refactor(tvix/eval): return call frame result from VM::call r/4748

Previously, "calling" (setting up the VM run loop for executing a call
frame) and "running" (running this loop to completion) were separate
operations.

This was basically an attempt to avoid nesting `VM::run` invocations.
However, doing things this way introduced some tricky bugs for exiting
out of the call frames of thunks vs. builtins & closures.

For now, we unify the two operations and always return the value to
the caller directly. For now this makes calls a little less effective,
but it gives us a chance to nail down some other strange behaviours
and then re-optimise this afterwards.

To make sure we tackle this again further down I've added it to the
list of known possible optimisations.

Change-Id: I96828ab6a628136e0bac1bf03555faa4e6b74ece
Reviewed-on: https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/6415
Reviewed-by: sterni <sternenseemann@systemli.org>
Tested-by: BuildkiteCI

1 files changed, 16 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/tvix/eval/docs/known-optimisation-potential.md b/tvix/eval/docs/known-optimisation-potential.md
index e7271f4b3527..da9cf265ea5b 100644
--- a/tvix/eval/docs/known-optimisation-potential.md
+++ b/tvix/eval/docs/known-optimisation-potential.md
@@ -65,3 +65,19 @@ optimisations, but note the most important ones here.
 
   The same thing goes for resolving `with builtins;`, which should
   definitely resolve statically.
+
+* Avoid nested `VM::run` calls [hard]
+
+  Currently when encountering Nix-native callables (thunks, closures)
+  the VM's run loop will nest and return the value of the nested call
+  frame one level up. This makes the Rust call stack almost mirror the
+  Nix call stack, which is usually undesirable.
+
+  It is possible to detect situations where this is avoidable and
+  instead set up the VM in such a way that it continues and produces
+  the desired result in the same run loop, but this is kind of tricky
+  to get right - especially while other parts are still in flux.
+
+  For details consult the commit with Gerrit change ID
+  `I96828ab6a628136e0bac1bf03555faa4e6b74ece`, in which the initial
+  attempt at doing this was reverted.