Migrating Target Attributes to IRModule

rfcs/0029-migrating-to-irmodule-attributes.md

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+- Feature Name: Migrating Target Attributes to IRModule
+- Start Date: 2021-08-23
+- RFC PR: [apache/tvm-rfcs#29](https://github.com/apache/tvm-rfcs/pull/29)
+- GitHub Issue: [apache/tvm#0000](https://github.com/apache/tvm/issues/0000)
+
+# Summary
+[summary]: #summary
+
+Taking parameters which have been historically attached to `Target` and placing them as attributes on `IRModule`s to reflect their more global compiler state.
+
+# Motivation
+[motivation]: #motivation
+
+There are a number of parameters which exist on `Target` which are not necessarily relevant to the `Target` but have become associated with a host `Target` due to a lack of a better place to put them, such as `executor` and `unpacked-api`. If we continue down this path, the `Target` will become so overloaded it'll become hard to understand for our potential user base.
+
+# Guide-level explanation
+[guide-level-explanation]: #guide-level-explanation
+
+We create a series of new registries based on the attributes currently listed in `TargetKind`, taking the example of the `c` `TargetKind`:
+
+```
+TVM_REGISTER_TARGET_KIND("c", kDLCPU)
+    .add_attr_option<Bool>("system-lib")
+    .add_attr_option<Bool>("link-params", Bool(false))
+    .add_attr_option<String>("runtime")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("mcpu")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("march")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("executor")
+    .add_attr_option<Integer>("workspace-byte-alignment")
+    .add_attr_option<Bool>("unpacked-api")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("interface-api")
+    .set_default_keys({"cpu"});
+```
+
+This can be split into several smaller registries which better reflect what is being interacted with:
+```
+TVM_REGISTER_TARGET_KIND("c", kDLCPU)
+    .add_attr_option<String>("mcpu")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("march")
+    .set_default_keys({"cpu"});
+
+TVM_REGISTER_EXECUTOR_KIND("vm");
+TVM_REGISTER_EXECUTOR_KIND("graph");
+TVM_REGISTER_EXECUTOR_KIND("aot")
+    .add_attr_option<Integer>("workspace-byte-alignment")
+    .add_attr_option<Bool>("unpacked-api")
+    .add_attr_option<String>("interface-api");
+
+TVM_REGISTER_RUNTIME_KIND("c")
+  .add_attr_option<Bool>("system-lib")
+  .add_attr_option<Bool>("link-params", Bool(false))
+  .add_attr_option<String>("runtime");
+```
+
+And then those attributes can be added as attributes on the `IRModule` within `relay.build`, changing the signature of `relay.build` from:
+```py
+def build(ir_mod, target=None, target_host=None, params=None, mod_name="default")
+```
+To this signature:
+```py
+def build(ir_mod, target=None, target_host=None, executor=None, runtime=None, params=None, mod_name="default")
+```
+
+Which would produce a user facing call similar to:
+```py
+tvm.relay.build(
+    ir_module,
+    target,
+    target_host=target,
+    executor=Executor({
+      "kind": "aot",
+      "unpacked-api": False
+    }),
+    runtime=Runtime({
+      "kind": "c",
+      "link-params": False
+    }),
+    params=params,
+    mod_name="the_ultimate_cat_spotter",
+)
+```
+
+`relay.build` would internally annotate the `IRModule` attributes, this hides the implementation detail of the annotation:
+```py
+def build(ir_mod, target=None, target_host=None, executor=None, runtime=None, params=None, mod_name="default"):
+  # ... more things ...
+  ir_mod.set_attr("Runtime", runtime)
+  ir_mod.set_attr("Executor", executor)
+  # ... more things ...
+```
+
+# Reference-level explanation
+[reference-level-explanation]: #reference-level-explanation
+
+Most of the work involved here is creating independent registries for each type and the related wiring of Python objects to expose them publically - for example, creating `Executor` objects and `ExecutorRegistry` from `AttrRegistry`. Alongside this, `relay.build` needs to be augmented to perform the annotation and provide sensible defaults for when the configurations are not provided.
+
+`tvmc` would be ammended to parse the relevant arguments based on the command line composition mechanism defined and construct an `IRModule` for TVM to use.
+
+# Drawbacks
+[drawbacks]: #drawbacks
+
+* This is a breaking change which results in arguments being moved from there current location on `Target`
+* Introducing many arguments for the `relay.build` factory function could pose challenging to maintain longer term
+
+# Rationale and alternatives
+[rationale-and-alternatives]: #rationale-and-alternatives
+
+# Prior art
+[prior-art]: #prior-art
+
+TVM is full of registries, for `TargetKind`, `PassConfig` and a variety of other things, these are reflected in Python as well - so this is all within TVMs normal operating procedures.
+
+# Unresolved questions
+[unresolved-questions]: #unresolved-questions
+
+Do we want to treat `Target` similarly as we do this, placing them in an attribute on the `IRModule`? They're being annotated for `Function`s now which makes sense to the author.
+
+# Future possibilities
+[future-possibilities]: #future-possibilities
+
+Migrating to a lot of smaller registries means we'll have more granular groupings and they can be leveraged more easily by interfaces such as `tvmc` and the command line composition from registries.