release

LLVM 23.1 has been released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and as volunteer work have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/23.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst.

Like last time, I used Claude Code to summarize git log llvmorg-23-init..origin/release/23.x -- lld/ELF, excluding changes cherry-picked into 22.x (git rev-list llvmorg-23-init..llvmorg-22.1.8 -- lld), and then edited the draft.

This was a busy cycle: 141 commits landed in lld/ELF between the branch point (2026-01-13) and 23.1.0-rc1 (2026-07-16), compared with 72 in the 22 cycle. Much of the increase is performance work, which I described in Recent lld/ELF performance improvements. lld 23 is the first release that ships all of it.

For those unfamiliar, lld is the LLVM linker, supporting PE/COFF, ELF, Mach-O, and WebAssembly ports. These object file formats differ significantly, and each port must follow the conventions of the platform's system linker. As a result, the ports share limited code (diagnostics, memory allocation, etc) and have largely separate reviewer groups.

With LLVM 22.1 releasing soon, I've added some notes to the https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/22.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst as an lld/ELF maintainer. As usual, I've reviewed almost all the patches not authored by me.

For the first time, I used an LLM agent (Claude Code) to help look through commits (git log release/21.x..release/22.x -- lld/ELF) and draft the release notes. Despite my request to only read lld/ELF changes, Claude Code also crafted notes for other ports, which I retained since their release notes had been quite sparse for several releases. Changes back ported to the 21.x release are removed (git log --oneline llvmorg-22-init..llvmorg-21.1.8 -- lld).

I'll delve into some of the key changes.

LLVM 21.1 have been released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/21.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. I've meticulously reviewed nearly all the patches that are not authored by me. I'll delve into some of the key changes.

LLVM 20 will be released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/20.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. I've meticulously reviewed nearly all the patches that are not authored by me. I'll delve into some of the key changes.

LLVM 19 will be released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/19.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. I've meticulously reviewed nearly all the patches that are not authored by me. I'll delve into some of the key changes.

LLVM 18 will be released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/18.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. I've meticulously reviewed nearly all the patches that are not authored by me. I'll delve into some of the key changes.

LLVM 17 will be released. As usual, I maintain lld/ELF and have added some notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/17.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. Here I will elaborate on some changes.

llvm-project 16 was just released. I added some lld/ELF notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/16.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. Here I will elaborate on some changes.

llvm-project 15 was just released. I added some lld/ELF notes to https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/release/15.x/lld/docs/ReleaseNotes.rst. Here I will elaborate on some changes.