAN '04 Conf. on Prog. Language Design and Implementation (PLDI 04),
June 2004.
PostScript
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PDF
Matias Madou, Bertrand Anckaert, Patrick Moseley, Saumya Debray, Bjorn De Sutter, Koen De Bosschere.
Software Protection through Dynamic Code Mutation.
Proc. Int. Workshop on Information Security Applications,
Aug. 2005.
PostScript
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PDF
Sharath Udupa, Saumya Debray, and Matias Madou.
Deobfuscation: Reverse Engineering Obfuscated Code.
Proc. 12th IEEE Working Conf. on Reverse Engineering (WCRE 2005),
November 2005.
PostScript
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PDF
Igor Popov, Samuya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Binary Obfuscation Using Signals.
USENIX Security '07,
August 2007.
PostScript
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PDF
ILTO: Itanium Link-Time Optimizer
Noah Snavely, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Predicate Analysis and If-Conversion in an Itanium Link-Time Optimizer.
Proc. 2nd Workshop on EPIC Architectures and Compilers,
Istanbul, Turkey,
Nov. 2002.
PostScript
Noah Snavely.
Optimizing and Reverse Engineering Itanium Executables.
Honors Thesis,
May 2003.
PostScript |
PDF
Noah Snavely, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Unspeculation.
Proc. 18th IEEE Int. Conf. on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2003),
Oct. 2003.
PostScript |
PDF
Noah Snavely, Saumya Debray, and Gregory Andrews.
Unpredication, Unscheduling, Unspeculation: Reverse Engineering Itanium Executables.
IEEE Trans. on Software Engineering, vol. 31, no. 2,
Feb. 2005, pages 99-115.
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PDF
Acknowledgements
This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation
through grants ACR-9720738, CCR-0113633, CNS-0410918, and CNS-0615347.
Computing facilities used by the project have been supported by NSF
grants CDA-9500991 and EIA-0080123
and by a gift from the HP/Intel Itanium-Based Systems Grant Program.
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SOHO is an ESA-NASA program of international cooperation.
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Last updated December 12, 2007
