IBM To Transition Their z/OS, POWER + AIX Compilers To Being LLVM/Clang-Based

IBM last week made the bold announce that they will be transitioning to LLVM/Clang-based compilers across their hardware portfolio for C, C++, and Fortran compilation.

In particular, IBM is planning to "fully incorporate the LLVM Core and Clang sub-projects in future C/C++ offerings on z/OS, Linux on Power, and AIX platforms."

That's quite a bold plan but not too surprising considering all of the other ISVs and IHVs that have been embracing the LLVM compiler infrastructure for years. AMD's "AOCC" compiler is based on LLVM Clang, Intel has various compilers based on LLVM, Microsoft has even supported LLVM in various use-cases, among countless other examples.

As part of this effort, IBM is working on improving the upstream LLVM/Clang support for POWER and Z hardware with better code generation and other improvements. As part of this broad effort, IBM's long-standing XL C/C++ compiler is integrating portions of Clang and moving forward XL Fortran will be based on LLVM's developing Fortran front-end.

More details on IBM's plans for embracing LLVM/Clang via developer.ibm.com.